Chapter Two: The Flight That Never Landed
986 Words
The house felt emptier than Nina had expected.
The warmth of Christmas Eve lingered faintly—pine needles, cinnamon, soft laughter—but without her parents’ presence, it seemed muted, like a favorite song playing half-speed. Lila sat cross-legged on the couch, sipping her cocoa and trying to fill the silence. Alex hovered nearby, restless, scrolling through his phone. Nina forced herself to smile at them both, but inside, her chest felt tight.
She had expected her parents to leave before bedtime, yes. She had expected them to travel. But there was a difference between “expecting” and “realizing the world could go on without you noticing how fragile it could be.”
Her phone buzzed. She looked down at the screen.
Mom: Text us when you’re asleep. We’ll check in once we land.
Nina stared at the message. Her parents always made sure to keep in touch. They had been traveling for years, and she had never once worried. But tonight, something felt off. She tried to shake it, blaming fatigue from the day’s excitement, but the uneasy feeling lingered like smoke she couldn’t clear.
Lila noticed her frown. “Hey, are you okay?”
Nina forced a small laugh. “Yeah… just thinking about tomorrow. Breakfast at school, gifts, all that.”
Alex smirked. “You think too much.”
She rolled her eyes but said nothing. She didn’t want to spoil the cozy bubble she still had around her. Yet, every time she glanced at the clock, each minute seemed to stretch longer than the last.
By ten o’clock, her parents’ usual update hadn’t come. Nina tried calling their number. No answer. Her mind refused to entertain panic, but the pit in her stomach refused to lie either.
Lila leaned over her shoulder. “Maybe they’re delayed. Flights get messy sometimes.”
“Yes,” Nina whispered. “Maybe…” But the words sounded hollow.
By eleven, Nina’s phone rang. She snatched it up, heart leaping, only to see it was an unknown number.
“Hello?” she asked cautiously.
“Is this… Nina Carter?” The voice was calm but cold, unfamiliar.
“Yes… who’s this?”
“This is Officer Reynolds from the state airport authority. I’m calling about your parents’ flight.”
Nina froze. “What about it? Are they…?”
“Ma’am, the plane has not landed, and we’ve lost contact. We’re investigating. No further information is available right now.”
Her hands shook. “Lost… contact?”
“Yes,” he said gently. “We’ll update you as soon as possible. I’m sorry.”
The call ended.
Nina sat on the couch, stunned. The mug of cocoa slipped from her hands, shattering on the floor. The warmth of chocolate spilled over the tiles, but she barely noticed.
“Are you okay?” Lila asked, voice rising slightly.
“I… I don’t know,” Nina whispered, finally letting herself cry.
Alex didn’t move closer, didn’t offer comfort. He scrolled his phone silently, expression unreadable.
The minutes passed. Hours stretched. Outside, snow continued to fall softly, indifferent to the upheaval in Nina’s world.
Her parents weren’t just gone. There was no body, no certainty. Just emptiness.
In the early hours of the morning, her phone rang again. A number she recognized this time—her aunt, the one she occasionally visited.
“Nina, honey, I’m so sorry,” the voice said softly. “We’ve been advised to prepare… for the worst. They’ve officially been declared missing.”
Nina pressed a hand to her mouth, trying to stop herself from screaming. “No… no, that can’t be—”
Her aunt’s voice broke. “I know, sweetheart. I know.”
It wasn’t just grief. It was disbelief. It was fear. It was the helpless realization that the people who had made her life feel safe and normal could vanish in an instant, leaving nothing behind.
The next day, at school, Nina walked through hallways that felt alien. Her best friend, Lila, was there, as always, holding her hand, whispering assurances. But Nina’s smile was fragile. It didn’t reach her eyes.
Teachers offered sympathy in quiet tones. Classmates stared. Whispers followed her from room to room. The world she had thought predictable suddenly felt sharp and cruel.
Alex, normally playful and attentive, kept his distance. At lunch, he sat across the table, scrolling through his phone while she tried to make conversation. His distracted eyes and half-smiles didn’t reach her.
Lila squeezed her hand under the table. “It’s okay, Nina. I’m here. You’re not alone.”
Nina nodded, letting the warmth of her best friend’s presence anchor her, even as something in the back of her mind whispered unease. Everything seemed too… controlled. Too perfect.
By the third day, rumors began circulating—uncertainty about how a young girl would handle such a loss. Some classmates whispered that maybe she was exaggerating, that maybe she wasn’t taking her parents’ disappearance seriously. It hurt more than she expected.
And somewhere deep down, Nina realized that being surrounded by familiar faces, by friends and by people who claimed to care, didn’t always guarantee safety.
Something had shifted. Something that would only grow in the coming weeks, when trust would become a fragile currency, and betrayal would arrive in ways she never imagined.
For now, though, she sat by her bedroom window that night, watching the snow swirl around the streetlights, gripping her mug of cocoa as if it were a lifeline. She didn’t know when—or if—her parents would return. She didn’t know how the world could feel so quiet and yet so uncertain.
All she knew was that the life she had loved, the people she had trusted, and the world she had taken for granted had changed in a single phone call.
And Christmas, the night she had always adored, would never feel the same again.
- Writer
