An unhinged seat blocked his path. It was too heavy to move. He used his shoulder and all of his strength to push it out of the way, and a boot hit him in the chest. It was Tommy! He was still strapped in the seat, but he wasn’t moving. Angel ripped the seat belt off, freeing his husband. Adrenaline surged though him, and he lifted Tommy in his arms. The air was dense, so he crouched down as far as he could without falling. He stumbled over debris and almost twisted his ankle but followed the steady beam of light that lead to safety. Jessi’s hysterical cries grew louder, and her silhouette slowly appeared in the distance through the smoke.
Tommy hung lifeless in Angel’s arms, with his blond hair strewn across his face. Tommy’s weight grew heavier, but Angel fought the nagging pain in his ribcage. He forced himself to move forward, one foot in front of the other, until the smoke cleared his lungs and he emerged from the demolished wreckage of the plane. His knees buckled, and he landed on the sand with Tommy still cradled in his arms.
Jessi rushed toward them. “Tommy!” She pushed the hair from his face and wept.
Dark red blood matted the side of Tommy’s hair from a gash on his scalp. He was unconscious but alive. Relief washed over Angel and a sob invaded his throat. Both he and Jessi clung to the man they loved, overwhelmed with their brush with death and petrified about Tommy’s condition.
“Move away from the plane!” the pilot shouted. He limped toward them along with the flight attendant, and the two of them hauled Tommy, Angel and Jessi away from the blazing aircraft. They were all still hobbling away when a blast knocked them to the ground. Searing pain tore through Angel’s right side as he landed on his folded arm. He pushed himself up and fell toward Jessi. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” Scorching heat made them both turn toward the remnants of the plane. It was a fireball of bright orange and blue flames. Dark, black smoke rose high into the unsuspecting sky and plumed toward the billowy white clouds above – clouds they had been staring down at less than ten minutes ago.
Realization hit. They had barely made it out of the plane before it exploded. Tears were streaming down Jessi’s cheeks. Then she turned and wrapped her arms around Angel’s neck. “You saved his life. If you didn’t pull Tommy out of the plane, he would have died.” She clung to Angel and sobbed on his shoulder. Angel held her and soothed her with a gentle but shaking hand on her back.
Death nipped at their heels. They could have all perished, but they survived the crash. Angel clung to Jessi just as hard as she clung to him. If they all had died, they would have been at peace, but if any one of them didn’t make it, their lives would have been irreparably marred. He shuddered as he held Jessi and gazed at Tommy over her shoulder. He was grateful, but it was hard to find solace. The man he loved more than anything in the world was lying unconscious on the ground with a head injury.
Jessi held onto Angel while he squeezed her tightly. She felt his body trembling, but quickly realized that she was the one who was shaking. She needed to control her emotions. She needed to check on Tommy. He was hurt. Still wrapped in Angel’s embrace, she slowly turned her head to face Tommy.
The flight attendant was taking Tommy’s pulse. “I have EMS training,” she explained. “His pulse is rapid, but that’s expected.” She was calm and in charge.
Fear gripped Jessi’s heart like a vice. She wanted to cradle Tommy in her arms, but she was afraid she would somehow hurt him. No one knew if he had suffered internal injuries. She and Angel exchanged the same worried glance and moved closer to Tommy. Deep red blood seeped through his hair and flooded his blond tresses with color.
The flight attendant examined the wound and searched the ground nearby with her eyes. “I need a clean cloth.”
Angel pulled his T-shirt over his head and turned it inside out. “Can you use this?”
“It’ll have to do.” The flight attendant scrunched the shirt into a ball and placed pressure on Tommy’s scalp to stop the bleeding.
Jessi stared into Tommy’s blank face, void of expression. His happy smile was gone, and his closed lids hid his electric blue eyes. She glanced down at his chest and saw dots of blood splattered across his AC/DC T-shirt. He loved that shirt. Flashes of their life together played in her head. She remembered the first time she had laid eyes on him on the football field in college. A flutter of excitement filled her chest as she recalled their first kiss. She remembered the first time she had heard him play the guitar and still felt the thrill of watching him perform every time he played. She had no idea how much he would change her life when she had first met him.