Airplanes were never really Mallory’s thing. She didn’t mind them until she was about ten when she became an avid LOST fan, the show about the plane crash. It was then that her eyes were opened to dangers of aerodynamics.
But Mallory had no choice; she was going from Maine to Alabama for her brother’s funeral. Both of them were originally from Vermont. When Seth graduated from Auburn last year, he’d loved Alabama so much, he decided to stay. Mallory on the other hand, had no interest whatsoever in going to the south, nor did she want to stay in Vermont so her freshman year of college was being spent at a small Christian college in Maine.
Even though there was a four year age difference, Seth and Mal, as he called her, were always really close. So when Mallory's mom called hysterical and dumped the news on Mallory, she couldn’t wrap her brain around it. They had just talked on the phone the night before, and now he was dead? That was four days ago, and Mallory had yet to shed a tear. She had skipped all her classes, didn’t leave her dorm besides going to the bathroom, and hadn’t shown up to work or answered any of her managers’ calls or texts.
Seth hated Vermont, thought it was, of all 50 states, the dullest. So the last thing he would have wanted, literally the last thing, was to be buried there. Thus his dad thought it would be best to let him stay Alabama, where he was happy.
But Seth was always happy, “happy-go-lucky.” Able to make the best of the worst of situation, of any situation. Mallory could hear him, telling her ‘airplanes are safer than cars, and the chances of anything happening were slim to none.’
And Seth of all people understands that statistic, especially now. He had been on tons of flights, and driven a car thousands of times. Yet in the end it was a car accident that got him.
It was about eight o'clock in the morning and he was headed to breakfast to meet up with some friends. He was on the turnpike when a minivan a quarter of a mile in front of him suddenly hit the brakes, causing a total ripple effect. The tractor trailer in front of Seth not only stopped but tipped over, completely crushing Seth’s car, and smashing nearly every one of his bones. There were 42 casualties in all, and Mallory’s brother had to be one of them. ‘Mal, better me than someone else. That could have been a family, or a kid.’ She could hear Seth saying.
‘But you were a kid too Seth,’ she thought, ‘you're, you were only 23, no one should die that young.’
She couldn’t help but crack a smile, knowing that he would quote that stupid song he would always blast when it came on, and roll down the windows and belt it out. ‘But Mal only the good die young.’
“Billy Joel, a true classic.” Said the man sitting next to her in the aisle seat?
“What did you say?” Mallory sat up straighter, alarmed at what he’d just said.
The man didn’t answer her; instead he just smiled and stared towards the cockpit. Mallory was sure she wasn’t humming the song so how could he know? She asked again, determined to get an answer, “What did you just say.”
“I said Billy Joel is a classic, and that is my favorite song.” He said, rather calmly
“I wasn’t singing a song.” She suspiciously replied.
“Oh I know you weren’t. But it’s okay no one else heard it, they’re not like me.” He said this as though he had said it a thousand times before, the words didn’t frighten Mallory but rather surprised her.
She studied the man, noting that he wasn’t that- a man. He had to be no older than 15, he was only a kid, but that didn’t excuse what he had just said, and or heard- somehow. “And how are you different than them?”
As the plane touched down on the runway the boy expectantly looked out the window. “Mallory I have to go now, but he wanted me to say goodbye to you, for him.”
Mallory didn’t know what to say as she watched the boy walk towards to front of the plane, not turning back. But before he got off she called out to him “Wait! Stop!”
The boy turned back and held her gaze as the flight attendant asked Mallory what was wrong, looking with an empty stare in the direction of the boy. He finally waved goodbye to Mallory and stepped off the plane.
“Nothing, nothing’s wrong, its, I just...” Mallory let her words hang in the air.
“OK then.” The attendant said dismissively before helping other passengers with their carry-ons.
Mallory couldn’t stop staring at where the boy had just stood moments ago. The tears began filling her eyes after four long days without closure, she finally felt the pain that came with the racking sobs.