Chapter
10
A few minutes
later, they were seated on the plane. Brian sat by the window with Nick beside
him in the aisle seat. Howie, AJ, and Kevin sat across the aisle from them.
Brian buckled
his seat belt and stuffed his carry on bag under the seat in front of him. Then
he lay his head against the back of his seat and closed his eyes.
A few minutes
later, the flight attendants began going over the safety manual. Then, they
prepared to take-off.
Brian opened
his eyes as they began to take off to see how Nick was doing. He knew Nick
hated to fly. Nick looked fine though.
Once they were
in the air, Brian and Nick both unbuckled their seatbelts. Nick leaned back and
eventually dosed off. He was awakened a few minutes later by Brian's loud
hacking coughs.
"Jeez,
Bri, you okay?" Nick asked. Brian couldn't stop coughing long enough to
even answer. When he finally stopped coughing, he was breathing hard. He leaned
back and tried to take a deep breath, but his chest hurt when he did.
"Are you
okay?" Nick asked again, noticing that Brian seemed to be having trouble
breathing.
Brian started
to cough again and managed to shake his head no. "I can't breathe,"
he gasped. Nick's eyes widened in horror. He didn't know what to do. Luckily,
Kevin leaned over and tapped Nick's shoulder.
"Is Brian
okay?" he asked, concerned.
"He can't
breathe!" Nick said, his voice shaking with panic. Kevin leaped out of his
seat and pulled Nick out of his seat, gently pushing him into the aisle. Kevin
sat down in Nick's seat and turned to Brian.
"Calm
down," he said. "Take deep breaths." Brian tried, but could
barely get any air in. His chest hurt, and he felt weak and dizzy again. Tears
came to his eyes, for the pain was awful, and he was terrified.
Nick reached
up and hit the call button. A flight attendant came almost immediately.
"He's
having trouble breathing," Nick said, pointing to Brian.
"Okay,"
the flight attendant said. She quickly opened the compartment overhead and
pulled out one of the emergency oxygen masks. She squeezed in beside Kevin and
slipped the mask over Brian's mouth and nose.
"Lie back and take deep breaths," she said soothingly, trying to get
Brian to calm down. Brian tried to relax and soon he was able to breathe
easier. But he was still in pain and very scared. He had no idea what was
happening to him, and it terrified him.
"He needs
to get to a hospital," Kevin said to the flight attendant. "Is there
any way we can land somewhere soon?"
"We're
over the ocean right now," she told him. "Let's see how he's doing
once we get back over land. We can make an emergency landing in Miami if we
have to. But with that oxygen mask on, he'll probably be alright until we get
to Orlando. It's not too much further."
"Okay,"
Kevin said uncertainly. "Thank you for your help."
The flight
attendant nodded. "Just call again if needs anything," she said.
"Okay,"
Kevin said. Then he turned back to Brian.
"How are
you doing, buddy?" he asked.
"Okay, I
guess," Brian said, his voice muffled from the mask.
"Okay,"
Kevin said. "Just hang on. We'll be home soon."
Brian closed
his eyes for a few minutes. Then he opened them again. "I'm cold," he
said. Kevin called for the flight attendant again and asked for a blanket,
which she quickly brought. Kevin wrapped the blanket around Brian.
"That
better?" he asked. Brian nodded and closed his eyes again.
***
