The Forbidden Truth: Where’s Annabelle?

Zainab Hakim

I paused "Throw Momma From the train" on the LCD screen and held
my headphones down the back of my neck waiting for the young, perky,
airhostess to waddle down the airplane my way. I asked her how long we
had left until the landing of the landing of the airplane as she waved back her
long, flakily coloured, red fringe from her face revealing a small, pale, face
with muddy-brown eyes to big to match the rest of her small feminine
features.
She answered with a high-pitched childlike voice, “There’s,
approximately, fifty-five minutes left, sir. Anything else?”
“No, thank you.”
She nodded once then continued on her journey to the back of the isle,
the same time I carried on the movie.
And then it happened. The small, chubby, blond girl in front of me
started her loud cry when all of the screens went blank. As annoyed as I was
with the cut of my movie nothing beats the suffering I’m going through
caused by the rat nearby. I’ve always hated children, found them really
annoying, but screeching children equal to living hell.
This plane was pretty empty besides the thirty-something scattered
people around it. The airhostess was apologizing in front to the mob of
complaining travellers about the screen cut, the same moment the sun-tanned
mother next to the screaming rodent was trying to put her child’s screen back
on and failing.
I lowered my head, leaning it against that chair in front of me, and
started to join the frustrated passengers around by using God’s name in vain
and some colourful words towards the company I paid a large sum of money
to - expecting to get a peaceful ride home in return.

But it wasn’t all bad, the beef lasagne I got on the house was slightly
over salted (just the way I liked it) and the screeching rodent did eventually
shut up after-
“Oh mamma, I won’ Bugs Bonnie. Where’s Bugs Bonnie?”
“Sweetie, Bugs Bunny went to sleep, if you sleep now you might get a
chance to see him.” the pretty blond mother said with great enthusiasm in
her voice.
“But mamma -” she was cut by her loud yawn “- I’m not tired.”
I, then, saw the mother putting one arm - cluttered in bangles - around
the child’s shoulders and tucked her under her collarbone, humming the tune
to “Mockingbird”. Her soft voice was so soothing I decided starting to sleep
now would feel quite luxurious.

A small, sweet, sleep later I was woken by a loud shiver-down-your-

spine screeching sound, which felt like it started right in the centre of my
head, instead of going through my ear. I shut my eyes tight, as it took me a
while to figure out that the sound, in fact, came from in front of me. Oh,
God, someone please shoot her. Although she was the loudest of the noise,
there were a lot of other “Hay!”'s, “Whats!”'s, and a grumbled “Well, this
just gets better by the second”, from the row behind me. I opened my eyes
wide, but that didn’t do much good.
Black. Pitch black.
I turned my head around to try and find a clue to what was going on,
but my sense of sight vanished along with the light that surrounded me.
Because of this inconvenient incident my ears, automatically, became
stronger. Therefore the surrounding reactions to the problem sounded closer.
Which, besides the screech in front was comforting, as it made me feel like I
wasn’t alone in the aggravating scenario.
But the she stopped. The girl in front stopped the loud ring escaping
her trap mid-scream. How very peculiar. It doesn’t end there; the lights and
screens came back on a half second later. They were so strong I felt like a
blind man seeing the sun for the first time.
On top of the low toned relived comments around was a high-pitched,
shaky, and exceedingly worried, “Annie? Oh Annie, where are you?
Annabelle! ANNABELLE!”
Her last cry was a cold shriek as the woman started to rise from her
seat before unbuckling her seatbelt with shaky, long-nailed, hands. She
bumped into the red-headed airhostess shouting for her daughter. Everyone
turned to stare with puzzled expressions of why the woman was screaming,
“Where is she?! Where’s my baby?!”
The airhostess - named Kate I noted from her name tag - held the
woman by her shaky shoulders trying to steady and soothe her. The
surrounding expressions looked more annoyed than worried for the woman
with the missing child, so I rose from my own seat before undoing my
seatbelt with a third of the time it took the woman to do it. I rushed to them,
willing to help with the search. I knew there was no time to introduce myself
so I skipped the greeting and asked the airhostess, Kate, if they’ve checked
the toilet.
“No, she’s neither there or the kitchens we-”
 She was cut by the woman shouting in my face, with not only worry,
anger, but also accusation visible in her grey-blue eyes, “Where is she, my
baby?! Where is my beautiful Annie?! Have you seen her?! Do you know
where she is?! Give her to me! Give her to me right now, you pervert!”
I grabbed her by the wrists, as she raised them trying to punch me on
the chest, and explained in a low voice, “Ms., let me help you,” I gave her
arms back and held her right hand firmly in my left, “lets go around the
plane and ask if anyone has seen your child.”
She eventually steadied vibrations and nodded to me, all evidence of
accusation gone in her eyes. I lead her towards the isle where we found a
short haired dark-skinned woman with a old bold-headed deeply-wrinkled
man in the seat beside her, “Excuse me Ms.,” I started as the old man
seemed to be snoring, “have you seen a child about the age of four, with
blonde ringlets coming down to her shoulders?”
“Annabelle,” the mother rushed out of her mouth before the dark-
skinned woman could answer, “Her name is Annabelle.”
“I’m sorry; I can’t help you there. No kids have come my way through
out the awkward ride.” she answered in a strong French-Caribbean accent.
I nodded once and pulled the woman down with me, pacing towards a
middle-aged man, reading a book through thick glasses that made his eyes
like look probably double their natural size, a few rows away.
But before we got there the airplane speakers called out an emergency
message that everyone’s attention was suddenly pulled towards; “Excuse
me, ladies and gentlemen, a child was reported missing right after the
blackout incident named Annabelle Daime. She’s just over three feet tall
with blonde curls and blue eyes. She’s wearing a pink skirt and a green
jumper. If you see her please report to anyone of the hostess right away. But
besides that we wish you a warm ride until the half-hour yet to come till the
landing of the plane.”
When the message was done I saw the mother - damn, I should
seriously ask for her name - nod in satisfaction.
We carried on our journey to the man with the goggled-glasses but
were cut by the same blackout before we got there.
Although the problem was exactly the same than the previous
blackout, this one felt different. I no longer felt accompanied to the vision
wipe-out by the surrounding passengers, because there was no sound at all;
as if both my sense of sight and hearing was unexpectedly taken away but as
I concentrated, I did recognize the sound of heavy breathing feeling closer
than it should. Closer, closer, closer. Then I felt tight pressure pressed into
my right hand digging into my palm and fingers. I was just about to jerk my
arm away until I remembered to whom I offered my hand to hold to. The
person causing the pressure was the woman who had just lost her child in the
previous blackout. I suddenly understood why she was in need of comfort
right now so I tugged back into her hand in return.
The breathing noises still felt as if they were getting closer by the
heartbeat, but the space around me felt so wide and empty, it felt like I was
alone with the woman and the space was widening along with the breathing
getting closer. Closer, closer, closer. Wider, wider, wider…..
I then heard the woman next to me sobbing loudly and painfully by
my side; she started to shake vigorously through her bony hand into my
thick fingers.
I felt a strange urge, I’ve never felt before, to soothe her, to grab the
skinny tops of her arms firmly and whisper, “It’s ok, we’re gonna get
through this. I promise you and your baby are gonna be safe and well very
soon. Trust me.’’
But I was frozen to my steady formation, unable to even flinch. I felt
the strange sensation as if moving any part of my body would call in the
violent noises to grab me and take my life away.
Suddenly I heard a low broken whisper by me, mumbling, “It’s
coming. It’s coming for me. I could feel it. He’s biting my bones.”
Before I could panic about her last line, the lights came on. Again I
felt like I was staring at the sun unwontedly. Everything around me was how
it originally was but it felt like my surroundings were now clinging to me. I
felt a sudden wave of claustrophobia, which was so new; it sent a cold shiver
down my spine.
The frightening noises were washed away replaced with relived sighs.
I slowly turned myself towards the woman - who still grabbed my
hand as if her life depended on that tug alone - with a confused expression
you would be a fool not to recognize. But when I faced her she was staring
wide-eyed at something behind my left shoulder. I turned my torso around to
figure out what was scaring her, but there was nothing new there, so I turned
back to her and she stared right into my eyes. Her expression was still in that
frightened mask. My eyes bore into hers in question. I realized I’m not going
to get any answers by plainly staring at her, but I couldn’t get my mind into
asking her what I needed to know. As I stared into her deep grey-blue eyes
my train of thought got lost in them. My bearings, lost in them. I tried to pull
myself away but the depth in her wide glittered eyes wouldn’t stop. They
kept twisting my soul into them, not physically but mentally. I could stay in
this position forever and still have the same feeling I had the first second I
was dragged into the privet galaxy they built.
 I could but I didn’t. My attention was taken away as I heard a loud,
high-pitched, agonized scream. I automatically clicked myself into gear
rushing towards the cry. I stopped when I found that same red-headed
airhostess shaking with her hands clutched tightly to her mouth. I turned my
gaze to where her panicking expression was set and froze.
My eyes were set on the most horrific image I have ever seen. On a
once empty seat in the middle of a once empty row sat a small figure. It was
a three foot body with skin paper-pale that clung to its bones like there was
nothing in between them. Its bottom half was wrapped in a dark pink, pink
socks, and shiny black shoes that hung loosely on the sack of bones. The top
half was bare with a ghastly tare of the white skin forming a wide hole from
the left shoulder down to the right hip, showing hollow insides. Every
muscle, piece of fat, inside organ, tube and virtually every blood cell was
drained away - leaving the rib-cage and back spine hung in an empty dark
cave. The face hung from the bent thin neck looking like the head was about
to role off to the right side of the seat and down to the floor. The face was
also colourless, including the crumbled thin lips. The eyes were also a
horrific scene in their self’s; the eyelids were ripped off revealing two deep
pitch black caves. When I saw the mass of gold ringlets hanging down from
the head to the shoulders I realised whose life was drained away leaving the
body figure.
Five long seconds after I got to what the scream was let out for the
woman - clicked out off her own trance - followed behind me. When she laid
her eyes to what was left from her baby she sucked in a huge supply of air
into her lungs ready to be let out as the screech I was expecting from her,
but, before she could exhale, she collapsed backwards. I curled myself to
catch her before she hit the ground. My reflex action succeeded and I caught
her from the back in my arms and she fell, head first, into my wide chest.
I put her down on an empty row, many rows away from the dead
body, and wrapped her in a thick blanket brought by Kate. I sat by her,
pitying her, and then noticed a gold band around her left ring finger. Well, I
thought, at least she’s not alone in the loss of her child.
“Um, sir?” Kate called by my other side. I turned to see what she
wanted. “Would you like anything to drink? Coffee, tea, mineral water,-”
“Water, thank you.”
“Right.”, she turned and left to get what I ordered.
She was back, a few moments later, holding a tall glass of ice water. I
didn’t realise just how dry my throat was until I drank down my first sip, so
then I decided to gulp down the whole lot in one go. When I was done,
feeling refreshed, I turned to give Kate back the glass and noticed she was
staring at me in amazement. She shook her head, side to side, trying to
steady herself enough to get the glass from me. She took it but made no
move to return it back where she got it from.
As she stood there, staring at the woman, I watched a ball of moisture
escape the corner of her right eye. I haven’t cried since I was a child and I
wondered how crying would feel for a man in his early-thirties.
“What are you guys planning to do about this?” I asked her.
“Right now lets make sure she-”, she motioned to the woman, “- lands
in a living state, get her to a doctor and then we will gather some scientists
for a explanation about the tragic catastrophe that just occurred. We decided
that, until then, there’s no need to turn all of our passengers insane.”
I nodded, knowing that was probably the best solution to the scene.
“How long do we have left?”
“Till landing?”
I nodded.
“Between twenty and fifteen minuets.”
I nodded again turning myself back to the woman.
“Thank you, sir... I wouldn’t have been able to deal with this without
your help.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“If you prefer.”
Just then, the woman started whimpering lightly, fluttering her thin
eyelids and shuffling her shoulders and arms to yawn. She looked at me a
moment later, “Annie?” she asked, in a low whisper.
I’ve never given a thought on how you explain the death of a small
girl to her mother before. Although, I was now feeling very nervous I opened
my mouth, anyway.
I looked down to my feet and said, “I’m… so sorry… she’s… she’s
dead.”
“Would you… like to see her?” Kate added.
“No.”, she answered bleakly and quickly, too quickly, I thought.
The woman shrunk back deeper into the seat, wrapped in the blanket,
her expression blank as she store at the seat in front of her. She looked
totally lifeless, as if when whatever took her baby’s life away stole her own
soul along with it.
“Go get her some water.” I ordered Kate.
She turned and left, starting to cry again.
When she came back she was standing on the other of the row to stand
beside the woman - instead of me (seriously melodramatic) - and stretched
her arm so she could take the glass from her, but the frozen woman made no
move to get it. She just kept staring at the chair in front of her, lifeless. Kate
left to carry on her job as if nothing happened. I guess she found some guts
left in her.
I made no move to get away. Five long minuets later the woman
flinched. Not literally flinched, she only started raise her hands a few
centimetres, but because she’s been so motionless she looked hesitant about
her movements. When her hands were on level to her tummy she stroked her
left hand with her right fingertips. As if to make actions clearer she brought
the fingertips of her right hand to the gold ring she wore and started to fiddle
with it, twisting it side to side, pulling it up and down.
She opened her mouth and her low-toned - almost unintelligible -
voice was just as shaky as her hands, “How… am I… going to… explain
this… to him?”
Her facial expression was still blank but the way her state was set
gave me an impression she was burning in the inside.
“Your husband?” I asked.
I somehow knew she wouldn’t answer, but she couldn’t, anyway, as
the second I asked was the second all the speakers in the airplane let out a
loud metal scraping shriek that lasted three full seconds. With out a doubt,
the worst moment for my eardrums. Also in the same second all the screens
and lights on the plane flashed black then Wight three times per second. All
in all, a very uncomfortable moment. Then they (both the noise and lights)
froze on black and the noise muted. The plane froze. At first, I thought we
were moving backwards, but my senses were cleaver enough to know
weather or not an airplane moving was moving, no matter what the sudden
rush of air on my face hints.
The woman and I did not join the complaints echoing inside and I did
not bother to listen to the apologies nor the weak explanations from Kate
upfront - who was, probably, in the most uncomfortable position. I turned to
my left side - well nearly in the most uncomfortable position. No I was not
listening, instead, I was asking God for forgiveness for all my past sins and
praying I go to heaven after whatever it is going on through my ride home.
Before I was near finished my prayer the screams suddenly came back
on all showing the same unidentifiable image. The seaweed green figure was
hidden behind a white-grey sheet of smoke. I squinted to get a better idea of
what the figure really was and gathered it was big. It was covered in all the
dark green colours ever made layered in glistening scales. What I saw from
behind the smoke was that the scales were covering a huge oval shaped ball
with a wide grin-shaped hole on the bottom half. The whole widened
reviling loads of tall thin arrow shaped spikes all stuck together around the
bottom line. Luminous pink gung drizzled from the top line streaming down
to the bottom spears.
All of the awake passengers were frozen to their seats, petrified, not
one of them making a sound or any sudden movements. The woman next to
me, once again, squeezed my left palm in her right hand, slowly; I coiled my
fingers around her hand for my own support than to ease her fright.
The grinned-shaped hole let out a low-pitch grumbling sound for five
of my quickly paced heartbeats, which were drumming in my head.
Then the strangest sounds were now escaping the hole, the creator was
speaking, words in English. I sucked in a deep breath, bracing myself, as I
concentrated on identifying the words.
“Your… female child… felt good… the living… chemicals were…
good.”
“Like… drugs.” the woman next to me unexpectedly answered. On
top of being hugely petrified, I then felt very confused and self-conscious of
why I was hand in hand with a woman I’ve never met before but was now
communicating with an alien creature - that has just sucked her baby’s life
away - with confidence.
Right after the woman responded the creature let out another low
whimper and some more pink gung.
After that the woman continued, raising her voice, “But you… you
promised you would leave… I gave you what you originally wanted years
back, and you promised never to return after that.”
After another wave of a glistening, viscose liquid escaping the “upper-
lip” it grumbled, also raising its voice, “This is how… your world ends…
and you know I am right… you have… five years… be ready.”
A second after he was finished his explanation all the lights came back
on, all the screens back to their usual state, along with the airplane
continuing its journey forward.
She let go of my hand and I quickly jerked it away from her and clung
it to my chest, just encase she has any more intentions on grabbing it again. I
slowly turned my head, unwillingly, towards her, in question and, again, her
crystals were staring at me wide-eyed - so I lowered my eyes to stare at her
right shoulder instead.
“What…?” I shook my head, unable to gather what question was
going to give me an answer I would find useful to ease my confused,
dumbstruck, state.
“Can you keep a secret?” she asked me, in a low controlled voice.
“I… I… I don’t even know your name.” I responded in a hesitant
whisper. I was a complete nervous wreck.
 She inhaled a deep supply of air, leaned herself towards me and
whispered in my ear…

Sitting in a cab on my way home I started to wonder what was going

through the minds of the rest of the passengers (the awake ones, anyway)
who witnessed the scenario. Not much, I decided, as they obviously did not
hear what was said beside me to remotely understand what the message on
the screens really meant. So, anyway, they were probably over the moon
with the refund and were now peacefully sleeping of the death sentence sent
towards them all. As for the remains of Annabelle’s body, I’m sure - with
what she’s already had to deal with in her past - Annabelle’s’ mother would
have no trouble covering that up.
All to do now was to go home, feed Gargoyle (my bull-dog) take this
sweating suit of and collapse on my bed waiting to see weather or not my up
coming day would come.