The Time I Thought I Would Die
Before you start reading this, you should know two things about me; I panic easily, and I am an early person.
The latter i.e. being an early person can be a good thing and a powerful weapon because it means I get things done way early and you can count on me to never be late to morning functions. The former, not so much. So, you would understand why I told my talent manager at work to book an early morning flight back to Abuja from Ibadan because morning trips or morning anything is simply the best, no caps.
My first alarm goes off at 4 am; the second one beeps at me at 4:30 am. During this gap, I stretch in the bed and indulge in scrolling through my phone. I stumble towards the bathroom and splash good cold water on my face. Yup! time to get ready for my 8.00 am flight since the cab man had been instructed to come to pick me and my colleague up by 6.00 am because of the traffic in Ibadan (also, what’s up with that Ibadan People? the traffic is competing with that of Lagos o).
At 7:00 am, we are at the Ibadan Airport. If there is one thing Ibadan Airport knows how to do well, it is never open the airport early and keep the passengers outside, standing, and waiting. Not even the long wait would dampen my mood on this fateful morning because I am thrilled to just go back home after weeks of travel. We are outside the airport for almost an hour when a fleet of Hilux jeeps drives in (Nigeria dignitaries starter pack…must be nice). The officers in uniform jump down and start to bring out travel bags. They make their way into the airport and the attendant informs them to wait. In my mind, I am like “yeah, y’all gonna wait like every other person.”
It’s 8:20 am, and everyone is on board (hallelujah. No delay). Trying to buckle my seat belt and the safety briefing begins “Welcome to …you must fasten your seat belt blah blah… (nobody ever listens to the safety demonstration. Have you noticed?). Anyway, the pilot activates his microphone and says “Good morning Her Excellency, ladies, and gentlemen…” oh wow, that’s interesting. I am flying with a first lady, I said, thinking out loud. I look to my right and sitting across from me were two Security Service agents sitting directly behind two women and another set of security service agents sitting directly in front of me.
No wonder, that explains the convoy and protocol. Immediately, I pick up my phone to search for a picture of Oyo State First day. The picture pops up and it doesn’t match any of the women. I try again. Google do your thing… Osun State First day? Still no…Kano First lady? (Because I remembered distinctly that one of the agents spoke Hausa). Still no. At this point, I give up and slip back into my thought “how does it feel to be the first lady?” “Will I one day become the first lady” “either way Abby, you will be a great woman” I conclude.
I gaze out of the window at the runway as the plane is about to take off. The cloud is gloomy like it would rain but the flight would have been delayed if the weather was bad, right? Well, putting my trust in God and the pilot, I place my AirPods in my ear and lean back with my eyes closed.
10 minutes into the flight, it seems to come out of nowhere, but suddenly, I start to feel uneasy. Something is not right. The aircraft instrument lights start flickering. Turbulence is a normal occurrence when flying but this is different.
The plane shakes slightly, eh! What was that? In less than a second, the plane dissolves into total pandemonium. I look around me frantically, hoping to gauge people’s reactions to know if I should be saying my last prayer. I have never seen a plane convert into a church that quickly as everyone on board begin to shout and pray in different languages.
Every movie about plane crashes starts playing in my head and it didn’t help that two weeks earlier, my friend had talked about the Dana plane crash, and I went back home to read more about it. All I could think about is God I don’t want to die like this. I can’t die like this. I imagine my body burning into ashes and the excruciating pain I would feel if the plane should crash. I saw the headline boldly written and my name being added to the statistics. The feeling that enveloped me was more of terror and fear than I have ever felt before.
I understand that a thousand times, people are more likely to die in a car crash than a plane crash, but I don’t even want any. Immediately I start quoting verses in the book of psalms that talk about God coming to rescue his children. And to think that flight attendants experience this every day, as a JOB! I would have a nervous breakdown.
To be honest, I didn’t know I had so many bible verses in me like that. I instantly change the song playing on my phone to Dunsin Oyekan’s Imole De (Thinking about it now that song was so spot on because we were flying through dark thick clouds and slowly, I could see a bit of light somewhere). I gripped my colleague’s hand like a pregnant woman in labor. My heartbeat was climbing fast.
One of the supposed first ladies is praying too even though she appears to be scared as hell ( she doesn’t know it but in that terrifying moment she reminded me of my mum and her prayers were more of assurance that we won’t die today because she prayed till we landed). The plane flips again and the screaming continues. I close my eyes tight and pray even harder. Then I remember another of Dunsin Oyekan’s songs that talk about the fragrance of worship turning into the fire and that was my cue to change my prayer from God help us to God thank you for giving us a safe flight. At one point the next song unknowingly to me was Overloading by Marvin crew and I skipped it like no! no! wrong time abeg.
30 minutes later and everywhere is now calm. The pilot’s microphone comes on and the first thing we hear is a sigh. At that moment I knew, omo, na God ride this plane o. He apologizes for the turbulence that it was unexpected, and he couldn’t communicate at that moment because he needed to be focused.
I wanted to shout drop me…I no dey go again but my sister how!? I am 35 thousand feet above sea level. I held my colleague’s hand all through because if we go through another round of turbulence, I’m climbing into his lap and screaming at top of my voice.
Upon landing my phone decided to play stand strong by Davido. I was like yeah, just the right song to end this flight.
Ladies and gentlemen, I know most people say turbulence is normal, but I disagree. Look, this is terrifying. There is no getting around that. There is nothing normal about knowing your chances of staying alive at that moment is a 50/50.
I doubt I would be flying anytime soon or booking a morning flight. I told a couple of friends, and they were like it’s normal…normal gini? I was shaking for like an hour when I landed. I just got home, ate, turned off my phone, and slept.
However, one thing is certain, many people might claim woke but in times of trouble, we all call on one name that is above all names, GOD.
Don’t forget to clap if you enjoyed reading this and tap the follower button to read more interesting content from me.
