Kairos: The right moment

It was the wrong direction. The commander had given him the wrong directions and from what Taekwoon could see from his position in the sky there was no make-shift airstrip for him to land on, let alone a well-built airstrip. His eyes shifted to the fuel indicator on the control panel of his Gloster Gladiator noting that he was running low on fuel. He cursed. the commander and his bull directions. He’d never make it in time to the new base at this rate. Cursing, he tried to contact someone through the crackling radio only to receive silence in response.

He’d have to make a landing here in the open desert or there would be no way his obsolete flight would stay in the air. Navigating the flight, he began easing it towards the ground. A dust storm was brewing below obstructing any visibility that Taekwoon could have; but with the lack of fuel it was important to get the damn machine on the ground. As the ground came closer, he relaxed, the rest of this mess could be figured out the moment his feet were on the ground. The old machine slowly descended towards the ground and Taekwoon began to unstrap himself from the seat.

The he heard the crack on the undercarriage making him flinch at the sound, the flight shuddered violently, sending his head forward into the controls as a piercing pain filling his head as he scrambled, trying to get out of the aircraft as quickly as he could. The rusty taste of blood filled his mouth as he struggled against the last of the straps, the plane rocked back and forth as another ear-splitting sound resounded nearly rendering him deaf. The next jerk sent him tumbling out of the seat templing hitting the control board as the movement blurred his vision and the smell of fuel filled his senses making his pulse picked up. He needed to get out of the aircraft, soon. With his fading vision, he hauled himself up before tossing himself off the machine. The flames that flew out of the metal along with the resounding explosion nearly masked the sound of bones cracking as they landed against the rock bolder the plane had crashed into. The impact threw him several feet away from the flames, yet he could feel the heat, the pain, the endless pain.

He hadn’t expected for things to end right before they began, but the way the darkness was taking over his vision, he was certain this was the end. Coughing out the smoke he had managed to inhale, he tried to breathe in the last of the dry desert air only to have sand and dust enter his lungs causing him to cough again. Apparently he wasn’t allowed the luxury of clean air as he died. Then again, he thought, so many people were dying in the war for far worse. This wasn’t a bad death. The young age of twenty three, somewhere in the desert, failed by his own ability to fly an old obsolete flight. They said your life flashed past your eyes, yet Taekwoon didn’t see anything. Just pitch darkness. He closed his useless eyes and didn’t wake.

It was that moment, that very moment where Taekwoon stood on the precipice of life and death trying to choose which way to fall. Yet all he could see was the endless dark void.