On Earth, Michael Gove, a well known smart ass and otaku, was living his normal daily life. He began the day by exercising followed by brushing of his teeth and bathing. He did this because he knew he'd be sweaty and have to bath after exercising. The television downstairs was left on while Michael's friends lay sprawled out in various positions around the coffee table. The young otaku made a detour to turn off the tv and made sure to kick all 3 of his friends awake.
"Wake up." he said to which he got groans as response. Michael repeated his actions of lightly kicking the trio.
"Wake up I say or I'm gonna steal all your girls and laugh in your face." he said.
"Fuck off." Kwame groaned as he threw a cushion towards the source of noise.
Michael snorted as he decided to bring out the big guns. A pair of water pistols.
After much screaming and cursing, all four friends were soaked to the bone along with a portion of the carpet. A trail of water and chaos marked their path around the house.
"Luckily, I'm going on a long trip today." Michael said with a shrug as they took note of the mess they'd made. Freddy and Kwame did their best to hide their reactions as Charles slinked up to the distracted brunette.
"Luckily" Charles repeated as he dumped a pail of water over Michael's head.
Michael was forced to join the clean up until his best friends practically drove him out of the house, shoving his bag at him so he wouldn't miss his flight.
He met up with the driver who been arranged to drive him to the company's private airport, Horizon Airlines. The man looked like an unapproachable man with his face drawn in a perma-frown.
'He doesn't look like someone who'll start sharing his life story.' Michael thought with relief.
He didn't hate talking to people per se, he just hated being distracted from a good read especially when he had nothing to say.
During the nearly 50 minute drive, Michael caught up on his favourite novels and manga. There were people who argued that he was too old for such stuff however to Michael, age was merely a number.
Before getting to the airport, Michael sent a text to his friends. They'd chewed him out for not alerting them whenever he arrived at his destination.
Michael: At de airport now. Putting phone on ✈ mode.
Charles: Aye. Stay safe.
Michael typed in 'Sure' for a reply then switched to flight mode.
With that out of the way, Michael rechecked his pre-downloaded novels.
"There's enough to keep me occupied for several days at the very least." with that thought, Michael reshuffled his playlist then began reding one of his downloaded novels.
"We're here." the driver said all of a sudden, startling the young man.
"Ah right." Michael said stupidly having forgotten why he had had to download the novels in the first place. "Thank you." he added as he grabbed his stuff. He might've 'dropped' some money as he left the vehicle.
When he arrived at the place he was to meet his co-workers after a short walk. He was neither too early or late however he spent a few minutes marvelling at how much luggage his co-workers had packed for what was to be a 3 day trip.
Michael greeted everyone and took the seat furthest from the others. They were absorbed in their own activities and barely paid Michael any mind.
Before long, everyone was seated and the plane was ready to take off. Michael took a Window seat with a blessedly, empty seat next to it. One of the employees had called in sick and thus, Michael had no need to endure some long tales he couldn't be bothered about.
It was unfortunate, however, that his beautiful dream of having to sit by himself was shattered when a thin man who reminded him of a weasel took said seat.
"Hi." the dreamcrusher greeted with a smile. "This seat isn't taken, right?" he asked despite having sat down already.
'Yes, it is. My ant, Dreams of Solitary Flight, was there and you just smothered her.' Michael thought as he stared blankly at the man.
"...no." he said instead. The brunette turned his attention to his phone and plugged his ears and turned up the volume.
"Thank goodness." Michael moght have wondered how he could still hear the man perfectly over the loud music.
"Is this your first time?" the rodent asked again.
Michael feigned ignorance of the man's attempts to interact with him and allowed him to drone on as he wished.
"What are you reading? It must be interesting." Michael glanced at the smiling man in irritation before he realized something he hadn't noticed before.
"Do I know you?" he asked. The man seemed to smile even wider as he replied.
"Do you?"
Before Michael could think of what to say, the aircraft shuddered as darkness seeemed to settle around it.
"What's happening?" someone asked, voicing everyone's collective thought.
Michael looked out the window to find that clouds had surrounded the plane and he could only barely make out the shape of the plane's wing.
Michael lowered the volume of his song to listen as an air hostess detailed out the emergency procedures they were to take while stressing the need to stay calm.
Michael was probably one of the least calm people at that moment however, he had always had a ' It's not real if I can ignore with.' mindset. Nevermind that he couldn't possibly ignore the way the plane rocked or the creaking sound that just wouldn't go away.
That last thought gave Michael pause. Creaking? His song was on full blast, right? When he checked, it wasn't. He amended that mistake however the creaking wouldn't stop.
'I shouldn't have come.' Michael thought in trepidation. 'I should have called in sick.'
The creaking sound seemed to get worse and Michael wished with all his will that it was just his mind playing tricks on him after all, creaking was a sound that usually heralded unfortunate events.
Finally unable to curb the urge to look towards the sound, Michael looked up. There was nothing, thankfully.
It was then that Michael realized that his co-workers, even the annoying talkative were strangely silent. Under such circumstances, there would usually be 1 or 2 brave souls voicing their dissatisfaction.
At the thought, he raised his head to check on said brave souls however after a quick survey, he quickly returned his attention to his phone.
He tried to read, tried to cover what he had seen with the perfect worlds in novels. However tears wouldn't stop flowing as he thought.
'It's just a dream.' the rest of his co-workers now sported heavily rotted skin with barely any hair on their scalp. There were a few who had lost the flesh over their bones.
Instead of reading, Michael struggled to keep whatever noise he made to a minimum.
Suddenly, the creaking became more pronounced and the sounds of panic smothered the silence. The situation wasn't any better but Michael would pick panicking people over whatever it was that he saw.
A few people struggled out of their seats but the otaku remained frozen in his. A screech tore through the chaos and Michael felt as if his very brain would rebel against him.
Without a sign, Michael fell into blissful unconsciousness.
As it goes. Michael would wake up to find himself in a terrible situation