This chapter is dedicated to Ranger_of_the_North   (AKA: Miss Kiwi)

[For best experience possible, play youtube video and turn on sound whilst reading]

§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§*§

Basiphobia ~ Fear of falling

Miss Kiwi focused the camera out of the window but due to the thickening atmosphere all she could see was the silhouette of her reflection on the foggy glass.

A sudden wave of turbulence caused her hat to fall off and she sighed as she leant over to pick it up which wasn't easy considering how the economy class seats had recently experienced a downgrade in size due to some political-economic blah blah blah... She even pulled her hoodie hood over the cap to keep it more secure but nooo! No matter how tight she pulled the hoddie strings, each pulse of turbelance caused her hat to fall right off again. Any sane person would have just given up but not Miss Kiwi. No. She lived by one motto and one motto only.

"Everyone should wear hoodies always
- and caps."

She even had the motto graffitied on her wall at home which she promptly took a picture of and hung exacly ontop of said graffiti because why not? Photography was her hobby, except of course collecting hoodies and caps that is, and why have the real thing when you could have a picture of it instead. It might sound a little backward but she figured it was like having a twin. They looked the same (sometimes) and it was a lot cheaper then buying a souvenir. By having photos, Miss Kiwi could have the Great Wall, Eiffel Tower and Taj Mahal all in  her bedroom at once but one thing the damned turbulence didn't allow her to have was a clear shot of the sky! Sure, you could always just look out of your window but those had already been bordered up with photographs of fields during harvest time and you always need a picture of a clear blue sky just in case of a rainy day, right?

Another wave of turbulence knocked off  Miss Kiwi's hat and with another sigh she leant down to pick it up for the umpteenth time but this time as she sat up to replace the cap she found her head already occupied. It was occupied by an oxygen mask.

Without skipping a beat, red light flashed throughout the aisles of the plane and the atmosphere within became almost as static and tense as the growing storm outside.

"The oxygen masks have deployed only as a precautionary measure." The air stewards stood up, as they do whenever they give the talks that nobody really listens to. "Please don't panic and remain calm."

Miss Kiwi rolled her eyes. Yeah, as if telling someone to remain calm ever wor-

Yet another bout of turbulence bombarded the plane, interrupting Miss Kiwi's thoughts but just as she proceeded to follow up with a hat pick up, it escaped her - or rather it escaped the plane entirely.

One second the hat was on Miss Kiwi's head and the next it was flying by here window alongside the door that had just been ripped off of its hinges. The sudden change in atmospheric pressure caused Miss Kiwi's head to slam into to chair in front of her and if the situation was any other she would have pursued to take a photo of the now scarlet stream of blood being sucked out of the fresh cut and out of the doorless doorway.

For some reason, amongst the growing havoc Miss Kiwi remained calm. She had been in more dangerous situations before but as long as she had a solid footing beneath her, very little frightened her. It was just a doorless plane, right? They probably have a spare door out back anyway.

Tightening her hoodie strings to drown out the noise, Miss Kiwi stared down at her beloved camera and then enlightenment struck. Not many people, if any, have taken a clear shot of a doorless plane and this was the perfect opportunity. Raising the camera, Miss Kiwi chose a spot but just in the same way enlightenment entered through the open doorway, so did tragedy.

Faster than a shutter click, Miss Kiwi's camera was torn from her grasp and headed towards the doorless doorway. Any sensible person would have let it go but Miss Kiwi had already lost a cap today and she was no way in Hell going to lose her camera too!

Unbuckling her seatbelt much to the air-stewards dismay, Miss Kiwi promptly dived after her camera, throwing all common-sense out of the window, or doorway in this case. With the help of air pressure, Miss Kiwi was soon reunited with her camera but at the same time she was also reunited with her longstanding fear of falling.

Her fear only grew larger as the distance between her and the plane expanded but what she didn't know was why the plane seemed to descend while she continued to rise. The problem stumped her sudden fear but it wasn't long before it was back. The reason she was rising comparatively was quite simple. The plane was crashing. Oh, and she was now trapped in a tornado?

A gust of hot wind pushed Miss Kiwi higher and higher and except for the occasional house that flew past, the experience was weirdly comforting. She didn't know why exactly but it probably came down to the fact that she was terrified of falling so rising wasn't really a problem. As long as she stayed within the rising current it would be fine but what happens when it dissipates? What happens when she is subjected to the eye?

Like a self fulfilling prophecy or having become the plaything of an almighty God like in the Sims, Miss Kiwi suddenly felt a lot lighter and the sky finally became the clear blue she desired. Without skipping a beat, Miss Kiwi began to feel herself fall and alongside it was her consciousness. Miss Kiwi watched as the ground, once so far away, came zooming into view and she was glad that the lack of oxygen caused her consciousness to slowly drift away.

The ground got nearer and nearer, ants becoming skyscrapers, twigs becoming trees. Miss Kiwi screamed but just like in space, within the vacuum of the tornado, nobody can hear you scream. Miss Kiwi could envision her body splatting against the ground like a tomato as she entered the city's skyline but thankfully just before her head touched the pavement, her sight went black.