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Hi listeners, I'm Marley Martinez and I have a story I want to tell you.

A story about the passengers aboard a plane with an unknown destination.

So gather around and listen.

Close.

Let this be a warning to whomever come beyond me.

Let my hasty ink spots scratch, save someone's idiot son or daughter.

It's already too late for me.

I should have trusted my instincts, I should have screamed, let them drag me kicking, biting, spitting off that plane.

This warning I scrawl in secret on the corner of my complimentary napkin,

shoulders hunched as if that gesture might hide me.

I know they are watching.

The perspiration dripping down my nose tears, blurring my vision, fingers trembling so that the pen clacks an erratic heartbeat rhythm on the tray table.

They already have me. Let them watch.

I could say it started simple enough. It didn't.

Stepping into the cabin, I felt the air suck straight out of my lungs as if the pressure hadn't been properly adjusted and we were already in the air.

The stewardess's smile was fake and slimy. She curled her long red fingernails around my carry on bag like she might yank it from my hands.

I'll hang on to it, thanks.

I spoke with a shaky laugh. Stewardess laughed too. Mechanical and forced.

Suit yourself, darling.

It sounded like a challenge.

...