_I’m just a little scared_, he says,

This boy sitting to my right,

Feet dangling, knuckles pale,

Staring not at the storm, but me.

The understatement of the century.

I should say something, anything,

But my tongue is just another failing instrument,

And my mind is busy, calculating distance,

Between fear and freefall.

_My Dad once flew_, he continues,

_His plane went down, and so did he._

I swallow. I nod. I want to say, sorry,

But apologies—the plane tilts—

Won’t smooth out this turbulence,

I don’t know if I’m breathing anymore,

Before we fall, I break the silence,

_Tell me what you’ll miss._

And so he does.

His best friend, waiting by the curb,

Their bikes kicking dust into the sun.

Sunday mornings, sticky with syrup,

Chocolate pancakes stacked so high,

He thought they might touch the sky.

Paper airplanes, thrown to the wind,

A science fair ribbon—plane dips again—

Helped by his hero, Dad’s steady hands.

I grip the controls tighter.

Late nights behind the bar,

Sneaking past jukebox songs,

Watching neon blink like stars,

Stealing sips of my Dad’s Michelob.

Learning pool—shot after strobe,

Never winning, never allowed,

Until one day, the final ball sank in,

And my Dad… smiled, his goofy grin.

Like it was him who had won.

And the night the game screen flickered,

A black void swallowing our pixelated world,

Until, in a moment of brilliance,

I simply turned it off, then on again.

And there it was, something changed,

He was now the hero of the day.

The boy beams,

The plane careens.

The wind sneers.

Something in my bones,

Something reckless, something foolish,

Lingering hope at the boy’s words.

I reach, flick the reset, hold my breath—

And the world stands still.

Then—

The engines roar,

The wings steady.

The sky… opens.

Beside me, the boy smiles,

_We made it!_

And I laugh, realizing we did.

Light is waiting when I step through the door.

The wind is still. The ground is sure.

And there, in flickering letters, I see it—

**Flight Simulator—Insert Coin**

But, by then, the boy is gone.

Or likely, he never was.