Flight 774

By Mayra Araujo

Two completely different worlds brought together by supernatural forces are intertwined in this coming-of-age love story between two young people. It’s the year 2140 and the world is a different place from the one we know. Due to deforestation and ecological abuse, most animal species are extinct and something as small as a piece of paper is a thing of the past. The mother of Luke, a 17-year-old boy, is taking a company flight to New York City when the aircraft she is in vanishes in mid-air; she is believed to be dead. Soon after her funeral, Luke receives a strange message from his mother in the middle of the night. The hope that his mother may be alive and his need to locate her takes him and his best friend on an unbelievable journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Feb 28, 2022
• ISBN: 9781649791764

Mayra Araujo

Mayra Araujo is a Cuban-American fiction writer. She left her native country during her teen years and lived in Miami, Florida, for many years, where she learned the language and acquired a passion for reading and writing. Creativity has always been a part of her being. She enjoys painting and writing, as well as creating wonderful fictional characters that everyone is sure to love. God and family are at the center of all she does, and she credits them with all blessings and success that come her way. Today she lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and two young adult children. This is her second book.

Book preview

About the Author

Mayra Araujo is a Cuban-American fiction writer. She left her native country during her teen years and lived in Miami, Florida, for many years, where she learned the language and acquired a passion for reading and writing. Creativity has always been a part of her being. She enjoys painting and writing, as well as creating wonderful fictional characters that everyone is sure to love. God and family are at the center of all she does, and she credits them with all blessings and success that come her way. Today she lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and two young adult children. This is her second book.

Dedication

To Mom, my biggest cheerleader.

Copyright Information ©

Mayra Araujo 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Ordering Information

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Araujo, Mayra

Flight 774

ISBN 9781649791757 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781649791764 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021915039

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published 2022

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street, 33rd Floor, Suite 3302

New York, NY 10005

USA

[e-mail]

[phone]

Acknowledgment

Thanks to my mom and children for their support. Thanks to all the friends and family that believe in me and encourage me to continue writing and to all the readers who keep reading my books and give me the inspiration to write.

Chapter 1

Luke, wake up, or you’ll be late for school.

Her voice sounded too loud. It resounded inside his head. He tried to open his eyes, but it felt as if they weighed a ton. He had set the alarm for six and had pressed the snooze button twice without even noticing. It was now seven. The school bus will be there soon. He jumped out of bed half as sleep to hold the door close.

Mom! Privacy, please.

Nothing that I haven’t seen before, she replied, letting the door go. Hurry up and come down for breakfast I am about to head out. I wanted to see you and say goodbye before I go, your dad is driving me to the airport.

Sure thing, I’ll be down in a minute.

It took him only ten minutes to get dressed and brushing his teeth. Dressed in a pair of jeans, a long sleeve, navy blue shirt, and a backpack on his back, he came down the stairs.

The kitchen smelled of pancakes and coffee. His stomach churned. He didn’t know how hungry he was until then. Unfortunately, there was no time for breakfast. It was late. He would grab something to eat at school.

Got to go, Mom, Brian is waiting for me outside. He just texted me.

Are you going to eat before you go?

No, I am not very hungry, he lied. Besides, I’ll miss the bus.

Wait, aren’t you going to say goodbye to your mother? she yelled from the kitchen.

Sure.

He walked over and gave his mother a quick hug.

Got to go, Mom, really I don’t want to be late, see you soon.

Make sure you stay out of trouble and don’t stay up too late. Love you.

Will do! Later, Mom, he said as he walked into the decompression room, grabbed his helmet from the cubby hole, and put it on his head fastening the helmet belts under his chin. Graving the backpack, he closed the front door behind him.

Once outside, he ran to meet his friend Brian at the bus stop. It was an early spring morning. There was still a little chill in the air. It had been a hard winter, it seemed like the winter were getting colder and longer every year. He thought this last winter would never end. It had been days that they were not able to leave the house because of the frigid temperature and the wind. He was very glad it was spring. The few trees around the neighborhood seemed to shine in the morning sun with the light green color of newly grown leaves. A few flower buds were beginning to open. He breathed in the air inside his helmet, oxygen filled his lungs. He felt a little be more awake now. He had gone to bed around two a.m. the previous night playing games with Brian, way past his bedtime, now he has paying the consequences. Hopefully, he will not fall asleep in class and make a fool of himself, he thought.

Hey! Hurry up, the bus is coming! he heard Bryan yell from the corner. The few other kids standing at the bus stop, turned around to look at him for a minute, but then continued doing whatever they were doing.

He ran to meet Brian just in time to catch the bus which came to an abrupt stop with a loud screeching noise.

The door to the bus opened to let them in the first chamber. Another door opened granting them access to the inside of the school bus, the inside of the bus was white and sterile; the windows were sealed shot; the many other students in the bus socialized, worked on their schoolwork, or simply looked out the windows. No one paying much attention to the newcomers. They found an empty seat toward the back of the bus, sat down, and removed their helmets and book bags, placing them on hooks provided on the side of their seat.

We have to stop staying up so late. I almost missed the bus this morning. Besides, I had to hear it from my mom.

I know, my dad was on my case about it this morning, too. Did you finish the oral presentation slide for lit? asked Bryan.

No, I didn’t remember, but I think I will have a little time to work on it in home room, I’m almost done.

Luke tried to concentrate on looking out the window to stay awake. His eyelids felt heavy. The outside scenery was desolated. A lot of arid terrains. The color of the ground was a greenish gray. The grass that once grew on it was long gone. Every now and then, they would pass a community consisting of a cluster of different color houses. The houses were painted in bright colors to compensate for how somber the scenery was. They were trying to infuse some life back into the lifeless soil. The houses were surrounded by a wall that stretched all around it, encasing the community. On the outside of the wall were a few trees, placed here and there for esthetic reasons. Lab-grown trees, he knew. Other than that, there was nothing, empty lots. No one walked the streets. Even though the sun was out, and the sky was clear, its grayish color resembled a big sheet of galvanized stainless steel. He had never seen the sky any other color.

The bus finally arrived at school. The school building was a tall and modern structure, State of the art with all the modern conveniences available. Its gray metallic walls stretching to the sky. The building’s many windows did not open. They were constructed with special engineered glass that blocked the sunlight and protected them against its harmful U.V. rays. The school was equipped with an advanced air conditioning system that produced and provided oxygen to the entire school. This school was one of the most reputable schools in the area.

The school bus entered the interior parking lot on the side of the building. As the bus approached, the glass doors of the building opened to let the bus in closing automatically behind the school bus. After getting out of the bus, every student hung their helmets in a cubicle with their respective name written on it at the school entrance and past the school metal detective machine.

See you in lit class, said Luke, walking to his first period in a hurry to get to homeroom and finish his project.

The school day was uneventful. Luke was able to finish his project on time for class and was almost sure he was going to get good calcifications. During lunch, he sat with Bryan and a few other friends. They sat around making small talk and horsing around. The big screen school monitors on the walls of the school cafeteria went on over the news reports. No one was paying any attention to it. Suddenly, an alert came on, making everyone’s head turn to the computer screen. Right after the long beep sound ended, a news reporter solemnly spoke:

We interrupt this program to report an accident. Flight 774 with destination to New York City had apparently exploded in midair while passing through Massachusetts. We still don’t know all the details of the accident. The last time the pilot had any communication with the towers, a big explosion was heard over the voice of the pilot and was recorded by the tower phone. No survivors for the looks of it. We will know more once we recuperate the plane’s black box. The accident still being investigated by the authorities; we will let the public know more as soon as we hear from the investigators. This is a very sad and unexpected tragedy…

The reporter kept talking, but Luke wasn’t listening anymore.

Everyone’s eyes were glued to the computer screen. One could hear a pin drop. Luke felt a chill going down his spine. He felt dizzy and cold, as if his blood had frozen in his veins, his heart accelerated, his eyes flutter to the top of his head, and he felt himself faint.

He woke up in the school infirmary lying on a hospital bed. The school nurse and a few of the students were hovering over him. He recognized Brian in the crow. He felt disoriented. It took him a couple of minutes to realize what had happened and where he was. He heard the school nurse ask if he was okay. His head hurt. His ears were buzzing. He tried to make himself remember, the events that had brought him there. Suddenly, the memories came back to him. The news report played back in his mind. He felt his throat constricting, his eyes filled with tears. The pain was too much to take in. His chest felt heavy, he could hardly breathe. He blacked out again.

Chapter 2

A few days later at the funeral, everything felt surreal. Standing next to his dad dressed in a borrowed black suit which made him look older than his age, he could not believe he was actually attending his mother’s funeral. His mind refusing to believe his mom was gone, dead. He will never see her again. The plane crash was investigated for days. The authorities had looked for any sign of the aircraft or survivor for days after not finding any plane debris or crash site. They had declared all the passengers as casualties. Even though the investigation of the accident was going to continue, they wanted to give closure to the victim’s families.

The funeral was held at their church, headed by their pastor. Hundreds of people attended the funeral. There were so many people that all of the seats were taken, the parking lot was full, and there were people outside waiting for the chance to attend the service. They all had come to pay respect to his mother and all the other casualties. The news of the plane crash was highly publicized. The aircraft was a private plane from the Avalon Science Institute, the company Luke’s mom worked for. Twenty souls were aboard the plane, his mom and nineteen of her coworkers.

Since the bodies weren’t recovered from the accident, the family and friends of the victims had deposited objects in the caskets, possessions which had special meaning to the departed or something that reminded their loved ones of the deceased. Family pictures, letters, and mementos were being buried in place of the bodies of the victims of the accident. Many of the funeral attenders Luke had never seen before. Some were the family and friends of the deceased and others were people that had come to pay their respects, because they had seen the accident in the news.

The small church was too full. And Luke felt claustrophobic. He looked around looking for Brian in the crowd. After a couple of minutes, he finally spotted Brian making his way toward him. Brian’s mom was walking by his side. He