Story. Chapter Six
A Strange Cloud
As Andros Island behind them began to fade in the distance, a lump in Chloe's throat was getting larger. Her face flushed, and her pulse had increased. She wandered if Aunt Jessica had noticed the readings on the planes instruments. She had noticed how they were changing erratically. There was no apparent reason the instruments had become so erratic, moving up and then down. Chloe, had not ever experienced anything like this, and was not aware of anybody ever describing anything like this. The one exception was what she had read about a Navy flight out of Florida on December 5, 1945. They radioed back to their air base that they were experiencing instrument difficulties and unusual weather, and then the planes disappeared and were never found or heard from again. She believed there were several navy planes if her memory was correct. Chloe tried to dismiss these thoughts from her mind. The view from the plane had not changed and the sky was still blue, a few very small puffy clouds scattered in the distance. The plane seemed to be stable and yet something was amiss. Chloe had a strange feeling that reached to her very soul, and she remembered the old priest's warning to them. Chloe decided to try to bring the planes altitude down, everything seemed to be responding, and the periodical intermittent instrument gyrations for no apparent reason made Chloe think that maybe there was a short in the electrical system. Chloe and Jessica had been oblivious of each other's thoughts until they both noticed that in front of them there was a cloud that was growing larger. It was not like anything that either of them had ever seen before. Chloe pointed to the instruments and kept watching them. Periodically they changed for no apparent reason. In another minute, it became evident that the cloud was going to envelop them and the instruments gyrated more rapidly until they just froze and the mysterious cloud with changing colors that danced around in the cloud enveloped the plane. Chloe realized that she was flying blindly and had no idea, which was up, what was down, what was left or right. Chloe and Aunt Jessica had fear in their hearts as they had never had before, their hearts were racing, and fear had taken their breath. Aunt Jessica tried the radio but there was nothing, Jessica turned and looked at Chloe and she was holding onto the yoke with her hands clenched so tight that her knuckles had turned white and tears were streaming down her face. They both were thinking that they were going to die, and they did not want it to end like this. All of a sudden, the engine died, there was total silence, Chloe, and Jessica looked at each other and then in front of them the propeller was slowing down to where they could now see the individual blades. Chloe tried to restart the engine but there was no response and all of the instruments were motionless. Aware of their dilemma and futile attempt to restart the engine they watched the propeller blades. In what seemed like mere seconds they stopped entirely. The next event should have been that the plane would crash with no power, but for minutes and what seemed like hours they were suspended in midair. Not moving at first and then the plane began to move slowly backwards. As if a giant, hand was moving the plane backwards and down, down, down. Then the speed increased, but they were moving backwards in a perfectly level plane as if some giant hand had reached down, grabbed hold of the plane, and were pulling it as if it was a toy. Then everything around them was bathed in a bright white light that lit the inside of the plane with tremendous brightness. The Cessna pitched up abruptly and loud high-pitched sounds that increased in intensity until they found themselves putting their hands over their ears and grimacing. The sound that was so loud and intense, it was unbearable. Chloe was no longer conscious but had just slipped off into another dimension unaware of her surroundings and unaware of her destination. One moment they were in the sky with no problems and the next Chloe and the Cessna 182 had slipped into another dimension. Chloe was not aware that her Aunt Jessica was not with her but was at that moment being pulled from the ocean by some of the men on the very same fishing boat that they had seen on their way to San Andros. From San Andros they had left in superb weather and headed to Nassau. They had entered, "The Bermuda Triangle," an area that opened up space and time, a portal, and they had no control of the plane, engulfed in a mysterious cloud. Chloe being transported, to another dimension had left her world, friends, family and the life she knew. `Z*�|�O�