Chapter 5 - The Open Doorway
The cockpit doorway remained open.
It had to.
Grace needed access to the cabin, the medical kit, the passengers, and any help they could provide.
But open also meant vulnerable.
She stepped backward just enough to address the passengers.
“Everyone stay out of the cockpit unless I call you.”
A woman in first class nodded quickly.
A man whispered, “Are we going to die?”
Grace did not answer that.
Not because she knew.
Because Malachi could hear.
Instead, she said, “You are going to stay calm so he can listen.”
The words worked better than comfort.
People needed a job.
Silence became theirs.
Grace pulled the cockpit jumpseat strap loose and wedged herself against the side, one hand still near the checklist, one eye on the doorway.
The aircraft jolted again.
Malachi hissed through his teeth.
“I’ve got it.”
The controller’s voice remained steady.
“Malachi, you’re doing well. Give me heading.”
Malachi read it out.
“Good. Maintain.”
Grace watched his face.
The name Isaiah Brooks had not made him stronger exactly.
It had made him more careful.
As if he knew he was holding not only a yoke, but a legacy adults had just placed on his shoulders without asking permission.
His eyes flicked once to the bronze wing pin.
Grace followed the glance.
“Your dad gave you that?”
Malachi swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Then keep it where you can see it.”
He nodded.
The cockpit light flashed across the pin.
For half a second, Grace saw him as his father must have seen him: a small boy asking questions near a simulator, memorizing switch names, loving the sky because someone he loved belonged to it.
Then the alarm pulsed again.
The moment vanished.
“Altitude?” the controller asked.
Malachi read it.
The controller paused.
“Okay. We need to level.”
Malachi’s lips moved silently, repeating instructions before acting.
Grace felt tears form but blinked them away.
Her eyes dropped again to the cup.
She noticed something else now.
One cup.
Two pilots down.
No spilled drink near the passenger side.
Her stomach tightened.
She did not say it aloud.
May you like
Not while Malachi needed a steady room.
Read Chapter 6 👉 Because Grace saw the scene around the pilots more clearly, but she could not investigate while a child was holding the aircraft alive.
