A Turbulent Lesson

Mr Sullivan taps the blackboard with a mostly used down green stick of chalk to draw our attention. The incessant tapping leaves a trail of dusty dots on the board like little green ants. You can tell Mr Sullivan's patience grows thinner by the tightly packed dots densely forming in some spots. However, these passive-aggressive taps do nothing to engage the class on the dreary topic of the thermal dynamics of the earth's atmosphere. All eyes in the room are willing the clock to hit five o'clock for this class to end.

Having arrived early, I was able to nab a window table to enjoy the last rays of the afternoon sun. Wearing my favourite oversized blue faded school jumper, I'm able to fashion it into a pillow as I lean the side of my head onto the window and pad my chin. It's also great for muffling my yawns from lack of sleep from too many video games the night before. With the disinterested class growing restless, the noise of banter grows and I take the opportunity to zone out. With no attempts to hide my not paying attention, I turn my head direct facing out the window.  The skin of my forehead is touching the cool glass of the window and I stare at the clouds floating above. I close my eyes momentarily.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I open my eyes and everything is foggy white. I blink several times and wonder what had happened to the afternoon sky I was just peering at. I attempt to turn back to the class but I can't move. I try to rub my eyes in an attempt to ail my failing sight however strangely I can't feel my arms either. I start panicking that I've fallen deeply asleep and my eyes are too heavy to lift.

With all my might, I urge myself to wake up from my microsleep and try to minimise the embarrassment of falling asleep in class. My eyes feel weighed down and with all my might I force my eyes wide open. Now even with my eyes open I still see what appears to be soft white pillows. Almost like a cloud.

Tap. I feel a sudden falling sensation as if a rollercoaster at its peak released its carriage full of passengers at the maximum point of suspense. But I was the only one for the ride. In the periphery of my vision, I now see a deep blue sky and it clearly feels like I'm falling backwards and the loud rushing of wind thunders passed my ears. I will myself once more to turn around and I now realise I'm hurtling towards the blue surface of the planet. This must be a dream I think.

I feel my face cooling as I move through the atmosphere and feel the moisture around me. As continue my hurtle downwards, I notice the warmth of something from behind. I twist my head and spot a sunset. Far off in the distance, this spherical blob glows and sits on the horizon like an egg yolk. This is an oddly realistic dream I think to myself. That even this amber glow is one I can feel, just like the final rays of sun I felt back in the classroom.

During my brief preoccupation with the sunset, I had fallen closer and closer to the earth. Trying to focus on my descent toward the earth's deep blue surface hoping it'll wake me up, I begin to notice life appearing. I see flocks of birds gliding together over the shimmering body of water. And there wasn’t just one type either, I noticed all sorts of birds. Oddly one bird appeared out of place with sharp, flat and rigid elongated wings.

Drawing closer, I began to realise this large silver creature was a plane. Its wings did not flap, there were no feathers ruffling in the wind and it just moved through space rigidly. It gave off a sense of anger. Unlike the birds around it which needed to take breaths and flap to remain up in space, this mechanical beast just forced its way through the air.

Tap. All the flocks of birds suddenly diverge from this plane's path. They must have known something was not right. Without realising it, because I was transfixed by the sight of the plane, I was heading directly towards it. This menacing plane was drawing me in. Panic set in even further. Our paths we’re going to collide. This was not a dream, it was a nightmare.

As the distance between myself and the plane shrunk, I could now hear the guttural noises that it was spewing out. The growing sounds of a constant violent roar disturbed everything around it. The noise was deafening and began to disorientate my bearings. And make a bad situation worse, I could smell a strong stench of fuel burning. I tried again with all my might to wake up.

A paralysing panic took full hold of my body and became helplessly numb. My crash course could not be changed. I felt like I was being reeled by the plane on some invisible steel rope. Under its large wings, I sighted a large turbine jet that clearly was the source of the deafening noises. This also seemed to be the source of the pulling forces. The more tried to resist, the stronger the pull and exponentially increased my speed. I tried again with all my might to wake up.

My vision started to blur and my senses completely warped. I lost all track of my bearings. Suddenly it was pitch black. I was pulled in alive by the turbine jet engine. A spinning motion was all I could comprehend. As I'm violently forced through this tunnel, I saw a small light at the end and just as suddenly as I was pulled in, I was equally spat out with equal disgust and swiftness.

After being completely warped and abruptly ejected, I kept spinning and spinning. I felt like passing out. Losing all sense of direction, I closed my eyes and let myself continue falling. As I resumed my descent, the rushing of air, wind and wisps of cloud started to give me respite from what horrible chain of events. As my lungs and nostrils began to feel refreshed. I began to stabilise and return to a smooth fall.

I welcomed the rejuvenating air rushing past me. I visualised spreading my arms, stretched, steady and wide, I felt the enormous energy of the air around me. Eyes still closed, the sounds which were once filled with loud roars now are replaced with the organic noises of blowing air. I open my eyes and surprisingly I can see all the movements of air, like beautiful ribbons, and magnificent strands of nature’s blue and marshmallow puffs of clouds all mixed in.

I spot the rich deep blue ocean below is now almost within reach. The surface seems to mirror the blue sky above. I see a small object on the surface of the water. I squint and make out that it's a single boat with a lone fisherman onboard. Like the plane before which is now long gone, my focus on the fisherman seems to once more draw me in.

In what feels like my final rush towards the earth's surface and to meet this fisherman, I close my eyes wishing for this nightmare to end. Just meters away from the boat I look into the eyes of the fisherman and they're familiar. It was Mr Sullivan.

Tap. In what appeared to be a cruel joke, I was violently whipped immediately back upwards, back towards the sky, back towards the white pillow clouds which I fell from not long ago.  I tried again with all my might to wake up.

I felt the familiar softness of my favourite jumper on my chin and the sensation of the cold glass on my forehead again. I had never been so happy to be back in this classroom. I was now able to open my eyes and actually turn away from the window. I saw Mr Sullivan at his desk doing what looked like marking homework.  

Mr Sullivan noticed my movement but kept marking his papers without looking up. "I hope your little daydream taught you something about the thermal dynamics of air because you can bet your sleepyhead it'll be in the test tomorrow" he said with what appeared to be a smirk.