The Mysterious PassengerBy Storybird
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The Mysterious Passenger
By Storybird
Created on 29 Aug, 2023
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Jyotsna gazed out of the Boeing 737's window into the starlit sky. It was a normal night, except for the eerily quiet cabin. The flight was unusually empty, an oddity for the New Delhi to London route.
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The scent of dinner still lingered in the air as the crew dimmed the lights, creating a relaxing atmosphere for the passengers. All was quiet, except for the habitual hum of the jet engines.
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The flight assistance screen bleeped abruptly. A call from seat 43, economy class. Taking a deep breath, Jyotsna straightened her uniform and went toward the back of the plane.
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Seated there was an old lady. Her face twisted with discomfort. Without a word, the lady motioned to her throat, then pointed to the bottle of water in Jyotsna's cart.
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"I'm choking," the old lady rasped. Jyotsna's heart pounded. She dashed towards the pantry, trying to stay calm. She had to retrieve the water quickly.
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As she filled a cup with water, her mind raced. What if the lady needed more than water? What if she was having a heart attack? Could she handle this?
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But when she returned, the seat was empty. The lady was gone. Heart pounding, Jyotsna scanned the cabin but found no sight of her.
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She checked the bathroom, the overhead compartments, even under the seats. Nothing. It was as if the lady had completely vanished.
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She headed back to her station, her mind racing. Maybe the lady had moved to another seat? Maybe she was seeing things due to the late hour?
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"Seat 43?", her colleague questioned her when she mentioned the incident. "But no one's booked in there tonight. That section's empty."
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This was too strange. Jyotsna felt a shiver run down her spine. She double-checked the passenger list. True enough, seat 43 was never booked.
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She sat down for a moment, her mind racing. Was it just her imagination? A ghost perhaps? The idea made her shudder. She didn't believe in such things.
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She shared her experience with the other crew members. They were shocked, but chalked it up to stress and fatigue. They advised her to rest.
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But rest was the last thing on her mind. She spent the rest of the flight looking out for the old lady, but she never reappeared.
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As the plane landed and the sun began to rise, Jyotsna was filled with unanswered questions. She wanted to understand, to make some sense of what had happened.
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She searched the seat thoroughly as the passengers disembarked. Still no sign of the lady. Only a faint scent of her perfume remained, as if silently confirming her presence.
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Back on the ground, she could hardly focus. She spent a restless night grappling with the mystery and returned to work, hoping for some resolution.
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As days turned into weeks, Jyotsna's experience remained a mystery. Despite her best efforts, she found no explanation for the disappearance of the lady from seat 43.
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She continued working her regular schedule, always with the added vigilance. She often found herself glancing at seat 43, wondering, waiting.
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She never saw the old lady again. But her memory remained, a signal bleep on a late night flight, a brief encounter, and a lingering mystery.
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And so it was that seat 43 remained a mystery, a symbol of a strange encounter that left a lasting impression on Jyotsna's mind.
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With time, Jyotsna learned to accept the inexplicable. The incident became a story she shared with her close friends, a spine-chilling tale of a late-night flight.
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The passengers on her flights changed, but seat 43 remained constant. A reminder of the unexpected, of the mysterious, of the unexplained within the familiar.
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The years passed, and Jyotsna continued to serve in the sky. The memory of the mysterious passenger still lingered, as enigmatic and unforgettable as ever.
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If anything, the incident taught her to embrace the unknown and feed her curiosity. It made her job more than just a routine; it became an adventure.
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To date, the mystery of the disappearing passenger remained unsolved. But Jyotsna, forever vigilant, always remembered the lady from seat 43 — the passenger who never was.
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