A flight into darkness

The engines hummed a lullaby of dread as the plane cut through the ink-black sky, its lights swallowed whole by the clouds that gathered like silent sentinels. No stars. No moon. Just an endless stretch of shadow pressing against the windows, as if the night itself was alive and watching. In seat 14A, Mara clutched the frayed edges of her coat, her fingers twitching with the memory of a goodbye she never got to say. Somewhere behind her, a baby cried. Somewhere ahead, the dark waited.