I wouldn't call it Déjà Vu, but I definitely experienced something like that on our plane ride to Dublin today. Since school's out, my ACT studying is finito (praise God), and I'm definitely not ready to tackle the assigned summer reading book "Steal Like an Artist", I found myself in a very unusual position during our turbulence-tastic travel. For the first time in months, I was "not busy", dare I say "bored", and with limited battery and no internet, I had to resort to something many 21st century teenagers consider primal: reading... for fun! *gasp*
Because she probably doesn't want my brain to rot, my mom saw this trip as a perfect opportunity for me to read a best-selling novel called "Left Behind", and I packed the book, thinking "why not?" Okay, sure, I already knew the premise of the story, but I think a few unsettling details were left out of it because, let me just say, simply reading the first two chapters gave me shivers.
To give you some lovely context, this book is about the Rapture, where, according to Christian belief, Jesus comes back to Earth at the end of the world and takes all the Christians to Heaven. However, all of the non-believers are unfortunately "left behind" to face unpleasant trials, hence the title.
The book literally begins with a pilot flying an airplane from the O'Hare airport in Chicago with the intentions of landing in Paris, France (Connect the dots, guys). However, as I somewhat predicted, about 100 people in his plane vanish out of thin air. In fact, the only remnants of those who are taken are their shoes and clothes, which are abandoned at the site of disappearance. The other poor people are left in a world of utter madness, where loved ones have gone missing across the globe. (Now, there's way more, but this is a blog post- not a book review). Just understand that I had multiple cringe attacks while reading this, considering how "immersed" I felt in my tiny plane seat... destined for Europe. Talk about a book coming to life!
And call me a superstitious over-thinker, but the gears in my head started to click in a different way after my reading. See, I think my parents' biggest worry for me on this trip was getting lost. Now, with relief, I can tell them "Hey, I mean, at least it's not the end of the world. Right?" (I'm smiling at how pitifully terrible that would go over).
Anyway, my last thought would be "Thank Jesus we're doing a pitstop in Ireland!" I think, if anything can stop fate, it's the luck of the Irish.
Paranoid but still SUPER-excited,
Emily Dwyer
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