The cabin of Flight 1742 out of Denver was filled with the low, rhythmic hum of jet engines as it leveled off at 35,000 feet. For Clara Vance, a 38-year-old single woman flying home to Nashville, the trip was supposed to be completely routine. However, she was emotionally drained after spending four intense days in Colorado watching her younger sister get married.
Weddings had a strange way of pulling on loose threads people didn’t know they had left, and Clara’s brain felt fuzzy from too little sleep. Almost immediately after boarding the aircraft and buckling her seatbelt, the sheer weight of exhaustion won.
Before the plane had even finished its initial ascent, Clara leaned her head back against the cold window, closed her eyes, and let herself drift off into a deep, restless sleep. She completely missed the sounds of the cabin settling into the flight, entirely unaware of the subtle shift happening just a few rows away.