This weeks Writer’s Carnival challenge : WHERE IN THE WORLD? You’re on a plane headed to New York, and you fall asleep. When you wake-up, you realize you’ve just arrived in a different world. In 750 words or less, explain where you are and how you ended up there.

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I felt sleep crawling over me even though I tried to resist. The warmth in the aircraft cabin and the movie being boring added up to the perfect recipe for a doze. I glanced at my watch. With New York still two hours away, I surrendered to the gentle sigh of somnolence.

“Sir, wake up.”

A sharp voice cut through the fog. I shrugged away the hand gripping my shoulder, shifted my ass back in the seat and wiped my hands down my face. “Thanks. Sorry. I fell asleep.”

A laugh as brittle as the smile pinned on the stewardess’ face tied my stomach in knots.

Billowing from behind her, the cabin of the aircraft was filling with smoke. The black acrid kind that I could taste as it emulsified on my tongue. My mouth dropped open in a silent exclamation.

The stewardess’ brows rose as she said calmly, “Please return your seat to the upright position. We are coming in to land at London Gatwick.”

“But…” Panic rose in my chest as I scanned the cabin. The smell of charred meat clogged my sinuses and bile flooded my mouth. The few passengers I could see all stared straight ahead. Flesh hung from faces. Their blood red scalps were carbon streaked where hair had welded itself to their scorched skulls. “What’s happening? We should be landing in New York.”

The stewardess grinned and repeated tonelessly, “Please return your seat to the upright position. We are coming in to land at London Gatwick.”

Her hand made a wet sound as she patted my shoulder. I looked at the blood soaked fabric.

“Flight BA572 burst into flames on the runway. JFK International is shut down,” she said, as she turned away.

I lost the battle to hold down vomit as the grey matter of her brain dribbled in an endless stream down onto her collar from the wide crack in her skull.

I put my hand over my mouth as I spluttered. I tasted rancid food in my throat and, when it spilled from my mouth, I realized my fingers were stumps, but I had enough feeling to know my lips had shriveled away.

A scream started inside my head as the tannoy clicked and a clipped voice said, “This is the Captain speaking. Please secure all hand luggage and ensure seat-belts are fastened.” Just before the click broke the connection I heard him say, “Air traffic control, Flight BA572 from New York. 259 souls heavy, requesting landing coordinates…” Then all I heard was static as my scrambling mind filled with screams. A flare of light made my eyeballs burn and the world went black.

“Sir, wake up.”

I felt a hand gripping my shoulder. I shifted my ass back in the seat and wiped my hands down my face as I muttered, “Thanks. Sorry. I fell asleep.”

A laugh as brittle as the smile pinned on the stewardess’ face tied my stomach in knots.

As she opened her mouth to speak, I whispered softly, “Please return your seat to the upright position. We are coming in to land at London, Gatwick.”