Freier Fall Review

As the cabin pressure screamed and the metal groaned, Elias didn't reach for an oxygen mask. He reached for the emergency pack under his seat. He was the only one on board who knew that at this velocity, the plane was no longer flying—it was just a very heavy stone.

In a true free fall, you don’t feel like you’re falling. You feel like you’re being held up by a pillar of invisible air. Elias watched the wreckage of the plane descend half a mile away, a trail of black smoke marking its path. He was alone in the blue, suspended between life and the inevitable earth. Freier Fall

He kicked the emergency door open. The roar of the wind was a physical blow, a wall of ice and noise. He looked back at the terrified faces in the cabin, but there was no time for heroics, only physics. He stepped out. As the cabin pressure screamed and the metal

With a roar of effort, he yanked the secondary handle. A snap like a gunshot echoed through his bones as the white silk bloomed above him. The violent jerk nearly knocked him unconscious, but then, the world went quiet again. The screaming wind became a gentle hiss. In a true free fall, you don’t feel like you’re falling

He checked his altimeter: 12,000 feet. The air was getting thicker, warmer. He could see the green patchwork of fields below, looking like a miniature train set.

The alarm clock didn’t wake Elias; the silence did. At thirty thousand feet, silence is a terrifying sound.