FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Ryan!" I heard Kara's call long before she stopped beside me, doubled over trying to catch her breath. She'd been a good friend for the last few months, but it felt like longer. I knew why she was here now. I hadn't had the chance to tell her yet and she probably heard from someone else. Finally she caught enough of her breath to say something, "So it's true then? You're moving?" The question was simple, but I knew I'd be sorely missed around here. Part of that was my personality, I knew, but a portion of my friends also seemed to like viewing me as eye-candy. It was flattering, though only when they weren't trying to get into my pants.

"Yeah, you remember that job I applied for? I didn't think it would ever happen, but I got the gig. They want me there as soon as I'm able. Paying for the flight as well. I'd meant to tell you myself, but until now I'd been too busy to see you and a text message just seemed too impersonal for something like this." She perked up a little when she heard the news, but still had that sad look in her eyes. The kind that said 'I'll miss you' if you knew how to read it right.

"The one for that game company? But I thought you'd not done any 3D work in ages." She flicked her ponytail over her shoulder as she stood up straight. Having fully recovered from her run down the block to catch me.

"That's the one. Yeah, I'd been working on it on and off for a few years. Never thought they'd accept someone with no prior work experience, but I must have done something right for them to want me." I was really going to work on a game and for my favourite company. The whole ordeal hadn't quite sunk in yet and there was still a bit of disbelief laced through my voice. She picked up on it, somehow I knew she would.

"You still don't believe that it's happening, do you, Ryan?" By now I was leaning against the wall of the building behind me. Downtown traffic passing lazily by. Both the human and automotive kind. She'd put her hands on her hips and bent down so she could look up at my face since I wasn't meeting her eyes. I chuckled lightly before responding.

"Of course not. It's been three years since I got that diploma and I haven't had any work from it before now. I shouldn't have gotten the job. I only applied as a joke." I still couldn't meet her eyes. There was belief in them; belief in me that had never wavered since we'd met. It was hard to accept sometimes. She sighed deeply and stood back up, hands behind her head and legs crossed, as she took on a relaxed posture.

"Still just going where the wind blows? Swimming with the current?" Inwardly I smiled at that. I'd always found the wind and water soothing. Had a habit of staring off at the horizon where the ocean and the sky met for long moments. It seemed right that I live my life as it happened and went where it took me.

"You could say that. Though I'd think it was more letting instinct do the thinking. Otherwise I would never have applied at all." She shifted again before answering.

"I suppose that is true. Though-" She never got to finish, the town clock chimed the hour and she suddenly looked rushed. "Crap! I'm gonna be late for work, I'll have to catch up with you later. Don't leave without calling to say goodbye or I'll get you back next time you visit!" Kara didn't wait for a response before running off to her job.

Three weeks later I was sitting in my seat on the plane. I was admiring the crystal pendant I'd purchased from a street vendor on the way to the airport. It seemed ordinary enough, but it was just another one of those things that I'd felt compelled to buy. Like I'd be missing out if I didn't. Soon enough I was putting it away as the plane took flight.

Flying was like taking a bus. You sat with people you didn't know and didn't care about in a stuffy space that seemed to get hot quickly and if it wasn't for my fear of heights I'd've been staring out the window watching the clouds go by. I tried to sleep, but my inability to sleep while in a vehicle prevented it indefinitely. Bored out of my skull in the first hour I wished that something, anything, interesting would happen.

I regretted the thought a mere half hour later as the plane hit some rough turbulence. We were all told to stay calm and not panic, but I was gripping the seat so tightly my knuckles turned white. How could I have wished for something so stupid when I was several thousand feet in the air? Along with my distrust of passenger jets I should have known better. When the turbulence got worse and not better I instantly had a bad feeling. Moments later an engine burst into flames.

By now I was in a quiet state of full panic, the burning engine had ripped off the wing it was attached to several minutes later. I was very happy that the couple next to me had attached my oxygen mask as I'd been too scared to move to do it myself. I did something I'd not done since I was a child and asked any listening gods to bless their souls and make sure they made it out in once piece and alive. The wing had hit the tail of the plane as it sheered from the side of the plane. With no wing and no way to keep the plane stable I had the oddest thought; shouldn't we have hit the ground by now? Of course, that was before the whole plane started to tumble end over end.

There were fires everywhere and the plane was ripping itself to pieces as it flipped and twisted through the sky. If anyone had been watching it probably looked like one of those weird propeller seeds had lost part of a wing. We were dropping so fast by then I was hardly conscious. The G's caused my seatbelt to fail and I was thrown from the plane through one of any number of holes that I'd subconsciously noted. I never did remember hitting the ground...