The plane was quiet. Most of the passengers were sleeping, and the flight attendants had withdrawn behind the curtains. The lights were off, but here and there a reading light glowed above someone’s seat. Some people were reading, others watching movies on the tiny screens mounted on the seat backs in front of them.

The plane shook again, this time more forcefully.

Her palms were damp with sweat, and she kept her death grip on the armrests, closing her eyes and trying to focus on taking long, slow breaths.

Her stomach was aching.

She suddenly had the urge to go to the bathroom and glanced over the headrests toward the bathrooms at the rear of the plane. After a brief moment’s consideration, she unlatched her seat belt and slowly stood. Walking carefully down the aisle, she gripped one headrest after another along the way to keep her balance.

Her stomach cramped up again, and she started panicking.

The plane’s jerky movements made her sway and bump against the seats.

A quiet voice from the cabin crew encouraged all passengers to remain in their seats and fasten their seat belts.

Pim stopped, hesitating, but continued toward the bathrooms.

She had to go, there was no stopping it. No waiting, either.

Not even for a minute.

She stumbled forward and had just reached the back of the cabin when the plane suddenly dropped. She lost her balance and fell to the side, but she was able to keep herself mostly upright until she reached the door of the bathroom. Rushing in, she closed the door behind her and locked it.

The pain in her stomach was unbearable.

She opened the lid and looked into the toilet. The stink of industrial toilet cleaner and urine hit her in the face. On the floor lay damp, trampled, ripped hand towels. The white plastic faucet dripped, and she could hear the thunder of the engines clearly.

Pim gave a start when there was a knock at the door.

“Hello? I’m sorry, but you must return to your seat,” yelled a voice in English.

Pim tried to answer, but her body crumpled in pain. She pulled down her pants and sat on the cold seat.

“Can you hear me? Hello?” the voice outside continued.

“Okay,” Pim said.

Then she could say nothing more.

Panic had captured her in its iron fist. The pain in her stomach slowly sank farther down in her gut.

She held her breath, sitting absolutely still for thirty seconds. Then she got up and again looked into the toilet.

There it was. A capsule. Lying there in the toilet.

“I’m sorry, but you really have to return to your seat now! All passengers!”

There was pounding on the door and the handle jiggled up and down.

“Yes! Yes!”

Pim wiped herself, tossed the paper in the wastebasket, pulled up her pants and carefully reached her hand into the toilet to retrieve the capsule.