Flight 6758, 10:41 AM, somewhere over the pacific.
After going through some turbulence just 15 minutes ago, the pilot had just turned off the seatbelt light. Passengers were starting to get up to stretch their legs, as they were 4 hours into their 8 hour flight. A man by the name of Jack Howes stood up to go the the restroom. He found that both were occupied, and pouted back to his seat, strangely upset by something so minor. The couple that he shared his row with exchanged confused looks at each other as they heard him muttering angrily to himself. The husband, Kyle Jacobs, shrugged his shoulders, put his headphones back in and closed his eyes to try to sleep out the rest of this flight. He had been up the whole night before; he had a fear of flying. His wife, Julie Jacobs, followed his lead, and went back to her book.

Flight 6758, 11:33 AM, somewhere over the pacific.
Just under an hour had passed since Howes had last gotten up. He decided to try again, but this time he went to the front of the plane instead. After finding both of those restrooms in use, he went through the curtain separating first class from coach, and ignoring the calls from the stewardess that this bathroom was for First Class use only, promptly locked himself in the small room. After washing his face off, he removed the small knife from where is had been hidden in his sock. (At the airport, he had convinced security that the metal detector had only detected the zipper on his pull over, and after a quick, and not very thorough pat down, they let him on his way.) After leaving the restroom, he went to the cabin of the plane, showed the stewardess at the door the knife tip pointing out of his sleeve, and asked to see the captain immediately. Being new to the job, she stood there frozen.
“Listen lady,” Howes whispered in her ear. “If you don’t let me speak to the captain right now, I will make sure that you wish you did,” giving her a soft smile as he said it.
“I.. I am afraid that I can not let you in sir,” she responded, frantically trying to get the attention of anyone she could see. But everyone in first class was either watching something, reading or sleeping. No one had seemed to notice this interaction.

Flight 6758, 11:36 AM, somewhere over the pacific.
Kyle Jacobs had just returned to his seat, after find the rear restrooms occupied.
“Honey, just go to the front,” Julie said quietly. “They will let you go if you ask nicely.”
“I don’t think that they will.” he replied. Just like his fear of flying, he had a strange fear of interaction with strangers. His wife called it “extreme shyness.”
“Just go,” she said. “I can’t relax with you moving around and turning back every 10 seconds.
“Fine, just for you.”
As he went through the curtain, he immediately made eye contact with the flight attendant, and sensed something was wrong.
“Hey!” he shouted at the man. “What’s going on up there?”
After hearing this, Howes turned to examine his oppressor. Kyle Jacobs was nothing special to the eyes of any observer (beside Julie, obviously). He was of average height, around 5’10’’, and a normal build. Howes shot him a small smile, and answered his question.
“Nothing's going on buddy,” he said. “You can go back now.”
“And you can leave this lady alone,” Kyle responded, surprising himself. A surge of confidence rose into his chest, and he started towards Howes.
“Don’t come closer!” Howes yelled.
Ignoring that, Kyle was on him in a second, and was bringing his fist back to deliver a powerful blow, when he felt a sharp pain in his gut. Looking down, and saw the hand of Howes let go of a small hunting knife, the blade of which was now inside of Kyle. At this moment, the entire first class was screaming.
Kyle dropped to his knees, barely able to think straight. The pain was coming in fast, and Kyle felt himself about to pass out. He almost let himself, but then a wave of anger and adrenaline came over him. He stood up, and instantly fell back down. A passenger by him saw that Howes was smiling uncontrollably, and took the chance to do something. Without thinking, this passenger (who goes by Mikey) jumped out of his seat and started to swing on Howes. His first punch connected, and Howes fell backwards, hitting his head on the floor hard, and was not moving.

Maryland Hospital, the next day, Maryland.
Kyle was still recovering from his emergency surgery the day before. After making an emergency landing, and being rushed to the ER, it was a miracle that he was breathing. Even after significant blood loss, Kyle was able to stay awake, even if he wasn’t coherent until after the procedure. Julie was walking into his room, with his favorite flavor of Jello she had gotten from the cafe on the first floor. Looking at her, Kyle was starting to tear up. He had almost lost her. In his fight for survival, he had realized that he needed her, forever and always. She was by his side since the moment she heard what was going on in first class. Even though she promised to never make him do anything he didn’t want to, as she believed that this whole thing was her fault, he assured her that it wasn't. As close of a call as it was, Kyle believed that everything happens for a reason.