Eva Van Savage

**Eva Van Savage** is a fictional character, one of several point of view characters in Nathaniel J. Nelson's 2017 horror novel *Quantum Flight 888*. Along with Delilah Arain, Joshua Teller, and Neil Munster, Eva believes herself to be indirectly responsible for the tragedies aboard the titular flight.

## Biography

### Early life

Evangeline was born in San Francisco to Christian and Margaret Van Savage, a formerly poor couple who had won the lottery just before her birth. Investing their money well, the Van Savages became very wealthy, and Eva grew up in the lap of luxury. She attended public school, where she discovered a passion for writing: she began work on her first novel, *Gemini*, at age ten. Her rough draft was discovered by Mrs. Norton, one of Eva's teachers, who expressed concern at the dark well-researched supernatural elements of the story.

During her senior year at Independence High School, Eva arbitrarily decided to write her senior paper on the horror genre, though she had forgotten her old passion. Her interest was reignited over the course of writing her paper, and Eva began writing again.

### Quantum Airlines

Eva's parents paid her college tuition, though after graduating she resolved to become a self-made woman, refusing any more financial aid from them. She moved to Los Angeles, where she applied for a flight attendant job with the ill-reputed Quantum Airlines. Eva worked as a flight attendant for the next six years, during which time she continued writing books, including her personal favorite, *An Eerie Sunbeam*.

Visiting home one day, Eva caught her mother in bed with another man. She believed this would spell the end for her parents' marriage, but Christian and Margaret continued living together. Eva eventually realized this was because Margaret had the legal power to take not only half his possessions, but custody of Eddie as well. This began a long rivalry between Eva and her mother.

In 2016, Eva completed her seventh novel: *The Mile-High Murder Club*. Starring nymphomaniac Cassandra Iliana, *Murder Club* was set on a commercial airplane and based on a nightmare Eva had experienced a year earlier. She began querying the book, again refusing her father's help, and it was rejected by Yggdrasil Publishing.

### Flight 888

On June 6, 2016, Eva was among the flight attendants to host Flight 888, along with Caroline and Joan Kravitz, their in-flight manager. Eva was assigned to the premium economy cabin, and was thus the closest to Annie Moreland when she died of unknown causes. Eva enlisted Doctor Robert Noran to hide Annie and watch her daughter, Angel. Eva's humanitarian handling of the situation, particularly after Olivia Lillee's death, caused tension between her and Joan, who was only looking out for the airline.

Over the course of the flight, Eva began to worry that she was indirectly responsible for the deaths, having written a similar situation into her novel *The Mile-High Murder Club*, which she completed only a couple months earlier. She was horrified to discover that Joan had found and read her rough draft, which led to more friction between them. Eva attempted to convince the pilot to land the plane, but he would not. She then began to wonder if Joan and the airline were in on some conspiracy, a theory which she brought to passenger Delilah Arain, who was interviewing other passengers about the deaths. She ran into Neil Munster, who by then had lost his sanity, and was forced to restrain him in the galley against Joan's wishes.

### Death

When six passengers died at once, Eva quit her job on the spot and sided with the passengers, particularly Joshua Teller, who were desperate to know what was happening. When Joshua and Craig Bennecker took Joan hostage, Eva was happy to tie her up and gag her. Delilah ended up confessing her belief that she was being punished by God for breaking her chastity vow, after which Joshua revealed he had stolen a cursed artifact, and Eva had to admit she had already written this scenario in her book. After they barricaded premium economy, Neil Munster escaped the galley and returned to his cabin, where he made a show of pretending to shoot several people, the last of whom was Eva. Although he had no weapon, only a "finger gun," Eva was actually shot, a bullet hole being punched through her chest with no bullet. She died immediately.

### Aftermath

Eva made an appearance in Joan's fantasy world, as observed by Caleb Munster, as it is revealed that Joan always felt great admiration and affection for Eva, but was unable to express this. After Caleb managed to land the plane at LAX, Eva's body was taken away by paramedics and presided over by government agents, similar to the ending of *The Mile-High Murder Club*.

### Legacy

Eva's seven novels were posthumously published by her family, several of them adapted into movies. *The Mile-High Murder Club* gained particular notoriety as its film adaption was marketed as "the true story of Quantum Flight 888," though it was in reality based on Eva's novel. Eva's family erected a small monument to her in their driveway, with the inscription "**dedicated to EVANGELINE VAN SAVAGE writer of many a tale, the most important being her own.**" Eva's mother committed suicide at some point after Flight 888, though her reasons are unknown.

Eva was fondly remembered by Doctor Robert Noran, though they only knew each other a short time. He presided over her autopsy in Los Angeles, and discovered that she was indeed killed by nothing. He spent seven years working up the courage to reveal this truth to her father, now a recluse following Eva's death and his wife's suicide. But with Eva in mind, Noran finally showed Christian the autopsy reports, proving she was killed by supernatural means.

## Appearance

Eva is tall and beautiful, with pale skin, blue eyes, and light blonde hair done up in ringlets. As a flight attendant, she wears the bubblegum-pink uniform attributed to Quantum Airlines, as well as a peaked cap and white gloves.

## Personality and traits

Eva is headstrong, sometimes impulsive, but often able to swallow her pride to follow the rules. She rarely asks for help, and always attempts to accomplish her goals by herself. Although she is able to look the other way for small moral transgressions, she does hold a deeply-rooted moral code and a desire to help others. Eva is quick to anger when she believes she has been insulted, as evidenced when both Joan and Mrs Norton wanted to praise her writing, but she assumed they were rebuking her.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.natnelson.com/gallery?lightbox=dataItem-kbvsegos3