The ship had been sailing for weeks now and I still had no idea when I was supposed to make an early departure. I would stare out at the ocean for hours willing some kind of shape to appear in the horizon but nothing came. I noticed that the girl in the cat mask was still following me. She would duck behind corners when she thought I was looking but sooner or later she would always be back, peering at me from behind that white and green mask.

I felt like maybe it should have freaked me out, being stalked aboard a ship in the middle of nowhere but, for some reason, it made me feel safe almost. I didn't feel completely alone. Obviously, without any land I didn't have any cell phone service so I was completely cut off from Russel or Riley. I would have been totally by myself if it hadn't been for Cat Mask Girl.

Riley was something I spent my time thinking about though. I wasn't entirely sure what I was supposed to do about him. He had made me promise to come back to him. And a part of me seriously wanted to but there was another part of me that knew that I wouldn't be able to. My heart was 2D's. It had always been his. It never would be Riley's so why did I torture him? Why couldn't I have just broken it off sooner? Why did it take a two-week old letter and a frantic phone call from Russ to make me realize I could never be without Stu?

I was sitting out on the deck in one of those deck chairs that aren't very comfortable. Thinking these things made my head hurt. I leaned forward and shoved the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to stop the throbbing.

"Ugh, boys are just so stupid!" I exclaimed, not caring if any passing passengers heard me.

I felt a small hand on my arm. Taken by surprise, I jumped and pulled my arm away as I shot up to look at whoever touched me. It was Cat Mask Girl. I stared at her completely at loss for words for a moment.

"What do you want?" I asked a little less than politely. She had been following me for weeks and now she just ditched the hide and seek act and was consoling me? Bullshit.

She pulled her hand, which was still hanging in the open air from where it had touched my arm, away and looked down at her lap. I took in her messy bluish purple hair. It looked like Noodle's.

"You look like my friend you know." I murmured. The girl turned to me. I took that as she was listening to me. "Her name was Noodle. She was part of the band Gorillaz. You might have seen the El Manana video. It was a complete disaster. The island she was on crashed and she—she-." I couldn't say anything else.

The girl reached out a hesitantly and touched the back of my hand. I forced myself to keep talking.

"She had your hair. That's why I asked you if I knew you." I whispered. "I thought maybe—but it's a stupid idea." I shook my head and laughed bitterly. "She's gone. She's been gone for years."

While her right hand was still on mine, her left traced the edge of her mask. I thought maybe she would take off her mask and show her face to me but, after a moment's hesitation, she dropped her hand and abruptly stood up. She stared down at me for a moment before taking off and around the corner.

I heard the buzz of planes and looked over head as I saw an older looking plane passing by. It flew a little low but there were no bullets or explosions so I didn't think much of it. Probably didn't realize the boat was there or something. I fell back into my thoughts.

"Madam, you need to get inside." I heard a voice call to me. I looked up surprised.

A bellhop or waiter or something was looking anxiously at me. I furrowed my brows.

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked.

He looked anxiously toward the sky. "Pirates are afoot." He murmured.

"Pirates? Pirates are here?" I asked incredulously.

Another plane passed by. It flew as low as the other plane did. I could see two machine guns strapped to the sides of it. I saw it loop around and head back toward the ship.

"Ok, I'm going to go inside." I said to the bellhop forcing myself to be calm.

He nodded, "That's probably best. You may want to get your life vest. I believe we will be filling life boats soon."

I turned back surprised. "You think they're going to sink the ship?"

He shrugged and then began pushing me inside. "I don't know Madame but it's better to be safe than sorry."

I hurried back down the hallway to my room but, before I could even see the door an arm reached out and grabbed my wrist. They pulled me into their room quickly just as I heard the rattling of bullets hitting the ship's hull.

"You!" I exclaimed as I saw who my captor was. It was Cat Face Girl.

She put a finger to her lipstick lined lips and pointed me toward a chair. I got the feeling that she wanted me to sit down.

"Oh no, I am not going to sit down and just calmly deal with this!" I exclaimed, "There are fucking pirates outside. We are all going to die."

"Elle, shut up and sit down." I heard someone say. It took me a moment to realize that it was Cat Mask Girl who had said it.

"You can talk?"I said. "I thought you were mute or something! Why didn't you tell me you could talk?"

The woman sighed and then pointed at the chair.

"Oh so now you're not going to say anything." I muttered grudgingly sitting down in the chair. My arms were folded across my chest like an angry teenager. I glared mutely at the Cat Mask smiling up at me.

"Who exactly are you anyways?" I found myself asking.

She slowly turned her head to look at me and put a finger to her lips.

"Why do you keep doing that? Being quiet is not going to save us from the pirates!" I said hyperventilating. Of all the ways to die, drowning was not how I wanted to go.

She sighed again, "Elle, we are going to be fine." She said quietly.

Her voice sounded strangely familiar but I still couldn't place it. A thought struck me.

"Wait a minute, how do you know my name?" I asked, slowly rising from my chair.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. The same bellhop who had shoved me inside peered in.

"Madame!" He exclaimed not even bothering to correct himself when he noticed me. "The ship is under attack from pirates! I've been sent to escort you to the life boats!"

I straightened up quickly and started heading toward him but the Cat Mask Girl caught my arm. She had stood up as well but was turning toward a briefcase. She pulled it down from the high shelf it had been resting on. The anxious bellhop and I exchanged worried looks when she opened the top.

It was a gun.

"You had that the entire time? You are crazy." I said just as the bellhop whispered "Oh my."

She pushed past him, pulling me with her, stalking angrily toward the deck and the pirates.

"This is a suicide mission. We shouldn't be doing this. We should just get to the lifeboats." I said not entirely understanding what I was saying. It was just word vomit, my heart was pounding in my chest, I couldn't think anything except "I am going to die and it's going to be entirely Cat Face Girl's fault."

And so ends Chapter 21.

I have no clue if this will be the last chapter or not. As in, last chapter before I leave for Steamboat Springs. So you may be left hanging but you may not be. But don't hold your breath. I have to pack and all that jazz.

So, have you guys seen the "Where have Gorillaz been" video that Murdoc narrates? Its basically a collection of all the Plastic Beach videos (including the sorta boring ones, in my opinion, of just Plastic Beach itself) with Murdoc narrating in the background. Apparently Plastic Beach was just a heap of trash until Mudsy painted it pink and built a house on it. Yeah, I know, Murdoc plus pink? I didn't believe it either.

And he says something about a brown dome heading closer and closer toward the island but I'll try not to give too much away. ;)

Stay classy.