Chapter 44: Horrific Hallucination

As Aaron and I followed Zak and Rob further into the ship, we were walking down a ramp and entered a large, open space.

As we proceeded down the curved ramp, we all suddenly saw two men, dressed in white uniforms, walk into the same space as us, seemingly coming from nowhere.

Zak's footsteps started to slow.

"Hello, how are you?" Zak asked, somewhat warily.

"Good. How we doing?" One man replied.

"Good. How you doing?" Zak asked, holding a hand out to shake the mans hand.

"Good, thank you," the man replied again, shaking hands with Zak.

"Just want to shake to make sure you're real," Zak commented.

The man, and the rest of us, laughed.

Oh Zak, I thought to myself, smiling.

Zak shook the other man's hand.

"You guys just seemed to appear out of a wall," Zak explained, laughing himself as he looked behind him from where the men had come from.

There was a hallway there. It had been hidden from our view back up on the ramp.

The men introduced themselves.

The first man was named Will Kayne, and he was Captain of the "Queen Mary".

The second man was Everette Hoard, the Commodore of the "Queen Mary".

"You guys are a bit early for our interviews," Zak said.

Will chuckled.

"We were here on board anyway," Will replied.

"Do you mind if we interview you both now?" Zak asked.

"Don't mind at all," Everette replied.

"Do you believe there are ghosts on the ship?" Zak asked.

"Absolutely," Everette answered.

"You do?" Zak asked, seeming slightly shocked.

"Absolutely," Everette replied again with a nod.

"I think there's a feeling here, absolutely," Will added.

"There is," Zak replied in agreement.

Everette then began to tell us the story of his only encounter on the ship.

It had been the ships 75th anniversary, and in celebration of that day, Everette and his wife decided to stay onboard the ship for three days.

On the third morning, Everette's wife had woke up and said she was going to get coffee for herself and her husband. After she had left the room, Everette then laid down in bed, and almost immediately, he heard a female voice whisper in his ear: "I'm so cold. I'm so very very cold."

Zak, of course, had the perfect response.

"So there was another woman in your bed?" Zak asked slyly.

Everette started to laugh.

"What happened when your wife came to bed?" Zak asked, with a smile on his face.

"Well, um, I-" Everette started to reply, but Zak cut in.

"That's where we'll stop," Zak said, starting to laugh.

"Yeah," Everette said, laughing.

Zak turned to me, as I was the closest of Aaron and I, and jokingly spread his hands out in a "cut" motion as if he wanted us to stop filming, with a big smile on his face.

I couldn't help but laugh, and heard Aaron laughing further up the ramp.

Zak interview Everette and Will a bit more, and then we left them to go with Rob to conduct more of an interview with him, as well as film footage for the watertight door thirteen segment.

When we arrived, there was definitely an eerie feeling to the area. Although, with the image of the drawing flashing through my mind, I don't know if the eerie feeling was affecting anyone else.

I let Aaron take the lead on filming, as I didn't want to get anywhere near the door, and I think Aaron could sense my anxiety.

I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from yelling at Zak when he leaned in the open doorway, as he asked Rob more questions about the mysterious death of the sailor.

I knew it was normal behaviour of Zak to be daring, but all I could picture the entire time I was filming him, was that door starting to close on him.

After we finished up filming for door thirteen, Zak decided we'd head down to the propeller, as we had a timed interview with a woman named Tina Shults, a Special Events Coordinator for the "Queen Mary".

We met Tina just as we arrived at the archway leading to the Propeller Box. It was given this name because the room had been built outside of the ship, so people could walk in and look down at the propeller in the water.

We completed our introductions with Tina, and then we all proceeded to walk into the room for Zak to conduct an interview, while Aaron and I filmed.

Zak and Tina took a spot looking directly down on top of the propeller. Aaron took a spot next to Tina to film them up close.

I walked around one corner of the railing to film Zak and Tina from a slight distance.

Zak asked Tina the usual questions first. Did she believe the ship was haunted, had she had encounters, etc.

Then she started telling the history of when the "Queen Mary" had hit the "HMS Curaçao", slicing it in half and sending 338 sailors to their watery graves.

Then came the gruesome part.

"When they cut it in half, people went into the water and...most of the people who died were chopped up by the propellers," Tina said.

I kept my eyes focused on Zak and Tina.

I was not going to look down at the propeller.

"This propeller chopped up those bodies?" Zak asked, pointing with one finger down into the water.

"Yes," Tina said.

I leaned a bit more heavily against the rail, I suddenly started to feel dizzy.

"Hey Shorty, you okay over there? You're looking kinda pale," Aaron suddenly said.

I saw Zak and Tina turn and look at me.

"I feel a bit dizzy," I said.

"Yeah, that's happened to me before," Tina spoke up.

I saw Zak step back from the railing and lean against the wall briefly.

"Woah, I feel it too," Zak said.

"Let's step out of the room for a minute," Tina said.

Zak nodded in agreement and stood up fully and turned to come and get me, but he grabbed the railing.

"I'll get her bro, step out," Aaron said, and then walked around to offer me his arm for support.

I linked an arm around his and slowly started walking with him.

I could hear Zak and Tina talking just outside the archway.

"Wow. My head just started spinning," Zak said.

"When we were in there doing a walk through earlier, I was like, getting anxiety and I couldn't breathe and I had chills everywhere and I just said 'I'm outta here' and we took off running outta here," Tina replied.

As Aaron and I were about to turn the corner of the railing, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

I saw Emily, somehow, standing on top of the small railing.

She was walking along it like an acrobatic on a tightrope.

My stomach clenched.

I also noticed movement in the water.

The propeller was spinning, I could see bodies being pulled into the propeller, hear their last second screams for help.

The water was pure red.

Then next thing I knew, I noticed Emily had started wobbling, losing her balance.

"Emily! No!" I cried out, dropping my camera and running around the square platform to get to her.

But I was too late.

I saw Emily fall into the water, with all of the others.

"Emily!" I cried frantically, scanning the surface of the water for her.

"Ali…" I suddenly heard Zak's voice, but he sounded far away amongst the screaming.

I finally saw Emily resurface in the water.

She looked terrified, the water running down her face was red.

I leaned against the railing and reached my arms out, straining to try to reach her.

"Ali! You'll fall in!" I heard Zak exclaim, and I suddenly felt his arms wrap around me tightly from behind.

He had walked back into the room and around to me, without me noticing.

"Is she alright? Should I get someone?" Tina asked warily, clearly worried about my sanity.

"I'm not sure…" Aaron responded.

He had his camera up, filming me, but I hadn't noticed.

I ignored the three of them.

I saw Emily reaching out to me with both arms, screaming for me to help her.

Before I could react, I watched in horror as she was sucked into the propeller.

Still leaning over, I immediately grabbed onto the railing with both hands, and vomited into the water.

"Woah, woah, Shorty!" Aaron exclaimed, shock and concern in his voice.

"Ali…whatever you're seeing, it's not real." Zak stated, leaning over the railing now to look at my face, one arm still tightly around me.

I kept my eyes shut tight.

How could he say that?! My sister had just…

I gagged, dry heaving a few times, my breathing erratic.

Suddenly, I felt his arm pull back from my waist, and felt his hand start rubbing my back soothingly.

I felt some of the tension and fear leave my body.

"Ali…it's not real sweetheart. Please, come back to me..." Zak said softly, worry in his tone.

I slowly opened my eyes.

The water and propeller were completely still.

No bodies.

No blood.

No Emily.

I took a bit of a deep breath.

"Ali…?" Zak said softly.

I slowly turned my head and looked at him.

His expression changed and showed more concern on his face, maybe even fear.

"What happened…?" Zak asked softly, his hands moving to rub my arms.

Despite wearing the hoodie, I was freezing.

I started crying then, unable to hold it back, and threw myself at Zak. Throwing my arms around his neck and clutching the back of his shirt, burying my face into his chest.

I felt Zak's arms wrap tightly around me, one hand reaching up and gently stroking my hair.

I felt his head lean down near mine.

"It's okay, I got you," Zak said softly.

I stayed silent.

I felt Zak's head turn slightly.

"Turn the cameras off," Zak ordered.

"Already did bro…" Aaron replied.

I felt Zak kiss the top of my head as he continued to stroke my hair.

"You're okay, everything's okay now," Zak said softly.

I just clung to him tightly, crying and shaking in his arms.

Everything was not okay.

I needed to tell Zak everything.

The night my parents died.

How Emily had died.

How I hadn't been able to save her.

Everything.

Authors Note: So how was the update?

I originally hadn't planned Alicia's hallucination, but as I was writing the dialogue from that part of the episode, the idea came to me, and I figured it was the perfect event to "inspire" Alicia to open up to Zak.

Hope you all enjoyed the update! :)