(Chapter 4: The Nightmare Realized)
Mike opened his eyes, shuddering intensely. He was in a cold sweat. Had he been dreaming? He looked around from left to right, nothing. He was still alive, heart racing and breathing erratic, but still alive. It felt so real. He was vaguely aware of the hand on his shoulder. He saw Sarah still standing there, still grasping his shoulder. She looked the same as he did, her eyes were wide, she was looking around to see if it had truly happened.
"What was that?" Sarah asked, afraid.
"You saw it too?" Mike responded, perhaps even more afraid.
"Were we dreaming?" Sarah asked again, looking for an answer in desperation.
"We were talking about my dad, then there was the fire, and the-"
"The water, and the sky. People were dying."
"We died Sarah, something just happened."
They both looked up slightly shocked as Mr. Christy spoke up.
"Hey class! Now remember everyone, by the end of the day I want you to all have identified at least ten types of fish, five crustaceans and ten different mollusks. Extra credit goes to those who can properly identify and take a picture of a reptile, a mammal and/or a bird. Now there's glass all around you, so if you don't find at least one of those things then I guarantee you will sit in the dungeon for the rest of the semester." He smiled proudly.
"Aww, come on Mr. Christy, how are we supposed to-" Nick started.
"Keep to the bald jokes Nick," Mr. Christy cut in, "it's what you're good at."
A sense of dread passed over both Mike and Sarah as the exchange between Nick and Mr. Christy continued as it did in the dream.
"It's happening, what we saw is going to happen!" Sarah said, losing her coherence and getting excited.
"We gotta get outta here," Mike said.
"Hey Mike, I'm in your group man!" Tyler said proudly. As he approached Mike, he saw his friend a deathly pale color.
"Hey Mike, what's wrong? You look like you just seen a ghost."
Trying to remain as rational as he could, but quickly letting it give in to survival instinct, Mike started screaming.
"EVERYONE'S GOT TO GET OFF OF THIS BOAT, IT'S GOING TO SINK!!!"
There was a stunned moment of silence before everyone broke out into laughter.
"Right Mike," Nick said, "and I can slam dunk a basket and score with whatever girl I want to."
"No, he's serious, listen to me, everyone's got to get off this boat!" Sarah yelled.
"We're all going to die!" Mike yelled.
Clinton had been listening to the spectacle long enough, and felt like something needed to be done, and of course, he was the one to do it.
"No, you're the one who's gonna die!" Clinton hollered, as he bounded on after Mike. He took a swing, punching Mike in the face, taking him down. Clinton landed a few more punches, hitting him in the chest and stomach. Mike could taste his own blood.
Katie stood up from her seat, trying to comprehend the words that had been said. "We're going to die? Boat's going to sink?"
Usually a nervous person, the previous words set her off, her breathing increased and she could feel an attack coming on. Her lungs started to close up, and she began to rasp. Mr. Christy bounded over to the fight, motioning for Ms. Rhodes to get back in her seat. He looked at Clinton, Mike and Sarah with angry eyes.
"You three, get topside now!"
"Mr. Christy, we got a problem here!" Rudy yelled.
"What now?" Mr. Christy asked in all seriousness, glowering slightly to the back. Rudy stood over the seated Katie, whose breathing had become a hoarse wheeze.
"Left… inhaler… on… top…" she managed to gasp out.
"Shit," Mr. Christy muttered, "Rudy, you're a big guy, bring her up, some fresh air will probably do her good and get her her god damned medicine!"
"Can do sir!" Rudy said enthusiastically. He gently lifted the tiny girl in his arms, and brought her up the steps behind Mr. Christy, Sarah, Mike and Clinton. Lori followed her boyfriend, trying to keep him out of trouble, while Tina got up to follow Sarah. She'd never seen her friend have an outburst like that before, it was out of character, and she seemed serious. On his way up, Mike locked eyes with Tyler.
"Tyler, man, get off this boat, believe me…" Mike said as he was pushed off.
"Sorry Mike, I need the grade," was all Tyler could say in response as his friend was escorted from the room.
"Hey Nick!" Rhonda hollered as she moved to her photographer in the boats interior cabin.
"Yo Rhonda," Nick said in response.
"Bring that good camera you got and get some pictures, this could be something."
Rhonda too ascended the steps, with Nick in tow. Darwin sat down, amused. Teenagers, depression, they freak out and have an episode. Fun stuff. He muttered a few curses before getting back to his video game. Stretching out, his foot hit a bag. Damned kids, don't leave anything where they should… He looked at it, it was Mr. Christy's leather satchel, he kept all of his paperwork and notebooks in there. If he's going to write anyone up, he's going to need his roll book. Bringing him the book could score you some points with Christy, though you'd look like an ass to the students. Screw it, you need to look good, get a good rating, transfer those credits to the community college. He grabbed the satchel and started up the stairs.
"Well shit," Tyler said, watching a good portion of his class disappear to the topside of the boat. For a second he considered walking up top, to the point where he even stood up. Mike wasn't a liar, and he's always looked out for you before Tyler. You need the grade though. Thinking of graduating, he changed his mind quickly, simply sitting back down and looking out the side window. A seal swam by. He looked quickly around for the camera, yet he couldn't find it. Damn it, Mike's still got it… Screw it, you can miss a little bit of extra credit, just wait down here and enjoy the view.
On the top deck of the boat, Mike, Sarah and Clinton stood in front of Mr. Christy. Lori stood by her boyfriend, but tried to ignore Mr. Christy's gaze as he yelled at the other students. Rudy laid Katie out on the floor, and administered her asthma medication.
"Thanks," she said with a slight smile up to the handsome and huge football player.
"No problem little lady, anytime," he said with his award winning smile.
Rhonda, Nick, and Tina stood off on the side, watching the proceedings, with Rhonda furiously taking down notes and quotes. Darwin came to the top, holding Mr. Christy's bag in his hand.
"Hey Mr. C, you forgot this," he said handing it off. The teacher dismissed the action. What a little brown nose, he thought, back to the task at hand.
"Clinton, if I weren't your teacher I'd have kicked your sorry little ass a long time ago, believe me. Sarah, Mike, I'd expect better of you two, what the hell are you doing trying to start up a panic like that? Someone could have gotten hurt if you guys really did start something."
"You should have seen it Mr. Christy," Mike said, "what I saw, what we saw, it was so real."
"Right, the boat's going to sink, we're all going to die, please…" Nick said sarcastically.
"Don't get me started on you Nick," Mr. Christy said.
"Yes sir," Nick said with his usual lilt of sarcasm.
"It was real, it's like how it really happens, the water, fire, people were drowning, I saw it too!" Sarah said insistently.
"I think you've seen Titanic one too many times," Lori said snidely.
"Shut up," Sarah said.
"Make me!" Lori said defiantly with a smarmy grin. Not one to back down, Sarah started to take a step forward. She took another bound, and was about to meet the other girl's challenge when Tina held her back. Sarah screamed in frustration.
"Hey, hey, hey, Sarah, back down, ease up girl!" Tina said as she tried to restrain her friend.
"Psycho bitch," was all Lori could mutter as she dismissed the fight all together.
"Aww, you want to have a real good time, go down below and wait a minute or two and it's gonna get one hell of a lot hotter!" Sarah shrieked.
Lori laughed, while Clinton tried his best to hold his girlfriend back. Rhonda was the only one to look off in the distance, and what she saw made her eyes go wide.
"Something tells me that Mike and Sarah might not be too far from the truth," Rhonda said as she pointed to a sight in the near distance. The others followed her gaze, and looked on in shock. A small seaplane, looking like nothing more than a van with wings and pontoons, was having trouble. It's propeller was sputtering and shooting out flames, while jet black smoke came from the engine. It bounced on the water a couple of times, increasing and decreasing its speed in alternate jolts. It flew head on towards the boat, and the eleven people on top simply looked on in terror. It was no more than a few seconds away.
"Everybody in the water NOW!" Mr. Christy yelled before jumping into the water himself. Mike and Sarah followed quickly, with Darwin, Tina, Clinton and Lori shortly behind. Rhonda pushed Nick into the water, following him soon after. Rudy hefted Katie and threw her bodily into the water. He looked quickly around on the deck, seeing a box marked FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY. He broke it open and found a tightly tied up rubber cube. Bingo. He jumped overboard, carrying with him the rubber cube moments before the plane impacted.
The explosion was huge, with both the plane and the boat being full of fuel. The pilot and co-pilot of the Coast Guard seaplane died instantly, while the jet of flame from the planes impact killed the captain of the boat and all those above decks. The fuel from the plane leaked down into the cracks into the ship, igniting the engine room and blasting outwards with another explosion. The charred skeleton of the aircraft wedged itself on the deck, jamming itself between the two doors to the underwater portion of the boat.
The eleven in the water continued to swim away, attempting to avoid another explosion. Rudy pulled the cord on the rubber cube, where in a matter of seconds it opened up into a massive, rubber life raft. He climbed aboard, helping Mr. Christy in soon after. The pair of them pulled the remaining nine towards the raft, with some sitting on the raft itself, others hanging off. They watched as the boat rolled over, its bottom sticking out of the water, the glass of it glinting in the sunlight. Even from the distance, they could see the people under the glass trying to pound their way out.
"We have to help them!" Rudy finally yelled.
"We can't," Mr. Christy said, "That boat is sinking if you didn't notice it, you get anywhere near it and it's going to suck you in!"
Like that, they watched the boat sink. Clinging to the raft they watched as dozens of hands pounded on the glass bottom of the boat, the flaming debris swirling around the boat as it sucked more and more water in. Eventually, the pounding hands stopped, and the boat disappeared into the water. On the raft, there was almost complete and utter silence from the shock. Katie was the only one making noise, as she wept and watched the horror before her.
Mike opened his eyes, shuddering intensely. He was in a cold sweat. Had he been dreaming? He looked around from left to right, nothing. He was still alive, heart racing and breathing erratic, but still alive. It felt so real. He was vaguely aware of the hand on his shoulder. He saw Sarah still standing there, still grasping his shoulder. She looked the same as he did, her eyes were wide, she was looking around to see if it had truly happened.
"What was that?" Sarah asked, afraid.
"You saw it too?" Mike responded, perhaps even more afraid.
"Were we dreaming?" Sarah asked again, looking for an answer in desperation.
"We were talking about my dad, then there was the fire, and the-"
"The water, and the sky. People were dying."
"We died Sarah, something just happened."
They both looked up slightly shocked as Mr. Christy spoke up.
"Hey class! Now remember everyone, by the end of the day I want you to all have identified at least ten types of fish, five crustaceans and ten different mollusks. Extra credit goes to those who can properly identify and take a picture of a reptile, a mammal and/or a bird. Now there's glass all around you, so if you don't find at least one of those things then I guarantee you will sit in the dungeon for the rest of the semester." He smiled proudly.
"Aww, come on Mr. Christy, how are we supposed to-" Nick started.
"Keep to the bald jokes Nick," Mr. Christy cut in, "it's what you're good at."
A sense of dread passed over both Mike and Sarah as the exchange between Nick and Mr. Christy continued as it did in the dream.
"It's happening, what we saw is going to happen!" Sarah said, losing her coherence and getting excited.
"We gotta get outta here," Mike said.
"Hey Mike, I'm in your group man!" Tyler said proudly. As he approached Mike, he saw his friend a deathly pale color.
"Hey Mike, what's wrong? You look like you just seen a ghost."
Trying to remain as rational as he could, but quickly letting it give in to survival instinct, Mike started screaming.
"EVERYONE'S GOT TO GET OFF OF THIS BOAT, IT'S GOING TO SINK!!!"
There was a stunned moment of silence before everyone broke out into laughter.
"Right Mike," Nick said, "and I can slam dunk a basket and score with whatever girl I want to."
"No, he's serious, listen to me, everyone's got to get off this boat!" Sarah yelled.
"We're all going to die!" Mike yelled.
Clinton had been listening to the spectacle long enough, and felt like something needed to be done, and of course, he was the one to do it.
"No, you're the one who's gonna die!" Clinton hollered, as he bounded on after Mike. He took a swing, punching Mike in the face, taking him down. Clinton landed a few more punches, hitting him in the chest and stomach. Mike could taste his own blood.
Katie stood up from her seat, trying to comprehend the words that had been said. "We're going to die? Boat's going to sink?"
Usually a nervous person, the previous words set her off, her breathing increased and she could feel an attack coming on. Her lungs started to close up, and she began to rasp. Mr. Christy bounded over to the fight, motioning for Ms. Rhodes to get back in her seat. He looked at Clinton, Mike and Sarah with angry eyes.
"You three, get topside now!"
"Mr. Christy, we got a problem here!" Rudy yelled.
"What now?" Mr. Christy asked in all seriousness, glowering slightly to the back. Rudy stood over the seated Katie, whose breathing had become a hoarse wheeze.
"Left… inhaler… on… top…" she managed to gasp out.
"Shit," Mr. Christy muttered, "Rudy, you're a big guy, bring her up, some fresh air will probably do her good and get her her god damned medicine!"
"Can do sir!" Rudy said enthusiastically. He gently lifted the tiny girl in his arms, and brought her up the steps behind Mr. Christy, Sarah, Mike and Clinton. Lori followed her boyfriend, trying to keep him out of trouble, while Tina got up to follow Sarah. She'd never seen her friend have an outburst like that before, it was out of character, and she seemed serious. On his way up, Mike locked eyes with Tyler.
"Tyler, man, get off this boat, believe me…" Mike said as he was pushed off.
"Sorry Mike, I need the grade," was all Tyler could say in response as his friend was escorted from the room.
"Hey Nick!" Rhonda hollered as she moved to her photographer in the boats interior cabin.
"Yo Rhonda," Nick said in response.
"Bring that good camera you got and get some pictures, this could be something."
Rhonda too ascended the steps, with Nick in tow. Darwin sat down, amused. Teenagers, depression, they freak out and have an episode. Fun stuff. He muttered a few curses before getting back to his video game. Stretching out, his foot hit a bag. Damned kids, don't leave anything where they should… He looked at it, it was Mr. Christy's leather satchel, he kept all of his paperwork and notebooks in there. If he's going to write anyone up, he's going to need his roll book. Bringing him the book could score you some points with Christy, though you'd look like an ass to the students. Screw it, you need to look good, get a good rating, transfer those credits to the community college. He grabbed the satchel and started up the stairs.
"Well shit," Tyler said, watching a good portion of his class disappear to the topside of the boat. For a second he considered walking up top, to the point where he even stood up. Mike wasn't a liar, and he's always looked out for you before Tyler. You need the grade though. Thinking of graduating, he changed his mind quickly, simply sitting back down and looking out the side window. A seal swam by. He looked quickly around for the camera, yet he couldn't find it. Damn it, Mike's still got it… Screw it, you can miss a little bit of extra credit, just wait down here and enjoy the view.
On the top deck of the boat, Mike, Sarah and Clinton stood in front of Mr. Christy. Lori stood by her boyfriend, but tried to ignore Mr. Christy's gaze as he yelled at the other students. Rudy laid Katie out on the floor, and administered her asthma medication.
"Thanks," she said with a slight smile up to the handsome and huge football player.
"No problem little lady, anytime," he said with his award winning smile.
Rhonda, Nick, and Tina stood off on the side, watching the proceedings, with Rhonda furiously taking down notes and quotes. Darwin came to the top, holding Mr. Christy's bag in his hand.
"Hey Mr. C, you forgot this," he said handing it off. The teacher dismissed the action. What a little brown nose, he thought, back to the task at hand.
"Clinton, if I weren't your teacher I'd have kicked your sorry little ass a long time ago, believe me. Sarah, Mike, I'd expect better of you two, what the hell are you doing trying to start up a panic like that? Someone could have gotten hurt if you guys really did start something."
"You should have seen it Mr. Christy," Mike said, "what I saw, what we saw, it was so real."
"Right, the boat's going to sink, we're all going to die, please…" Nick said sarcastically.
"Don't get me started on you Nick," Mr. Christy said.
"Yes sir," Nick said with his usual lilt of sarcasm.
"It was real, it's like how it really happens, the water, fire, people were drowning, I saw it too!" Sarah said insistently.
"I think you've seen Titanic one too many times," Lori said snidely.
"Shut up," Sarah said.
"Make me!" Lori said defiantly with a smarmy grin. Not one to back down, Sarah started to take a step forward. She took another bound, and was about to meet the other girl's challenge when Tina held her back. Sarah screamed in frustration.
"Hey, hey, hey, Sarah, back down, ease up girl!" Tina said as she tried to restrain her friend.
"Psycho bitch," was all Lori could mutter as she dismissed the fight all together.
"Aww, you want to have a real good time, go down below and wait a minute or two and it's gonna get one hell of a lot hotter!" Sarah shrieked.
Lori laughed, while Clinton tried his best to hold his girlfriend back. Rhonda was the only one to look off in the distance, and what she saw made her eyes go wide.
"Something tells me that Mike and Sarah might not be too far from the truth," Rhonda said as she pointed to a sight in the near distance. The others followed her gaze, and looked on in shock. A small seaplane, looking like nothing more than a van with wings and pontoons, was having trouble. It's propeller was sputtering and shooting out flames, while jet black smoke came from the engine. It bounced on the water a couple of times, increasing and decreasing its speed in alternate jolts. It flew head on towards the boat, and the eleven people on top simply looked on in terror. It was no more than a few seconds away.
"Everybody in the water NOW!" Mr. Christy yelled before jumping into the water himself. Mike and Sarah followed quickly, with Darwin, Tina, Clinton and Lori shortly behind. Rhonda pushed Nick into the water, following him soon after. Rudy hefted Katie and threw her bodily into the water. He looked quickly around on the deck, seeing a box marked FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY. He broke it open and found a tightly tied up rubber cube. Bingo. He jumped overboard, carrying with him the rubber cube moments before the plane impacted.
The explosion was huge, with both the plane and the boat being full of fuel. The pilot and co-pilot of the Coast Guard seaplane died instantly, while the jet of flame from the planes impact killed the captain of the boat and all those above decks. The fuel from the plane leaked down into the cracks into the ship, igniting the engine room and blasting outwards with another explosion. The charred skeleton of the aircraft wedged itself on the deck, jamming itself between the two doors to the underwater portion of the boat.
The eleven in the water continued to swim away, attempting to avoid another explosion. Rudy pulled the cord on the rubber cube, where in a matter of seconds it opened up into a massive, rubber life raft. He climbed aboard, helping Mr. Christy in soon after. The pair of them pulled the remaining nine towards the raft, with some sitting on the raft itself, others hanging off. They watched as the boat rolled over, its bottom sticking out of the water, the glass of it glinting in the sunlight. Even from the distance, they could see the people under the glass trying to pound their way out.
"We have to help them!" Rudy finally yelled.
"We can't," Mr. Christy said, "That boat is sinking if you didn't notice it, you get anywhere near it and it's going to suck you in!"
Like that, they watched the boat sink. Clinging to the raft they watched as dozens of hands pounded on the glass bottom of the boat, the flaming debris swirling around the boat as it sucked more and more water in. Eventually, the pounding hands stopped, and the boat disappeared into the water. On the raft, there was almost complete and utter silence from the shock. Katie was the only one making noise, as she wept and watched the horror before her.