Chapter Four: Surviving the open Sea
Usagi lay on the table adrift in the ocean for nine hours. She was cold, hungry and thirsty; not to mention she needed to take a long shower. She had already peed because she knew that there was most diffidently no bathrooms around. She hadn't eaten all day except for the tiny glass of orange juice she had at four o'clock this morning and according to her watch it was seven thirty at night on the same day. She had been sleeping possibly for the last three hours and the last four she had been complaining about her stomach and how much her head hurt. Though she knew no one was able to hear her, she felt good that she could at least talk. When she did sleep her mind went immediately to the boat wreck. Her heart felt like it was struck by one-hundred bullets from the loss of her family. She wanted to just find land, find money and get to a pay phone. She had to reach her friends.
"MY FRIENDS! My watch." She had completely forgotten her watch that had told her the time was also her communicator watch that hooked her together with her friends. She lifted her arm to her face and stared at her wrist and took notice how badly bruised and cut she was; she shook it from her mind and punched in the code for Ami. She then immediately regretted it because she was probably at the hospital working with a patient but when her watch beeped back; she lifted her arm and looked at the watch. Ami's face was on the screen and she saw Ami gasp.
"Usagi, oh my god what happened? Are you ok?" Ami's voice sounded scared and serious.
"Not really; you know that cruise me and the family went on?"
"Yeah, God please don't tell me you-"Ami's voice trailed off as she saw her friends eyes turn into pain, sorrow and anger. "Is your family all right Usagi?" Usagi closed her eyes and then opened them again.
"No, they....died...on the boat. They were.....unable to make it....to the deck in....time. I think I was the only survivor. Ami please send help!" Usagi's failed on her and she began to cry. "I'm stuck in the middle of the ocean on a half sunken table, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, and I want Sammy and my mom and my dad back. Ami please help. I don't know what to do anymore."
"Usagi first you need to call Rei and Minako. They are on a tour right off the coast of Japan. They can have the news looking for you matter of minutes. I'll call the airports and I'm coming out as soon as I get off the phone with them. Usagi you have to stay strong." Usagi calmed down and she rested her head back on the table. She was pretty much weak and was starving. It was coming up on ten hours of being out on the ocean by herself; floating with no more than eight bodies around her. "Alright Usagi, call them now."
"Ok Ami." Ami left the screen and Usagi turned hers off. She then punched in Rei's emergency number, followed by Minako's. Minako's face popped on the screen and then it went to a half screen and allowed Rei's face to appear. Usagi told them what had happened and they said they had just ended a tour and were on their way home. After five minutes of talking they closed out on each other and Minako called the local coast guard of where the Cruise Liner had sailed off from. Usagi rested her head down on the table and sighed. She was stuck on this wretched table for a few more hours. She could feel herself beginning to get sick and her left side was strangely giving off strange sharp pains. It would happen every few minutes and Usagi would hold onto her left side in pain scrunched up in a small ball, on a table, floating in the middle of the damn ocean. This time when the pain came back it came back harder than usual. She passed out from it and hit the back of her head on the table causing her head to bleed just a little. She was lucky enough that the blood didn't drip into the ocean drawing in hungry sharks for dinner.
Minako and Rei ran up the steps to the Local Coast Guard. They burst through the doors and ran immediately to the front desk demanding to see the boss. The receptionist called for him and he arrived in less than two minutes.
"What is the problems young ladies?" He appeared behind them and when they turned around and gasped at realizing who they were. "Oh I am terribly sorry for my rudeness I di-"
"Forget it; you have an emergency on your hands. A really big one." Minako nearly screamed it out and Rei looked at her friend in shock. "Your Cruise Liner, the Saint Minascerios, had gone down to the bottom of the ocean a few hours ago."
"If this is a joke young lady then I suggest you leave, I can have security up here in matter of seconds." Rei was getting fed up with this man; first he was rude and now this.
"Listen up, our friend was on that cruiser, and she was the only one to have survived. She has a communicator watch that is directly linked to certain friends of hers and believe me it wasn't a joke when she called. Your cruise liner went down in that storm that had passed a few hours ago. Now you can either fucking help us or we can go to someone else, have them save our friend and put you behind bars for possible murder of all those people."
"Alright, please calm down. We can go to the satellite room and search for the cruise liners signal and see where is at." The man turned and showed them to a room where dozens of people scrambled. "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?!" His voice was loud and bold. They all stopped and looked at him in shock and fear and the room went dead silent in the back of the room you could hear a man say uh-oh, we're dead meat. A young woman, possibly in her early thirties looked down at the floor and then she spoke.
"Sir, the cruise Liner, Saint Minascerios has been sunk. It was struck by lightning a few hours ago and it went under."
"I already know that. These two ladies have a friend who has survived the destruction. We need to send a News Helicopter over the seas, around the area where the Cruise Liner had sunk and they need to find that missing girl. She is still alive and we're going to find her." The boss stared at his workers who were just standing there in shock. "Well DAMN IT GET TO IT!" They all rushed to do as what they were told. Then the man turned back around and faced the two horror struck girls. "We're going to find her don't worry. You might want to go tell her parents what happened though."
"We can't here only family was on that liner and they went down with it. She doesn't have anyone else except her friends." said Minako softly. She was nearly in tears and Rei grabbed her in a hug and held her close. Rei then pulled her aside and they went into a secluded room where the boss had led them so they could talk alone. Rei sat down next to Minako and grunted. Minako looked and saw Rei's face planted with anger and sadness.
"What's wrong Rei?" Minako asked between gasps of air as she slowed her crying down. Rei turned to her friend and looked her in the eye.
"Don't you find it weird that only Usagi made it out alive and everyone died on the liner? I mean think about it. Other people had to be on deck, not just her. Anyways how can she survive? The pull of the sinking ship would have drugged her under in matter of seconds and the pressure of the water would have made her lungs explode." Minako looked questionably at her, but then she soon began to agree with her, I mean even she knew oceanography. She understood a lot of it and she knew that the currents would have taken her under and killed her. So then how did she survive? Minako's face cleared up and she didn't cry anymore. She was in the same mood Rei was in and she wanted answers from Usagi.
A helicopter flew over the coordinates of the place where cruise liner went under. Almost everyone in Tokyo had their television on watching the news, even people who were at work had either the television or the radio on. A lot of people cried at the sight in the water. Dead bodies littered the ocean. Children, women, men and elders. Mikoto turned on the news at nine o'clock; it was a daily ritual for her. When she saw the news she was glued to it.
"Ladies and Gentleman, we are over the sight of where the Cruise Liner, Saint Minascerios, has sunk. It was destroyed in the hurricane that had come across the path of the giant boat. We fear that no one has survived this accident." Mikoto gasped and her eyes swelled up with tears. She recognized that name of the Cruise; it was the same one her friend was on. Mikoto who was standing fell to her knees and she hugged her body. She bent herself forward crying.
"Bloody hell Usagi why did you have to take that fucking cruise. Now I've lost you and my parents. DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!" Mikoto looked back up to the screen of her television and saw the reporter press on his ear piece that kept him in touch with others.
"Great news folks. We have received news of a girl who has survived this horrible tragedy." Usagi's picture appeared on the screen and Mikoto screamed in shock, but more out of surprise. More tears swelled up in her eyes. The pain she was feeling now was unexplainable. Her mind went into pieces as she continued to listen to the reporter speak. "We have information on this young girl as well. Her name is Tsukino, Usagi. A newly famous comic book writer. She has turned eighteen today and was said to be on board with her only family. Her mother, Tsukino, Ikuko; her father, Tsukino, Kenji and her 15 year old brother, Tsukino Sammy. They were apparently taking a family vacation."
Mikoto fell to her but in shock, but then something came to her attention. How did Usagi survive the cruise liners powerful undertow?
Michiru, Haruka, Setsuna and Hotaru stared at the television in horror. Their princess had survived the horrible accident. She was alive and they were searching for her. Haruka felt helpless as she knew she couldn't do anything. Michiru sat down on the couch next to Setsuna who was holding onto Hotaru. Hotaru had just turned 14 and was well taught in the science of water and the ocean. The first question out her mouth shocked everyone, even herself.
"How did Usagi survive the undertow?" Setsuna felt a tinge of pain strike her heart as she had asked herself the same question. Michiru, who new very well that no one would have been able to survive that was feeling the same thing Minako and Rei were feeling at the very same moment.
"Oh come one, you can't blame Usagi for any of this." Haruka stood next to the television and pointed at the wreck on the screen. "I mean could she have done that?" Setsuna and Michiru sat transfixed to the accident. They could see the bodies of the dead humans floating there in the water. Other boats were already there to retrieve the bodies of the people. Then the cameras zoomed in on a body of a little boy. As they stared at the television Michiru and Haruka turned away sharply, recognizing the young child was too painful for them. It was the same child that had asked Usagi for her autograph.
"DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL TO FUCKING HELL! USAGI HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS. THERE ARE OLDER MEN ON THAT BOAT THAT WERE STRONGER THAN HER THAT DIED!" Michiru stood up furious. She had, had enough of this. She was completely convinced that Usagi had done something. Setsuna and Hotaru stood up and Michiru followed them out of their mansion. "We're going to the docks to ask her a few questions when they find her. You can either come Haruka or sit here and watch that damned TV. Your choice." Michiru waited for her response but it never came. Haruka's eyes were filled with anger and pure sorrow. Michiru scowled and walked out. Haruka picked up a vase that Michiru had treasured and through at the wall in anger.
"DAMN YOU MICHIRU!" Haruka sat down on the couch and continued to watch the TV.
Ami sat on her plane waiting for it to land. She had to get to the docks as fast as she could. She had been watching the news for the last three hours on a flight from Germany to Japan. They hadn't found Usagi yet, but she knew they would and she wanted to be there when they brought her in. The whole plane was glued to the TV as they watched in horror of what happened.
Ami could feel the turbulence as she noticed the plane was coming down to the airstrip in Japan. 'The dock is only a twenty minute drive from the airport. I can get there in no time.' Ami's thoughts were pulled away as she remembered the night Usagi had confessed that she liked her.
"Ami, please you have to understand. These feelings I get around you are not of a sisterly bond. Don't you see? I lover you."
Usagi's eyes were in tears that night and so were hers right now as she remembered that quote that she had said to her that beautiful night. Ami felt horrible, but she told her that she was sorry but she didn't feel that way towards her. She hadn't told anyone that she was still keeping in contact Greg and so Ami thought it was now that she needed to tell her. Usagi was heart broken but she had gotten over it quickly. Ami's eyes were shut tightly as she tried hard to get that night out of head.
The pilot came out from the pilot's cockpit and led everyone outside. Ami soon spotted her cab that she had arranged before coming and she knew exactly where she wanted to go.
Usagi woke with a start as she felt pain throb from her head. The side of her head and face was covered in blood, but that's not what worried her. She slowly and carefully lifted herself up and looked down at the table and saw that no blood spilled into the ocean. Usagi froze and stared off into the distance. She could hear the sound of a helicopter approaching. She then saw a black speck form in the west towards the Coast of Japan.
"I survived the Open Sea." Usagi sighed in relief as she smiled and watched the helicopter draw closer to her.
Usagi lay on the table adrift in the ocean for nine hours. She was cold, hungry and thirsty; not to mention she needed to take a long shower. She had already peed because she knew that there was most diffidently no bathrooms around. She hadn't eaten all day except for the tiny glass of orange juice she had at four o'clock this morning and according to her watch it was seven thirty at night on the same day. She had been sleeping possibly for the last three hours and the last four she had been complaining about her stomach and how much her head hurt. Though she knew no one was able to hear her, she felt good that she could at least talk. When she did sleep her mind went immediately to the boat wreck. Her heart felt like it was struck by one-hundred bullets from the loss of her family. She wanted to just find land, find money and get to a pay phone. She had to reach her friends.
"MY FRIENDS! My watch." She had completely forgotten her watch that had told her the time was also her communicator watch that hooked her together with her friends. She lifted her arm to her face and stared at her wrist and took notice how badly bruised and cut she was; she shook it from her mind and punched in the code for Ami. She then immediately regretted it because she was probably at the hospital working with a patient but when her watch beeped back; she lifted her arm and looked at the watch. Ami's face was on the screen and she saw Ami gasp.
"Usagi, oh my god what happened? Are you ok?" Ami's voice sounded scared and serious.
"Not really; you know that cruise me and the family went on?"
"Yeah, God please don't tell me you-"Ami's voice trailed off as she saw her friends eyes turn into pain, sorrow and anger. "Is your family all right Usagi?" Usagi closed her eyes and then opened them again.
"No, they....died...on the boat. They were.....unable to make it....to the deck in....time. I think I was the only survivor. Ami please send help!" Usagi's failed on her and she began to cry. "I'm stuck in the middle of the ocean on a half sunken table, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, and I want Sammy and my mom and my dad back. Ami please help. I don't know what to do anymore."
"Usagi first you need to call Rei and Minako. They are on a tour right off the coast of Japan. They can have the news looking for you matter of minutes. I'll call the airports and I'm coming out as soon as I get off the phone with them. Usagi you have to stay strong." Usagi calmed down and she rested her head back on the table. She was pretty much weak and was starving. It was coming up on ten hours of being out on the ocean by herself; floating with no more than eight bodies around her. "Alright Usagi, call them now."
"Ok Ami." Ami left the screen and Usagi turned hers off. She then punched in Rei's emergency number, followed by Minako's. Minako's face popped on the screen and then it went to a half screen and allowed Rei's face to appear. Usagi told them what had happened and they said they had just ended a tour and were on their way home. After five minutes of talking they closed out on each other and Minako called the local coast guard of where the Cruise Liner had sailed off from. Usagi rested her head down on the table and sighed. She was stuck on this wretched table for a few more hours. She could feel herself beginning to get sick and her left side was strangely giving off strange sharp pains. It would happen every few minutes and Usagi would hold onto her left side in pain scrunched up in a small ball, on a table, floating in the middle of the damn ocean. This time when the pain came back it came back harder than usual. She passed out from it and hit the back of her head on the table causing her head to bleed just a little. She was lucky enough that the blood didn't drip into the ocean drawing in hungry sharks for dinner.
Minako and Rei ran up the steps to the Local Coast Guard. They burst through the doors and ran immediately to the front desk demanding to see the boss. The receptionist called for him and he arrived in less than two minutes.
"What is the problems young ladies?" He appeared behind them and when they turned around and gasped at realizing who they were. "Oh I am terribly sorry for my rudeness I di-"
"Forget it; you have an emergency on your hands. A really big one." Minako nearly screamed it out and Rei looked at her friend in shock. "Your Cruise Liner, the Saint Minascerios, had gone down to the bottom of the ocean a few hours ago."
"If this is a joke young lady then I suggest you leave, I can have security up here in matter of seconds." Rei was getting fed up with this man; first he was rude and now this.
"Listen up, our friend was on that cruiser, and she was the only one to have survived. She has a communicator watch that is directly linked to certain friends of hers and believe me it wasn't a joke when she called. Your cruise liner went down in that storm that had passed a few hours ago. Now you can either fucking help us or we can go to someone else, have them save our friend and put you behind bars for possible murder of all those people."
"Alright, please calm down. We can go to the satellite room and search for the cruise liners signal and see where is at." The man turned and showed them to a room where dozens of people scrambled. "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?!" His voice was loud and bold. They all stopped and looked at him in shock and fear and the room went dead silent in the back of the room you could hear a man say uh-oh, we're dead meat. A young woman, possibly in her early thirties looked down at the floor and then she spoke.
"Sir, the cruise Liner, Saint Minascerios has been sunk. It was struck by lightning a few hours ago and it went under."
"I already know that. These two ladies have a friend who has survived the destruction. We need to send a News Helicopter over the seas, around the area where the Cruise Liner had sunk and they need to find that missing girl. She is still alive and we're going to find her." The boss stared at his workers who were just standing there in shock. "Well DAMN IT GET TO IT!" They all rushed to do as what they were told. Then the man turned back around and faced the two horror struck girls. "We're going to find her don't worry. You might want to go tell her parents what happened though."
"We can't here only family was on that liner and they went down with it. She doesn't have anyone else except her friends." said Minako softly. She was nearly in tears and Rei grabbed her in a hug and held her close. Rei then pulled her aside and they went into a secluded room where the boss had led them so they could talk alone. Rei sat down next to Minako and grunted. Minako looked and saw Rei's face planted with anger and sadness.
"What's wrong Rei?" Minako asked between gasps of air as she slowed her crying down. Rei turned to her friend and looked her in the eye.
"Don't you find it weird that only Usagi made it out alive and everyone died on the liner? I mean think about it. Other people had to be on deck, not just her. Anyways how can she survive? The pull of the sinking ship would have drugged her under in matter of seconds and the pressure of the water would have made her lungs explode." Minako looked questionably at her, but then she soon began to agree with her, I mean even she knew oceanography. She understood a lot of it and she knew that the currents would have taken her under and killed her. So then how did she survive? Minako's face cleared up and she didn't cry anymore. She was in the same mood Rei was in and she wanted answers from Usagi.
A helicopter flew over the coordinates of the place where cruise liner went under. Almost everyone in Tokyo had their television on watching the news, even people who were at work had either the television or the radio on. A lot of people cried at the sight in the water. Dead bodies littered the ocean. Children, women, men and elders. Mikoto turned on the news at nine o'clock; it was a daily ritual for her. When she saw the news she was glued to it.
"Ladies and Gentleman, we are over the sight of where the Cruise Liner, Saint Minascerios, has sunk. It was destroyed in the hurricane that had come across the path of the giant boat. We fear that no one has survived this accident." Mikoto gasped and her eyes swelled up with tears. She recognized that name of the Cruise; it was the same one her friend was on. Mikoto who was standing fell to her knees and she hugged her body. She bent herself forward crying.
"Bloody hell Usagi why did you have to take that fucking cruise. Now I've lost you and my parents. DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!" Mikoto looked back up to the screen of her television and saw the reporter press on his ear piece that kept him in touch with others.
"Great news folks. We have received news of a girl who has survived this horrible tragedy." Usagi's picture appeared on the screen and Mikoto screamed in shock, but more out of surprise. More tears swelled up in her eyes. The pain she was feeling now was unexplainable. Her mind went into pieces as she continued to listen to the reporter speak. "We have information on this young girl as well. Her name is Tsukino, Usagi. A newly famous comic book writer. She has turned eighteen today and was said to be on board with her only family. Her mother, Tsukino, Ikuko; her father, Tsukino, Kenji and her 15 year old brother, Tsukino Sammy. They were apparently taking a family vacation."
Mikoto fell to her but in shock, but then something came to her attention. How did Usagi survive the cruise liners powerful undertow?
Michiru, Haruka, Setsuna and Hotaru stared at the television in horror. Their princess had survived the horrible accident. She was alive and they were searching for her. Haruka felt helpless as she knew she couldn't do anything. Michiru sat down on the couch next to Setsuna who was holding onto Hotaru. Hotaru had just turned 14 and was well taught in the science of water and the ocean. The first question out her mouth shocked everyone, even herself.
"How did Usagi survive the undertow?" Setsuna felt a tinge of pain strike her heart as she had asked herself the same question. Michiru, who new very well that no one would have been able to survive that was feeling the same thing Minako and Rei were feeling at the very same moment.
"Oh come one, you can't blame Usagi for any of this." Haruka stood next to the television and pointed at the wreck on the screen. "I mean could she have done that?" Setsuna and Michiru sat transfixed to the accident. They could see the bodies of the dead humans floating there in the water. Other boats were already there to retrieve the bodies of the people. Then the cameras zoomed in on a body of a little boy. As they stared at the television Michiru and Haruka turned away sharply, recognizing the young child was too painful for them. It was the same child that had asked Usagi for her autograph.
"DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL TO FUCKING HELL! USAGI HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS. THERE ARE OLDER MEN ON THAT BOAT THAT WERE STRONGER THAN HER THAT DIED!" Michiru stood up furious. She had, had enough of this. She was completely convinced that Usagi had done something. Setsuna and Hotaru stood up and Michiru followed them out of their mansion. "We're going to the docks to ask her a few questions when they find her. You can either come Haruka or sit here and watch that damned TV. Your choice." Michiru waited for her response but it never came. Haruka's eyes were filled with anger and pure sorrow. Michiru scowled and walked out. Haruka picked up a vase that Michiru had treasured and through at the wall in anger.
"DAMN YOU MICHIRU!" Haruka sat down on the couch and continued to watch the TV.
Ami sat on her plane waiting for it to land. She had to get to the docks as fast as she could. She had been watching the news for the last three hours on a flight from Germany to Japan. They hadn't found Usagi yet, but she knew they would and she wanted to be there when they brought her in. The whole plane was glued to the TV as they watched in horror of what happened.
Ami could feel the turbulence as she noticed the plane was coming down to the airstrip in Japan. 'The dock is only a twenty minute drive from the airport. I can get there in no time.' Ami's thoughts were pulled away as she remembered the night Usagi had confessed that she liked her.
"Ami, please you have to understand. These feelings I get around you are not of a sisterly bond. Don't you see? I lover you."
Usagi's eyes were in tears that night and so were hers right now as she remembered that quote that she had said to her that beautiful night. Ami felt horrible, but she told her that she was sorry but she didn't feel that way towards her. She hadn't told anyone that she was still keeping in contact Greg and so Ami thought it was now that she needed to tell her. Usagi was heart broken but she had gotten over it quickly. Ami's eyes were shut tightly as she tried hard to get that night out of head.
The pilot came out from the pilot's cockpit and led everyone outside. Ami soon spotted her cab that she had arranged before coming and she knew exactly where she wanted to go.
Usagi woke with a start as she felt pain throb from her head. The side of her head and face was covered in blood, but that's not what worried her. She slowly and carefully lifted herself up and looked down at the table and saw that no blood spilled into the ocean. Usagi froze and stared off into the distance. She could hear the sound of a helicopter approaching. She then saw a black speck form in the west towards the Coast of Japan.
"I survived the Open Sea." Usagi sighed in relief as she smiled and watched the helicopter draw closer to her.