The next morning I woke up much later than usual. I rolled over and found Jakes side of the bed empty. There was barely any light coming in through the window. At first I thought it meant it was really early in the morning but it wouldn't make sense for Jake to be up so early. It wasn't until I sat up in bed that I realized it was already noon. Outside the window the skies were dark and cloudy and the ocean looked almost angry. For a moment it made me a bit nervous but I'm pretty positive this type of weather is very common in the tropics so there's really nothing to worry about it wasn't even raining. The thing I was worried about however, is what we were going to do all day with the sky so dark. Our sun bathing and poolside cocktails had come to a halt.
After brushing my teeth and throwing my hair into a ponytail I changed into the only pair of jeans I packed which I had actually planned to wear on the flight back home, and the same hoodie I wore last night; I headed into Alice's room to find her laying on her stomach still asleep.
"Aliiiice" I sing softly as I sit on the edge of her bed and touch her shoulder. "Good morning sunshine. "I say as she slowly comes to.
"Damn what time is it?" she says looking out the window. She must have been thinking the same thing I had thought when I first woke up.
"It's noon. It's a pretty ugly day." I sigh staring out the window.
"That sucks hopefully it will clear out by tomorrow. "She says sitting up. Her face was in last nights smeared makeup but her hair looked fine.
"Hangover?" I asked as she rubbed her eyes and smoothed her hair back out of her face.
"No I didn't drink munch, but I met this cute guy at the bar and we ended up talking all night I didn't get back to the room until like four in the morning."
"Well you better get up and get dressed they close breakfast in twenty minutes and they don't serve lunch for another hour after that so we better run and hope we still find some good food left" I say standing up so that she can climb out of bed. She gets ready in about five minutes. She unlike me didn't pack any jeans so she ends up wearing the outfit she packed to wear to the gym which luckily included a running jacket.
When we get to the buffet there is plenty of food, thank god. Alice and I were both starving and between the two of us we finish off quite a bit of food. We hear from a couple next to our table that they are showing movies in one of the rec rooms and that they are allowing guests to borrow board games and movies. They aren't allowing people in the pool areas because of a risk of lightning or something so Alice and I decided to avoid the rec rooms which were probably overflowing with people anyways so we picked up a couple old movies and a deck of cards and went to her room to hangout.
After playing a few hands of blackjack the ships rocking starts to increase as it starts to rain. The storm starts to get a little stronger but there's an announcement through the intercom saying not to worry the storm should blow over soon and that the captain is quite used to these kinds of storms. Alice and I decide to kick back and just watch a movie but by the end of the movie the storm only appears to have gotten worse.
"Let's go grab some lunch. At least we can talk to someone else and see if this is actually normal." Alice say's as she slips on her shoes.
"Do you think maybe they are just telling us it's normal so that we don't panic?" I ask her as we are walking down the hall. We have to hold on to the wall to prevent from falling the rocking was just so hard.
"I am sure they would. But I am also sure that they are used to big storms." She replies.
When we get to the dining room it's packed and louder than usual. We find Jacob right away at a table with a couple guys. There's a table full of food but they don't really appear to be eating.
"Hey babe." Jake says as I kiss his check and sit in the open chair next to him. Alice ends up sitting between a couple guys we hadn't met but appeared to be a about our age.
"Hey, crazy weather huh?" I say helping myself to the fries on his plate.
"Yeah a bit." One of the guys says.
"Do you think it's normal? It seems a little too rough to be normal. "Alice says as she grabs an empty plate and starts grabbing from the plates in the middle of the table. I was a little too nervous to eat all that much.
"I don't know I have been on a couple cruises and a few of them went through some storms but even the worst one didn't seem this bad." Another guy said.
"I'm sure everything will be alright. No point in worrying about something we can't control." Jacob said ending the conversation. We all just sort of pick at our food in silence for a while. Without as much as a few words exchanged we all split up to head to our rooms. We are just about to unlock our room when suddenly the ship jolts and shudders and my back slams into the wall behind us but I manage to catch myself before falling all the way down. A red light starts flashing and a women's voice comes on the intercom. "EVERYONE PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND PROCEED TO THE MAIN DECK AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE."
"Should we grab our stuff or something?" I ask as the three of us just sort of stare at each other, our hands are gripping the walls but the boat isn't shaking so much anymore.
"Don't be stupid what do we need our stuff for let's just go." Jacob says grabbing my hand and pulling me down the hallway that was already beginning to fill with people. We make it to the main deck just before the hallways start to get blocked with so much traffic. While Jacob thought it was stupid to bring our stuff other people didn't. Tons of people had brought all their suitcases with them and even though I knew there weren't that many people on this boat the main deck was twice as crowded because of all the stuff they brought. There was lots of staff people pointing and yelling but it was hard to listen to them with so many people yelling trying to find out what was going on. The boat had started rocking though not as much and it was causing a lot of people to bump into each other. Alice was gripping onto my hand tightly so that we wouldn't get separated but I was already beginning to lose Jacob as more and more people came in between us. The rain was coming down heavily and my clothes were already soaking wet. It took me a moment to realize what we were all standing around waiting for. They were lowering boats. Boats filled with people.
"Jacob!" I yell when I completely lose track of him. "Jake!"
"Everyone please remain calm! "A man in what looks like a bellhops suit is yelling.
"What is going on!" a man yells grabbing onto his arm and pulling him roughly to keep him from running off.
"We have appeared to hit and unidentified object possibly a rock of some sort. It has torn though the bottom of the ship. The ships sinking which is why we are getting people onto boats please remain calm there is plenty of time to get everyone onto the boats we just need you all to remain in your assigned groups." I hear him say just as a group of people swarm around to hear him. The yelling increases and Alice and I push ourselves through the crowd away from him.
"What are we supposed to do!" she yells looking panicked.
"We just need to stay together we will be fine! Let's just try and stay in one spot he says there's plenty of time to get on the boats and I think he says right already they have lowered a couple boats and the ships not tipping or anything so let's just focus on staying together." I yell. Our arms are locked tightly together and we do our best to hold our spots as people shove and push. We were fairly close to one of two spots they were lowering ships from. But so many people were trying to shove past us to the front that little by little we were getting pushed back. The deck was also covered in abandoned suitcases which only made it harder not to fall over.
"I think we are going to have to start trying to push our way to the front!" Alice yells" we are only getting pushed further back it's not fair! We have to fight our way forward just so that we can keep close to the front!"
"Okay!" I yell back. I grip onto her shaking hand tighter, or maybe it was my hand that was shaking it was hard to tell it was the only part of my body that wasn't freezing cold. We had just begun to start pushing our way towards the front when the ships gives another sudden tilt. A person beside us loses their balance and falls in between us breaking my hold on her arm and pulling me down with him on top of a suitcases that hits me right on the left side of my stomach. The pain and the people around me make it difficult to get backup. By the time I am standing I have already lost Alice in the crowd
"ALICE!"I yell but already my voice is lost with other names being shouted. Suddenly the panic begins to set in. The ship is sinking. It's going down and I lost Alice and Jacob. I won't know if she's alright. She's so small what if she's been trampled. I begin to get frantic and start shoving myself roughly through any open gap. I'm yelling her name hoping I will find her. I don't find her. But I somehow find my way right near the front where they are rushing to load people on the boats. Alice would want me to get on the boat. She'd be pissed if I didn't. She would do it. But I can't get on the boat without her. I don't end up making much of a decision in the end. I am grabbed roughly by the arm and pulled through the front straight towards the boat that has been lowered beside the ship. It's rocking roughly and there is a man already on it with a bunch of other people mostly women but a few men too. He grabs my waist and pulls me onto the boat. Without so much as giving me a second to breathe. I stumble in catching myself against the side.
My blood turns cold when I look over board. We were so far above the ocean and people were being thrown into the boat making it sway and shake roughly. A woman beside me is passing out life jackets frantically. She tosses me one and I immediately buckle myself into it. I squeeze myself back into the farthest spot all the way at the back tip of the boat to make room for more people. I glued my eyes to the boat on the other end of the ship. It was far enough away that made it difficult to see but close enough that I was sure I could find Alice if she appeared. The bodies on that boat were being smashed together as tightly as they could. They were all so close together it was hard to be certain but I don't think Alice is there. When the boat became so full they were lowered. My stomach tightened as they lowered into the rough waters and were attempting to paddle away but there was no point in trying to fight the ocean. It was taking them wherever they wanted. They were screaming and shouting and water was being splashed into the boat and the boat was swinging and suddenly a boy falls out. He looks so small from here and the water seems to swallow him and spit him out then pull him in deeper. A man manages to grab hold of him and they are all trying to grab him and pull him onto the boat. I have to tear my eyes away I don't want to see what happens. I can't. My eyes land on the new boat they are loading. There's only a few people on it and one of them is small with dark red hair.
"ALICE!" I scream desperately as loud as I can. By some miracle she turns around. I keep screaming even after I know she sees me.
"BELLA!" she shrieks while clinging to the side of the boat. Suddenly my boat drops a few feet and everyone in the boat struggles to remain standing. There was too many people to sit. So I held on tight to the side. I was so focused on Alice I hadn't realized how tightly we were squeezed in.
"ARE YOU OKAY?"I yell as the boat lowers a few more feet. But I don't hear her answer as our boat lowers further closer to the ocean and I focus on grabbing onto the boat to keep steady whilst being pushed by the other people. Suddenly the boat drops and we all grab on as it splashes into the water and water splashes everywhere and the boat immediately begins to shake roughly as the wave's crash against the sides and we are thrust around. Most of the people on the boat had fallen when the boat fell and they were all piled on top of each other mostly the people in the middle that didn't have anything to grab onto. I was holding tight to the back of the boat. The rain and the ocean water had me soaking wet and my body feels heavy as I try to stand still the side of the boat was higher than my waist which made it easier to get a good grip. But the boat is being pushed from both sides and then suddenly it lifts and crashes down again and it's pushed further and further away from the ship. People were falling on top of each other and I felt hands gripping onto my elbow trying to stay standing. So I put all my focus on holding on. I close my eyes and it seems as though it all changes. I can hear the screaming and the rough waves. I feel the cold water soaking me further making my sweater feel heavier and my jeans cling to my legs tightly. I feel hands bruising my skin and bodies falling and being thrown around on the boat. My heart is pulsating my ears and my arms are beginning to feel weak but I don't dare let go even as bile threatens to rise up my throat at the thought of what is happening. Then suddenly the boat lifts again, but this time it doesn't crash back down. It flips and the boat slides out from my hands and I am thrown hitting the water roughly. My body gets sucked in and I kick hard to help pull myself up and when I do I only manage to take in another breath as another wave crashes down on top of me. My life jacket does me little good as by the time I float to the top another wave is crashing into me. I'm trying to look around but it's hard to see with so much water I don't hear many people and I'm trying to remember if everyone had a lifejacket but I can't even think. The ship is so far away and despite the fact that other boats had been lowered I can't spot any. And I don't see a single person as wave after wave pushes me down and my life jacket pulls me up only to be shoved down again and again. And then I spot the boat. It was flipped over. I swim as hard as I can to it. The waves are trying to pull me in other directions and the life jacket was bulky making it hard to move my arms properly but the boat was coming in my direction so I just had to push hard enough to fight the water that was fighting me. Suddenly a large wave crashed over me and I was underwater again. Just as my life jacket was pulling me up my hand touches something firm. I immediately grasp at it. The boat! It was slippery in hands but I grab it as best I can. It was still upside down but I knew I wouldn't be able to flip it all on my own. So I cling to it. My body was now being shoved into it. And I was trying to find a way to get a well enough grip to pull myself up. When a wave begins to lift behind me I manage to lift my leg and hook my foot on the side of the boat as the water pulls it down. I use the force of the wave to help lift me on top of the overturned boat. I nearly slide off to the other side .But I manage to get a good enough grip to straddle the boat and hold on. I am gasping for air finally being able to take a decent breath. I was struggling to stay on as the bottom of the boat was slippery and the waves were still thrashing me about. But I managed to stay on.
I was alone. I could not see a single boat around. Or any people and I had been pushed so far away I could only hear a faint hum of the people still on the ship. I had been pushed to the other side of the boat so I couldn't even see if they were still lowering boats. The ship was already sinking down on one side. The front of the ship looked as if it were being swallowed by the ocean. The rain picked up again making it only harder to stay on. I manage to hold on a little while longer as the boat is pushed further and further from the ship. But then the boat begins to sink as a huge wave begins to form. It crashes into the side completely throwing me off and swallowing me. As I'm pulled down something long wraps around me knee. I manage to grip it as my lifesaver pulls me back to the surface. It was a rope. A rope attached to the boat. I grip it and I pull it as hard as I can. The boat has flipped over right side up. This time it's much easier to grab onto the boat and I use whatever strength I have left to pull myself over the side and fall into the boat. I lay there in the middle of the boat where there is no seats. The boat was filling with rain water but I couldn't pull myself up off the floor. I tie the rope as tight as I can around my wrist in case the boat flips again. Suddenly I can't hold it back anymore. I am curled up in a puddle on a boat and I just can't stop as sobs rip through my body as realization really hits me. Our ship was sinking. It is sinking. It's probably sunk by now. Alice could be anywhere. She could be dead for all I know. Jake too. And here I was in a boat big enough to fit twenty people, and I was alone. I am alone.
Thanks so much for reading everyone I have another chapter coming really soon, promise.