Trouble With Authority
The great horn sounded and cheers could be heard from all over the Queenstown area. Leah quickly left her stuff in her newly acquired room and dashed to the deck. It seemed as if millions of people were bidding them farewell. She grinned and waved just like all the other passengers. There were cries and tears of joy all along the railing.
Leah couldn't help but run closer to the front of the ship. She peered over the railing as the ship begun to pick up speed. She was on her way home, and she couldn't believe it.
She spent the next few hours just roaming the ship. She enjoyed taking in the sights before her; the laughing children, the wandering artist with his sketchbook, the dogs that would occasionally be walked, and of course, the ocean.
To a lot of people, the ocean seemed dull. It was blue, wet and all over the place. Leah, however, found it beautiful, especially in the morning. She thought there was nothing more beautiful than a sunrise over the ocean. It reminded her of a few years ago, when she would wake up extra early to watch the sunrise with her mother. But that was before things began to change.
Soon, Leah began to feel that familiar hollow feeling in her stomach. With a sigh, she left the deck and began to make her way to her cabin. She still had her apples from before. However, on the way down, the smell of the first class food caught her nose. Carts of the prepared food were being moved in and out of the halls.
The sights of all the food was clearly an eye soar. There were steaks, potatoes, and baskets of rolls. Leah tried to put it out of her mind, but and abandoned cart, holding some rolls caught her eye. She quickly looked around. No one, the hall seemed completely abandoned.
'This is almost too easy.' She thought to herself, and it was.
As she snuck past the cart, grabbing two rolls, she heard a door from behind her swing open. Panicking, she dropped one of the rolls, and put some speed in her step. Quickly snagging a bite of the other roll she had, she heard a booming voice from behind her.
"Hey! You! What do you think your doing?"
Leah refused to look back as she took quicker steps. The voice continued though,
"I said stop you! Get back here you wretched girl!"
She still refused to acknowledge him. Suddenly, a forceful hand grabbed Leah's free wrist.
"Now listen you…" before he could finish that sentence, Leah forcefully stuffed the bitten roll into his mouth, kicked his shin and made a mad dash for the stairs.
Leah could hear him gagging and swearing at her, but she didn't care. She needed to keep running, she refused to be caught. She dodged a few people here and there, but could still hear the man's footsteps from behind her.
"Get back here you dirty little thief!"
Leah ran down another flight of stairs and jumped at the bottom.
'This guy just won't quit.'
She turned a sharp corner and ran through the hall.
'Almost there.' She thought.
She turned another sharp corner quicker than the last one. However, this time, about mid-turn, she hit something, or someone.
Leah had no idea what hit her. On impact, it felt like a large brick wall, but on landing, it felt like a large mattress with arms. Leah had the wind completely knocked out of her, but someone was trying to get her back onto her knees.
"You alright, love?" Said a thick-Irish accent.
"I think so." Leah whispered as she looked up to see two gorgeous blue eyes. "…Yes" She mumbled breathlessly.
The strange man pulled her to her feet. It was then that she was able to take him all in. Besides his amazing blue-ocean eyes, he had a bit of scruff to his face, curly chestnut hair with a brown bowler hat on top, he wore a brown jacket and a large smile. Leah could smell the cigarette smoke on his breath, normally that bothered her, but for some reason, she found that she didn't mind so much.
"Steady there." He said with a chuckle. "I'm Tommy Ryan."
"…Hi…" She whispered, and then cleared her throat. "I'm…"
But before she could answer, she felt herself being wrenched away and a death grip around the top of her arm.