She was eager to get onto Fortuna. Maneuvering her way onto the ship was easier the third time around. It looked a lot different under the early morning sun. Somehow, it looked a lot more eerie.

She ventured in the direction opposite of what she had gone the prior night. Down a hallway into a large public room. She glanced around. Light spilled in from the windows. It magnified the dust of the room. She moved around, studying the tables and chairs that were haphazardly placed. She stopped at one table.

A pair of glasses sat on a table. One was still stained with lipstick. She leaned over to examine the cup.

A shadow slid across the floor, catching her eye. She snapped straight, whipping around.

"Hello?" Lola called out.

She got no response, though she felt a pair of eyes on her. The eyes stayed on her as she exited the public room. She moved freely throughout the ship. Though the eyes followed her, she felt safe under the daylight.

She dipped down into the sub-deck, passing by the closed cabins that probably held thousands and thousands of dollars of old precious things. That is, until she came to the end of the hall. The door to the room at the end of the hall was wide open, as if it was begging her to enter.

When she passed through the door into the room, she felt a wave of... something… hit her. The eyes were watching her more closely as she moved around the room. Sitting on the middle of an antiqued desk was a black leather book. Lola hesitated for a second before picking it up.

The first few pages held chicken scratch stories of teen angst. After a few weeks, disturbing ink sketches of bodies hanging from trees and slit wrists. The homicidal and suicidal thoughts showed up in words, too. The life displayed on the pages was horrifying. A gold digging mother who exploited not only her mentally disabled children but her lovers. A mother that had two of her children murdered. The last entry was the most frightening, not to mention the most homicidal of them all. Below a sketch of a gun shooting a woman point plank to her head was an almost illegible account…

"I am determined the scum of the world is grouped together on this damned ship. The worst of the worst. Maybe that is why I'm here. I managed to score some coke from a chef in exchange for some of my slut mom's jewelry. She won't miss it after tonight. None of them will miss their worthless shit. You know, today I was walking up to the deck earlier (My original plan was to jump ship, but I think killing them all is better- but I'll get to that in a second) when this blonde bitch pulled me into a closet. She tore my clothes off and was whispering something about how she'd been watching me the entire fucking trip- HOW FUCKED UP IS THAT- and that bad boys like me turned her on. Come to think of it, she did have some big tits. Maybe if I wasn't so suicidal I would've stayed and played along. But I bolted. I didn't end up jumping the boat. Good thing, because now I have this BRILLIANT idea. To kill them all. My bitch mom will be first. She actually told me today that I have to make sure I'm on my best behavior tonight so she can snag herself a good one. That poor sap, I'm doing him a favor. The world is a filthy place; it's a filthy goddamn horror show…"

"It's fucked up, isn't it?"

Lola's eyes snapped up and she dropped the book as she let out a horrified yelp. He was standing directly in front of her with a cocky smile.

His dirty blonde hair was somewhere between curly and straight. It was stuck on the top of his head like a mop. His eyes were jet black. She knew they were the eyes that had been following her all day. His face, his face was both petrifying and handsome. Those lips were curled into a smile. He was wearing a thin white cotton shirt with the sleeves bunched up at the elbows. It had a low scooping collar that exposed the edges of his collarbones. Over top of the shirt was a pair of black suspenders that locked into his dark slacks. On his feet he wore a worn out pair of black cap toe shoes.

"Sorry about the outfit. A bit formal for our first date, huh? I've tried taking it off a thousand times. I guess I'm stuck with it. It looked a lot better with the blood. The red really popped."

Lola fumbled with her bag. She held the knife out shakily, "Who the hell are you?"

"I think you have a pretty good idea who I am after sneaking a peak into my journal."

He took a few steps towards her. She jabbed the knife into the air.

"Go ahead!" He laughed. "I told you, the blood really pops."

She was face to face with a goddamn madman. She tried to take a few steps backwards, but she was unfamiliar with the layout of the room, and she tripped over her own feet. Her instincts kicked in, and she dropped the knife to steady herself.

"Shit!" She cursed loudly.

Before she had a chance to blink, the knife was in the maniac's hands. She turned to make a run for it, but he waved his arm and the door blew shut.

"Look," She tried to reason. "Just let me go. I won't tell anyone what happened here. I promise. Okay?"

"Lola, Lola, Lola," He grinned. "I thought you were stronger than this."

"How do you know my name?" She cried loudly.

"I'm observant," He shrugged. "I know our date can't begin until I properly introduce myself. Tate. See? Now we can get the show on the road."

"If you let me go, I'll make my dad and brothers leave. We'll leave you alone, I promise."

Tate's face scrunched in confusion, "Why would I want that to happen, Lola? We're on a date right now! I don't want my date to leave. I apologize for the way I'm acting; I just haven't been around such a gorgeous lady like you in a long time. Your skin is so… gorgeous. Besides, you guys won't be going anywhere. Not after what I did to your boat."

"What the hell did you do to my boat?" Lola screamed.

"Feisty!" Tate smiled. "That's the Lola I like."

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?" Lola belted. Her face was contorted in fear.

Tate raised the knife with a frown, "I didn't mean to scare you. I always hurt the ones I love."

He brought the knife to his face and put it in his mouth. He jerked it to the left, carving deep into his flesh. Then to the right, mimicking the left side. He created a permanent smile on his face. The skin tissue from the wounds flared up and open, bubbling disgusting white puss. Like a waterfall, blood poured out of his open mouth. His teeth were stained a disturbing shade of crimson.

"I'm sorry, Lola. I didn't mean to hurt you."

He disappeared into thin air. Lola breathed deeply, inhaling the stale air in the cabin. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't feel anything in her lungs.

"Lo! Hey, Lola! Come on, pick up?"

The radio! How was she so stupid that she didn't think of the radio?

She carefully picked up the radio and spoke shakily into it,

"Aaron?"

"For fucks sake!" He exhaled through the static. "I have been trying to get ahold of you for an hour. We're here… or I'm here. Josh and RJ wanted to go look for more jewelry. Dad's still passed out on the boat."

Lola shoveled the black journal and the bloody knife into her bag as she spoke, "I'll come to you. Meet me on the deck."

She was already running out of the room and down the labyrinth of halls when he responded.

"Are you okay, Lo? You sound scared."

"I'll explain later."

Lola navigated through the weaving halls. She pawed at the stairs as she climbed up them, dying to see the deck. Aaron was waiting for her, nervously pacing. When she popped into the sunlight, gasping for breath, he rushed over to her. He grabbed onto her arms.

"What's wrong?"

"Do you remember last night when I told you about the face?" She breathed.

Aaron let out a sigh, "Yeah, I remember."

"He's real! He knows who I am. He- don't look at me like that, Aaron! I'm being serious. I just lived through the most horrific experience of my life."

"It's just," Aaron rubbed his neck, pausing for a second. "I think the season isn't what you expected, and you're coping with it by imagining things. It's okay to admit you can't do something."

Lola stomped her foot, "Listen to me, Aaron! I have proof."

She pulled the knife out of the bag. It wasn't stained with fresh blood. It looked just as it had before she went into the room. She looked at the item with wonder.

"It was just…"

"Okay. Let's find RJ and Josh-"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Lola yelped.

She pulled out the leather bound notebook and shoved it against Aaron's chest. He flipped through the book slowly, his eyes growing as he tabbed through the pages.

"Holy shit," He breathed.

"It's him, Aaron. You have to believe me."

"I think there is some other explanation. Whoever wrote this was obviously really messed up. Maybe they did do something bad on this boat. But I don't think his ghost is haunting it, Lo."

"I can't believe you! You are always with me. You sound just like RJ."

"Hey!" Aaron sneered. "Don't you dare say compare me to him. I've saved your ass so many times."

"I never asked you to," She spat.

Aaron's face softened, "You're just tired. Come on. Let's go back to The Saga. You can take a nap. Let the boys have their fun."

Lola caved, letting her brother pull her around to the railing. Maybe he was right.

"Uh, Lola?"

Lola looked up from the ground. She stared at an empty ocean. The Saga was missing. The boat wasn't even bouncing on the horizon. It had vanished.

"Oh my God," She whispered, her eyes wide. "He told me he messed with the boat."

Aaron belted, "Give your story a rest for a fucking second, Lola! Our boat is missing!"

Aaron pushed his sister out of the way as he stalked around the boat, peering over the railing as he went. The liner was big, and their fishing boat was small. It might have drifted and was hidden behind the vessel. Possibly.

This was a nightmare.

Lola wanted to run after him. Maybe she could convince him what happened to her in that cabin was real. Their missing boat was obviously evidence that her story was right. But she couldn't move. She was frozen in fear. Because Tate stood directly in front of her.