Maureen lay on her daughters bed all night, her red eyes were wide open in disbelief. She heard her husband pacing downstairs, his feet padded on the rough carpet. Maureen's eyes wondered about the room, everything was where it should be...except for the drawing pad which was missing, she looked about the room seeing no sign of it. She thought 'Maybe she took it with her when she was...' Maureen was overcome with sadness, her lip quivered as she put her palms to her eyes. She thought about if her daughter was opening her eyes from a nice slumber, or from a night of terror.
Antonio Graza...
Catrina's eyes darted open, and her emerald orbs came into focus. The sunlight shone through the porthole and bleared across her pale skin, she shuffled her legs slightly under the silk covers. Her hands which were curled up and bent on either side of her head, twitched slightly as she adjusted to the warmth of the room.
She suddenly remembered where she was and groaned irritably. Her surroundings were different from last night, she remembered after she fled from Jack, crying her eyes up, she ran to the very damp bottom of the ship, and locked herself in the mail room, where she fell asleep in a pile of unread letters. She guessed someone must of carried her up. Catrina shivered as she imagined either Jack or one of those perverted men...man handling her while she was asleep.
'I have to get off this ship.' She thought, she then yawned and turned a little, nuzzling her head into the soft pillow, her eyes drifted close. Catrina then briskly sat up, and looked about the room. 'Empty'.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed and pulled herself up, and rushed over to the door. Catrina poked her head out the door, and looked down the deserted corridor. This was her chance, she didn't have much of an escape plan, but if she could just quietly make her way up to the decking, she could make a raft out of bits and pieces, or start a fire, to make smoke signals.
Catrina made her way into the corridor, and she closed the door, with her back firmly pressed against the wall, her hair flipped into her face as she moved her head side to side to look along the corridor. "Come on Jack where are you?" She whispered, beginning to slide across the wall down the corridor. She stood still...silence. 'Why would Jack leave me unsupervised?' She broke into a steady run, every corner she came to, she would peer around and prepare to run in the opposite direction, but she never did run in the other direction, the halls were empty.
Her tights kept threading, so she stopped and tore them off, her legs were now bare, apart from her knee length skirt. She looked up suddenly when she heard voices bouncing off the walls ahead of her, a group of ghostly figures deep in conversation turned into the hall she was in, she stood transfixed. They abruptly stopped when they saw Catrina standing there looking at them curiously. They hastily walked around her, Catrina kept her eye on them.
One of them mumbled to the other. "Is that who I think it is?"
"-Yeah...Jack's new pet...and such a pretty little thing she is."
"Hm yeah...Poor girl, doesn't have a clue."
She stood there dumbfounded as they disappeared around a corner. Catrina continued down the corridor. 'Oh god not more ghosts...am I turning into a freaking spiritual medium?' She thought as she headed through a door less, doorway into the reception hall. The sun shone brightly through every glassless window. Her eyes travelled over to the lounge area, where a group of middle aged women sat fussing over a heap of red fabric on the coffee table. She cautiously made her way over, and stopped a few metres away. She noticed they all were wearing dated clothes, she didn't know what time period. A frumpy looking woman looked at her over her glasses, and coughed to get the others to look up. They all turned and stared wide-eyed at her.
"Err...hi!" Catrina said, she tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.
"My dear, are you allowed out of your room?" The frumpy woman asked, lowering her glasses so they were hanging on a chain around her neck.
"No I don't think so...but I'm already out now so I mires well stay out." She replied, sitting on a scruffy couch next to them.
"Do you think that's very wise?"
"I do actually." The women looked at her wearily.
Catrina looked off to the side shyly, she scratched her arm. "Erm...where's Jack exactly?"
They looked at her as if she had said a swear word. A woman in a flowered suit broke the silence. "He's out patrolling dear."
Catrina relaxed slightly and slumped back into the chair. "Is he patrolling around the boat?"
"Err...no, he's in land."
"-You mean he's got a boat which brings him there and back!" Catrina jumped up hopefully.
The middle aged women looked astounded at her. "Honey, do you know what Jack is?" A lady in a green summer dress questioned.
Catrina's happy face dissolved into a puzzled one. "I know he's a murdering little-"
Catrina watched the ladies suddenly disappear in front of her. She swallowed and turned around expecting to see Jack looking down at her, but it wasn't, instead she saw I woman in a red evening dress, holding a cigarette walking towards her.
"Are you Catreena, si?" She spoke with an Italian accent.
"Erm...yes?" Catrina answered, feeling a little cold.
"Come with me." The woman in red turned and swayed her hips as she walked away. "Are you coming all nota?" She paused.
"Are you another ghost?"
"It all depends on if you'll run away screaming if I say so?" She took a drag from her cigarette and pouted her lips, as she held her slinky posture in the doorway.
"How can I trust you?...You don't exactly have much of a hallow above you head."
"-Look kid, all I'm here to do is keep yous away from the ozers and stop you doing something stupido." The woman unexpectedly disappeared and reappeared behind Catrina. "So that means go back to your room." Catrina jumped and twizzled round.
"And if I don't."
"Jack won't be happy."
Catrina folded her arms "Why should I care, he's not here... is he?"
"No...but he will be soon, and I will be in a lot of trouble if your not in your room." The woman began nudging her towards the doorway, a cold draft blew up Catrina's back.
Catrina stood her ground, and spun around to face her. "Why are you helping him, you don't have to take orders from him, he won't hurt you...your already dead, and-and another thing how can he get there and back that quickly, he has no boat or helicopter, does he!"
The woman had a dangerous look about her as she smiled. "You know too little...you don't know what he's capable of do you...I'm guessing Jack hasn't told you much about himself." The woman walked around to the front of her, and puffed smoke in her face, Catrina recoiled, wafting it away.
"He can hurt ghosts now can he?"
"He torments our very souls...so we have to follow him."
Catrina cocked her eyebrows. "What!" Then she backed away. "Who's we...all the ghosts on this ship? How can he keep you here?...Does he need to be brought to justice or something, before you can rest in peace!"
The Lady in red opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again, she stiffened and looked about her. Catrina watched nervously. The woman turned around. "He's coming." She vanished.
Catrina hurried outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of her escape transport. Nothing came. She suddenly felt the need to find a weapon and a decent hiding place. She glanced at the debris scatted near her feet, and she reached down and picked up a rotten chair-leg, after further inspection, she tossed it over her shoulder. Catrina made her way indoors, nothing remotely threatening lay about. She made her way into the hall, then she saw a door marked 'Cucina/ Kitchen' She scrambled inside.
The entire floor was cluttered with rusty pots and pans, and the counters were covered with mould. Catrina opened a nearby draw, and peered inside.
"Muffin cups...oooo dangerous." She mumbled sarcastically.
She kneeled to open the cupboards, she screamed and jumped back when a couple of rats scurried out. 'Shit! He's bound to hear that.' she thought as she journeyed deeper into the kitchen. She came across a draw that had dry blood marks on it. She opened it, and with a bit of luck she came across a razor sharp carving knife. Catrina smiled victoriously as she pulled it out, it glinted in the dim light. She twirled it in her fingers to marvel at the blade, when it reached a certain angle - she caught a reflection of somebody standing behind her - just before she could jump around and squeal -
The person behind her had pinned her with their hips against the counter, and their hands had seized both of her hands, one of them still clutched the knife. The smell of peppermint reached her nostrils.
"If I'm not mistaken, I would think you were intending on harming someone with that knife you got there, precious." Jack's silky voice whispered, Catrina shivered as his warm soft lips tickled her ear.
She still gripped tightly to the knife handle, not willing to let go. Jack's hands were ice cold, and were slowly warming up.
"Drop the knife." He commanded in a mocking tone. Catrina's body was beginning to ache, her legs were losing circulation due to the pressure Jack had on her hips, but she still held the knife firmly in her grasp. She shook with fear, anger...and a little of something else as she stood there.
"Drop it or I'll get frisky with you." Catrina eyes widened with surprise. He squeezed her wrist, and her fingers slowly opened, and the blade slipped out of hand and clattered on the counter.
"There's a good girl." He kissed the back of her head. She gasped as he yanked her arms behind her back as if he were arresting her. "Now let me take you back to your room." He forcefully guided her out of the kitchen, with her digging her heels into the floor, which didn't help at all, it just burned.
"Let go of me you murdering bastard!" She screeched, she managed to release one of her hands, and grab hold of a bar attached to a mirrored wall. His face held on a serious expression, but his eyes showed he was humoured, as he tugged on her arm, realising she was attached to something. He began prizing her hand from the railing finger by finger. Then he wrapped his strong arms around the slim of her waist and lifted her away from the bars, with her kicking out forcefully. Boy...she wasn't gonna make it easy.
Catrina tried to fling her head back, to head-butt him, but all he got was a face full of hair, Jack smirked. He then put her down, and spun her around so she was facing him, before she could say another word, he lifted her and through her over his shoulder. A few seconds she went quiet, then she returned to screaming the ship down. Various ghostly heads popped out of walls to see what was the matter, but soon as they saw Jack they dodged out of sight. He turned into another corridor, the same two ghosts that were in deep conversation earlier, turned into the same corridor, and immediately walked backwards when their eyes locked with Jack's. He approached the room, and kicked the door open, and strode inside.
Jack leaned forward to allow Catrina to slide off him, she had stopped screaming, her throat was soar. She looked up at him, with her messy hair, and flushed face, Jack smiled at her appearance, which was soon wiped off as she slapped him hard across the face. His head remained tilted to one side for a few seconds, then he looked up with pursed lips and a dangerous look in his eye. Catrina relentlessly coward from him.
"You better start treating me with more respect, or mark my words you'll regret doing that?" Even though he was seething with anger, he was also feeling another sensation inside him.
Catrina's green eyes locked with his pale blues, his anger washed away. "I'll treat you with more respect, if you let me go home."
"That's not your choice."
She sucked in her lips and release them again, leaving them wet and shiny. "Well you could stop man handling me for a start, and let me have some freedom on this ship..." She began to whisper slightly near the end, and she averted her eyes to the floor.
"I can do that." His voice had got terribly quiet, and he began to edge closer to her.
"I'm not finished yet." She said, looking up slightly. "I also want you to stop looking at me like that."
Jack was about to say 'Like what!' But he didn't, he already knew, and he backed out of the room, and closed the door. He walked down the corridor feeling slightly agitated, his trousers felt slightly tight.
Maureen and Dodge lay on their bed. The sun shining down on their clammy skin. Maureen closed her eyes for a few seconds, she suddenly had a vivid image which seemed to being playing in slow motion, of her daughter kicking and screaming, being carried mercilessly to a bedroom- Maureen's eyes flew open. It had occurred to her many times 'what would a 24 year-old man do with a 18 year-old girl?' She swallowed and sat up. Dodge looked at her sadly. "Honey you okay?"
Her eyes rounded, she turned towards him grabbing his arm. "He must of taken her to the Antonio Graza...Come on!" She jumped up, and ran towards the phone.
Dodge looked at her with a realising look, the he turned to her. "What are you doing?"
His wife spun around, holding the phone with her shoulder and ear, dialling. "I'm getting the guys together."