Part 13 (2/2)
”Says Jonathan, who is almost never wrong.”
”Yeah, well, call me when the alarm goes off. In the meantime, I will be sleeping here, in this bed, ignoring you.” With that, she rolled over onto her stomach and fell back to sleep.
Candi went next door to talk to Jonathan. She found him scrambling all over the room, opening drawers and muttering to himself.
”Jonathan, what's going on?”
”I don't have time to explain, Candi. You need to pack. Remember all those things I told you to bring before we left? Get those and put them into your backpack. We're going to need them if we're lucky.”
Candi felt a s.h.i.+ver move up her spine. ”What do you mean, 'if we're lucky'?”
”I mean, if we don't drown when this s.h.i.+p goes down.”
Candi felt vomit rising up from her stomach and a sense of dread. She worked her throat convulsively to keep it down.
”Um, Jon ... I didn't pack that stuff,” she said weakly.
Jonathan immediately stopped what he was doing and whipped around to confront her. ”WHAT?!”
Candi started to cry. ”I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. I just figured there was no point. I mean, cruise s.h.i.+ps don't sink, right?” She looked desperately from Jonathan to Kevin.
”HAVEN'T YOU EVER HEARD OF THE t.i.tANIC?!” Jonathan yelled in her face. ”It was one of your favorite movies, Candi!”
”Hey, hey, Jon, there's no need to yell at her; she didn't know. She's right, it's like a chance in a million this would happen, right?”
”No, more like a chance in two million three hundred twenty thousand, give or take, but that's not the point.” He looked at Candi again. ”How much room would a magnifying gla.s.s have taken in your bag, huh? You couldn't do that for me? Just that little thing?”
Candi was shaking from nerves and sadness. ”I'm so sorry, Jonathan. I really am. I'll go find anything I can to bring, just tell me what to do, and I'll do it.”
Jonathan looked chagrined. ”Don't felt bad. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm not perfect either. I'm kicking myself right now for not thinking about putting in a bigger knife, water purification tablets and about fifty other things that I'm afraid we're going to need.”
Kevin laughed mirthlessly. ”Jonathan, you're nuts. No one on this s.h.i.+p brought anything like that. No one expects a cruise s.h.i.+p to sink.”
”Whatever,” said Jonathan, obviously not ready to forgive himself. ”It's too late for regrets now. Just go pack whatever you can find. Make sure you have at least one bottle of sealed water per person. More is better, but it all has to fit in the backpack, zipped up completely. Bring anything that could be made into a shelter, food in closed containers or packaging, any plastic bags you have. If you have any aspirin or other medicine, bring it. And don't forget your sunscreen.”
Candi smiled weakly. ”I have that.”
Jonathan grabbed her and took her in a surprisingly strong hug. ”Don't worry, Candi, I'll take care of you.”
Candi could see Kevin watched with grudging admiration.
Candi went back to her room and started gathering supplies, shoving them into her backpack. Water? Check. Sunscreen? Check. Candy bar? Check. Windbreaker? Check. That was about all she had that was useful. She couldn't believe that was all she had to contribute. On a whim, she pulled the thin sheet off the bed and threw it into the sack too. Next, she filled Sarah's backpack with water and a few other things she found lying around, including airplane peanuts that she found in her purse.
Sarah continued to sleep, snoring lightly as she dreamed of being with Barry on a sailboat. Her eyebrows screwed up in confusion. Why am I dreaming about Barry on a sailboat? She could feel the gentle rocking of the boat in her dreams. She could hear yelling and banging too. Why was Barry making so much noise? Why is Barry even here, that cheating b.a.s.t.a.r.d?
The muster horn started sounding across the boat. Sarah stayed asleep, incorporating the sound into her dream. Now Barry was playing the saxophone very badly. He couldn't keep a tune going at all. He just kept blasting the same note, over and over and over ...
”Sarah, get up NOW!!” yelled a voice in the back of her mind. It sounded like that annoying girl, Candi.
Then a few seconds pa.s.sed before she heard Kevin's voice, saying, ”Sorry kid, I hate to do this to you, but you leave us with no choice.”
The sound of water splas.h.i.+ng reached her ears, then immediately after, the sensation of something very cold and very wet ...
”AAACCCCKKKK!! What the ... I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!”
Sarah jumped out of bed, soaking wet from the freezing cold water dumped on her from the ice bucket. She was soaking wet, her leopard print dress clinging to her body. Her makeup was smeared down her face; her hair had seen much better days.
”What in the h.e.l.l is your problem?!” she yelled at the three faces that were staring at her with determination.
Kevin spoke first. ”Sarah, the s.h.i.+p is sinking. The muster alarm has gone off. Get your frigging life vest on and come with us. Bring whatever you can't afford to live without.”
She noticed for the first time that they were all wearing life vests and carrying backpacks. Candi was fully dressed in her long green s.h.i.+rt and some white capris and sneakers. The guys were wearing windbreakers, t-s.h.i.+rts, and shorts. Her brain was not computing. Why was everyone dressed? Why did they have backpacks on? What time was it?
”What?” It came out weakly, missing the venom that had so recently laced her words.
Candi stepped forward and took her hand. ”Come on. We have to go. Get your shoes on.”
Sarah looked around the room in a daze. She sat down on the edge of the bed, reaching over to grab her heels and put them on.
”You can't wear those shoes, Sarah,” said Jonathan, impatiently.
”Why?”
”Because they are unsuitable. Don't you have any sneakers or flip-flops at least?”
”No, I only have heels.”
Jonathan threw his hands up in the air. ”What kind of person goes on a trip with only high heels?!”
”I thought I was going to be dancing every night, Jonathan. Excuse me for being a complete idiot who didn't plan on a sinking s.h.i.+p like you apparently did!”
Jonathan left the room in frustration. ”Come on, we have to leave,” he said from the hallway.
Candi took Sarah's heels away from her and put some of her own flip-flops down on the floor by Sarah's feet. ”Here, wear these for now.”
”But they're way too small. You have oompa loompa feet.”
Candi rolled her eyes in exasperation and responded sternly. ”Well, you can't afford to be choosy right now. Put 'em on and let's go.”
Sarah cooperated woodenly. Half of her heels were hanging off the ends of the stupid rubber shoes, but she had lost her will to fight. This whole thing was probably just a nightmare, and she was going to wake up from it very soon. She couldn't wait. The first thing she was going to do when she woke up was take these stupid flip-flops and throw them off the s.h.i.+p.
Everyone but Sarah finally exited the room, all of them wearing their life jackets. They could see that the people in the neighboring cabins were taking the warning seriously too. People were moving towards their muster stations, some quickly and some very slowly, obviously reticent about going out into the wild night that was still full of rain, thunder and lightning. The doors at the end of the hall at the top of the stairs were open; through it they could hear the stormy night that raged above their heads.
Sarah grabbed her makeup valise on her way out the door. Jonathan didn't notice until they were in the foyer, getting ready to head out towards their lifeboat.
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