So, our number one pastime was off limits.
“This is so boring!” Shia exclaimed.
Staring at the sky from the shade, yes, a little boring. There wasn’t even a spec of cloud, so even more boring. The blue sky did awaken a familiar feeling in me though. Namely, nostalgia.
During ninth grade, I sat in our garden one day, reading a book. Halfway through I heard a girl next door exclaiming to her mother, just how beautiful the sky was. I looked up, saw the blue sky and regarded it nothing more than normal. Yet it did awaken a question in my mind. ‘Would I ever be able to feel the same level of excitement staring at a boring sky like that girl?’
If so, how?
When I left this place?
When I went somewhere else and became free?
I didn’t really know but I betted on that possibility and studied a bit harder so that I had good grades when I left high school and could go to College in some other place. Anywhere but here. Surely that would change how I viewed the sky, the world? It didn’t. I lived alone and hardly ever looked at the sky. Of course, I had hope that things would change when I moved to the UK and-
I died before moving….
…
The sky… was beautiful.
It was so blue, not as blue as the ocean, and maybe not as wavy but… Yeah, I guess I’m free. I had a lot of problems. I had a lot of worries. I had a lot of things to do. Yet… I was free. I didn’t come out here because I had to. I came out here because I wanted to.
“THIS IS SO BORING!” My sister next to me didn’t feel the same though.
“Screaming it’s boring, won’t make it any less boring,” I said.
“Let’s go poke the mermaid or something,” she whined.
“It’s not like she’s a toy. Besides, you told me to respect her since she’s a girl.”
“I’m a girl too, so it’s fine when I poke her.”
“Oh please,” I rolled my eyes. “We know it doesn’t work like that.”
“Fuck…” She exhaled. “Let’s go drink some beer or something.”
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Surprisingly the young lady hadn’t drunk any alcohol since we boarded the ship. Normally she never drank either, apart from parties. However, she was bored to the point where she was seeking external gratification from beer, something which she apparently didn’t like (she loved wine which she was saving for something).
“Let’s not,” I said.
“Then what am I supposed to do?” She sat down, legs spread, somewhat in a state of disdain. “Guess I’ll just go to bed.” She was sighing a lot so I saw her off to our room and that was the end of that.
I came back to the deck and saw a rather odd sight.
The demon and the elf were quarreling with the humans. They were just dissing insults and not really talking about anything, so I tried to not get in the way.
“This isn’t my fault okay!”
“If you hadn’t looked, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation!”
“Who said I looked? I slipped and whacked my head on the fucking railing! Look!” He had a bruise on his head.
“Close your fucking eyes then. What if they-”
They paused. All their yells and screams and insults just came to a sudden halt as water dripped next to them.
Something was standing there. Something with humanoid shape, the face of an octopus with two hanging tusks and four bulging red eyes… why does it look like a predator?
“WUAAHHHH!!!!” It shrieked and for the lack of a better word… I pissed my pants.
Yeah, no joke, I actually leaked a drop or two. Yeah, should have just gone for a leak just like my body had been telling me for the last two hours.
“Finally, some action!” A wildly enthusiastic Shia slammed the deck doors open and waved around a rather sturdy looking stick.
Are you like gonna bash them or something?
“And I warned you idiots too…” Alustur sighed. I had no idea where the fuck he even came from.
The captain also arrived anyway, shaking his head.
Yet, none of those three were panicking or even remotely stressed.
Was it me or did they…
“But you said,” I paused.
There were more. Like half a dozen more who climbed the boat and about a few hundred below us who I could see even from above the ship. Meaning, there were way more than just that….
“Huh!” Shia jumped, slammed her stick firmly on the intruder’s head, and landed victoriously on the deck.
“At least let them talk!?” I whined.
“No talk. All action. No mercy for the intruders!” Shia declared, somewhat cackling with excitement.
Alustur unsheathed his sword. “You heard the lady!”
The crew sighed, whined but pulled out weapons anyway.
Apparently… I was the only one who more or less didn’t get the situation or even remotely worried. So they just shooed me to the lower levels.
Guess I’ll go poke the mermaid after all….
Joking aside, I went to my room, changed my underwear and actually went to the mermaid’s room to get rid of the stress.
There was already one of those predator things here though, just standing by the door… weird scars on its forehead. It just stared at me… not moving a muscle.
Well, fuck… “Um… hello,” I spoke in sea tongue.
“Hmm…” He said, came close, grabbed my shoulder, hoisted me up in the air and took me over to the engine room where… apparently there was a hole in the ground. I mean, it kinda makes sense.
Our ship had metal bars protecting the magical device but what if you could cut the metal bars. The object had to be touching the water for it to work. So there definitely was a hole, yet I never even thought these people would show up here.
How many you may ask? At least a dozen. And no, they weren’t necessarily hurting me. They just grabbed me and wait, the mermaid was here too?
Huh…oh. Oh….
They all proceeded to jump back into the water. Yes, all of them… including me.
I won’t have to worry about any stains, I guess….