A bright flash lights up my cabin, immediately followed by a bang loud enough it shakes the whole thing.
“WAAAAAAH!!!
One moment I’m peacefully asleep in my cabin, the next I’m sitting upright in bed screaming. My heart is beating like a heavy metal drummer right in the most impressive breakdown of his career. If I wasn’t still a bit dazed I’m sure I could appreciate the sheer speed my heart just managed to reach.
It doesn’t take long for me to calm down again. Now that I think about it, it was probably only lightning. It might have been a bit close though. I stand up on my bed to reach the curtains blocking the window and peak through. It is not quite dark outside, because a constant cascade of light passes through the skies above, occasionally shooting a lightning bolt to the surface of the sea. This lightning storm definitely reaches the list of most awesome I've ever seen, even if it so rudely woke me up. A lightning bolt in the distance grabs my attention as it looks like an upside down tree growing from the clouds. “Wow.”
I stay there admiring the view for a couple of minutes, only the constant low rumbling keeping me company. It’s quite amazing how much sheer power a thunderstorm generates. It’s even more evident here on a cruise in the middle of the sea. Nothing to block the view till the horizon, just a clear sight of the entire storm. While I’m admiring nature going it’s way I spot something odd. When the sea gets lit up by the lightning, it is serene and quiet. Not a single ripple in sight.
Before I can think deeper into this I’m blinded by another bright flash immediately followed by a bang even louder than before. The flash/bang combo makes me jump backwards, causing me to miss me footing a making me fall over backwards to the ground. Luckily the pile of clothes brakes my fall, otherwise that would’ve most likely knocked me out. Hehehe, lucky me.
As I’m laying there in a heap of clothing, hoping that what's on my face is not my underwear, the onboard intercom winds up.
*Ping!*
“Good evening ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. Since the storm seems to be getting worse we have decided it’s best to end the frivolities for tonight. We’d like to request you wrap up what you are doing and make your way back to your rooms.
We know this will put an axe through some of your plans this evening, but we have made this decision with your safety at its highest priority. We don’t know how this storm may further evolve, so I say better to be safe than sorry.
That’s all for now. We will keep you updated on any further developments through the app and major developments will be through an announcement.
Captain Zimmer out.”
*Ping!*
I stand back up to grab my phone from the nightstand, because I have no idea how late it is. The screen shows me it’s 21:44, still pretty early for summer evening standards. Slightly below that there’s a pop-up from the cruise-app, showing the announcement to go back to your rooms in yellow.
I look to the curtain and through a crack between them I can see the still continuously flashing clouds. *Sigh* “Might as well wait on that little piece of heaven, no way I’m falling back asleep now.” I open the door to the living room and turn on the lights. It’s a cosy little place big enough for a table with four chairs, a sofa couch and that little piece of heaven, by which I mean a chair so damn comfy it’s almost as if you are sitting on clouds, sitting right under a small window.
A hop and a skip and I’m in the chair, leaning my back against the armrest and preparing to scroll some random reddit page on my phone. But of course nature has got to put a wrench in my plans. Another flash, another boom, and the lights go out taking my WiFi with it. “Really?” I say to no one in particular.
Well, now I’m laying here, super comfy by the way, with nothing to do but stare at the curtain and wait until the lights turn back on. They do after only a minute or so, but when I go back to looking at my phone a red notification pops-up on its screen. At the same time the red warning light above the main door turns on. “What is going on?”
*Ping!*
“Ladies and gentleman, a small fire has ignited on the upper deck. A few umbrella's seem to have burst into flame. As procedure dictates though, I must request everyone who hasn’t done so already to return to their quarters ASAP. Until this all blows over, we need you to stay safe and out of the way of our crew. As for the crew, I...”
I zone out to the rest, because right at that moment the front door to the room opens. Coming in are a couple, fancily dressed, like they just were at a luxurious casino. Which they most likely were. They both seem a little tipsy and they definitely don’t notice I’m here, because after they close the door they prepare to take their business to the couch, going by the sultry look in my mother’s eyes and intense staring of my dad. As funny as this is, they are beginning to take off each other’s clothes, and I’d rather go without this particular trauma. “ Ahem, as much as I support you two, don’t you think now isn’t the best time to make me a younger sibling?”
Both of their heads snap my way with surprise plastered all over their face. My mom’s face goes beet red and my dad doesn’t no where to look, but he’s definitely not making eye contact. I can’t hold it at that so I burst out laughing. “Hahahaha, you’re faces, you should see your faces, hahaha.”
My mom’s face turns even more red, which I thought was impossible. My dad just gives up with a wry smile. “So, you were up. How much did you see?” I can see in his eyes that he is a bit hopeful. “Oh, enough.” I answer smugly, and you can visible see that hope crumbling, which makes me laugh even harder. Between my laughs I can barely make out the announcement ending. Hopefully the rest wasn’t too important, but I guess we’ll find out.
I’m still laughing a bit, while my parents just awkwardly stand there. I’d better throw them a rope or this will come bite me in the back later. “I take it you had a good night until, well…” My dad gladly grabs on, anything to get out of that situation I bet. “Oh yeah, we were on a streak. I think I made at least a few hundred at the table. And your mom wasn’t too bad herself, for a beginner that is.”
That seems to have provoked her, as she immediately speaks up to defend herself. “Oh stop it. You kept egging me on to bet more. I’m amazed I barely broke even, but that’s just pure luck. Just like your skill in the game, all luck.” She pouts a bit while saying it, but her complexion has returned a little to how it is normally.
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She then turns to me with a little more concern in her eyes. “How are you doing? Still feeling sick?”
I do a double check just to be sure “I’m fine now. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there any longer, especially since it is your 25th anniversary.” I hang my head a little, feeling bad that I had to be sick on this day. That’s not fair, I’m not one to be ill so why today of all days? Mom takes a step towards me while talking. “Don’t sweat it honey. You don’t control wether your sick or not. I'm just glad you're feeling better."
But just as she's finished the whole room shakes and a massive crashing noise comes from behind me. I’m just confused, but my parents have a look of utter shock on their faces and a second later I’m falling backwards. The chair and I make a full flip before it gets snagged on something a few meters down. “ELLEN!!!” I hear both my parents yell immediately followed by two panicking face looking over the ledge of what was the wall of our room just mere seconds ago.
My father shouts at me; “Ellen, don’t move! I’ll come to you, okay? Just stay there. I’ll be there soon.” My dad’s head disappears, probably to find a way towards me. I only half registered what he said to me, since I’m both amazed and terrified by the spectacle unfolding behind my parents heads. The clouds up above are lighting up so much they’re visible almost permanently, that much lightning is going through it. But that’s not what has me amazed. Right in the middle, almost right above the ship, is a circle of oscillating bands of light. It’s not an unfamiliar sight, because it’s looks surprisingly similar to an aurora.
Only this seems to get closer, like a tornado in it's initial stage. With every oscillation the center comes down a little. It’s pulsing slowly and with every pulse a wave of light shoots through the clouds outwards. And I’m completely mesmerized. My mom seems to pick up that I’m not looking at her, and hesitantly turns away from me to look up at the sky. I’m sure she’s mesmerized as well
The aurora is now maybe halfway from the clouds to the water, and a low humming has become apparent. The closer the aurora comes the louder the humming gets. “Mom?” She turns back towards me with concern in her eyes. She knows too. Tears begin to pool in the corners my eyes and I’m sure there are in hers as well. “Mom I love you so much, thank you for everything.” A single tear falls down from her, passing me on its way down. “I love you too, honey. Everything will be fine, you’ll see. We’ll get through th….”
She’s cut off as the tip of the aurora meets the surface of the sea. All sound disappears accompanied by a single bright white flash and then everything is gone.
…
At least, I thought everything was. But when I open my eyes back up I see the entire cruise ship with a birds eye few. It takes me only a second to realize where I am, which is in the aurora, somehow shooting up towards the clouds. I look around for my mom, but I can’t find her anywhere around me. I only spot four other people going up with me. A bit further down I see a few suitcases and a bit of furniture and behind that there seems to be a large chunk of the ship, probably the wall that was torn off somehow. The ship, now quite the distance away, still steadily shrinks in my sight as I’m moving away from it, up towards the waiting clouds.
It takes a while to head up, maybe ten minutes? And we’re still not there. It did give me enough time to give in to the fact that I along with the rest of the cruise ship are getting abducted. By what? Who knows, but I hope the butt probing thing is not based on reality. The journey up also gave me enough time to look at the four other people that are up her with me.
There is an elderly couple just out of hearing range, which is not that far with the winds up here. They seem to cling to each other, but look mostly serenely, if looking a few times towards the other abductees with concern on their faces, mostly at the two other than me, because I’m doing by far the best.
A bit further down and to the left of me is a young boy, probably not even 10 years old, and he’s been crying non-stop. The elderly couple seems to be the most fixated on him, as they are closest to him.
A young woman, maybe three years older than me, drifts only a few meters from me. She doesn’t seem conscious, going by the large gash on the side of her head and the lack of movement, and she is unresponsive to anything I say to her.
I can’t get closer to her, though. All of us seem to be fixed in a relative position from each other. We move on like that for a few more minutes, until finally we pass the clouds. But only for a few seconds. Right behind the surface of the clouds there seems to be some sort of film. Which it the moment we’re pressing into. With every passing second the pressure on my body increases and it’s getting harder and harder to breath.
But just before I think I’ll get crushed, the cloud gives. A sudden lurch forward, and I’m in the open air again. The sea surface is far beneath me, but the ship is nowhere in sight. Nothing is, except the four other abductees that were with me. The thunderclouds are still present, with their ominous lighting, but the aurora seems to have retreated back into the clouds. Leaving us five in a freefall.
“Oh shit!”
Immediately I turn my belly down and spread my arms and legs, trying to slow myself down as much as possible. I’m really glad right now my parents insisted on going skydiving those few times, thanks mom and dad.
The elderly couple, still clutching to each other, quickly move away from, accelerating faster and faster. The other two are dropping from the sky like ragdolls the boy, with his limbs flailing above him and the woman starting a death spin. I give it only a second thought, before I make my way to the closest person to me. The unconscious woman. I quickly reach her and latch my legs around her belly, which leaves my hands free to help her. A quick check leaves me distraught, though. She doesn’t have a pulse and she isn’t breathing, going by the lack of movement of her chest. “Fuck.”
I can try to perform first aid in the sky with only minutes before we reach the water. Or I can make my way to the only other person within reach and help them. With pain in my heart, and a few tears in my eyes I let go of the woman. She starts to tumble again and slowly moves away from me. I try to put her out of my mind and look for the boy. By now he’s drifted quite a distance away from me, but he should still be within range. The elderly couple is maybe 200 meters further down now, way out of reach.
I approach the boy as fast as I dare while trying to not slam into him, which I mostly succeed at. I still hit him with hard, and he cries out in pain. I wrap my arms around him and speak right into his ear, trying to get his attention. “Hey! HEY!!! Listen to me. “He’s still crying but he’s stopped screaming as loud, so i’m guessing he’s listening to me.
“I’m going to grab one of your hands and take a position. You try to take the same position, alright?” He nods, which as good as a permission as I’m going to get up her. “Alright, I’m letting go on three. Try not to panic and do as I do. One. Two. THREE.” I let go, only keeping his left hand in my right hand, grabbing on tight. I spread my arms and legs out again, and thank god, he’s doing the same. I look down for a moment to sea how far we still have to go, only for me to witness the final moment of the elderly couple. Without any form of control they hit the ocean surface, which they immediately sink under.
I look back to the boy, to see his crying face looking at me with a spark of hope. “We’re going to switch position again alright.” He nods. “Once a straighten myself out, I want you to grab onto me with your arms and legs, okay? I’ll do the rest.” He nods again at me, and I nod back at him. Then I look back down. I can just see the woman’s body disappear within the water. Only a few more seconds before we hit it.
I stretch out my body, so I’m almost a straight line with my feet straight down. I pull the boy close and he wraps around me immediately. I wrap my arms back around him and say in his ear. “We’ll be alright, you’ll see. Everything will be fine.” I say that to him as much as I say that to myself.
A few seconds later I hit the water and with a sickening crunch I feel most bones in my lower body break. The boy is instantly ripped from my arms, but I’m not in the state of mind to think about that. “AAAAAHghlll” I scream out, but immediately take in a mouthful of salt water. That doesn’t stop me from writhing around from the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my whole life as my lungs fill with water while I’m sinking down into the ocean.
After a torturous minute I finally, slowly start to lose consciousness, either because of the pain or the absence of air. With my oxygen depraved brain I can just make out a shadow down below me in the water. A massive blot of darkness occasionally being lit up by lightning. The last thing I see is two giant tentacles moving towards me. But I never see it reach me as consciousness finally abandons me and everything turns black.