We’re sitting in a small lounge on the boat and talking. Our voices are amongst the many others having some drinks and chatting it up. A flute soloist is being helped set up and she’s getting ready to perform.

  “Ahhh…delicious!” Egypt exclaimed as we all took a sip of some complimentary champagne. I wonder what kind of brand this is, but I imagined it couldn’t be too expensive if they were offering it for free.

  “So what are you guys most excited for this week on our vacation?” I asked. Rose was now reading a brochure that was available when we got on. “It says that we’ll stop at the Cayman Islands tomorrow. Snorkeling or scuba diving could be fun.”

  I kind of knew how to swim, but I was still learning. With a busy schedule like mine, you don’t really get much time to perfect skills that have nothing to do with your line of work.

  ”Yeah, snorkeling or scuba diving could be fun.” I say. “Isn’t that the one where you can see everything in the clear water?” I asked Rose.

  She adjusted her big circle rimmed glasses as she squinted at the text on the brochure. “It says it’s famous for its clear, calm and warm waters. You can see stuff like stingrays or the Devil’s Grotto which has an underwater cave where you can see a multitude of things in the underwater world!” “That’ll be great! Let’s do as much as we can for this trip cause we all know it was an arm and a leg for these passes!” Egypt says as she raises her champagne glass and then takes a big swig.

  We suddenly feel the boat lurch and with that my stomach does somersaults. We exchanged worried glances and I looked around and everyone in the room was doing the same. The room fell silent for a few long seconds before everyone continued with their conversations.

  I worriedly took a sip of my drink as I tried not to let myself overthink about what that could have been. As Rose and Egypt continued the conversation about the Cayman Islands, I took a couple long and quiet breaths. “There’s nothing to worry about.” I thought to myself. “This trip is going to be fun. Unless…no never mind.” I took a big slug of the rest of my drink to completely forget my anxieties. I felt myself loosen up.

  We all collectively yawned and nodded in agreement that it was time to go to each of our rooms and call it a night.

  ~ ~ ~

  I’d finally settled into my bed and scrolled on my phone for a bit. We’d taken some photos and I wanted to post them before I went to bed. I threw some of the cutesy sparkle gifs on some of the photos and waited for the notification that the post was successful. I then scrolled on Yooztunes and looked for something to put on while I tried to fall asleep. It was always really difficult for me to falling asleep in new environments for the first few days and I found that having background noise was one of the cheaper and most effective solutions.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I jumped up out of my sleep and realized that the owl screeching in my dream was the alarm going off. I quickly rushed to grab what I could as the intercom made a crackling noise and the captain started speaking. “

  I hadn’t done enough research on cruise codes to understand what the captain was telling the staff, but if they needed to report to their emergency stations then what was soon to follow couldn’t have been good.

  I tried grabbing more of my things as I anticipated with that message that nothing good could be following it. All I knew was that I needed to hurry and find Rose and Egypt. I would feel much better if we were all together.

  ”

  Following that announcement I heard what sounded like chaos ensuing outside of my room door. That’s all the motivation to rush out with my backpack filled with some clothes, my phone charger, and some other miscellaneous objects.

  Chaos was an understatement of what I heard inside my room. Outside, I heard people screaming, kids crying, and people arguing. They wanted to be the first to get on the lifeboats as it became clear that the ship was going down. The crew members tried to calm everyone down, but to no avail.

  I smelled smoke and even saw flames peeking out of some of the open doors to rooms. I knew I couldn’t even think of getting on one of those boats until I knew that Egypt and Rose were safe. As I was running, I had to go against the waves of people who were all trying to get to the lifeboats.

  It was all too much noise for me to handle and the stress was definitely getting to me. I felt myself getting dizzy, but I had to find them. I just had to.

  Far ahead of me I saw them. They were fighting to get through everyone and were holding each other’s hands so they wouldn’t lose each other. “Rose! Egypt!” I yelled frantically. I was unable to control the fear in my voice as I called out to them. As they looked up at me in unison, our faces all softened since we knew we were all okay. That was soon cut short.

  The boat jolted abruptly to the side. I watched as Rose hit the railing hard. I thought it would at least catch her even if she ended up walking away with some bruising, but none of us had time to brace ourselves.

  It was almost graceful the way Rose flipped over the railing. We all had no time to react and because of that I watched in horror as Egypt got pulled over with her. I tried to run to them, but I could never have been fast enough.

  My head started spinning and there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t keep my balance as I fell over and into the cold water. Everything started going black and the last thing I saw was the boat explode as people and debris fell into the water around me.