Secrets at Sea

Chapter 8

I wake up in the dark in my room. I turn over slowly, careful not to jostle my already upset stomach, and see that I'm bordered by a pile of suitcases and clothes.

What the heck? I think to myself. That's the last thought I have before I bolt up, maneuver myself around the stacks of clothes, and scramble my way across the room to the bathroom. I barely open the lid of the toilet before the contents of my stomach forces itself out of me. I feel a light touch on my back and my hair being pulled back into a pony tail.

"Shhh, you're safe. It's okay." I hear a familiar voice whisper to me and it immediately calms me down. I continue to throw up for another few minutes before my body doesn't have anything else to give up.

I sit back and pull my knees as close to my chest as I possibly can. "What happened?" I barely croak out, my throat is extremely raw and my head is pounding. Mason is rubbing my back still as he sits down next to me.

"We have to be quiet. There's something going on outside." He whispers, "I think someone slipped something into one of your drinks. You were completely out of it and I had to carry you back to the room." I listen to what he's saying, but it doesn't make any sense. The only thing that I can really concentrate on is how painful my head is and trying not to throw up again.

"That wasn't very nice of them." I say loudly, trying not to sway in my seated position. Mason quickly covers my mouth. I look at him and my eyebrows shoot up in confusion.

Mason puts up his finger up to his lips. "There are bad people outside." Mason says slowly and I finally realize what he's saying. Suddenly my stomach and headache don't seem like such a big deal.

"What do you mean? Who's out there?" I whisper, my ears are on high alert for any noise coming from the hallway.

Mason looks at me and I can tell he's trying not to show he's nervous. "There were people running down the hallway about thirty minutes ago and then a loud bang...it sounded like gunshots, Sea." He says quietly and breaks eye contact with me, "I think I heard a girl scream."

Holy shit. I look down, my clouded mind is trying to process what Mason's saying.

"What do we do?" I look over at Mason. He has his head in his hands and shakes his head in response. "Do you know where Chloe and Brooks are? Where did you see them last?"

Mason takes a moment before responding, "They were still at the bar when I left to bring you back here. They could be anywhere on the ship by now." He pauses, "They could be dead if it really was gunshots that I heard."

I start to reply, but a pounding from the main door shuts me up immediately. Mason looks at me and puts his finger back up to his lips. My eyes start to well up and I nod. Mason slowly gets up off the bathroom floor and crouch walks over to the door. He stands up and quietly peers through the peephole. He looks for a moment before quickly dropping into a crouching position again. He waddles his way back over to me and slowly closes the bathroom door until there is just an inch of space left. He turns around and looks at me before holding up two fingers.

Two people outside. I nod that I understand.

He mimics a gun with his thumb and index finger.

They have guns! I nod again. I can feel tears start to fall down my face but I make no effort to wipe them away. He was right about the gunshots.

The people start pounding on the door again, and I can hear the mumble from their voices through the wall. They wait another minute before they start walking down the hallway. I can hear them pounding on the door for the room next to ours.