"You literally just said that we should avoid getting arrested and you want to illegally board a ferry? You've got to be kidding me." I protest once again, but he ignores me still. He paces toward the dock, gripping the straps of his backpack in his hands.
"It's not illegal if you aren't caught. Besides, I've done this so many times, it's a piece of cake." He turns around to face me and walks backwards. "Just watch and learn, Juliet."
We get onto the dock via a staircase emerging out from the side of it, and there are people everywhere. I'm still not used to being around regular people-- living people. They have such a vibrance to their skin and life in their eyes. They don't sparkle like in the Afterworld, but it's refreshing to see. It revives my memory of being alive.
Once we approach the paying booth, we are blocked from passing by a large gate. Colton stops at the window and begins speaking to the worker in a different language-- Turkish. He has a good accent and sounds confident in his tone. He throws his hands up a few times and the worker almost looks nervous.
After a small moment of silence, the worker sighs and says something, and the gate opens. My eyes widen. How did he do that?
"What did you say to her?" I ask him. I don't want to sound too impressed, his ego doesn't need a boost.
He snatches an apple from his bag and takes a large bite from it. Does he just keep an entire pantry in his backpack? He pulls out something new every time he digs his hands in there.
"I told her that I took the ferry an hour ago and forgot something and that I'd quickly go ask one of the officers that wait outside the boat to get it for me and then leave."
"Well doesn't someone check your ticket when you get on?" I prompt.
"Nope, this isn't America. Nobody really cares here. Besides, you aren't even supposed to get through the gate without one, so everyone just assumes that if you're on the boat, you have a ticket." He responds. The apple that he grabs just a second ago is basically devoured already, and Colton throws the core off the dock and into the ocean.
Infuriated, by his careless action, I quickly catch up to him. "Just because you're dead doesn't mean you can litter, you know."
Colton shrugs. "Fish food" is all he says, and I roll my eyes. It has been two days with him here. Two. I'm already getting sick of him and sick of how fast he walks. We've been moving consistently this whole time and I don't think we'll ever get a break.
We move hastily, Coltan weaving in and out of groups of people, who watch us as we go past. I don't blame them. I can't tell what I look like, but Colton still has a ghostly element in the structure of his face; he is pale, unlike anyone here, and his eyes still have those bags underneath them. I assume I look the same. We look out of place here.
A line begins to form at the entrance of the ferry, which has just arrived. It's bigger up close, small windows lining the side of it and a large pointy bow, like the titanic. I haven't seen one of these in so long.
Slowly, we all move onto the boat and what is inside is disappointing. It's like a bus with rows of seats next to each window. Most of the seats are inside, and the only seating available outdoors are benches that lie against the railings.
Colton and I find a place right next to the window, which satisfies me because I want to look at the landscape. As long as I'm in a cool place like this, I might as well enjoy it.
I sit on the edge of the pale blue seat, my hip up against the large glass window next to me. Colton scoots right next to me, his leg touching mine.
I look at his leg, then up at him. "Do you mind?"
His lips form into a smile. "What, you don't like it?" I shake my head and roll my eyes, then turn away so he would think I'm watching the people board but I'm just trying to ignore him. "Relax. This boat is going to be crowded with people and we're all going to have to squish together." He whispers.
He was right. After I thought everybody had already boarded, more and more people began filling the seats almost completely. It wasn't horrible, because Colton actually smelled good unlike some of the other people here.
"So tell me," I begin, "When did you learn Turkish?"
Colton looks surprised that I start a conversation. When is he going to learn that I like to talk when I'm bored? I'm not going to spend this voyage in silence.
"Uh, up in the Afterworld. I knew a voyager who lived in Turkey and I wanted to learn it so that my journeys could be a bit easier. I also know Greek and Spanish."
I raise my eyebrows. "Maybe that's why Carter said you were such a great voyager. I would not have the patience to learn three languages."
"I'm not good at reading it whatsoever, but speaking it comes naturally. It's not about patience, it's more about a way to take up time." He retorts, then grabs yet another granola bar and then offers me one. I tale one without hesitation. I'm stubborn, but not stubborn enough to starve.
"But do you actually enjoy being a voyager, or would you rather be a guardian angel or something?" I inquire. I'm actually curious because I'm going to have to make a decision soon on what path I want to take.
"Being a voyager is much harder than you think. But let's just say I wouldn't want to do anything else." Colton replies. I don't know if I would want to do what he does for eternity, and if he thinks it's hard then I don't know what it would be to me. Maybe I'll just make the safe choice and be a guardian angel.
The thought of that reminds me of Brooke. I feel so bad for her, she was the one who tried so hard to be able to see Nick and she wasn't even able to come down here with me.
She always handles her nerves in the worst way possible and becomes irritable. I want to get back as soon as possible and get out of this mess so that she doesn't have to worry. I just want Nick to be safe, that's all that matters at the moment. It sucks not knowing where he is right now.
"What would you consider the best path?"
He fumbles with his lips as he thinks. "There's no best path, it's what fits best with the person. Mine would be a voyager because of my personality. Yours..." his eyes lock with mine, then they fall all over my body. I hold my breath.
"You look athletic, but not enough. A girl like you would probably pick the easy choice and go with a guardian angel." He sends me a sarcastic smile. "I'm not picking a path for you, blondie. That's up to you."
"A girl like me? What does that even mean?" I ask while unwrapping my granola bar.
"Use your imagination." He rolls his tongue around in his mouth.
I shouldn't have asked.
My hunger is finally satisfied by the granola bar, but it won't be like that for long. We don't have enough money to pay for food and I doubt Colton brought enough granola bars to supply two people for a week.
"What are we going to do once we're on the mainland?" I ask him after a lack of conversation.
Colton slouches in his chair and sticks his legs out to stretch, not realizing that he was jabbing his elbow into my side. "There's a train station closeby, in Taşucu. We'll take a train all the way to Denizli, which is just south of Pluto's gate. It'll be a long ride, though, and we'll probably have to take an overnight train to save time. From there it's not too long of a walk to get where we need to go."
"I'm assuming we're sneaking onto that too?" I raise an eyebrow at him.
He doesn't answer for a few seconds. "Maybe."
"You aren't scared that we're going to get caught? You said yourself that we shouldn't come in contact with authority because we want to avoid being put in jail at all costs and now you want to sneak onto a train?" I prompt, to which he shrugs.
"Listen, Juliet, out of all of the trains that I have snuck onto, I have not been caught once. They aren't really good about security here, the workers don't get paid enough to care. I'm sure this time won't be any different." He assures me.
"Julia." I correct him.
He shook his head in response, moving a lock of hair out of his eyes. "Juliet is better."
"That's just your opinion, you should respect the name I want you to call me." I counter.
He nods. "You're right, my bad. Juliet."
I give up. He's not going to change. I'll just have to deal with it for a few more days.
The ferry comes to a stop after about an hour, and it takes equally as long to get everybody off of the massive ship. Everybody disperses once we're outside, which is extremely hot and humid. There are tons of trees surrounding small white buildings that scatter the coast. There's no beach really, just a lot of large boulders leading up to a busy street. Crowds of people take up wide sidewalks.
"We have a problem." Colton sighs, as I watch him rummage through his backpack. "We're out of food."
lmaoooo colton's an idiot but not as much as Juliet bruh i hate that bitch