Chapter 26: Close
Audra and Neil only woke up at around three in the morning the next day. And when they did they were not only surprised to see themselves in a moving car, but also noticing its driver, they began to ask questions, which Hanz was more than happy to answer.
Explosions. Rescue. Getting away. Those were the topics of our conversation, while we passed around several cans of corn and ate. Miraculously, Hanz had managed to get his hands on those too.
Meanwhile, I couldn't help but glance at the rearview mirror at Audra's reflection from the back. I caught her looking at me too, just before I turned away. It had not been that long since the two of us kissed, but it felt like a lifetime. A whole other world, perhaps.
But now that we were free, what would happen? Should I pursue her? Tell her sweet things? Or would I, as always, let things fizzle out and just waste everything? I didn't know for sure.
Hanz, when everything had settled down, whispered to me. "You okay, Pax?"
"Yeah. . ."
"You're quieter than usual, though. Did something happen between you and Audra?"
My gaze went to the vacant road we were taking, but Hanz's eyes barely left me, even though he should be concentrating while driving. Even though, technically, he didn't really tell us where we were going, said it was a surprise in itself.
"I. . ." I glanced at the rearview mirror again. This time, Audra and Neil were talking amongst themselves on the back. They would be busy for a while. I sighed. "Do you think?" My gaze dropped to my legs. "Do you think I'll ever get the girl, Hanz?"
"The girl? You mean Audra?"
"Yes?"
Hanz quickly checked the road again, saw that there was nothing. "Sure," he said after a while. "Why do you think you can't?"
"Because. . ."
"There's no better person than you to ask her out," he interrupted. "Believe me, I'd seen her around school, and. . ." Hanz shook his head, scratched at his blonde hair. It had began to get longer. I hadn't noticed until now. "Listen, Pax." He exhaled. "Audra hasn't dated anyone before. You know that, right? So why don't you just give it a try?"
I gulped. Easier said than done. But it felt like if I didn't do it, my heart would rip apart. "Okay," I said, just as the conversation behind us seemed to finish as well. "Okay, I will."
Hanz nodded to me, beaming.
There was no room for doubts anymore. Not with Audra. Not with my life. Especially when I looked at the path we were taking again, for the first time everything beginning to make sense.
My mouth opened a fraction when I realized where our car was headed. "Hanz?"
"Yeah?"
"It smells like the sea."
"Correct," he said. "And we're a bit early too."
The others, noticing this as well, looked out the window, saw the ships that were beginning to form in the distance. The yachts lined up on the water starting to greet us.
I turned to Hanz again. "You said you traded your watch for accommodations, right? Just exactly how much did you get for it?"
"A lot." He grinned. But I could see that underneath that grin, there was something in his expression that told me otherwise. A sadness. Regret. And I couldn't help but touch his wrist, which made him exhale even more.
"What have you done?" I asked.
"Nothing. . ."
"Spill, okay?" I released his arm. "I'm not good with these things."
He exhaled for the third time, just as Neil and Audra leaned forward to us. In front of the car, the boats began to look bigger. "My watch is really expensive," Hanz explained. "But that's not it. The true value amounts to my moms giving it to me when I became the school wrestling champion. Anyway, it's in the past now. I had to do what I had to do to save us from everything."
I disagree. It could have torn him apart the moment he let the watch go. Just as I would be torn up if I let my bracelet go. Which my hand sought in my pocket at the moment.
I sighed when I felt the familiar beads slipping through my fingers. But it felt like I was still missing something. Anyhow, before I thought about it, Hanz was all smiles again. "We have to board the ship in a few minutes," he said. "Don't worry about our way in. Money can do everything."
Whatever I was about to say to him was lost when he suddenly stopped the car on the side of the road and got out, with a quick instruction not to leave until he tells us so.
The sun was beginning to peek in the horizon when Hanz bounced back to our group, an even broader smile on his face. "Let's go," he said. "Leave everything you have in the car."
There was nothing, really. Not one of us had the chance to take anything. But I could see that it was a joke.
The four of us left the car, Hanz leading the way. But instead of going to a boarding place like you'd usually do; here or in the airport, it felt like he was taking us someplace else. Someplace where you weren't suppose to go.
Audra, noticing the gigantic trailers around us, asked. "Just where are you leading us, Hanz?"
Hanz, still looking forward, was not making any sense, especially when he stopped in front of some wooden crates that were marked with red exes. There were two of them on top of a metal dolly cart, wide enough to carry two large boxes. "In you go," Hanz said, looking over his shoulder to us. "And fast."
"Wait. . ." I said. "This is your accommodation?"
Hanz's eyes twinkled at us before he chuckled. "Well, why don't you find out?" he said.
I fixed a glance at Neil. He had barely spoken the whole ride, much less complain like he'd usually do. Well, not to argue, but I needed him to complain like he usually did. Going inside a crate was not the thing I was hoping for, especially since we'd barely escaped inside a freaking cave.
The whole notion of this was making me claustrophobic.
Hanz flashed me a look of guilt. "It won't take that much time," he said. "Just enough to get us on the ship. And then after that, it's all fun and games. Promise."
Audra, as expected, was the first one who slipped her foot inside the wooden box. I glanced at Hanz again, wanting to feel relaxed, if it wasn't for the intense deja vu from being trapped in Conduit hitting me all over again. It was nauseating.
After Neil followed Audra inside, it was my turn in there. Only, I had to move to a different crate and share mine with Hanz. We wouldn't all fit in one.
Hanz covered Audra and Neil's crate before slipping inside ours. Our knees knocked together, but there was ample space to breathe around. "Ready, Pax?" he asked.
"S-sure."
Finally, he covered our crate with the lid, plunging us into darkness.
The panic ended as soon as it began, which was about fifteen minutes from the time we slipped inside the boxes, to when we were moved from one place to another.
Meanwhile, I could hear people from the other side talking.
"Payments."
"Watch."
"Loads of cash."
Then afterwards, right when I thought being stuck in a box would go on forever, we were blinking onto a fluorescent light, just as an Asian-looking man in a white uniform removed the lid, looking left and right before concentrating on us.
Immediately, Hanz sprung up from our crate like a pogo stick. "You got the things?" he said.
"You got the cash?" the other man asked in exchange.
The two of them traded envelopes, while my legs began to wake themselves.
Beside us, I could see that Audra and Neil were doing the exact same thing, leaving their boxes.
Hanz looked overjoyed when a small packaged was given to him. "And the rest of the accommodation's?" he said.
"Done." The man in the uniform— he had no name tag, studied us with a look. Afterwards, shook his head, like he couldn't believe that such a sorry-excuse of human beings were being escorted here, but otherwise gave us a smile. Indeed, money doesn't discriminate anything. "I'll show you around," he said.
The ship was big. Not Titanic big, but bigger, as our temporary tour guide was saying. He also briefed us that our new clothes would be in our rooms. Everything had been paid for by Hanz.
No sooner than we arrived on the cabins doorsteps, though, did the employee warn us.
"Whatever you have done to be in such a shabby condition, I don't want to be a part of it," he said. "From here on out, we don't know each other. As far as I'm concerned, I have not gone in contact with your lot. If the authority comes on board because of you, I will pretend that I had never met you. Got that?"
Afterwards, he turned around and left. Hanz, being the one who orchestrated the whole thing, breathing a sigh of relief. "Whew!" he said. "That was easier than I thought."
Audra, ever curious, asked, "So what's the deal? With us being in this ship, I mean?"
Hanz glanced right at her. "I'll explain that later. All you need to know for now, is that the ship is international. Meaning, it goes from port to port from one country to the next. I hadn't thought much about this, until the straggler I traded with mentioned that he had a contact in this place."
"Really?" Audra looked impressed. And I couldn't blame her. Hanz was pulling through.
In fact, to prove it, he showed us two cards on his hands, like a magician flourishing his tricks. "Our room keys," Hanz said. "We have two."
But even before he could ask who would share with who, I was gasping as Audra had already taken my hand, snatched a key from Hanz, pulled me towards the door where our friend had pointed to. "We'll take this one," she murmured.
"But—"
Neil was about to react when Hanz hooked his arm around the guy's neck. "I guess we'll be sharing a room then, huh, Neil? How does that sound?"
Audra unlocked our door. And even while my heart was suddenly pounding, she pulled me inside. My hope was soaring up high. Yep, our future was looking good.
I had never been inside such a large ship before, and in such a big room to boot. But as Audra closed the door behind us and locked it, I could see the allure of going into such a cruise ship, and trading your whole life to be able to afford such a thing.
From the piano alone standing in the middle, and the crystal chandelier on the ceiling, not to mention the balcony deck taunting us outside, I knew that we had been given the Presidential suite. No more, no less.
The carpet muffled Audra's footsteps, but not her breath tickling the back of my neck as she whispered. "I guess this is ours then."
I turned around to her. Her eyes were immediately on mine. Audra, dirty as she was from our adventure, had managed to stay captivating.
As captivating as water for a thirsty man.
I could feel my throat clamming up as her hand went to my cheek. "I'm glad you're safe," she said.
"I-I'm glad you're safe too."
The vein on my neck was palpitating so hard, she must have noticed it.
But I almost cried out when she removed her hand, gave me a shrug as if what she did was nothing. Then afterwards said, "Maybe we should take a shower first."
"Okay. . ."
As there were two bathrooms in the room, we didn't have trouble cleaning up at the same time. Everything was a blur in my head even though the place itself was marvelous. Almost everything was happening too fast.
From us kissing to escaping, and now we would share a room. Maybe, just maybe, I should begin telling Audra how I felt too. Especially now that things were looking up. I didn't want her to think that I was taking advantage of her. Never.
My eyes fell on Audra as she left the bathroom after a couple of minutes. I was waiting on the sofa, and just like me, she had chosen a fitted black t-shirt and jeans. Her hair was back to its bouncy, wavy state.
But what was most thrilling of all was the look of satisfaction that flitted on her face when she saw what I was wearing. Without planning for it, our clothes were almost matching. To be fair, it was already laid out for me, like everything had been planned.
By Hanz, most probably. He was just like a mom.
Audra went to the sofa, running a hand through her hair. "I tried to find boots," she said, "but they didn't have one in the closet. Yours?"
"None," I said, careful not to look at her black heels. She was rocking those pretty nicely.
She noticed me looking, though, and glanced away. "I don't think the boys will be getting out of their rooms anytime soon," she said. "Knowing Neil, he'd pretty much sleep again. And Hanz. . ."
"Hanz is Hanz," I said quickly.
"So what do you want to do, Pax? It's still early, so people won't notice us. I hope."
I fiddled with my hands. We could probably catch up on sleep too. But my mind was all over the place, I doubted it was up for the task.
Audra found a brochure on the table beside the couch, studying it the next time I looked. "Here's a list of activities," she said. "According to this, the ship has wall climbing. Zip-lines. Wow, I can't believe they have so many extreme things in here. I know it's dangerous, but maybe we should try it."
For someone who had just gotten out of trouble, Audra was looking excited with these activities. More excited than I'd ever seen her before.
Come to think of it, she had always been an adventure-seeker.
One time on the school fair, I was just beginning to remember, I happened to pass her and Neil while going to the snack bars, and overheard her saying that something more dangerous should have been placed on the fair. Audra's suggestion at that time didn't make sense. But now, looking at her, I began to understand. Audra was a thrill-seeker. She didn't back down from trouble. She even sought them out herself.
Did she somehow thought of me like that? Trouble?
Her eyes darted onto mine, and she tilted her head. "Thoughts, Pax?"
"Yeah. . . Let's not do any of those right now."
Her mouth curved downward in disappointment, but her eyes lit up again when I took her hand, pulled her up. "Are we going somewhere?" she asked.
"Yup. . ."
Audra was full of curiosity the moment we got out of the room— and yes the boys were nowhere to be seen. It was still a bit chilly too.
Nevertheless, she allowed me to guide her, downplaying her fascination by being silent.
There was a map on the activities paper she found, which I myself found to be useful, especially since the boat was like a maze. Plus the cabin crews were too busy checking the boarding area, which worked to our advantage.
Finally, after minutes of walking, we arrived at our destination. No one was around, just as I hoped.
Audra cocked her eyebrow when I opened a set of double doors. "Do you know where you're going?" she asked.
"Yes. I mean, no." I admitted. "I'm hoping though."
It was dark inside the room, understandably so. And if ever there was a crew waiting in the shadows, he didn't seem to stop us as I guided Audra around. I had gotten used to the blackness. I could see almost every inch of the way, thanks to my previous misfortunes.
After a few minutes, I began to tug her up. "Come with me," I coaxed.
"Pax, I don't think—"
"Just come with me, Audra."
Audra, unlike me, tried to blink through the darkness, but I was more used to it. Finally, she allowed me to guide her up, to let me lift her upwards. And only then did she begin to understand.
For my part, I jumped down the platform. I had seen where the controls were. I ran straight there, pushed a red big button.
The carousel came to life.
"Pax!" Audra gasped.
Colors. Music. Audra found herself riding a wooden-made horse, and she was loving it. At least from my view, and at least from the view of the European-looking man who came rushing to us. I blocked his way, shook my head fast.
"Please!" I said, over the rising music. "I like this girl."
The crew, whatever his name was, gave me a wild stare, but I just repeated the same lines, hoping he'd understand.
"I like this girl. We had been through so much." The music was getting unbearable. Yet I continued. "She had never been in a carousel before. I just want to make her happy."
The man closed his eyes, afterwards turned around. "Five minutes," he snapped. "And then your time is up."
I didn't waste any more of it and just ran over to where Audra was. Her face was like a kid's shining on Christmas morning now, for the first time ever receiving a gift.
"This is incredible!" she said.
The ride continued to spin slowly but surely, the horses beginning to rise up.
I rode the horse just beside her. Smiled. "I'm not just trouble," I said.
"What?"
The music was so loud— she probably didn't hear me. But then she said something underneath her breath, and I didn't hear it too.
But just for a moment I could pretend, that Audra had said, "I love you."