I never really enjoyed going on cruise ships. Spending a couple of weeks in a floating hunk of metal out in the middle of the open ocean was not exactly relaxing for me.
Especially with my condition.
I was deaf. Have been since I was 2 years old. Honestly, I didn’t really see it as a big deal, but my parents did. They tried not to show it, but I could see it.
I was deaf not blind.
The way they interacted with me compared to my siblings was different.
The way they tried not to roll their eyes when I couldn’t read their lips.
The way they easily dismissed me every time I couldn’t understand me.
Then they would get mad and blame me for not being able to understand them.
It’s been sixteen years of being deaf and they still lacked the fundamentals in sign language. I stopped caring but my grandparents kept pushing for us to be closer as a family. We all lived with my mom’s parents because they had a McMansion in the middle of Kentucky.
My parents also didn’t work.
My father spent most of his days lounging around the couch trying to see how much tequila his liver could handle before he could go back to sleep. My mother spent her time doting on my older brother who was such an asshole. She also spent the rest of her time gossiping around the church events and orchestrating others for the very same things she would do. Luckily, I had two amazing grandparents who cared and loved me and my younger siblings.
That said, they were too compassionate regarding my parents. They were very non-confrontational and let my parents leech from them. My parents would always use my siblings and I as bargaining chips.
If my grandparents didn’t give in to their demands, they threatened to move us far away from where they could never see us. Obviously, my grandparents would never let that happen. Aside from their love, they also cared about their reputation among their friends and family from their home country.
That’s why when my grandparents decided to take the whole family for a vacation, they would also pay for my parents to join us. This year they got tickets for some cruise ship called The Grand Stellamaris.
It was a standard cruise to the Bahamas full of old people like we did every other year during winter break.
The first day had started rough because my grandfather noticed that his Gold Rolex watch had gone missing. My father denied it and they almost got into a scuffle until it was revealed that it was found under my grandparent’s bed. Suspiciously, it was my mother who found it. That’s why he decided to wear it everywhere. Everything else was fine though. The buffet restaurant had these amazing wings, and the pool was filled with cute guys my age. It was too bad I couldn’t talk to them though. Instead, I settled for giving subtle glimpses from afar while reading my books.
On the fifth day, my grandparents and I took my siblings out to the pool and just relaxed. This was our daily routine, and it was nice being away from the chaos back home. My parents were recovering from their hungover from the previous night. I only saw them when they went to grab some more booze before heading back to their rooms.
“Do you think your mother will come down for lunch?” My grandmother signed at me.
“Those dimwits will probably stay in bed until dinner.” My grandfather muttered while applying sunblock on my brother’s back. Jason wouldn’t stop squirming while my grandfather sprayed it on him. The rest of my sisters were already swimming and splashing in the pool.
I was facing the both of them so I could see the mouths of both Jason and my grandfather but then they started talking so fast that I lost track of what they were saying so I went back to my phone.
The heat of the sun was so nice and warm that I must have fallen asleep for a bit, but I was awoken by the feeling of an arm shaking my shoulder.
“Sweetie, there’s a storm up ahead. I think we should go inside. You can go and rest while I take your siblings for lunch.” My grandmother signed while grabbing our belongings.
I merely nodded in agreement before yawning and stretching my arms. My eyes were so dry, and my eyelids were so heavy. I glanced around me to see that my grandfather had gone to grab my siblings and we all entered back into the hallway. I sleepily walked straight to my room and laid down for a bit before dozing off completely.
I woke up to complete darkness in the room. The feeling of grogginess and confusion were quickly dispelled by the feeling of wetness all around me. I felt the space near my pillow hoping that my phone was there but instead I felt more and more of this thick oily liquid.
Along with it were bits and pieces of something rubbery and squishy. I wiped it off myself against my hoodie trying to get whatever it was off me.
I began to get up and shuffled out of bed. Even though I was wearing socks I could still feel the liquid on the floor seeping through them and into the skin of my feet. I was about to rush over to the light switch but as I took a couple of steps, I tripped over something causing me to lunge towards the floor. My head bounced off the edge of a dresser and I felt a sharp pain on the left side of my forehead.
I picked myself up by feeling around and holding onto the edge of the bed. It was so dark; I couldn’t even see my hands in front of me. I carefully walked over to where I thought the light switch would be and flicked it on and off.
Nothing.
I felt around the walls until I felt the door frame and then the door handle. I swung the door open hoping the light from the hallway would provide some semblance of what was on my floors, but instead I opened it up to more darkness.
What the hell was going on?
Could the ship have been sinking?
Was this another Titanic?
Why hasn’t anyone come to retrieve me?
My heart began to race and I bit my lip and began to think about my next steps when I remembered that I still had my phone. It must have fallen under my bed or something. I turned back and began to walk towards my bed again, this time bending down almost crawling towards it.
I didn’t want to risk falling again.
The darkness was freaking me out.
I felt that same object that tripped me the first time and went around it. It felt like some heavy suitcase with clothing that must have gotten wet.
I began to sweep my hands under the bed, but I still couldn’t find it, so I went further in. I finally felt a sense of relief when I felt the plastic case covering my phone. I turned it around and saw that the little flash was blinking letting me know I had several missed messages.
They were mostly from the family group chat telling us all to meet us for dinner at the Starlight Buffet at 9pm.
It was currently 1am.
I tried texting back, but I had no service.
I dragged myself out from under my bed and got up, turning on the flashlight to see what was around me.
I really wish I hadn’t.
I started heaving at the sight before me. It was a body, or what was left of one partially torn in half from the waist up. Bits and pieces of organs were covering the side of my bed and blood was dripping from everywhere.
I started to feel the blood rush drain from my body and I felt completely numb when I saw a Golden Rolex on the left hand. I fell back on my ass and started throw up chunks. A lump started forming in the back of my throat and I tried to hold in my tears, but my vision got so blurry that I had to wipe them.
But when I looked down on my hands, I saw that I was covered in blood from before. My white shirt had turned completely red. I turned my phone onto the nearest chair and grabbed a black hoodie, changing into that instead. I used the blanket from the bed to cover the remains of my grandfather and stepped out into the hallway.
I thought the scene in my room was bad, but the hallway was horrific. Pools of blood covered the floors and stained the walls. Bits and pieces of bodies lay everywhere.
I had to reach the deck and see if there was a way off or if I could find someone who knew what was going on.
I began to walk towards the staircase on my left and I tried really hard not to stare at the gore all around me, but I couldn’t help but notice that two of the bodies were wearing a similar blue Hawaiian shirt with pink flowers that my father wore this morning.
One of them was missing a head but I could tell by the fancy shoes that it wasn’t him.
The second was too skinny to be him.
The third body I came across was wearing a white dress shirt with a black vest.
What the hell could have done this?
An animal?
A shark? I almost chuckled at the absurdity of a shark walking around taking bites of people.
What the hell was wrong with me?
Eventually I reached the nearest staircase, and I carefully opened the door, praying that the door wouldn’t give me away to whatever was lurking around. I almost dropped my phone when the head of an old man came tumbling down the stairs.
I quickly covered my flashlight and knelt down against the edge of the wall, gripping onto the staircase handrail. I could faintly feel the vibrations of the handle from further up the stairs as something made its way down. I just made my body as small as possible and as close to the edge of the staircase as much as I could.
Whatever it was, could not see me in the darkness but I was trying my best to make sure it also didn’t hear me. I just held my breath as long as I could and closed my eyes.
By some miracle, whatever it was must have left or disappeared because I could no longer feel any vibrations of the metal railing. I slowly pulled out my phone and used the screen light to look around me.
The head that was once at the bottom of the staircase was completely gone, instead a trail of water and blood was in place across from me and down the staircase. I activated my flashlight once again and started crawling up the stairs as slowly as I could. I didn’t have the ability to hear how loud I could be, but I knew that being slow was somehow the same as being quiet.
I finally managed the reach the entrance of the doors that led out to the deck and I slowly pushed the door open, revealing a heavy hazy grayness all over.
The air was covered in a thick gray fog that blanketed the entire deck. There were chairs and glass thrown everywhere. Pools of blood and water stained the wood flooring.
A man’s body was completely shredded leaving little to no identifiable features. It was so disgusting that I ran over to the railing to throw up.
But as I looked over the railing, I saw glimpses of the water underneath, only there were lights coming from under the water. Green and blue flashes blinked slowly as if the ocean itself had decided to light up with life.
It was so beautiful.
I wanted to see where the lights were coming from.
Maybe, taking a closer look wouldn’t be so bad. Those things were on the ship, but the lights could protect me.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my arm as I was pulled away from the railing and thrown onto the floor.
I looked up to see a burly bald in a white crewmember suit yelling at me. I had to focus and squint my eyes so I could see what his lips were saying but he was talking a million words a minute.
“Are you crazy? You’re really lucky I found you in the nick of time.” His angry expression suddenly changed, and his eyes widened as he looked around. He quickly grabbed me, and we ran towards one of the outdoor benches and crouched underneath the table.
I still didn’t understand what exactly we were hiding from, but he was trying to cover my ears so tight, that my temples were starting to hurt.
I just kept trying to see through the wisps of the fog and for a second, I could see a faint outline of an arm clasping the rail from where I was standing. It climbed on top of the railing and slumped onto the deck, just lying there for a split second. Then it picked itself up and stood, just staring and looking around.
Whatever it was, clearly wasn’t human.
It was completely naked and had feminine qualities, yet its skin was scaly white and translucent. On top of its forehead, was a tiny rod with a glowing blue light at the end of it.
It was like as if an anglerfish and a woman had been mixed together and its eyes were bulging out.
It walked over to one of the bodies and sat right in front of it. It opened its mouth and I’m assuming it must have made emitted some sort of noise because I could feel the vibrations all around me as tons of those things began to board the deck from the sides.
My head was starting to pound now as the man began putting even more pressure on my ears while he was closing his eyes. I, on the other hand, wanted to see it all.
The wood of the deck was trembling slightly, sending ripples of movement throughout my feet as hundreds of those things started pouring out from the sides of the ship. I retreated further into the man’s body as soon as I saw that more of them started coming out through the doors of the ship.
The ones that lunged forward from the actual ship; however, were completely different than the ones from the water. Their skin wasn’t translucent like the others, but normal human skin undergoing some sort of transformation. The veins and blood vessels were popping out more than normal.
Several of them were wearing torn dresses and swimsuits while others were in normal clothing. They had varying degrees of that small bulb on their forehead and some of them were light up brightly.
As much as they differed in appearances, one thing was consistent.
They were all female.
They all gathered on the deck and looked around as if they knew we were hiding there but I think they were blind because I could have sworn that I made eye contact with one of them. There so many of them all around us just standing, as if they were waiting for something.
Whatever it was, got quickly interrupted by a loud flash piercing through the fog. I had to close my eyes for a second. When I opened them, I saw that those things quickly started dispersing trying to get away from the circle of fire that was spreading rapidly.
I was quickly yanked by the man who started making a run for it through the chaos. We just ran and ran, and when I looked back, and I could see that in another deck above us, was a small group of people throwing Molotov cocktails down below.
We ran through a set of doors, and he began to pile a bunch chairs and tables in front as a blockade, but they started breaking through the windows. He gave up and we started running up the stairs and in the direction of where we saw the group.
It wasn’t long until we saw a set of doors covered in metal chairs and other scattered materials, an attempt to keep those things out. The doors quickly opened up revealing a dimly light room, but I couldn’t tell who exactly was inside. Instead, they threw a flare aimed behind us and we started climbing over the obstacles trying to be careful not stab ourselves on the legs of the chairs.
I looked back and saw that those things were backing away from the flare, as if it hurt them. The doors quickly shut and once again, I was practically back in darkness. I could feel the vibrations of those around me, but I couldn’t read their lips. There was only a small handheld lamp that barely lit up five feet around it that enabled me to see where I was.
It was some sort of staff kitchen. I’m pretty sure it was the kitchen for one of the ballrooms or something. The doors that we came from were sealed off with a metal pipe inserted through the door handles. There was blood splattered all over one of the corners and I was about to take a closer look until I felt a hand shake my shoulder.
It was a pudgy blonde woman and she seemed to be yelling angrily at me because the veins on her neck were bulging out, but I couldn’t read her lips to know what exactly she was saying. She only seemed to stop the minute the crewmember who saved me placed a hand on her shoulder.
She looked at me and shook her head in disgust and walked away. The crewmember looked at me curiously before widening his eyes as if he had a bright idea. He took off and walked off into the darkness of the next room before coming back with a small marble notebook and a black pen. He set both down onto one of the steel tables before scribbling onto it. Then, he handed me both objects.
“Are you deaf and mute or just mute?”
I nodded and took it from him before writing back.
“Both.”
He looked at it and nodded back before giving me a thumbs up. Then he turned back to the notebook.
“I think we’re going to be here a while. So, get comfortable. I’m not sure we have service since we’re in the middle of the ocean and the engines are dead. I can look around for food if you’re hungry.”
“No thanks. I’m just tired to be honest.” Truth was, I just wanted to be left alone for a bit to write down everything that happened today in the notebook. A personal diary of some sort, in case I never made it off the ship.
He nodded before telling me to follow him. I did so and he led me towards a small set of stairs that I didn’t even see in one of the other rooms in the back, that contained a small LED lamp and a cot. He just motioned at me to step into the room and waved before heading back up into the kitchen.
That was almost an hour ago.
Honestly, writing this all down helped me calm down and process the events of today, but I must turn off the lamp now in order to preserve the battery. Hopefully, I can make it another day to tell my story out into the world.
If not, my name is Miranda Alcalde.