The Elementum

Tristen and Jane walked silently into the kitchen, and sat down on the extra chairs John had brought out. Shana gave Jane a curious look and motioned for her to move her chair besides hers.

“So?” whispered Shana into Jane’s ear.

“Nothing happened,” Jane quickly whispered back. Fortunately, their conversation wasn’t overheard by their companions; Sean and John were engaged in a loud conversation over whether grilled chicken was better than fried chicken.

“Dude, seriously fried chicken beats grilled chicken any day!” argued Sean with determination.

“Denial is not a pretty color on you, son,” retorted John with a smug look.

“Delusion must run in your family, John, because you can’t recognize a fact when it hits you in the face,” stated Sean with an equally smug look. John started laughing loudly and got out of his chair to go put his empty cup in the sink.

“Alrighty, I think I’m gonna head out to bed now, kiddos. Buenas Noches, everybody,” announced John with a yawn. He walked past Sean and gave him a friendly slap on the back before exiting the room.

“Yes, I think I’ll be going off to bed now, too. I still have to set up the mattress in the cockpit,” said Lucy as she walked towards the door.

“You won’t be sleeping with us?” asked Jane before Lucy left.

“No, I rather like staying close to the ship’s controls, in case something happens, but thank you for the offer. I suggest you go to sleep, as well. You have an early morning ahead of you, and it’s almost six AM,” replied Lucy before heading to the cockpit.

“I’m guessing we’ll only get one hour of sleep tonight…” said Sean with disappointment before yawning. He got out of his chair and walked out of the room without a further word.

“He must really be tired if he didn’t ramble on as he left the room,” joked Shana. “I might as well be off to bed too. Jane?”

“Yes, an hour of sleep is better than nothing,” replied Jane in a tired voice. She hadn’t realized how tired she was until everyone started mentioning sleep.

“Yeah, we should go to sleep too. Come on, Jason, we all know you get cranky when you don’t get enough sleep,” Tristen teased. Jason got up and walked outside without waiting for them. The three friends still left inside the kitchen laughed and walked together to their cabins.

Jane changed into her pajamas and plopped down on the bed. It felt as though she fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, and before she knew it, she heard a loud whistle outside her door. She couldn’t remember falling asleep, nor had she ever felt so sleep deprived in her life. No sooner had she taken the covers off of her face, that she heard the loud whistle go off again outside her door.

“What the hell is that?” grumbled Shana on the bed next to her.

“Wake up, ladies! It’s training time!” John’s voice boomed from outside the door almost in response to Shana’s question.

“Oh no…” complained Shana who was used to getting up at noon even on school days; that’s why she always made sure her classes were in the evenings. Jane sighed and sat up on her bed while rubbing her eyes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt like such a mess. I could really use a shower,” Jane announced.

Suddenly, an important realization came into her mind: there was only on shower on this ship. As soon as she remembered this piece of information, she sprung out of bed and grabbed her backpack. Before Shana had even opened her eyes, Jane was already running up the stairs towards the bathroom.

John was outside the door with a whistle in his mouth when Jane walked out of the room. She smiled at him and ran upstairs. Jane heard him blow his whistle again, when she reached the top of the stairs. She opened the door to the deck and an icy breeze hit her face. She walked out onto the deck and marveled at the sight before her. The ocean had never looked as beautiful as it looked today. Every tiny ripple glittered under the morning sun. She walked toward the railing and breathed in the ocean breeze. It was a chilly morning, but she felt as warm as ever. She suddenly remembered why she had come upstairs in the first place and walked towards the kitchen. Thankfully, she had been the first to get up, so the bathroom was free. She walked towards the southern wall of the kitchen and opened the door that lead to the bathroom.

It was a small yet elegant room, much like the cabins. The walls were made of smooth and beautiful wood, and the floors were covered in white tile. Jane locked the door behind her and turned on the water in the shower. There was a small sink on the right with a small mirror nailed to the wall.

Jane looked into the mirror and saw two dark circles under her brown eyes. She looked as if she had been partying all night, and at this point she really wished that had been the case. Jane sighed and started to take off her light pink pajamas. When she entered the shower she was greeted by the most wonderful sensation that is warm water. She knew she couldn’t take too long on the shower since the others would soon want to get in as well.

“Jane?” Shana asked as she walked out of her room.

“She’s taking a shower,” responded John who was about to the door to the guy’s room.

“Oh, well no wonder she got up so fast. Are the others up?” asked Shana.

“I’m about to go force them out of bed. You should hurry on upstairs and save your spot on the bathroom line,” advised John.

“Oh, you’re right!” Shana said as she sprinted up the stairs. She tripped a little on the last step, but she saved herself from falling by moving her arms in circles and creating a strong gust of wind that set her body straight again. “Whoa, I really like this power.”

“Are you alright?” asked John while he grasped the doorknob in his right hand. Shana nodded and continued to exit the room. John sighed and blew his whistle as he opened the door to the guy’s room.

“Get up! I said get up, ladies!” Shana heard John yell as she walked to the kitchen.

Jane was exiting the bathroom when Shana walked into the kitchen. Shana frowned when she saw Jane’s tired demeanor.

“ I hope he doesn’t work us too hard today because I don’t know how long I’ll last before falling asleep,” Jane said when she saw Shana frown.

“Tell me about it. I have a huge headache,” replied Shana.

Jane sighed and walked towards a chair by the table. Shana walked into the bathroom and Jane scooted the chair closer to the table. She rested her head on the table and closed her eyes.

Jane didn’t have a lot of time to rest because Jason walked into the kitchen five minutes later.

“Good morning,” Jason said with a look on his face that revealed he didn’t see anything good about this morning.

“Good morning,” mumbled Jane, without lifting her head. Jason sat down on the chair across from hers and rested his head back while he closed his eyes. Jane lifted her head and examined Jason. He always had an air of confidence and calmness about him. His face looked pale from the lack of sleep, but even so she could not deny that he was a handsome guy. However, he wasn’t the same type of handsome as Tristen. Tristen had a boy-next-door look, but Jason had a more dangerous persona. He wasn’t as smooth around the edges as Tristen, but this only added to his allure. Jane was snapped out of her contemplation when Jason lowered his head and opened his eyes. His tired green eyes met her brown ones for a second before Sean walked into the room.

“Aw man! Don’t tell me I’m the fourth in line,” complained Sean.

“Well, if you’re the fourth that would make me the fifth so stop whining,” replied Tristen. Jane looked at Tristen, who looked just as tired as everyone else, walk inside. Tristen turned his head and smiled at Jane before sitting down next to her.

“How was your one hour of sleep?” asked Tristen in Jane’s direction.

“Rough. I kept waking up because of the creaking and swaying of the boat,” answered Jane with a frown.

“Yeah, same here. I feel as though I’m about to keel over any second now,” added Sean when he sat down.

“You were snoring the whole night Sean,” said Jason.

“Was I? Sorry about that,” Sean replied with an apologetic smile.

“Where’s John?” asked Jane as she tried to change the subject.

“He said he was going to go get our stuff ready for training,” replied Sean.

“Where do you think Lucy is?” asked Sean with a small smirk on his face.

“I’m right here, Sean,” answered Lucy as she walked into the kitchen. “So, what do you guys want to eat for breakfast?”

“You’re going to cook for us?” asked Sean with enjoyment.

“Well, I just happen to be an excellent cook, so what do you think about omelets?” replied Lucy. Without waiting for an answer, she walked towards the fridge to get out the eggs.

“All right, who’s next?” asked Shana as she walked out of the bathroom with steam flowing out from the door.

“I believe Jason is,” responded Jane. Jason got up and silently walked to the bathroom.

Once everyone had showered and eaten breakfast, the five friends walked outside with John to begin their training.

“Alright, cupcakes, let’s get this thing started,” John said with a mischievous smile.