Swept Away

A shrill cry from the small cruise ship rang out over the chatter of the people waiting to say goodbye to their loved ones from the docks. I walked up to the narrow walkway that led up to the boat, waiting in a long line of people to get on. I struggled to just keep my suitcase from dragging on the ground. Why did I ever have the idea of packing all my belongings in one suitcase?

As I walked up the steep ramp a person suddenly backed into me, causing me to lose my grip on my suitcase. It slipped from my grasp and tumbled onto the toes of the person behind me.

“AHHHHH!” they cried out, bending over in pain.

“Ohmigosh! I am so sorry!” I tried to apologize, dragging my suitcase off their foot. They bent over and held onto their bruised toes. I suddenly realized they weren’t wearing shoes, only sandals. I cringed when I realized how bad that must hurt.

“I have a first aid kit in my suitcase!” I said lamely, trying desperately to get my suitcase open. It took ten minutes just to zip it closed back in my apartment and the one time I try to zip it open, it won’t budge. Of course.

“Oh really? From the weight I would have guessed you were carrying bricks in that thing!” the man said, talking for the first time since I’d crushed his foot. I sighed in relief when he looked up and I saw the amused expression on his face, although it was mixed with pain. Ok good, he was joking around. That must mean, at the least, that his toes aren’t broken…I hope.

“I’m fine, really.”

“Are you sure? Cause I think I might have some Neosporin in here somewhere,” I said, gesturing lamely to my suitcase. I still couldn’t get it open. My trip sure was off to a great start!

The boy smiled a little. “No, I’ll be fine. Besides, I don’t think Neo would help any with bruising.”

“Should I get you some ice or something?”

“Do you have that in your suitcase too?” he teased, and I let a laugh out.

“Hey, move it!” someone called out from behind us. I turned to see the line in front of us had disappeared somehow. The ticket man at the top was gesturing for us to hurry up and stop blocking the line. I hurriedly tried to grab my bag, but the man picked it up with ease, as well as picking up his own.

“I can get it for you,” he said, leading me up to the top. I gave my ticket to the man at the door and he tore a piece off before handing it back to me.

“Thank you so much,” I said, and I could feel my face flushing. I nearly crushed his toes with my suitcase, and here he was carrying it. He had to be the nicest person in the world.

“No problem. At least if I have it I won’t have to worry about you dropping it on my toes again,” he joked. I waited until he got his ticket back before we both headed to the front desk to get our room keys. After I got mine I led him to my room. I walked down to the second floor then followed the numbers until I came to the one listed on my ticket. Three hundred ninety-two. He placed my suitcase on the ground while I slid my key into the hole and pushed it open.

“You know, I’m actually curious what you have in there,” the boy said, pointing at my suitcase. I smiled.

“Textbook for my fall courses at college,” I replied.

“Ah, so you’re taking this cruise to your college?” he asked.

“Actually no, I’m taking this cruise to meet my family at our vacation home in Jamaica. They left a couple weeks before me because I had to finish up my spring classes. And while I’m down there I figured I would get ahead on my studies,” I explained with a shrug.

“Studying while on vacation? That doesn’t sound much like a vacation to me,” he said, wrinkling his nose in confusion.

“Maybe not, but I want to graduate with honors so I can get a good job as soon as I graduate,” I explained.

“What job-” he started to ask, but the shrill cry of the horn interrupted him. A second later a voice came over the intercom.

“Attention passengers! Attention passengers! The ship will be departing from port in five minutes,” the captain announced.

“Maybe we can talk another time,” I said, picking up my overloaded suitcase. “I have to unpack and call my family to let them know I made it on the cruise safely.”

“Sounds good to me,” the boy said, “Don’t be a stranger, you can go ahead and drop something on my toes any day. I’ll just be happy to see you again.” He gave me a smile before walking off down the hall with his own luggage. I dragged my suitcase inside and managed to hoist it on the bed before flopping down next to it. Well, my trip sure was off to a great start! And this time I wasn’t being sarcastic.



The next day I slipped on my flip flops and ventured out on the boat. It wasn’t very big, so it shouldn’t be hard to find the boy I met yesterday. I realized that I didn’t even catch his name. I decided to try the pool first. I headed off in that direction and found his sitting at the edge of the pool with his toes in the water. I sat down next to him and took off my sandals.

“Is this seat taken?” I asked with a smile.

“Actually, it was being reserved for you.” I dipped my toes into the water next to him.

“You know, you never told me your name,” I said.

“Oh! I totally forgot! Where are my manners?” he exclaimed, shaking his head. He turned back to me and extended his hand. “My name is Connor. And yours?”

“Kinsley,” I replied. The boy nodded.

“That’s a cool name.”

“So, you know I’m going to meet my family in Jamaica, but you never told me why you were here,” I reminded him.

“Ah, yes. Well, I’m going to visit my grandma for the summer in Cuba. Her husband died a few weeks ago and she doesn’t have any relatives there, so I figured I could keep her company.”

“Aw, that’s really sweet,” I said with a smile.

“Yeah, but enough about me. You never told me what job you wanted.”

“Well, I’m studying to become a movie director, but I’ll do movie editing too.”

“Wow. So in a few years I can expect to see your name in the credits of the next Avengers movie?” he teased.

“Ha, in my dreams! It takes a while to work your way into the big leagues like that. But yeah, that’s what I’m working towards.” Suddenly the shrill whistle of the boat blew again.

“Attention passengers! Attention passengers! We are now heading out in the open ocean!” the captain announced. I frowned.

“Ugh, I don’t see why they feel the need to announce everything to us,” I complained. Truth be told, I think I would be deaf by the time I reached Jamaica if they announced every tiny detail they think we ought to know. Letting us know when we were about to port in the two stops before Jamaica would suffice.

“They let us know because we’re headed into the dreaded Bermuda Triangle,” Connor said, wiggling his fingers and trying to make his voice sound scary.

“Oh come on, you can’t honestly tell me you believe in all that superstitious stuff,” I laughed. “Yeah, it makes a good movie script, but that’s all.”

“You can’t explain all those mysterious disappearances of ships and planes!” he argued.

“Yes, I can. All those disappearances can be traced to natural occurrences in nature, and since a larger number of ships and planes travel through his area more than anywhere else it makes sense that there would be more missing ships and planes,” I explained. Connor just shook his head and l
looked away.

“I don’t buy that,” he mumbled before smiling, standing up, and offering his hand to me. I took it and slipped my shoes back on.

“So, how long are you on this ship until you get to Jamaica?” he asked.

“A week,” I answered.

“Hmmm…well, I only have four days until I get to Cuba. Why don’t we explore the ship while we’re here?” he asked, and I couldn’t help but smile. Before this I couldn’t wait to get to Jamaica, but right now…well, Cuba could take it’s sweet time in coming because I wanted to get to know Connor better.



It was three days later, and Connor and I were standing at the front of the ship, looking out at the ocean that seemed never-ending in front of us. If only it was…we only had one more day until we reached Connor’s port. We’d stopped just a day ago at a small island before we headed out again.

“We’re still in the Bermuda Triangle, you know,” I said casually.

“Yeah, I know,” he replied.

“So what you said about it being mysterious was wrong. I haven’t seen a single strange thing while I’ve been in this ship,” I said, bringing up his earlier accusations about the Bermuda Triangle.

“This trip isn’t over yet,” he said, as we both looked out at the clear blue sky that seemed to stretch for miles.

“Well when we reach your port I can say you were wrong,” I teased him, and he smiled.

“No, cause you still have three more days on the ship after that. How about we exchange addresses so we can write each other and see if you survived your trip through the Bermuda Triangle.” I gave him a confused look.

“But the Triangle ends at Cuba. After that the ship will be heading away from it…” I said, thinking about all the maps I’d seen of this area.

“I’m trying to get your address, just play along,” he said quietly, and I laughed.

“Alright, fine. I’ll give it to you so I can tell you how I survived the horrific, terrifying, and mystic Bermuda Tria-” I suddenly trailed off when I looked up and saw the sky had turned a stormy gray.

“Wait, wasn’t the sky clear just a few minutes ago?” I wondered aloud, and turned to see Connor nod.

“Yeah, it was,” he agreed, then gave me a triumphant smile. “See? This proves my point! The Bermuda Triangle is supernatural!”

“This doesn’t prove anything. Storms are known to whip up suddenly in the Bermuda Triangle. It’s a known fact,” I said, defending myself. I turned to give Connor a disbelieving look, but I saw him looking out at the ocean with a look of horror clearly etched on his face. I turned and nearly fainted.

Coming towards our small cruise boat was what looked like a massive typhoon. The wind suddenly picked up and whipped my hair around my face as I stood there, frozen with terror.

It wasn’t the typhoon that had me frozen in my spot, but what was at the top. The water swirling around at the top and the bottom had jagged lines, and opened up to make it look like the jaws of a shark. Swirling behind it was white foam, but it looked like mini shark upon closer inspection.

“There. Is. No. Way…” Was all I could manage to choke out.

“Oh my…” Connor breathed, trailing off. Suddenly the typhoon shark lurched forward, slamming into the boat with a force that nearly tipped it over. I screamed as I grabbed onto the railing in front of me for dear life. Connor positioned himself behind me and held onto the railing in front of me as the wave swept over us, trying to pull us into the ocean with it. Connor kept his grip on me until the wave was gone, then he grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the hallways that led inside the ship.

“Come on, we need to get somewhere safer!” he yelled over the thunder that had suddenly showed up.