Something Better

The whole ship suddenly fell into a silence. The clattering of plates stopped, people stopped walking, and the waiters looked around at each other, also clearly confused about what just happened. The only sound that could be heard was the crew members of the ship running about to find where the source of the noise was.

“Joe, what was that?” I asked in an almost whisper, not wanting to stick out in the silence that covered the top of the ship.

“I have no idea…” Joe looked out into space, thinking. Even while he did so, he never let go of my hand; keeping a tight grip on it.

After a few more minutes of silence, someone came on the intercom of the ship and announced, “Attention. Could I have everyone’s attention please? Your attention please.” They started. “Will everyone now quickly enter the main entrance hall of the ship? I repeat, will everyone now quickly enter the main entrance hall of the ship. Thank you.”

Then, as people started getting up out of their seats, a waiter announced, “Everyone please make a quick exit on this side of the ship!” He gestured towards the ginormous stairs he stood right next to that led down to the main entrance hall. Everyone immediately walked out that way.

Joe got up swiftly, still keeping a tight grip on my hand, and led me over to the staircase. “It’s probably going to get pretty hectic in there with all those people, so make sure you keep a hold of my hand, okay? I don’t want to lose you.” He said in my ear, sounding like a paranoid mother at the moment. I didn’t blame him, though. I’m shaking so badly I can barely walk. I don’t know what the hell happened, but they better fix it fast.

Once everyone on the ship was in the main hall, a man with a three piece suit on and a few badges here and there stepped up on a chair and blew his whistle to get everyone’s attention. He looked like the captain of the ship, what with all his badges and everything. But… where was the cool hat that every captain got to wear?

“Everyone, please, quiet down! I have an announcement!” He held his hands up in the air. Once the room was decently quiet, he started talking again. “We are terribly sorry for the inconvenience! Nothing is wrong! There was just a little accident in the boiler room of the ship! But there is no need to worry! It is being fixed as we speak!”

Sighs of relief could be heard from everyone in the room, including me. My whole body relaxed as I looked up at Joe. His face seemed to have calmed down, too.

“You may all go back to what you were doing before! Again, we are sorry for-“ Another big boom could be heard from under us, almost like a big explosion, and the after-shock vibrations were even worse than before. The captain’s chair toppled over, taking him with it. There were yelps and screams all around the room as I hid myself in Joe’s arms.

The floor under us suddenly became very warm. I could feel the extreme heat coming from underneath us even through my shoes. I saw Joe look at the floor along with everyone else, and the screams just became louder.

“Holy hell… What the fuck is going on?” Joe mumbled to himself, but since I was still wrapped in his arms, I heard it.

Other men who had suits on with badges ran to a door on the other side of the room. They opened the door and flames burst out of it, flowing all the way up to the high ceiling. I almost went deaf with how loud people were screaming at this point.

The men who tried to go through the door immediately burst into flames themselves. I’m guessing they died on impact from how fast and hard the flames came out. Other men rushed over to the door and closed it tightly. Everyone squished together, trying to get as far away as they could from the door and the burnt flesh mess on the floor.

Tears sprung out of my eyes as I realized that a few men just burned to death right in front of me. I started sobbing and tried to hold Joe as close to me as I could. Had no idea what was going on, but I was honestly scared shitless. Maybe this was the gut feeling I was getting before…

The captain finally got back onto his chair and blew his whistle. Barely anyone realized he was doing this, though. They were too busy running around and trying to figure out what to do and where to go. And then there were the smart ones, like me and Joe, who just stood there waiting to be told what to do so we could get out of there as soon as possible. Running around screaming your head off never really helps anything. The workers there had to hold some people back from leaving the main hall and jumping off of the ship. We don’t even know if we’re going to die here, people! Just listen to what the captain has to say!

While all that chaos was going on, I faintly heard Joe whisper in my ear, “Babe, follow me.”

I looked up at Joe, confused. Where the hell could he possibly want to go right now? We’re trying to get our asses saved by the captain, and dumbass Joe wants to leave. Probably has to go to the bathroom, that dick…

Joe tugged on my arm while he fast-walked down one of the halls where the rooms were. There was so much noise in the main hall that no one noticed us leave. “Joe, where the hell are we going?! The captain was just going to tell us what to do! If we don’t go back now, they’ll probably do something smart and get their asses saved, unlike us!”

Joe just ignored me and kept going down the hall until her reached the end and started looking around frantically. “If you’re looking for a bathroom, Joe, I swear I’ll kill you before you even have time to get blown up by this fucking ship! We need to go back now! I honestly don’t think anyone really cares weather or not you piss your pants. Probably about 50 other people just did the same thing!”

Joe still ignored me. This just ticked me off that much more. Apparently, he finally found what he was looking for, since he ran over to this little walkway made in the wall of the hallway where the ice machine was held. I went after Joe and stood at the end of the walkway.

O my fucking balls! You better not have just come down here to get some freaking ice! I swear Joe, I’m going to-“ “Alyssa!” Joe cut me off and looked at me from where he was standing in front of the ice machine. “Do you honestly think I would pull us out of there for some ice? Do you?!”

“Well hoe am I supposed to know?! You never exactly told me where you were taking us in the first place!”

Joe rolled his eyes and went, “Ugh!” Then he pointed to a little square box on the wall in the walkway. I walked over to where Joe stood and looked at the box. It was a blueprint of the whole ship.

Without looking at Joe, I said, “There better be a good reason for this.”

Joe let out a long and frustrated sigh and turned his body towards me. I just stared at him from the corner of my eye. “Obviously the captain has no idea what he’s doing since he said that there was no problem with the ship, when in fact there really is. Not to mention the fact that those two guys got killed from the fire that erupted from the boiler room of the ship. Do you honestly want to trust the captain right now?” Joe gave me a stern look. I didn’t say anything except stare at him some more.

I’m going to get us out of here, Alyssa. I promise, I won’t let you die. I will do everything in my power to get you safe and away from this ship.” Joe looked at the box on the wall again and started pointing some things out. “I want to find a different passage way to get to the life boats on the upper deck. All ships have them in case of an emergency like this one, and by the looks of this blueprint, they’re on the upper deck. We can’t take any paths that involve going through the bottom of the ship, so this might be tough-“

Another explosion interrupted Joe’s planning. This one was much louder than the last one, and the aftershocks were a lot stronger. Joe and I fell to the ground, and suddenly, I felt like I was on an angle. It wasn’t that bad as to move everything from one side to the other, but picture frames on the walls moved the slightest bit with the angle change. A flower pot in the hallway that was on a small side table fell and shattered. Screams from the main hall could be heard, even from all the way over here. I felt all the weight in my body go to my left side. There is something seriously wrong with this ship.

I felt tears coming into my eyes and crawled over to Joe and buried my face in his chest. He held me as I wept in his arms, him telling me over and over again that he promised he would get us out of here. But I had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to keep that promise…

After a few minutes of laying there crying, Joe said to me, “Hey Alyssa, I’m sorry baby, but we have got to get going soon. This ship could collapse any minute and I’m definitely not backing down on my promise.” He was right. Every few minutes that went by, the ship seemed to tilt even more on an angle.

The ship was sinking. I knew it.

I immediately got up on my feet (with some trouble from the harsh angle I was now on), wiped away my tears, and said, “You’re right. Let’s go.”

As soon as Joe got to his feet, we heard footsteps on the roof above us. It was hardly noticeable, since the ceiling was pretty thick as to not disturb passengers, but you could hear the faintest sound of feet running around above us. I looked at Joe with worry in my eyes. “Joe, are they leaving without us?!”

“Shit. Come on!” Joe grabbed my hand and dragged me down the hallway and to the main entrance hall.

It was completely empty.

Joe didn’t stop running as he dragged me to the double doors which led to the outer deck of the ship. Once we busted through the doors, Joe stopped just a second to look around to see where everyone was. We saw them just finishing up filling their last life boat with as man people as they could, and they were lowering it down to the water. People were literally jumping off the ship and into the water to try and get on one of the life boats. There were so many people on just one little boat though, it would be hard to try and fit anyone else on there.

Joe grabbed my hand again and dragged me through a whole bunch of people until we got to the edge where the life boat was a few feet below us now. I barely had time to think about what was going on; it was all happening so fast. Joe grabbed both of my shoulders and yelled at me, “I love you!” before passionately pecking my lips.

I was going to ask him why he just did that, but I lost focus when I felt Joe push me off the edge of the ship and land on the tiny life boat. The weight fro my fall forced the little boat to collapse down on top of the water, sending big splashing waves everywhere. People were complaining that I had hurt them when I fell, but I wasn’t paying attention. I blocked them all out as I started weeping out of control, yelling Joe’s name at the top of my lungs. I knew what he had just done. He shoved me into the little boat so this way I would live, even if it meant him dying. He just cared about my safety instead of his…

Joe got smaller and smaller as I saw him wave back to me and cry himself. The instructor of my life boat was speeding us away from the ship as fast as possible, but I only wanted it to go as slow as possible.

Joe just saved my life. Knowing that he was going to die on the ship, he still shoved me off the ship and to safety. The farther we got away from the ship, the harder I wept.

Suddenly, the whole ship exploded into a bunch of flames, pieces of it flying everywhere. The explosion reached a few hundred feet in the air and the waves almost sent our little boat toppling over. Tears didn’t stop streaming out my eyes as realization hit me: I just saw the love of my life die right before my eyes. We were supposed to be married. We were supposed to have a family together. We were supposed to finally be able to make love again without it being a sin. And none of those things are ever going to happen…

Before I knew it, something hard and sharp it me upside the head and everything went black.