Sea Sick: A Horror Novel(10)
The urge to stretch took over Jack and he gave in to it, reaching his hands towards the ceiling and cracking his shoulder joints. Suddenly a sheet of darkness clouded his vision, followed by several flashes of bizarre images. It made Jack stagger briefly, almost falling to the floor. He felt tired, disorientated – almost sick. Perhaps he was coming down with a cold.
I guess I needed sleep more than I realised. One night of rest and my mind is one big mess.
He yanked aside the room-divider curtain and went over to the cabin’s porthole window. Beyond the wooden Promenade Deck was the vast expanse of the blue-green Mediterranean. The ship was currently at sea.
Something hit the window and Jack leapt backwards, startled. He sighed when it turned out to be just a seagull perching on the ledge of his porthole. The bird stared in with its beady black eyes and, bizarrely, Jack felt like he’d met the creature before. The seagull had an expression of disapproval on his face and flew away a second later.
Jack let out another yawn and decided to go for a shower. It was a strange morning so far and he wanted the hot water to help wake him up. After months of barely sleeping, finally getting some rest had left his mind muddled and confused. Once he was fully refreshed he would feel better. He was sure of it.
The small, en suite bathroom was cooler than the rest of the cabin. A breeze seemed to enter unseen from somewhere and skim across the tiles. Jack reached into the shower and twisted the knob jutting out from the wall. The shower head hissed and sprayed a freezing jet of water all over Jack. He cursed and yanked back his arm. He decided to take a leak while the water warmed up.
His bladder bulged and took a long time to empty. By the time he was finished, the water in the shower had reached a few levels below scalding and Jack stepped inside. The heat was wonderful, fingering his flesh right down to the bone. It almost sent him to sleep and he had to lower the temperature to shock his system back awake.
Once he felt clean and refreshed, Jack stepped cautiously out of the shower, not wanting to slip on the wet tiles. He dried himself off with one of the towels provided and then crept, naked, back into the bedroom. His clothes were still unpacked and he reached down to pick up his luggage. As he did so, he paused. That strange feeling had come over him again: a split second of random flashes in his vision. It was a lot like déjà vu, like he knew what he was about to do before he actually did it. It was as though he’d had a dream where he’d shifted his luggage onto the bed in the exact same way he was doing now.
What the hell is wrong with me? I feel like I’m losing it.
He put on a pair of khaki shorts, a nondescript, red t-shirt, and a pair of white tennis pumps. Then he grabbed the Andy McNabb paperback novel he’d purchased at the airport and headed for the door. On the carpet, he noticed a sheet of paper had been slipped inside the room. It was the ship’s newsletter, printed in cheap black ink. It was headed by the day’s date – 14.10.2012 – and the name of the ship in bold, SPIRIT OF KIRKPATRICK. Jack glanced over the day’s activities and decided he wasn’t interested in any of them. He was pleased to see, however, that at 3PM the pool buffet would be serving…
Hotdogs! My favourite. Although, actually…I don’t think I fancy them right now.
Jack loved hotdogs, but for some reason he didn’t want any. Bizarrely, he felt a little sick of them, as though he’d already eaten a load and now fancied something else.
Weird.
Jack decided to head to the pool anyway. Although it wouldn’t be the most private place, the thought of a bit of sun was tempting. He took the elevator upwards from B Deck and stepped out into the corridors of the Broadway Deck. To his right was a room service cart full of towels and bed linens. To his left was an exit leading to the Promenade Deck. He headed towards it and the floor tilted beneath him, sending him crashing against the wall. He waited for the ship to steady and then continued cautiously down the corridor. As he passed through the door and onto the Promenade Deck, Jack was almost knocked over by a pair of sprinting children. The two boys raced down the side of the ship without any regard for other people’s safety. Jack was about to shout after them, but stopped himself. What was the point?
Jack headed along the side of the ship, towards where he assumed the Lido and Pool Deck would be. His sleepiness had finally gone away, but he was still left with the odd sensation of déjà vu accompanying his every action.
At the end of the walkway, the deck opened up into a large rectangular area spread over two tiers. On the bottom was a modest swimming pool inhabited mostly by children, while the top level seemed to be full of sunbathers, chairs, and tables. Jack stood for a while, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his back and the invigorating sea air. It was the first time he’d set foot upon this part of the ship, yet for some reason it felt familiar. The people, too, seemed familiar.
Jack decided to take the stairs to the upper deck. With any luck there would be a sun lounger free. If not, he would have to make do with one of the tables and chairs. Unfortunately, when he reached the top he saw he was out of luck. None of the loungers were vacant; all of them were filled with sunbathers or reserved by towels and various belongings. Jack was just about to resign himself to one of the hard-backed chairs, when somebody spoke to him.
“You can have this one.”
Jack looked down at the young woman that had spoken to him. She was a teenager, blonde and pretty. She was pointing to a nearby lounger.