Down the Ocean She Goes

“Are you sure you have no regrets about being here?”

The teenage girl who was asked that question had begun to analyze her surroundings. As far as she was aware, only the onyx black void of a night sky and the dark, indigo ocean waves were in her line of sight. The young teenager slowly nodded her head as her friend dressed in all white stared at her with concern.

The teenage girl’s primly dressed companion held out her calm, sturdy hand and gave a smile of relief.

As if by some odd coincidence, the moonlight peaked from the dark clouds and gently hit the two teenage girls' faces. Perhaps it was a sign of hope, or it was simply a coincidence.

“Anna, I know you’re worried about what’ll happen next. I’m just letting you know that I’ll be by your side at all times on our journey.” The teen girl in white chirped in a cheerful yet calming tone, “There’s a good reason why I joined you on this long voyage, so I could help you feel safe and do my best to make all of your troubles go away!”

Klara let out another warm smile as her sapphire eyes shone with courage and relief. Her friend Anna exhaled slowly, and she fixed her gaze onto her positively postured companion.

“Thanks, Klara, for helping me with everything. I honestly couldn’t pull this off on my own… considering that I’m always nervous and usually cannot lift things half my weight. I feel more relaxed already!”. Anna thanked with hints of awkwardness mixed in between her words.

“Always glad to help you out!”. Klara smiled at her companion and shook her head. “Don’t go doubting yourself, you can calm yourself too!”

The two teenage girls sighed in relief as they turned their heads away from their former worn-down home towards the uncertain overcast skies above them. As the two looked in the direction they came from, Klara gripped the steering wheel of the deck boat and hit the acceleration paddle.

A small ring could be heard from Klara's cellphone, indicating that a weak wi-fi signal was detected. The pristine teen girl in white sighed, as this meant the loading process was longer than what she was used to. It was better than nothing. It was pure luck she found any signal in the middle of nowhere. She stopped the boat and used the weak signal to access online maps.

Near the right side of the boat, Anna's mind had begun to wander elsewhere. It was almost as if she was attempting to remember something. Her brown eyes squinting at nothing in particular, her thumbs had begun to twitch ever so slightly.

"You know, the World is nothing but hundreds of islands and archipelagos. It could take days for us to come up with an idea for a place to settle-"

"That’s it! I have a plan!" Klara declared happily, almost sounding pushy. "There's a resort that has hotels, with the money we saved up we could rent a room for half a year! Maybe even longer if we just keep switching rooms! It’s only a 12-hour boat ride from here according to the map, lets go!"

Anna was hesitant, as she had heard many stories of people kidnapping teenage girls near hotels. Or anywhere really, as the World, she knew was quite a cruel one. But she had trusted her long-time friend, for she was the only person Anna could rely on from here on out.

Anna adjusted her grey coat and pulled her hair back in a rush of confidence. She was pushing herself to her limit, and she knew it. Her breathing became unsteady as her friend Klara looked at her, expressionless.

What is wrong with me today? I’ve travelled to other islands with my dad before, why am I so scared of travelling to a few islands away from home? Ana had thought to herself. She had never had two close-call panic attacks almost simultaneously.

A couple of hours had passed when Klara had decided to rest from driving the boat. She was bored from not talking, so she had begun to find solace in Anna.

“Hey. Remember when we were in middle school?” Klara had begun to giggle at her thoughts. "When we showed those losers not to mess with us?”

Anna raised an eyebrow and shook her head. Not knowing what she primly dressed friend Klara was referring to.

“You know, Phillipe and Terry? They were bullying me, then you stuck up your bird finger for the first time, and we took off on our bikes? Then… then…” Klara had begun to enter a laughing fit. “We saw them fall like a bunch of dominoes. That was hilarious!”

“Oh, yeah that. I sort of regret what I did now. They deserved the finger, but Terry and Phillipe both fell quite hard on the street. That injury must have hurt because I remember they both were at the hospital for a week.” Anna’s eyes began to wander off. “They were meaner than the other kids, but I’m not entirely sure they deserved to be bedridden for a month.”

Klara’s fit of laughter had turned into silence, as she awkwardly sat in her chair. The girl in white fiddled with her drinking cup, as she swirled her straw back and forth.

“...I had no idea you felt that way about two boys who pulled your hair every day.”

“It doesn’t matter what they did now. They failed 8th grade and I haven’t seen them since. What matters is that it’s over and we don’t have to see them for a while-”.

“For a while?” Klara repeated.

“I-I mean… '' Anna stuttered, her hand had begun to twitch. “We could see t-them again one day out of nowhere. Who knows? N-Not me, I’m not a psychic or have any fortune-telling skills.”

Klara shook her head in disapproval.

“No wonder you have anxiety problems, Anna. I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you let people take advantage of you. You’re not even slightly mad at them for what they’ve done! Sure, we were kids and all, but they were still bullying you every day!” Klara sighed like a disappointed parent as her friend could only stare in confusion.

“I’m trying to move on, ok? It hurts what they did, but it’s kind of childish to laugh about their suffering.” Anna mumbled, staring off into the distance.

Klara couldn’t help but click her teeth and get up from her seat. Her eyes narrowed toward the steering wheel as the boat moved forward again.

The two girls headed toward the small island, with the only detail worth noticing being the ten stories high hotel with bright neon signs. Besides that, decorative piece of work, the rest of the island was covered in small bald cypress and black olive trees. Which contrasted poorly with the huge, flashy building up ahead.

“Almost looks cool, if it weren’t for the trees in the way,” Klara commented as she slowed down the boat's speed to a near halt.

“Aren’t those trees rare? I mean, most plant species went extinct a century ago. I think they're quite nice looking!” Anna hummed, staring down trees she had never seen before. “Strange, you used to like trees too, Klara.”

“Don’t talk to me like you’re my mom! I only think that the trees and the building together, look ugly. Emphasis on together, your silly dork!”

Anna was taken aback by her friend’s harsh words. Klara seemed so reassuring when Anna nearly panicked, yet she used every opportunity to turn a positive moment into a negative. It surely left a pit in Anna’s consciousness and stomach.

As the sun had set in the west, the sky had turned a lavender. The two teenage girls had walked into the hotel and were greeted by the bellboy at the front. The hotel itself wasn’t as tacky looking on the outside, the inside was a matching sleek grey look. The furniture had shined, and the ground floor was quite spacious. Renaissance, surreal paintings were placed accordingly with vanilla perfume in the air.

“While you two wait here for the staff to prep your room, why not rest and have a beverage?” The bellboy in red chirped as he skipped across the chic hallway.

The two girls looked at each other and patiently waited for the bellboy to escort them. Klara scrolled on her phone, browsing websites that recommended islands to new buyers. The expression on her face couldn’t be more bored. Meanwhile, Anna was on her cell phone browsing the news. Her cellphone had an application that displayed recommended news stories and independent publishing from companies across the world.

Her eye had caught the headline: The phenomena of mental manifestations.

“Oh, I read that article yesterday. ``Apparently, that thing was recently republished!”

Anna nearly dropped her phone and quickly turned to see the bellboy giving a friendly smile.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare ya like that. I just wanted to make conversation,” The bellboy chucked, awkwardly adjusting his blonde hair and red cap. “I found that an interesting read, I do think you should look into it.”

Klara looked at the bellboy with anger, as he stared back at the girl in white.

“Well, here are your keys. I’ll take you to your rooms on the fourth floor,” The bellboy chuckled as he skipped oddly across the hallway. Klara wondered if he was going to trip.

“Thank you for guiding us,” Anna politely smiled as she grabbed her hotel keys from the bellboy, who nervously waved and slowly closed the door.

The two girls had begun to look around the room, gazing at the sleek and simplistic design of the entire ensemble. Anna had begun to read the article, as Klara just plopped on her bed and sighed. The girl in white looked out the window as the moon was barely visible in the cloudy night sky.

“What if we’re being kidnapped?” Klara whispered to her friend, her blue eyes becoming more frigid.

“What makes you think that?” Anna nervously replied, attempting to look brave. “I-I know we shouldn’t trust anyone day one, but there’s no one here but the workers,”

“That’s what they want you to think. Before you know it, we’ll be dead in a ditch after-”

“What is wrong with you?! You weren’t this moody when we got on the boat at St. Peter’s!” Anna fought back. “Seriously, you’ve been acting like this since I mentioned the past. Are you really this cynical?”

Klara paused for a moment, then she began to cry nonstop. Without saying a word, the girl dressed in white ran out the porcelain door and slammed it.

Anna, in a panic, froze on the spot. She could not think of what to do for the next couple of moments. In her head, she was forced to recall a moment in her life.

Klara's voice barked. But Klara’s past voice fell onto the deaf ears of a confused Anna. The moment was from the weekend after the two had begun the tenth grade.

I don’t remember her screaming at me. Odd, since the tenth grade was only a year ago… I wonder what I did. Anna nervously thought to herself as her friend only ran farther down the hall.

As she ran down the flight of stairs, she took notice of her reflection. She had no face. The rest of her was reflected properly. Her pearly white clothes, her smooth skin, and her blonde hair. The other detail she could notice was the small cut on her leg.

“Oh! Are you injured?” The bellboy from earlier called out as he ran with some other concerned staff members. “I was just on my way back downstairs… and-”

As soon as he realized what was going on, Klara barked at him to stay back. The two glared at each other, knowing what was going through each other's heads. He knew she was dangerous; she had only gained consciousness of what she was.

“Why were you luring her?” The bellboy sternly asked, his hands reaching for the nearest telephone. “Don’t act like I don’t know what you can do!”

Klara sprinted from her spot and continued to bolt down the flight of stairs. The bellboy snatched the grey telephone in his hand and called for security to block all exits. He specified that a teenage girl in white was a potential kidnapper and put a customer in danger.

“Let’s hope they’re not too flimsy like last time,” The bellboy sighed as he fixed his name pin on his red coat.

Anna had clumsily chased after her so-called friend and had finally caught sight of the friendly bellboy from earlier.

“Thank goodness I found ya! Look-Look I know I’ll sound like a loon, but yer friend’s a no-good kidnapper!”

Anna was dumbfounded and skeptical by this claim.

“What do you mean? She was with me the whole time! It’s her!”

“Er- maybe kidnapper isn’t the best word but it’s close enough-”

“Would you care to explain yourself? I’m completely in the woods about this!” Anna panicked.

The bellboy shook his head as the sirens went off and the security had been stationed at every entrance and exit possible. Even the sewers below the hotel were guarded carefully under the eye of trained security specialists.

“Instead of telling you, why not see for yourself?” The bellboy sighed childishly, stressed out from the loud sirens “She’ll be at the main entrance- trust me!”

Anna followed with hesitation but had no other choice. As the two teenagers made it down the flight of stairs, they had heard dozens of voices yelling angrily at each other.

“Get her!”

“Come on people!”

“I don’t get paid enough for this…”

There were a few of the more distinct voices, as the bellboy opened the door the two were met with a melee-filled front entrance. Security guards were all resorting to combat after Klara’s leg had opened for everyone to see.

Her cut had morphed into a grey slime, as the teenage girl’s body had disintegrated, Anna had begun to remember something important.

Her friend Klara’s last words before the two had stopped being friends in the tenth grade. But before she could recall in her head, “Klara” turned around and yelled those words at her.

“You are the most pathetic person I’ve met! You’re nothing but a childish, clumsy, nerd that can’t defend herself. I hated being your friend for this long, I hope you trip off a cliff!”

Anna froze in place. The bellboy looked at her with pity.

“Those were the last words she said to me… Before she moved away with her mom.”

“...You thought that was your friend?” The bellboy asked in a shocked tone, concerned for the naivety of Anna.

“Klara said she was staying with her dad, he still lived on our street. I thought she was telling the truth! Another thing, I didn’t remember those last words until now. I just thought she left without texting me goodbye…”

“It’s against the rules to insult a valuable customer, but I have to say this. You have an unhealthy view of friendships. You should see a therapist,” The bellboy admitted, with the pip in his voice gone.

“.... You’re right. She was the only friend that would look out for me. I was a big crybaby.” Anna sighed, tearing up at her remarks.

As the guards held down “Klara”, the bellboy decided to step in and explain things.

“Well, looks like we have a ‘mental phenomenon’ right here. These things impersonate anyone you have a lot of bad memories with and try to torment you. At least I think so, I know mine did-”

“This has happened before?” Anna shouted, confused, and scared for her safety.

“To me at least, and other people too supposedly. But I can’t tell who’s telling the truth and who’s lying for attention. What I can say is, this is a real issue we have here. This phenomenon had been documented to lure their targets with happier memories or comfort, then try and eat your brain away,” The bellboy answered, trying his best to look smart.

Klara’s look-a-like had begun to flail in the arms of the guards. Though strangely enough, she looked expressionless and could only stare at Anna. Her rapid movement and calm face were unsettling to look at.

“How do you make her go away? I don’t want to even see her face again,” Anna sighed and kept her focus on the strange creature.

“It’s hard to say. But I know we can’t keep her in a cell, she’s a part of you. But what worked for me is to ignore her… then get a therapist to do the rest of the work. These creatures leech off your fears, so it’s best to start becoming a better you!”

“Really? That’s it?”

“I think so. But you can’t reply to them. Then they’ll stick around even more. Well, I guess you’re headed home, right?” The bellboy smiled, “Don’t worry about the money, you didn't stay the night. You're good to go if you don't leave a one-star review. Stop by anytime!”

The security, staff members and the bellboy waved in unison as Anna was handed her luggage. She gave a genuine smile and waved, knowing she could potentially find peace. Anna and “Klara” had both walked on the boat. Anna pushed her foot onto the breaks and headed home.

She was going in the wrong direction at first, but then she remembered to check the map on her phone. She was well on her way back home to the city of St. Peter.

“Don’t forget that I’ll always be a part of you” The clone said in an eerily happy tone. “I’ll always be here!”

Anna did not bother to reply.

The only thing she could do was to head back down the ocean.