The Search For Amusement

Day 14 of cruise. Boring!

13 days down, 22 days to go on this thirty-five day boring hell hole of a cruise ‘vacation’. On this very special trip from Sydney to Hawaii, I have had the honour of basically only seeing the ocean, lots and lots of ocean. Did you know it’s vast? Well it is! Never ending waters, just like my tears! I am so bored! I have barely seen my parents this entire time, just me and the sea. I do not know why they insisted on dragging me along on this ‘family’ vacation. They don’t even seem to want me here, they just want to relive their honeymoon. So gross! There is literally nothing for a teenager to do on this stupid ship, but my parents seem to think it is a paradise, I don’t even know what they do all day and I sure as hell don’t want to imagine all the gross things they have probably been doing without me. This trip sucks so much! I miss home so badly! I hate being here! I miss all my friends! I cannot believe how I have to spend my summer… my last summer before college! I don’t even have WiFi most of the time, like what the hell is that about! What kind of monsters don’t always have WiFi working?!? I’m so damn bored, I’m journaling for christ sakes! I’ve hit rock bottom! Thank God, it's only two more days till the next docking. Two more days till WiFi. I will call my friends, and I will go to the bathroom in a facility that does not make me seasick, that’ll be nice…. Well that’s pretty much it. Another day in the life of me staring at open waters all day. Till tomorrow, Journal, if my brain doesn’t turn to mush first.

-Paola Cortes, drowning in her boredom. Somebody help!

Brought to you by my ass-hole parents!

Paola groans, expressing her feelings of utter annoyance, as she looks up at the many adults laughing, sipping on their fancy cocktails, having a joyously good time, while she sits there suffering from her own inner turmoil and nausea. As if on cue, to worsen her mood, Paola can see her parents are strutting towards her with a couple of mimosas in hand, giggling like a couple of love sick teenagers. She finds the sight makes her feel sick to her stomach. She decides to sullenly curl even more into her seat near the ship railing, in a hopeful attempt to hide. Maybe if she shrinks down small enough, her annoying parents will pass her by, not seeing her at all. No such luck!

“Paola!” Her mother hollers from across the ship deck, waving her free hand with a large grin plastered on her irritatingly happy face.

“Oh great. They’ve spotted me,” Paola grumbles to herself in irritation. Her parents start walking directly towards her and, if it is possible, Paola feels herself sinking even further into her chair.

I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. Paola thinks repeatedly before finally coming face to face with her parents.

“Hey… Where have you guys been? Drinking your minds away?” Paola groans, not actually caring in the slightest. Her mother's eyes roll back in her head at her negative attitude.

“You know dear, most kids would be grateful to be on a cruise like this with their parents,” her mother starts.

“Most kids who are on a cruise with their parents, are actually spending time with their parents.”

Her mother scoffs, “Now Paola, that’s not fair…”

“Paola! Do not disrespect your mother like that! Apologize this instant!” Her father barks at her, interrupting her mother’s impending tirade. Paola rolls her eyes.

“I’m sorry mother, it won’t happen again.”

“Good,” she says, waving a finger in Paola’s face. “Your father and I are going to the pool for a while. The one with the bar attached to it, no kids of course. I presume you can handle ordering room service for dinner?”

“Yup, like every night…”

“Great, enjoy the rest of your day. Love you,” her mother says, Paola scrutinizing the comment as just an afterthought.

“Behave!” Her father reminds her one last time, wagging a finger in her face, before they walk off towards the pool. Paola flips them off, after they turn away.

“Pricks,” she mutters under her breath. What she wouldn’t give to be at home for the summer with her friends instead of on this lousy ship. No longer interested in watching stupid adults, do stupid things, Paola turns back lovingly to the book she had started days ago, about wonderful magic, creatures and monster hunters. Her mind dissolves into the words of the book, reading the detailed descriptions of the monsters. Although she knows it is strange deep down, Paola has an inner love, a lust, and a longing to be in the company of monsters. Maybe because she feels like a monster at the best of times. Overall, this book has definitely been the best part of the trip so far, which is pretty sad considering she is on a cruise, a vacation many would kill to be on. She dives in, and is soon so immersed in the story that her parents, and the noises of the cruise ship, are all but forgotten. The bliss she has been longing for, finally being indulged.

Hours later, sudden screams jerk Paola awake, plucking her out of the book’s enchanting dream world. She lifts her head, confused, and stares wide eyed at the sight of people screaming, crying, scrambling in horror and panic.

What the hell is wrong with everyone? Paola stands up looking all around her. And then she notices them, growing in size all around the cruise ship, the source of the panic.

What on Earth? Paola gasps, staring out at the treacherous waters surrounding her and the terror-stricken passengers. The ship is in the centre of three monstrous beings. Paola is comparing their incredible height to that of three, maybe even four stacked, twenty story skyscrapers. The monsters are standing in a perfect triangle around the cruise ship. Paola analyzes each one carefully, scanning them with her eyes as she takes a mental picture of each horrific beasts’ features.

The first disfigured humanoid creature, standing in the ocean meters away from the stern of the ship, has a large hammer-shaped head, with a giant black, buggy eye protruding out on each end of the hammer. The mouth is long, but not wide, with thousands upon thousands of tiny razor sharp teeth stacked on top of one another, much like a shark’s. Even the creature’s tongue is long and sharp as it glints into Paola’s view. The body is similar to a female human with large wide set breasts, but instead of arms, whatever it has, seem to be razor sharp like a sword, but flexible like a whip. The hideous creature also seems to be covered in some form of red and black boils. Every so often one pops out of nowhere, releasing some form of stringy pink flesh.

The neighbouring horror, now positioned on the port side of the ship, is not a pretty sight either. This one has a more glutinous body, reminding Paola of the human male form. It has hundreds of folds of leathery skin and fat rolled over top of each other, green pus seeping out from the creases. Its arms are just as fat and full of pus, with huge hands that have long, jagged, green fingernails and other things growing on them. Its face is very strange, having what appears to be more like a giant elephant trunk, surrounded by smaller tentacles, like a beard. The top of the creature’s head merely registers as five blood red eyes, which makes Paola feel like they are staring right at her.

The last creature, standing to the starboard side of the ship, seems almost normal in comparison to the other two, although still not pretty by anyone’s standards. This one, too, has a body resembling that of a female, but it is covered in shimmering white scales. It even has hands similar to that of a human, with long pearly white sharp nails to match its white scaly skin. Its head has long, black tentacles flowing like hair naturally does. The face of the being has a long, protruding golden beak, matching the creature’s golden eyelashes draping over the eyes which seem to look like they are a view of time and space itself. This creature comes closer to the ship, reaching out with its enormous, white scaly hands, sending everyone running in a panic. Strangely, Paola cannot help but feel a sense of calm amidst the chaos. She stares in awe and then scrutinizes the sudden strange, overwhelming feelings of lust for the creatures.

The white-scaled monster abruptly picks up the entire cruise ship, cupping it in its hands with some of the water pooling beneath, holding and raising it up closer to the heat of the sun. The monster then starts cryptically maneuvering its hands, circling the sea water from its hands around the ship to form a giant bubble, floating in mid air. The bubble encompasses the ship, which now hovers mid air with the ocean’s waters forming a glassy mirror like prison around the ship and all on board. The bubble just captures enough oxygen to make the atmosphere breathable, but not for very long, as there are many lungs to satisfy. Paola finds herself wheezing with all the rest, as oxygen is quickly being depleted. Her feelings of lust are now slowly being overtaken by stronger feelings of horror. She feels her lungs starting to shrivel up in her chest as less and less oxygen is permitted to refill her heaving chest, intensifying her horror. The enormous bubble prison floats precariously just above angry ocean waves. The giant white-scaled creature, still emerging from the depths of the ocean waters, pushes the bubble closer to the sun with ease and grace. The other creatures look on, satisfied, watching Paola and the rest of her fellow passengers float. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Paola, but was probably more like one and a half to two minutes of non-stop agony, passengers running about in a panic, and some slumping into unconsciousness, the hammer-headed monster pops the bubble, sending the ship plummeting down into the ocean depths. Paola feels like she is falling off a tall building. She can feel her heart sinking deeper into her chest as she braces herself for the impact of the ship crashing down. The ferocity of the crash causes smoke and flames to encompass the ship, clouding her vision. The creatures watch intently as the once glorious cruise ship very slowly sinks further and further into the cold, unforgiving depths of the sea. Paola observes the monsters’ grimacing. It appears as if everyone has died at this point, but it is clear to Paola they cannot see her still lying on the leftover, sinking wreckage of the ship, struggling painfully to stay alive. Paola’s panic and lust to be with the monsters grows, as she realizes that the monsters are letting her sink into the depths of the ocean, not bothering to notice her in the least. As Paola sees this, she does not hesitate to yell after the godly monsters with all her remaining energy.

“Wait! No! You all can’t leave! Not yet! Not without me!” She screams furiously at the creatures, as she continues to watch them go. Before the monstrous creatures get very far, Paola watches the white-scaled creature stop. She knows she has its attention and continues screaming at the top of her lungs.

Please, She thinks desperately, Come back! Take me with you! She watches attentively as the white scaled monster, for whatever reason, changes its mind, and turns back for her. Paola can feel her face turning a dreadful purple red colour, but continues to bellow, despite her lungs wheezing and being shrunk and shriveled like a grape shrivels into a raisin. She needs to continue to keep a grasp of the white scaled creature’s attention. She knows her life depends on it.

They can’t do this! They can’t just leave me out here to burn or drown! They must save me, take me with them! They have to! They know they have to! I belong with them! Can’t they see, we are one and the same! Four souls trying to find a sense of amusement in the endless void of boredom! Yes, we are the same! We are, we are, we are… Paola thinks desperately as she continues to yell after the monstrous beings, who try to abandon her after causing such chaos and ruin in her life. Her thoughts slowly sift further and further into uncontrolled madness as the lust returns.

“Hey! Stop! You can’t leave me like this!” Paola screams. The white-scaled creature just stares.

“Hey! Come back! Why did you do this? Why did you kill everybody? What was the point? Why not kill me? Did you leave me alive on purpose or is it just by accident that I survived?” Paola pauses as an epiphany strikes her mad mind. “You know we are the same! That’s why you let me live out of everyone else! Is it not? Please!” She continues to yell and beg as life slowly slips away from her. She is lying on what still remains of the ship deck as it slowly sinks, badly injured during the shipwreck, barely hanging on.

“Please! Please! Everyone else is dead! Please don’t leave me here!” Paola calls out again. The creature tilts its head slightly at her, quizzically, still not making a sound. Suddenly the white-scaled monster emerges from the ocean’s waters once more, bending down to look directly at Paola. Their eyes meet, and Paola becomes lost within the incomprehensible space and time contained in the depths of those eyes. That brief moment of eye contact was enough to make Paola go clinically insane.

Paola starts to giggle like a mad woman as the creature wraps a large hand around her waist and drags her underwater, all the while stroking her head like a pet in its hands. It feels so soothing, the creature’s touch.

Finally the tyranny of my boredom has come to an end, she thinks, giggling hysterically. Slowly those mad cackles morph to gurgles as her lungs fill with salt water, and her skin grows cold.