AllFreeNovel
Share Us
For a few minutes, we’d managed to forget everything. In the throes of passion and lust, for a little while anyway, everything had vanished. Sam, the police, the terror. Yet, even now, the haze of sexual rapture was fading. Again, my thoughts drifted toward our unseen enemy and what he might be planning.
Chapter 6
Dahlia
After getting cleaned up and redressed, Drake and I headed to one of the two dining options on the boat for lunch. One was more or less a counter with pre-packaged sandwiches and snacks. The other was an actual restaurant. Not luxurious by any means, but it had tables and a server. We ordered a few small plates of rice stuffed grape leaves, spanakopita, sardines, a few dips made of chickpeas or eggplant, and flatbread.
While we waited for the food, we sat, sipping at our drinks. My typical pastime was people watching, but the ship was apparently less than full and the options were limited. An older couple sat talking softly on the far side of the room, peppering their meal with a few quick words between bites. A man sat at the bar, nursing a beer while watching a soccer match on the small TV behind the bartender. The only other person in the room was a single diner in the far corner.
The lighting was low, probably to give a bit of ambiance to the dining room, but that meant I couldn’t get a good look at them. The body was slim and somewhat feminine, but they wore a hoodie with the hood pulled low, covering their forehead while they ate. I couldn’t see their face, but I had the strangest feeling that they kept looking at us. Glancing our way. When their eyes grazed across us, I had the disturbing sensation that icy fingers were trailing along my spine.
Our food came, and Drake and I talked about what to do when we got off the boat in a few hours, but throughout the meal, I couldn’t stop glancing at the stranger in the shadows. Eventually, whether they were actually done, or they were tired of me staring at them, they left.
“Did you see that person?” I asked Drake, pointing to the back corner. “The one sitting back there?”
He turned, finding the table empty, and looked back at me, his eyes hooded with suspicion. “Who was it? What were they doing?” His voice was tense and worried.
I shrugged and made a waving gesture. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I’m being silly.”
“It’s not silly.” Reaching over and taking my hand, he said, “Trust your instincts, Dahlia. What was it?”
Popping one of the stuffed grape leaves in my mouth, I shrugged. “It sort of felt like they might have been watching us. But, they may have just been people watching. I do it all the time.” I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, it’s probably nothing.”
Regardless of what I said, Drake became more tense and watchful as we finished our meal. He ate nothing else, instead spending his time eyeing all the entrances and exits.
“Are you done?” he asked when I’d tossed my napkin on the table.
“Yeah. Stuffed. Do you want to go try and take a nap? It’s still a few hours until we get to port.”
He nodded but didn’t look at me. Instead, he continued checking the hallways and corners as we stood. “Maybe we take turns.”
“Take turns sleeping?”
“Yeah. I don’t like the thought of us both being unconscious if someone tries to get into our bunk. Come on.”
Rather than pushing my fears aside, the way Drake was acting made me more tense. Could that person have really been watching us? Sam—or some minion of Sam’s that had followed us onto the damned ship? Suddenly the boat was much less cozy and fun and now appeared terrifying and unknown.
The walk back to our bunk room was more fraught with anxiety than our trip to dinner. Every shadow, each noise, and all the stewards and attendants now had a sinister quality to them. By the time we got back into our room, I was stressed out beyond belief, jumping at every little sound.
Drake locked the door, shoved the chair under the knob and let out a sigh. “Okay. Let’s rest. You nap first, I’ll take a watch.” He glanced at his phone for the time. “We should dock in about six hours. Three hours each should be enough to recharge.”
I lay on the bed, thinking there’d be no way I could sleep. The afternoon sunlight was still shining through the porthole window. Thoughts of Sam skulking around the ship flooded my mind, but despite that, my eyes slipped closed and blessed darkness swarmed my mind, dragging me into sleep.
The next thing I knew, Drake was gently rocking me, hand on my shoulder. “Dahlia? Are you awake?”
My eyes snapped open. “What’s wrong?” I gasped. “Is he here?”
“Calm down,” Drake said, rubbing my back. “It’s been three hours. Time to switch.”
“Three hours?” I asked, confusion rattling through my sleep-addled brain. It seemed like I’d just closed my eyes. The sleep had been dreamless and relaxing but had gone by in a flash.
I rubbed my eyes and sat up. “Okay. Sounds good. Did anything happen?”
“Not a peep. I think we’ll be all right. Maybe I was being paranoid.”
Drake lay on the bed, and I took a seat on the floor facing the door. I turned the small flatscreen TV on with the volume on silent in order to give me something to occupy my eyes and mind while he slept. In minutes, the faint sound of gentle snoring filled the bunk.
While he rested, I watched reruns of an old 90s sitcom on the silent TV with English subtitles running along the bottom of the screen. After three episodes, I went into the small stall bathroom to pee. When I came out, what I saw caused me to flinch and then freeze in place. The door to our bunk was mostly wood and plastic, but there was an eighteen-inch square window built into the door. The glass was heavily frosted so no one could see in or out. That didn’t stop me from seeing the shadowy outline that stood outside. There was no way they were simply standing in the hall, the shadow was too close. They were right outside our door.
