Chapter one-hundred-and-one

Tasmin

The applause grows in volume and it takes everything in me to not start squealing in response. First we were slow-dancing, and five minutes into it the saxophone began to pick up the tempo; that's when our dancing became heated.

I'm holding Harry's left hand, then right, and I'm barely getting any glances of him as he twirls me around and around. I know that by the end of this, if I don't look drunk I'll look high, and I know that I'm fine with it.

Cheers and claps. Whooping and singing. Harry's flushed face and glimpses of my navy dress, swinging around my calves with every twist and turn.

"This is fun," Harry breathes.

I pull myself closer to him. "Let's never stop dancing then," I say.

Harry

The exact opposite of silence slams down when we finish dancing. The crowd of mostly older people are loud, cheering, throwing their hands together as I pull Tasmin into me for an embrace.

It's the closest I've held her. I hold her shoulders and stare at her as the crowd's approval dies down. I think I'm going to kiss her.

Tasmin

I hear the distressed yells before I notice the sources barging into the crowd. They ring in my ear long after Harry and I pull away from the crowd. I catch a few words.

I heard...

Something wrong…

Ship…

Evacuation…

No announcement from the crew…

I turn to Harry only when we escape the mosh pit. There's never been anything bad happen on any of the cruises I've been on, but this is Harry's first cruise. I can't imagine how worried he might be right now.

Yet… he seems to know one-hundred percent where we're going right now.

"Harry!" I call out over the tense, loud talking of other passengers. "Where are we going?"

"Front desk! They'll know what's going on!"

"It'll be too crowded!" I try to tell him, but I don't think he hears me over the noise.

Surrounded by more than two hundred crazily-distressed passengers is not a nice feeling. I'm sandwiched between shoulders, my ears ringing from the yells of young children and booming voices of grown men and women alike.

Harry stands not far in front of me, but we can't even stand side by side. He holds my hand very tight though, and it's the only source of comfort I have right now.

I hear more and more words in a whirlwind of panicked conversation all around me..

Someone said…

Technical issues…

Something wrong…

What the hell is going on…?

Do we have to evacuate?

A large man knocks into me and curses obnoxiously. I reach for my elbow, rubbing it hastily. I feel Harry squeeze my hand and I look up to him giving me a reassuring smile.

Then I feel something bump into and wrap around my right leg. I have to crouch down to see him, but it's unsurprisingly Seb, my little buddy. He's wearing bright green sandals, swimming shorts, a rashy, has a tiny bag on his back, and giving me the widest of brown eyes, dusty like the outback of Australia.

I can't help but feel nauseous from a wave of déja vu.

"Seb," I say, letting go of Harry's hand and bending down a little and opening my arms as wide as possible and letting him leap into them, holding back a whimper as he claws at my shoulders.

Poor kid must be scared to death.

"Tasmin!" he cries.

"Yes, I'm here," I tell him. "Where are your parents? Do you know?"

He just holds my neck tight and buries his face there. I feel his tears before I hear his sobs. I get on my tip-toes and scan the room. I saw his parents twice and only twice. And the room is billowing with people among people, and somehow the room's getting fuller by the second. I run my fingers through Seb's fluffy hair. I wonder how quickly he could've been trampled if he hadn't found me.

When I don't see anyone that shares Seb's button nose and big brown eyes, I decide to look for Harry instead. I realise just now that I've let go of his hand. He's probably up by the desk now.

I make a split-second decision to get out of this hoard and go find Seb's parents. I'll come back for Harry. I swear I hear him call my name as I squeeze out of the mass of people.

Ally

I spot her as she rushes inside an elevator. I don't go in with her, but I speed up the staircase.

Harry

When Tasmin lets go of my hand, I swivel around just as she's ducking down. I call out to her but I don't think she hears me. I try to shove through the people to get to her. They shove back, one of them even swears at me to move forward.

From where I am, I yell: "TASMIN!"

Tasmin

Seb informs me in the elevator that loads of grown-ups came into the kids club screaming and yelling. He noticed that none of them were his parents so he ran out of the kids club. I ask how he knew where to find me and he says he didn't, but his mum told him to always go to the Front Desk if he was lost, scared, or… anything.

He doesn't have his ID card with him – "My mum said I'd lose it–" so I figure the safest option would be to take him back up to the kids club. And if his parents aren't there, I'll take him with me back down to Deck seven, where I can hold onto him until his parents come to find him.

Fortunately for us, his mum is by the front desk of the kids club, tears streaming down her face as she yells at the red-faced and guilt-stricken crew member there. I don't know the safest way to present a parent with their lost child so I just tap her on the shoulder, and watch as she takes Seb into her arms and kisses him all over his face. She thanks me, but I tell her I have to go, and rush off without a good-bye.