Chapter 11 - Scarlet

There was no one out on the dock, she heard the sea crashing onto the side of the concert dock. Although it rained the other day, tonight the sky was pretty clear. The bright quarter moon hangs brightly in the sky, its reflection stares back from the surface of the ocean. Her eyes dart over to her two friends, Maven, and Yukanie on her left side on the bench for the 37th time for the last 4 hours. She wasn't sure what in the world happened during the time she went to visit her aunt's grave and make a trip back home to pack some clothes in her backpack, but as soon as she had walked through the gate to Maven's house everything exploded. In all the crazy moments, Maven had already shoved her and Yukanie into the back of a waiting cab, with a large sports bag in one hand and a small backpack in the other. The whole ride to here none of them spoke.

She turned back to the dark ocean one more, she had no idea what they were doing here. They were on a wide-open dock that had some huge ships parked in the distance as far as the dock goes. Tapping her fingers together lightly, she slightly pulls her phone out from the pocket of her hoodie, peeking at the time.

It was already past midnight, they've left Maven's house at around 9 something took them at least over an hour to get here to this far away place, meaning they've been sitting out here in this cold night, on this hard wooden bench for over an hour now. Adding to the fact that none of them was saying anything, and she wasn't the type who was good at comforting people either.

"Um...so...what happened? Why are you two sad now?" She said, pushing her phone back into her pocket.

She waited for either of them to tell her anything, anything at all if it means that she gets to break this uncomfortable silence, but none of them said anything. Maven sitting all the way to the left has her elbow on her legs with her face buried in her hands, while Yukanie sitting in the middle has her legs pulled on top of the bench close to her chest, her eyes were lost in thoughts. Her eyes land on the plastic bag of takeout and she had brought on the way back to Maven's house, but after sitting out here for so long it was probably cold now.

She leaned back against the bench, staring directly up the dark, and starless sky. Even though it was cold, she somehow finds this rather peaceful. Just sitting there under the sky with no one disturbing them.

"Why do I feel like a lot has happened recently, it's making me feel exhausted." She said openly. She figured that if they weren't going to say anything she was just going to speak whatever comes to her mind, silence would probably be not the best.

"I don't know why right now, but I feel like all the world is at peace. Not a single car on the road, no noisy people walking by, it's just the three of us does this feel relaxing?" She added, stretching her legs and arms out. Her eyes traced the outlines of fluffy dark clouds that blend in with the sky, she wonders if her aunt and her mother were up there watching her, finding their peace as she did right now. Both Yukanie and her jumped when Maven suddenly got up. She lifted her head off the back of the bench and started at Maven who stood still.

"Um what are you-" She was cut off when Maven speed-walked towards the edge of the coast. "Whoa, wait!" She shouted jumping to her feet as did Yuka who snapped to her senses. But she froze when Maven stopped at the very edge and let a scream out into the ocean. Yuka breathed a sigh of relief and fell back down onto the bench. Maven turned back facing them, there in her eyes was the look of determination.

"I hate it how I can't even take this little thing, I'm going to grow and not worry you guys anymore!" Maven shouted, although she had a look of determination in her stern eyes, she saw the hint of tears in the corner as if she was holding back. A small smile appeared on her face as did Yukanie, who pulled herself together seeing how hard Maven was trying. She turned back to the bench where the food and drinks sat along with her backpack.

"Alright, I bet you guys are all hungry." She said bringing the cold takeout box out of the plastic bag. "Although it might be a bit cold but better than an empty stomach." She added, handing each a small box along with a cup of tea and straw. Maven joined them again on the bench to have her share of the meal.

"What happened while I was away? Mad enough to make you leave the house at this time of the night too." She questioned, shoving the cold rice into her mouth. She felt like she hadn't eaten for days, which might have been true. The food was not fresh but the smile of home cooking was still there.

"Mmmm let's not talk about it." Maven replied, not glancing up from her food.

She nodded in silence and glance over at Yukanie, the girl was quiet most of the time but when she gets mad no one wanted to be on her bad side. It was because that Yukanie is always quiet that always worries both her and Maven, they were afraid that whatever problems Yukanie came across she wouldn't tell them.

"Yuka, what about you?" She asked hesitantly.

"Me?" Yukanie repeated glancing up from her food for a moment, seeming to be thinking about what to say for a moment. "Nothing worth being upset about, it's pretty normal already I suppose. My dad just called this afternoon but not a bit worried about where I am or how I'm doing, instead, it's why I'm not where I'm supposed to be taking care of stuff at home."

"Why are we the ones who's always worrying about what others think, it's tiresome." Maven said placing her box down and taking a sip of her drinks. "Live for ourselves from now on."

Although she hadn't eaten for a day, Maven acted like she hadn't eaten for a week as she had almost finished her box of food, she was halfway through her drink as well.

"So then both of you are not planning on heading home." She remarked, and both of them shook their head as one. "Then where do you plan to go? Camp out on the streets?"

Yukanie nodded towards Maven, who was searching for something through her couch bag and finally held up 4 tickets. She frowned as Maven handed them to her, holding it in her hands there was a huge cruise on the side of the ticket.

"Tickets? When did you get this?" She questioned, looking up at them.

"The ticket will provide everything for us, for a few days." Maven said, ignoring her questions. "We'll be able to board the cruise as early as 10 am tomorrow."

She glances back at the ticket again, the cruise name Cassandra. There was nothing much on the ticket besides the name and some information about the location where it will depart.

"It'll be good for us wouldn't it? A few days off for us." Maven added.

There were so many questions swarming in her head, the fact that Maven seems like she didn't want to tell her how she got these tickets or anything about it. She glances over to Yukanie wondering if she had any questions herself, but from the look of it, Yukanie didn't seem too worried. It was like the two were hiding something that they didn't want to tell her, she opened her mouth but only to close it not wanting to press further, afraid that it would sour the mood. She could only go with it for now, who knows what they were going to get to. But she couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this cruise.

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"Line up! Don't push now! Han over any heavy luggage to the side, we'll have it delivered to your room!" A man dressed in an overall white suit with a cap that had a golden star on it. She assumes he was the captain, but she didn't know the captain was down for doing this kind of work. She leaned against the thin metal railing as she watched the man sheepherding everything that was waiting to get on. It was 9:37 in the morning, they were lucky they were the few that got on early. Meaning that they had time to find the room that was given to them, and explores the ship. It was indeed a huge one, there were about 35 rooms at the lower level, each room with 4 separate beds. Not to mention there was a huge pool on the deck and a gaming room on top along with a dining area. There were much more areas for entertainment but she felt the need not to explore them, so she left Maven and Yukanie be as she came out for some air before they depart.

There were a few strange things she noticed, it was the crates all the way in the back of the dock. They were stacked on top of another, waiting for someone to load them onto the ship. She would have assumed they were supplies for the few days they were going to be out in the ocean, but the word 'handle with care' was printed on the surface with huge red letters.

"Ah! Morning Mrs. Nikki!"

Her attention was drawn back to the captain who greeted an approaching lady in black office clothes. The woman seems to be only in her early 30s, as she had her brown hair neatly curled into a bun with a few loose strands of curly hair. She had a huge smile on her face as she approached the captain and shook his hand. The captain himself was not a young man anymore, he had a beard that was in streaks of gray and white. His skin was not as smooth, perhaps it was sailing the sea that had made him look old.

"Hello captain, I can't express how grateful I am." The woman name Mrs. Nikki said.

"Oh don't bother! As long as I can help!" The captain replied as he laughed a little. He looks like he wanted to say more but was too flustered as he was being stared down. Finally, after a few moments, the captain finally pointed to the stairs leading up onto the deck. The woman smiled once more as she climbed the stairs onto the cruise with her two bodyguards as they seem. She watched as they walk with confidence and disappeared inside the cruise. She couldn't understand if she was here for vacation as well, but if she was why did she dress so strictly and with two bodyguards as well.

She turns back towards the line below her, watching the families that boarded the cruise. Some were large families of 6 while others were smaller families like of 3. But she found a common thing between all, it was that most of the family that came on the ship seems to be glowing in money with their branded fur coats, and expensive handbags and suits. Not to mention the sunglasses they wore which she find extra since the sun was practically covered by the clouds.

"You not going to go eat something?" Yukanie asked lightly coming up from behind her.

"Where's Maven?" She said, shaking her head as her friend joined her against the railing.

"Her turn to shower, think it'll clear her head a little," Yukanie replied, glancing below.

"What are you two hiding, what is this cruise for? It's more than a vacation isn't it?" She asked.

Yukanie glance at her for a moment, and then back towards the crowd sighing. She played around with her fingers, before finally answering.

"Look we didn't mean to hide anything from you, don't be mad. It's just that it all happened so fast with so much going on," Yukanie paused to take a deep breath. "Plus at the time as well, you were dealing with so much as well. We didn't want to pile more onto you."

"Whoa hold on, I'm not mad or anything just worried that you guys are getting yourself into something you don't know about." She said, placing a hand on Yukanie's shoulder to calm her down.

"Maven probably cares about what you might think of her right now that's why she's not saying anything, wait what do you mean us getting ourselves into something we don't know about?" Yukanie said, seeming to catch her words. She nodded towards the crate that still sat at the very end.

"Is this cruise going to be transporting something?" She asked.

"No, this is a newly designed ship. And it's all set by the government. But not sure what exactly might go on during the days that we're going to be here." Yukanie said glancing at the crates. They both jumped as the horn of the cruise sounded. Their eyes went to the boarding gate as they saw the last of the few board with the captain following behind them. The captain met their eyes as he pushed the button, making the stairway close up. He gave them a small smile and a nod before heading off to where he was supposed to be. With the remaining few minutes left before the cruise can depart they watched as the workers loaded the crates and bags onto the ship.

"Why? Did you see something?" Yukanie finally asked.

"No...perhaps it's just me overthinking things." She slowly replies.