17 Chapter 17: Barry lake, Part 4

Chloe knelt down beside him and placed her tray on an empty chair.She gently nudged his shoulder and his hand dropped out from his book.The book slid off his lap and onto the deck.Chloe grabbed his wrist and instinctively jumped back when she didn't feel a pulse.

She called the captain who alerted the ship's doctor.Barry Lake had passed away earlier in the day, just after lunch the doctor presumed.

Previously that day, children argued and jumped cannon-ball style into the pool, mothers ignored their kids and fathers huddled close around the pool bar to take advantage of Bud-Light specials, Adalai Richards drolled on about a musty, hot cab ride, while Barry Lake lay dead unnoticed on his lounge chair.The guests enjoyed a day as ordinary as the day before, unknowingly sharing their time with a dead man among them.

A wealthy recluse, Barry's body was removed from the ship at the next port without fanfare or notice. The Heaven on the Seas shoved off to continue her next adventure, one passenger less and with one stateroom suite now available at a discounted rate for the duration of the cruise-room 7614, awaiting its next temporary passenger.

Hoard, Part 1

The loud boom outside rattled the windows of the fourth-floor loft, waking Alice from a deep sleep.She shifted her body and rolled over the tattered couch cushion she used for a mattress.She raised her head and a few small white feathers clung to her hair as they escaped from a large tear in the side of the stained light blue fabric.

Some sort of commotion was happening down on the street but Alice seemed unfazed as she rubbed her eyes and laid her head back onto the cushion.A tower of newspapers and boxes blocked most of the window and any light from the late morning sun.Outside, the world was buzzing with excitement but in her world, it was quiet, surrounded by stacks of newspapers and mounds of trash.Her clothes were strewn around the apartment and dripped off boxes.Filthy pots and pans spilled out of the cupboards and onto the wooden floor planks.Barely visible, the kitchen faucet stretched itself over piles of cups and plates in the sink.Keeping everything clean was not her top priority.

Another boom from below and a scream and Alice knew it was time to wake up.She had hoped for a calm day but there hadn't been a day of peace in years.She lived alone in the loft and her family stopped visiting her, now living in the countryside.Alice sat up as her eyes searched around the room.The frame that once protected a canvas painting of a local café, hung just above piles of laundry and crinkled paper balls. The canvas itself was torn and used to wipe away remnants of her morning constitution.Alice scoured her home for more paper, anything that would suit the necessary purpose.

She slid her hand over a yellow-stained magazine cover and picked it up.She stared at the glamourous woman on the cover, wrapped in fur and long, sparking diamonds.The Eiffel Tower stood tall in the background, illuminated by the city of lights.She loved the cover and savored it for as long as she could.Alice used every other ounce of paper, canvas and piece of clothing to wrap her waste in.She didn't want to use this cover, a final reminder of what the world was like outside.Surrounded by urine and fecal-soaked belongings, Alice had no other option than to relieve herself on the prized magazine cover.It was that or unwrap one of the crinkled balls of paper to reuse it but she preferred not to unwrap something she used to flush away out of mind and far out of sight.

Positioning herself to kneel, Alice raised herself slightly off the floor and pulled her skirt down just below her knees.She slid the magazine cover under her and gripped onto a box for support.After a few moments of pushing, she felt the release of pressure and the model on the magazine cover was no longer properly dressed for her night on the town.

Alice slid her skirt back up around her and without looking down, she carefully rolled the magazine cover up and tucked it away into one of the boxes under a pair of ragged pantyhose.The loft was a mess yet tossing out any trash was not an option for her.

Next on her list for the morning was to find something to eat.She had not stepped outside the loft in almost a year.Her once bountiful stash of food was almost gone and after mold and mice did away with the fresh produce and bread, she was left with rice, potatoes and now incredibly hard salami.Each day she hoped that her family would come to visit and more importantly, replenish her stock of food. With each passing day, she grew more tired and hungry, rationing what she had.Her body ached so much that often her rodent co-habitants seemed like a good food option.Unfortunately, they moved quickly throughout the piles of her old life that she was not able to catch any of them.Instead, they left tiny trails of black droppings behind.The mice mainly kept to the piles of laundry and waste under the picture-less frame, scavenging on whatever her body had expelled over the past few months.

No matter how chilly the loft had gotten, she knew better than to use the blanket her great grandmother had knitted.Alice crammed the blanket in the corner a few months ago after an agonizing night of nearly being devoured by fleas.The bites on her legs and arms itched for days and the bites on her back were the worst.She had to use the edges of the boxes to relieve herself from the itching and with each pass, stirred the smell of drying feces and urine like a witch mixing a brew of rotted flesh.