10 – JOURNEY IMPERIL

"This is your captain speaking," the ship's captain addresses us through the speakers. "This is one of those situations which we do not foresee. But to all of you tense, there is a simple solution is what I suggest… jump off the ship and die. It'd be the easiest way to go."

Everyone mumbles and whispers – filling the room with a white noise. First the sudden gut wrenching twist in all our stomachs, and now this. None of us had expected a sweet sought for journey to have such a twist. It was spine-chilling and I wish for him to say he is joking.

But, deep down, we all knew for certain… it wasn't a joke. Yet one can wish. Mankind had survived because of such hope. There must be a way out.

I look towards my friends, with a little heavy breathing. Deep down I wish to blame them for dragging me on this journey. I want to hold them by their long collar and scream at their face that I wanna live. I really want to. For them. And for a few others. But now…

A gunshot makes the speakers go static, and the crew run towards the ship's deck. But even us gasping and frozen in our tracks knew that the captain had used…

"I'm the captain. I shall make sure for a safe journey through the ocean. I have been enough experienced to take down and best the threats of the ocean. And if there does come a time for taking care of a threat onboard.... I have my military experience and one bullet saved for the right moment."

The crew had gossiped…

"This is more than a dozen-th time I have heard him say this. He is a bluff."

"Bluff? I hear that he can take them down with his fighting skills. That's what he did on his last mission, saving that one bullet. He has never had to use it since then."

And that final bullet was used.

I shudder and look towards a person wailing and screaming up his lungs.

"This can't be happening! I wanna live!"

"No, why now? I haven't even married."

I see a few hold onto their loved ones and cry. Some people hug in groups – and so does my group. We just look at each other and with teary eyes we hug and let our tears shed in silence.

"This isn't as romantic as Titanic," my one friend, Angel, says. "That's sad."

"I don't wanna die," I say.

My hand gets held, but I am too cowardly to see who it is.

"Tomorrow is a new dream," Amit says.

Yes. He was right.

The five of us sit on the floor, next to each other. To my left sits Sara, next to her sits Amit, next to him sits Arun, and next to him sits Angel.

"You guys heard about this crazy theory with the missing kids? About the missing kids," Angel breaks the ice.

"Oh yeah," Sara says. "About the… Noah's Ark right?"

"What is that?" me and Amit ask.

"You know all those missing kids… they think that being in and out of an enclosed space means you have a good chance of just," Angel snaps her fingers. "Disappearing. The brothers, the writer, some employee and his boss, and many more."

"See I think…" Sara says. "The brothers is like the most reasonable and scary one. Because we have no other proof of it being anything at all."

"Except that Barber. He was the Barber… who was right next to their house," Arun says.

"See, that and all is there. But even when we can't get him to confess cause he is dead because of that cannibal lady… she confessed about the deaths on his behalf cause apparently he threatened her and her death that they'll be the seventh and eight death. And we clearly know the six people he killed."

"Yeah, one of them is that CR kid na? The one who fell into the metal pillars of construction. He was tortured for a whole week after that," Angel says.

"And wasn't it that the writer just died because of the bear attack?" I ask.

"Didn't they not find a body?" Amit asks.

"It was the snow and everything. It must be hard I feel?"

"No confirmations. But that is perhaps the first case they found, am I right? Of such a disappearing."

"That's what," Angel says. "Isn't it weird that the disappearances from there on were categorised differently? Not like no one else ever disappeared."

"But then what is this Noah's ark? Like a facility where these people are safeguarded or something?"

"Worse. And some people have claimed that they almost reached this place but came back."

"Yeah but then they love just going with the trend," Arun claims. "They claim that there is this whole white place which is huge – that's what she said. And not many have returned. And whoever did, say they did it instantly."

"So if we don't react quickly, we just…" I say, and look at their tense reactions. "At least that is better than this."

Nobody says a thing, but Sara smacks her lips. "If you were to… make one call right now. Who would it be?" she asks, looking at me knowingly.

I just smile, and then look to the floor and scoff. "Not a tough question, surely not my parents… I'd call my friends. Especially… that idiot. And beg him. Cry to him saying that if only I were to survive… I'd never take a ship again."

Sara gives me her hand, and I hold it. I sleep on her shoulder. She on Amit's. Arun pulls Angel closer and sleeps on Amit's other shoulder – as Amit leans his head towards Sara's head.

Three days… the rotten food wasn't helping. That was the first sign anyways, of this doom. And then the water getting still. The ship not moving. It was hard to even get sick. But, none of the five thousand something people attempt suicide.

"We should have at least gotten uno cards," I sigh.

"You didn't wanna do poker," Amit points out.

"Yeah… I know, I know. And you know why."

Amit just nods, looking defeated.

"Frequency…" I hear a shrill voice from no where… and see everyone's heads lifting towards the space too.

"Was that the speakers?" Arun asks.

"Way too static. Maybe just some… error?" Sara states and asks.

"I hope…" the speaker screams in a loud screech of noise, "the voice is clear enough," a very slow hum kind of a voice says.

Everyone understandingly gets dead silent to that. Smart move.

"I… am unimportant of who I am. But i-we, have come to realise the situation there. There seems to be a large problem in the Bermuda triangle region, yet again. And now you are the victims. And we… have made a solution."

This wasn't a huge problem, unless it was the past. But now… we were for a fresh start to whatever is with Bermuda triangle.

"We have made a portal, of sorts. It is VERY unstable. But it is a good way out. All you have to do is… one little thing. The electronic devices can make this the riskiest thing to do. So you all are requested to leave them behind before entering this portal. Once you are done, break the communication system of your… carrier, and we will know."

…

"To be honest though…" Sara says, thinking for a bit. "All the psychosis in these cases is something more than just being something material."

"What about that cannibal lady? She clearly loved the taste of human meat. And she even claims to want to have CONSUMED her victims. As in… be them. Have a part of them, and as if… some kind of love. A crazy one," Amit says.

"I think cannibalism is an interesting act of love, I mean the concept in them," Angel says, making me sigh. "They think it is a way of consuming one's soul. A kind of psychotic but… something of a way of snatching and owning love."

"That is there," Sara says. "But that can be found in any type of food. So with cannibalism… and the love becomes just one reason for something deeper, which isn't material. So you just proved my point."

"She was jailed, and some of you are close to that place surely," I sigh. "But to be fair… maybe this is just a way of finding peace in the chaos."

"Peace on chaos? That's quite paradoxical," Amit chuckles.

"Sure. But in a kind of… unextreme… what if one just likes the rush, the adrenaline which comes with. The chaos driving them also soothes them."

"But chaos is to let loose the whole idea of anything sensible… some kind of a controlled unextreme chaos… Isn't chaos," Sara says.

"And a rush is a total different things to be than chaos. Chaos is just… pure madness," Amit claims.

"Sure. I see how you mean. But I mean… there is chaos in a mastermind seeking the chaos in someone else and just watching it… you know, go ahead and commence or whatever. Unfold, yes. They find peace in chaos."

"Well, those are two…" Sara says. "That's not technically wrong."

"Hi guys," finally Peris arrives. "Sorry I'm late."

"Well, being late saved you from the incident," Amit says, and all of us glare at him. "What? It's just a jokes. Let us all just laugh and move on."

"Why are you the way you are?" Sara asks.

"It's a joke, Sara."

"I'll throw you Amit," Angel warns him.

"The frequency of jokes on the incident should stop," Peris says.

And they start arguing on dark jokes, and I just… feel myself fade out. My brain rings, and I see and hear the clock tick towards completing the whole circle. But my eyes only see the hands and not its position… it keeps on moving… as if it weren't. As if it weren't a circle… but unbeknownst to it, it was indeed-

"-hey," Sara says, putting her hand on my shoulder. I feel myself breathe in and out – making me realise my existence. But I do it internally, my body doesn't really move… but I still feel myself breathe heavily. "You alright?"

"Yes, I just…" I say, holding my stomach. "I feel a bit nauseous. I guess seasick."

"Like the…" Peris says, and looks at me with pity – at all of us. Sara gives me her hand and I just hold it silently.

"Isn't this new… these new phones weird? They look so yuck," Angel says, to distract me – and realising that I internally sigh with relief. At least I had this… this was real and nice.

"Yeah… even I can find the kind of difference there is these phones," Amit, the oldest, says. "It is way different than what mine felt like."

"Wait, really?" Peris asks, holding her phone. "Maybe you feel it because these are new phones to you?"

"But it is just…" I say, feeling a little ache in my head. "On a different… spectrum…"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Amit asks.

"I… i-I don't know. Forget it."

"Frequency," Arun says, making my head ache again – but I look at him. "It is like… have you heard how birds are affected by the… mobile frequencies?"

"Yeah that movie and all. Very clear," Angel points out.

"I feel a bit… in my head. The radiation… no, the frequency. It feels-"

"-wrong," I say. "But familiar."

"What are you guys saying," Peris asks.

"Well, think about it. Why our phones? Our electronics… a bit specific."

"Wasn't it because the EM waves can disrupt the portal? And the distortion in that place already was…"

"They say that, but I've been thinking… what if…"

"Oh," Arun says, and right as I look towards him – he isn't there.

"What the fuck," Amit gets up from his chair.

"Where did Arun go?" Sara asks.

As they think that, I realise I'm right…

"He is back on the ship," I say, and everyone pauses to look at me. "That is where he is."

"Why?" Angel breaks the ice.

"I think… it is for he found the… truth. I have been doubting this isn't the reality we know… no, we are elsewhere definitely. That is why they asked us to…"

"Elsewhere? Some… dream?" Amit asks, and disappears right as we are looking.

"Why are you guys panicking? What happened?" Peris asks.

"Didn't you just see Amit and Arun disappear?" Sara asks.

"Who?" Peris asks.

"She has forgotten," I say. "She wasn't on the ship. This… is a dream."

I wonder how it'd be when water doesn't move into your lungs. It just stays still like something solid. Would it still suffocate you? Or perhaps the suffocation is just an illusion.

"Breathe, just breathe. It is okay," Amit tells me, patting at my chest while holding my back. "You aren't drowning."

"What the fuck?" I ask, feeling myself into the reality.

"Hey, are you okay?" Amit asks me.

"I am, I just cant…" I say… or do I? "Amit?"

"Hey, wake up!" Amit says, shaking me.

I gasp and sit forward, while coughing. I feel a clump on my chest and as if something wrapping around my body.

"I am okay," I say. "We are okay."

"Why aren't the girls waking up?" Arun asks.

"I think… they… shouldn't they have realised by now? And come out?"

"Peris was there," Arun says, looking to the floor. "Shit felt way too fucking real… but we are where we… talked. This exact spot. Again. Why?"

"They trapped us there. They…" I say. "L-let's go and look in the captain's room or something."

Arun agrees on staying back, so me and Amit go forward – towards the captain's room. Everyone is just asleep in the spots they were in before. It was all a lie we were put in.

"Why do you think they did it?" Amit asks.

"Uh?" I say, looking up. "I'm… scared of the answer."

We silently open the captain's room – his body lying on the chair – his chair. With a bullet wound, blood dried up and rotting. There wasn't even a fly here.

We gather all together, and sit side-to-side again.

"Did you…" Angel asks. "Check the kitchen? The food?"

"Still rotten," I say.

"I'm no engineer but… I tried all the buttons available. Nothing… works."

"They put us there for an easy death," I say. "I'm sorry."

I had brought them back… but… without realising that we had no better option. This was… the dead-end again.

"Does anybody…" Angel says. "Have another topic? I can't think of one."

Nobody says a thing. We all… knew that… it was pointless to… be here. We all had one thing on mind, which we didn't want to suggest the other person. So I say…

"Do you know the story of Roach? The mother…"

Could Roach, my paralysis demon, the dream, the white space, or whatever the heck of a monster there could be lurking… just take us? I'm too much of a coward to die.

Soon, we rot next to each other. With hunger, thirst… and no hope to escape. Yet… we go down talking. We cry at each passing away… and in the end… the five of us rot together and become nothing but dust.

Was the guy right to put us in that dream or whatever… or was I right to bring us back? I'd never know the answer. But I wish I wasn't selfish to let them rot... not wanting to rot alone.

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I know, I know... This and Idolic Jinx have not exactly lived up to the kind of gore in everything after 'A Barber', but this was necessary. The previous one to introduce Roach, and this to talk about the happenings in the Lowly Screams universe. I hope it is understandable. I may make a few changes to Idolic Jinx... And I do have to get back to my missing weeks. And I will. Don't Panic. Have patience. Your fears shall come soon.