Voices. I heard voices. They muttered, grumbled, and chuckled. What were they? I had never heard them before.
My mind slowly returned to the real world, but I did not feel good. I was so tired.
A hand pulled the hair off my face.
Feeling it, I immediately woke up. When I opened my eyes, everything was a blur, but gradually my vision cleared, and I saw myself staring straight into the eyes of the same girl I had met on the Carnival Ecstasy mini golf course.
She took a deep breath and said, "Don't worry. You're okay. I don't bite. Mamma! Papa! He's waking up!"
My vision started to blur again. What on earth was going on? Why wasn't I on my island? I searched my surroundings and found I was in a small room. It definitely was not my island.
A human man wearing a white coat approached me. He wore a strange device around his neck. Next to him appeared the young girl, another man, and a woman, who I assumed were her parents.
The white-coated man pushed them away. "Give him some space, guys." He put his hand on my own and asked, "How are you feeling, son?"
I feebly shook my head, and it dropped to the right.
"Do you have a name?" was the white-coated man's next question.
Just like the young girl, I could understand him. Lifting my hand, I spelled out my name—Will—through sign language.
"Will?" asked the white-coated man. "Just take it easy, Will. We're going to get you to a hospital when we pull into port."
Hospital? What the heck is a hospital? Where am I?
"Whew," the young girl's father said, "that was quite a storm earlier. It's a miracle the Carnival Ecstasy made it through with very little difficulty."
Hold on, I recognize that name. Carnival Ecstasy.
Dreaded thoughts invaded my mind. I really did make a huge mistake. Even though I was weak, I attempted to get out of that room. I leaped off the table I rested on and sprinted by the humans.
"Wait!" they yelled behind me, but I refused to turn back.
I threw open the door to the small room and dove into a hallway.
I can't even explain how terrified I was.
My eyes landed on a staircase, and I wasted no time. I sprinted up the stairs, only to find more staircases. The further I climbed, the more I noticed the stairs changed from steel to carpet. It wasn't long until I reached another room, but that room was huge! A red-and-white striped flag hung in the middle of it; two strange glass objects moved up and down, and humans were everywhere! Just seeing them filled me with horror. I had to get out of there and back to my island!
I don't belong here! I belong in the Bermuda Triangle! I am the Beast of the Bermuda Triangle!
Quickly, I ran by humans and headed toward another door.
Most of them stared at me while I ran like I was crazy.
Humans coming in and out of the room blocked the door when I reached it. I was forced to climb the stairs twice more. The second staircase led to a hallway that took me outside.
I rushed out the door before any humans could block me again and found myself on a crowded, wooden deck. There was so much going on there. My level of fear increased when I saw all the humans. You see, my parents told me terrible stories about them when I was little, so I refused to trust them.
My feet soon left the wood and landed on wet tile instead. I ended up falling and splashing right into a pool of clear, salty water where people waded. It was there that I discovered another problem. I didn't have my necklace. Normally, it would float in front of my face underwater, but nothing did.
Gasping, I frantically felt my neck up and down, but sure enough, my necklace was gone.
Oh, this is bad. This is so bad! Without it, I can't transform! I can't fly! Until I find the necklace, I am stuck on the Carnival Ecstasy!
Man, that just was not my day.
Underwater, I met eyes with a child wearing something strange over her eyes.
She stared at me, and I stared back. It wasn't long until she had to return to the surface to grab a breath of air.
I could see people hovering all around me through the clear water. The figure of the girl I met at the mini golf course joined the huddle. I was surrounded. Could I escape? There was only one way to find out.
I decided to wait until the humans left. Then I would leap out of the water and make a run for it. However, the longer I waited, the more the huddle grew. Why weren't the people leaving me alone?
Finally, I was given no other choice. I hurried to the surface and burst my head out of the water.
Within the crowd stood the white-coated man. Aside from the strange thing he wore around his neck, he also held a defibrillator. I knew what a defibrillator was because I had seen them in a few of the sunken planes and boats I explored. No way was that dude going to use one on me!
I climbed out of the water and tried to push through the crowd, but the white-coated man stopped me.
"Hold on, son! Stand still!" He moved the defibrillator toward my chest.
My eyes widened. I shoved the man away from me and ran toward the edge of the ship. Without my wings, though, I couldn't fly. That means that if I jumped, I would crash with a splat in the ocean. I didn't think that through because I was so terrified. I started to dive off the ship.
Before I fell, somebody grabbed me and pulled me back. It was the girl I met on the mini golf course. "Calm down!" she yelled. "We're not going to hurt you!" She grabbed my wrists and pinned me down.
I breathed heavily and watched as my chest moved up and down at a fast pace.
"Shh, shh," the girl softly spoke. "You're okay. You're safe. You're sailing on the Carnival Ecstasy."
I didn't want to sail on the Carnival Ecstasy. I wanted to go home. Lying down soon made me realize how tired I was. I didn't stay conscious for much longer after the girl pinned me. I felt her put her hand on my bare neck and drop my head to the side. Everything faded to black again.
***
"Will, wake up. Wake up, Will. You've been asleep for eighteen hours."
It was her. The sound of her voice soothed me. The girl I met on the mini golf course... Who was she? I opened my eyes and met her own.
She smiled down on me. "You definitely look better today than you did yesterday."
I certainly felt better. My strength was slowly coming back. Sitting up, I saw that I rested on a bed in a fairly small room that had a huge window. It wasn't the room I woke up in the day before.
I curiously climbed out of bed and approached the window. My blue eyes landed on the gentle ocean water slapping against the ship. Only, that water wasn't blue like the Bermuda Triangle's water. It was much darker. Great, now I knew I was far from home.
The young girl soon joined me at the window. We met eyes again. For a bit, there was silence between us, but then she introduced herself: "My name is Madeline, but my family calls me Maddie. We're from Charleston, South Carolina, which is the city the Ecstasy's pulling into port tomorrow. My parents and I are returning home from a five-day cruise to the Bahamas. What about you? Where are you from?"
Even though I knew she wouldn't believe me, I went ahead and made a triangle out of my hands.
Maddie glanced at it and asked, "Triangle? You're from a place called Triangle?" She was half right but not entirely.
I turned my hand to the side to show her that.
"Don't you speak English?" Maddie asked me.
I shook my head and pointed at my mouth.
"You're a mute?" Maddie wondered. "Really? How am I supposed to know where you're from, then?"
I held my finger up to her lips. It's a gesture I make when I tell others to watch closely.
Maddie did.
I made the triangle out of my hands again.
"Triangle?" she asked for the second time.
Nodding, I drew an outline of Bermuda Island in midair.
Maddie squinted her eyes. "Bermuda?"
I smiled and clenched my fists, pulling them together.
This is my way of telling someone to put two words together.
"Triangle Bermuda?" Maddie asked, confused. "The Bermuda Triangle?"
I nodded.
Maddie suddenly gasped. "The Bermuda Triangle? Oh man, kid, you're worse than I thought! You need to lie back down."
I huffed and puffed out my cheeks.
Maddie took my shoulders. She tried to sit me down on the bed, but I pushed her away. I felt fine. She didn't need to help me. If I lived alone on a deserted island in the Bermuda Triangle for seven full years, then I knew how to take care of myself.
Just as I prepared to leave Maddie, my eyes caught something sparkling around her neck. My necklace! It was my necklace! Maddie had it. I gasped and quickly whirled back around.
"What's wrong?" she asked. "Do you want me to get the doctor?"
No, I wanted her to give me back my necklace. Why did she steal it? What sort of cheap trick was that? Lifting my hand, I pointed at the necklace around her neck.
She peered down at it. "The necklace? Is this your necklace?"
I placed my hands on my hips and nodded.
"Oh, I am so sorry!" Maddie quickly apologized and pulled the necklace off. "I thought somebody on the ship lost it. Well, technically, you are on the ship. I found it rolling around on the deck when we fished you out of the ocean yesterday."
So, Maddie didn't steal it? Aw, now I felt bad for getting mad at her.
I felt her take my hand and jumped. "It's okay," Maddie said. She opened my palm and set my necklace down in it. "Here you go. This belongs to you."
Just seeing my necklace safe and sound made me smile. I could finally change my form again! As a way of saying thanks, just like on the mini golf course, I sang for Maddie.
Her eyes widened when she heard my voice. "Wait a minute. I know your voice."
Oh snap, now thinking about that, I just made another mistake! Immediately, I cut my song short and shook my head.
No, no, Maddie! You didn't hear anything!
She chuckled and brought her hand to her lips. "Why don't I show you around the Carnival Ecstasy, Will?"
Okay, whew. I think I'm safe. No, Maddie, I am not the mysterious creature you saw on the mini golf course.
So that was that. I spent the rest of the afternoon with Maddie touring the Ecstasy, but why? Shouldn't I have come up with a plan to get off the ship and back to the Bermuda Triangle? Why couldn't I leave the girl? I felt strange around her. I actually enjoyed her presence.
Is a beast allowed to feel such things?
ns216.73.216.98da2
and then Add to home screen.