Wasp

Chapter 23: A woman, a captain and a dying child

James rested his arms on railings of the ship as the green pea made her way slowly through the strangely calm waves. As he breathed out his breath made what looked like clouds, it was getting colder. The captain lay on a chair with her old and battered army boots resting on the large wooden steering wheel, she seemed to be half asleep, James hoped she still had some control of the ship. He sighed, rubbed his face then decided to head to bed for the night.

Not long after getting to sleep James woke once again from the nightmares, "shit" he muttered under his breath while lying face down on the pillow. There was no way he would sleep tonight, a mix of pain, anticipation and guilt prevented him from getting any rest so he slowly put on a jacket and went outside.

As quietly as possible he opened the hatch to the main deck, making sure not to wake the others. As the hatched open a cold breeze drifted across his face sending shivers down his spine, it felt around 5°C. Calm waves splashed against the side of the hull as the green pea slowly drifted forward. James looked into the captain's cabin to see a faint light from her oil lamp. James slowly wandered over being careful not to trip over any of the old ropes holding up the sails.

She was awake, reading a book, "The Wizard of Oz by C.S.Lewis" seemed interesting. Out the corner of her eye she must have seen James slowly shuffling over the deck so she unlocked the door and ushered him in. "Sit." she said barely looking up from her book. James sat down on an old cushioned chair and looked out into the distance trying to figure out a conversation starter.

"Hey..uh...nice book" James said awkwardly, he was never any good at starting conversations, especially when the other person didn't seem willing to partake. "Thanks" the captain replied, again not looking up from the book. But then after a few minutes of silence she put a piece of paper in between the pages of the book and placed it down on a table to the side. "So...James right? You and that weirdo who came with you, who's that?" She said shuffling closer to James.
"Oh..uH" James was taken by surprise by the sudden interest of the captain, "Wasp, uh their name is Wasp, we uh, travelled together" he knew he couldn't tell her the truth, who wasp really was, "Why d'you ask?".
The captain looked down at her hands, scarred and weathered from many days at sea. "Oh no reason just curious, you're not together are you?" She said while tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear.
"What me and wasp?!" James chuckled slightly, "Hell no, Ew, no why, they're like asexual or something I think, no, just no, bad, we're not together captain." James dodged round mentioning Ryan, the captain didn't need to know.
"You can call me Cass" she said, moving even closer to James.

Cass then moved over and sat on James lap. "I U-uh" James stuttered without a clue of what to say. Maybe, this would take his mind of things, maybe...

Cass slowly took off her shirt as James wrapped his hands around her waist, pulling her closer. He kissed her neck and slowly made his way up to her mouth as they kissed in the dim yellow light of the lantern.

No, this was wrong, it didn't feel right. A million thoughts raced through James's mind. Images of Ryan and guilt that came with it. James broke off the kiss and removed his hands from Cass's waist. "Look I-I'm sorry I just can't do this" he gently pushed her away and got out from his seat. He grabbed jacket and did up his belt then walked out of the door, being careful not to slam it behind him. Cass rolled her eyes and put on her shirt, "What's his problem?" She said rolling her eyes as he walked out the door.

James stood on the back end of the ship trying to conceal his emotions. An old beer bottle lay on the floor by his feat which shattered when he threw it at the wall in a fit of rage. He slumped to the floor with pools of tears collecting in his eyes, "I'm sorry," he sniffed, "I'm so sorry". James eventually fell asleep, slumped on the floor surrounded by shards of glass.

James was awoken by the mother hysterically crying. "My baby" she screamed, "they killed my baby". James got up slowly too see what the commotion was about. The woman clutched her son in her arms, a sad sight. She knelt on the floor resting the child's pale lifeless body on the cold metal and weeping over his body. Cass, James and wasp eventually crowded round the mother, Watching from a distance.

Cass was the first to speak up, "I'm so sorry," she said calmly putting one hand on the woman's shoulder. "Your son is in a better place now. I hate to say this but we need to get rid of the body." James and wasp awkwardly stood at a distance as the mother slowly look up. Tears and old mascara stained her face and her messy hair drooped over her eyes, "What...the...fuck...did you say?" The mother said through gritted teeth. She slowly stood up and took out an old hunting knife from her pocket. "WHAT THE FUCK...DID YOU SAY?" She screamed at Cass who almost fell backwards "Ma'am I'm sorry we just-"Cass tried to speak but her sentence was cut off by the mother pushing her to the ground.

James and wasp both looked on as if they were paralysed. The two woman struggled on the floor, one fending for her life the other, revenge. James couldn't take it, he launched himself forward only too be punched backwards by the mother who seemed to have gained incredible strength. James spat out blood and lay on the floor dazed by the blow. As Cass looked over to check if James was ok he saw the life drain out of her eyes. The mother sliced the knife across the captain's throat allowing blood to spill across the floor. Cass was dead.

The mother stood up, her hands, face and clothes were covered in blood. "YOU" She said, looking towards James who quickly started shuffling backwards "this is YOUR FAULT!" She screamed still marching towards James, "If you hadn't stolen our stuff in the motel this never would have happened!" The motel...back there, James thought it was abandoned, no one was living there surely, James was wrong. "You took EVERYTHING, and then Tyler got SICK and it's YOUR FAULT!" The woman kicked James too the floor, putting one foot on his neck. He tryed to fight it but she was too strong, he could feel his neck being crushed under the pressure, everything was going blurry and then...BANG. The pressure was released and the woman fell to the floor.

James looked at the woman, a bullet straight through the side of her head. Then he looked at wasp, smoke still rising from their gun and a single tear rolling down their cheek.