The Ship of Dreams

Chapter one: Metallic

The Ship of dreams was waiting for me. I was so nervous; I was petrified that what happened to my grandfather all those years ago would happen to Seth and me. My Grandfather (Jack) died when the Titanic sank. My bottom lip trembled as I stepped cautiously in to the small rowing boat with the help of my mother. Seth clambered in after me and sat beside me. I caught his eye and he grinned, i grinned back and blood rushed into my cheeks, my cheeks flushed bright pink. We had been friends since we were three. We had just clicked.

When we got off the rowing boat and on to The Ship of Dreams, I pulled the chord for the engine and the boat started to chug out of the harbour. I cannot remember the countless hours I sat on the back of the boat gazing into the clear, turquoise, swirling water below worrying about mother and father and how they had tried to convince me never to embark on this voyage to New Zealand. I kept telling myself that it was not that far and that we would be absolutely fine.

 It only dawned on me on the third day what kinds of wildlife we would see while we were out there. When I looked up I would see a variety of colourful birds screeching in the dusk. I would occasionally see silvery dolphins or hump back whales that were as big as the boat. I would gasp as the dolphins danced and leaped in front of it. Seth and I would stand at the bow and just watch. They were so beautiful. We would stand on the rails and pretend we were flying; I liked doing that. In the evenings when we were eating or relaxing, I would look at Seth and he would be gazing at me with his beautiful dark ebony eyes. He would immediately look away; embarrassed. Our friends had always thought that we should go out. When they brought it up, we would go pink and walk away. I did not know whether I wanted to; I had never really thought about it. When we told our friends about going they gave us strange looks, oogling us hinting that things might happen while we were here. We would just tell them that Seth and I weren’t like that.                                                                                     

 On the fifth day I woke up because one of my books fell from the shelf on to my leg. My eyes flashed open and I sat up. I could feel the boat rocking violently and creaking under me. I picked up the book, and placed it back on the shelf, and called to Seth and we both bounded up the steps on to the deck. The sky had turned to a dark shade of vermillion and large waves were smashing against the side of the boat. I screamed. The boat jolted and I fell flat on the sodden deck, winded. “Alanna, are you alright?” shouted Seth; he looked worried.

 “I…I think so” I stammered. He grabbed my wet hand and pulled me up. I stood up shakily and Seth sprinted over to the wheel to try and control the boat. I looked up to just catch a glimpse of the biggest wave I had ever seen! It was huge and frothing. As it hit us the boat rocked and I flew like a bird that had forgotten how to use its wings, over board, without a chance of grabbing on to the rail. I plummeted into the icy water, spiralling down, instantly going numb. I fought for air, willing my legs to move. I heard an ear splitting creek and I saw The Ship of Dreams tumble sideways into the ocean. It had capsized. There was no way that we would survive now. I wondered if I should just let the sea take me. Just as I was about to let myself slip under, I heard a muffled shout. Seth! I burst out of the water and searched frantically for where the voice had come from. “Alanna!” There it was again! I swam in circles and almost missed the sight of a waving hand. It was Seth! I swam slowly towards him. I did not know whether I was actually moving; my knees were knocking together and the current and waves were pushing me in the opposite direction.                                                                      

 Somehow I managed to paddle over to Seth and I realised that he had found the rowing boat! I thrashed about, and grabbed Seth’s outreached hand. He pulled me aboard. I collapsed into the bottom of the boat, gasping for air. I lay there for several minutes, just gazing at the dark sky, and then slowly sat up, and as I was doing so I saw a small silvery triangle sticking out of the choppy water. My eyes widened and I began to take in short sharp breaths; faster and faster. They began to hurt my throat. I turned my head round to look at Seth and noticed that is golden eyes were fixed on the triangle, following its every move. It was circling round the boat. Once it went under the boat and at that precise moment Seth grabbed my hand and hugged me tightly to his chest. I felt a warm tear trickling down my face as I waited for death to smother me. I could feel Seth’s racing heart against my cheek. We sat there for a few minutes; not saying a word. One hundred and forty two breaths later I realised that nothing had happened yet. Why hadn’t the shark attacked us? I slowly extracted myself from Seth’s arms and opened my eyes. My auburn hair clung to my face so I wiped it away and looked all around.

I looked up and saw the sky had turned navy blue and stars were beginning to show. I sighed as the cold air whipped me. I gazed at Seth: his eyes were still closed. I closed my eyes and relaxed into the boat. I heard a clap of thunder, some loud splashing and a sort of growling noise. I opened my eyes slowly and sat up. My heart began to pound in my chest. I could not believe what I was seeing; it was almost laughable. The shark had returned from the depths and was still circling, but it was further away from us. There was a pod of metallic dolphins facing towards us in a circle.  They were splashing violently and circling the boat. I nudged Seth and he opened his eyes wide, not believing what he saw. I smiled at him as I realised that we had some hope of surviving this whole thing; at least this part of it anyway. Seth and I both relaxed a little and he took my hand. I leaned against him; searching for warmth. He placed his chin on my shoulder and locked his arms around me and we lay down to try and get some sleep; we could not do anything to help ourselves, so we waited patiently for fate.

I do not know how long we lay there for; it may have been minutes or days. We got some sleep, but most of the time we were just dosing. When we did sit up and looked around ourselves we found that the water was now a cool turquoise lagoon beneath us. I reached out and touched the water. It felt soft and warm against my skin; like a blanket. The sky was reflecting the water in colour. I gazed at our reflections in the water, and smiled at them. They smiled back. Seth wrapped his arms around me once again and I clutched him close to me. My heart was sprinting and I saw in my reflection that my cheeks had turned crimson. I turned towards the front of the boat and the way we were drifting. I thought I was seeing a mirage, but everything I could see was real. The island was stunning. The olive coloured palm trees were towering over the golden sandy beach. The dense rainforest collected on the hills behind, and echoed with the sounds of screeching monkeys and birds. I heard Seth take in a quick breath behind me. I turned round and faced him. He was gazing intently at me. He took my hand and lifted it towards his face. His lips were like warm silk, pressing lightly against my cold skin. I looked into his eyes deep into his soul. His other hand reached for mine and placed it around him. He leaned towards me and I followed his lead. I closed my eyes as his lips touched mine. They were so soft. He stayed there for a second and then pulled away, then I could feel my face burning and I knew that I was blushing, and he was too.

We kneeled up and looked towards the island. I laughed out loud as a small wave washed us towards the shore, tipping the boat. I grabbed Seth to stop me falling. I screamed and sat abruptly down, trembling with laughter. I was not going to stand up again. Seth squeezed my waist and pointed towards the beach. There was something I had not seen. There it was, under the palms, tipped on its side still completely in tacked. The Ship of Dreams.