Life After Dinosaurs

11 - Honesty

"I DON'T WANT TOTALK TO HER!" Alicia screamed. Her voice echoed off of the ballroomwalls. The few people still murmuring went whisper quiet. Everyonewas still standing on their feet, holding their breath.

Jenny looked mad.I had never seen Jenny Martins angry before, and it was a scarysight. She looked like the kind of girl that could get me to admitanything, even if it wasn't true. I'd admit it just to get her toleave me alone.

"She's yoursister, Alicia!" Jenny said forcefully.

"Allie..."Mary said somberly. "Look I'm sorry that-"

Mary took a singlestep towards forward and Alicia screamed "DON'T CALL ME THAT! YOU DON'THAVE THE RIGHT!"

The coordinatorwas looking at someone off screen. He looked flustered. Everythingwas falling apart.

"Of course, shedoes," Jenny said sternly. "She's your sister."

Alicia shook herhead. "No she isn't! My sister died years ago!"

Jenny didn't knowwhat to say. Her anger turned into sorrow. Mary just lowered herhead. It was like she kind of expected that to happen.

Alicia took thatmoment to realize that she was in an auditorium surrounded by peopleand cameras. Everyone was shocked and flabbergasted. Alicia blushed adeep red and ran out of the ballroom through a side door. The metaldoor swung open and slammed shut hard. It made a loud bang. The crowddidn't know what to say or what to do. Everyone was watching Mary andJenny to see if they would do anything, if they would go after her.

I felt a hand onmy arm.

When I looked overRodger was there with Penny. They had puppy dog looks on their faces.

"Where did youcome from?!" I shouted over the chatter.

"Dude, we'vebeen standing here for like fifteen minutes," Rodger saidmatter-of-factly.

"Are you goingto talk to her?" Penny asked me.

I hesitated,biting my lower lip.

"Go get her,"Rodger said definitively.

I jumped off ofthe chair and ran out the door. I was almost a dozen steps away whenI heard the door slam behind me. I was running through the wellfurbished halls so fast that the paintings and people I passed by in a blur. She had so much of a head start that there reallywasn't any way of knowing where she was.

I put myself intoher mindset. Embarrassed, angry, panicking, I'd want to get away fromit all. But the ship was massive. It was built to holdthousands of people, and I hadn't taken the time to scout the placeout. Outside would be covered in cameras and party goers of allvarieties. Sure, I could look out into the sea, but I didn't wantanyone to see me. Unless I was embarrassed enough to die, thenoutside would be an ideal place to kill myself.

I wasn't sure Alicia thought like that, but from her perspective her whole life wascoming apart. Her family kept throwing her into the spot light as herlife went on. She finally meets a guy she likes, and then he'sevasive about dating her and he harbored a secret drug life just likeher older sister. She didn't know what she wanted out of life, butshe must've felt like it was all being taken away from her.

I wanted so badlyto find her and let her know that everything would be alright. I wanted tohold her and tell her that. Without knowing why, I kept runningdownward. The cruise ship had twelve lower decks with an exteriorhall. I ran down and down until it looked like the stairs were onlyavailable with a service key. Then I ran outside.

The fresh sea airwas overwhelmingly cold out there. The cold salty mist froze mysinuses and caused me to grunt with pain as my labored breathingbrought more of the cold air into my nostrils. I tried to ignore it,but I wasn't an athlete. I slowed down to a sprint and made my way tothe back of the ship. Back down here the ship's massive propellerscould cut a person clean in half, or at least suck them under longenough to drown them.