Twisted Reality

Chapter 2

When I went back to see Jeremy, he was sitting on the ground watching something in the distance. He was watching the clouds and the birds soaring through the sky.
“You see that cloud over there? It kind of looks like a flower, wouldn’t you agree?” He mumbled. I looked up at the cloud he was now pointing at and saw that the rounded edges seemed to form petals and the center was empty almost as if the clouds were showing it was the middle of the flower. Although it did seem like a flower I thought of it as a stuffed bear. I found from the way I looked at it there were 2 circular points that made up the ears and a larger portion was the body, arms and legs. The center of the cloud where there was a hole looked like the stomach of a bear.
“A little, but it looks more like a bear,” he chuckled at me and we began debating whether or not it was a flower or a bear. After a bit of silly arguing we burst out laughing and continued to debate on other clouds and their funny shapes.
We kept looking for the weirdest clouds, as the hours passed by I realized how hungry I began to grow. I hadn’t eaten a single thing that day and it was already 2 pm. My stomach had been growling this whole time but I ignored it.
It growled loudly and Jeremy noticed it, “Someone’s hungry today,” he stated. I told him about this morning and not having time to eat.
“The crate all the way to your left has some cookies and bottled water, grab some if you’d like,” he smiled and we stood up in unison. He turned to check the sails and the direction we were heading while I turned the opposite way to face the crates and boxes. I counted 18 boxes and 7 crates stacked up by two’s and strapped to the boat with strong rope and a blue tarp laid over the top to protect them from splashing water. I reached over to the hooks holding the tarp down and detached them from the flooring. I had lifted the corner of the tarp and ran my hand along the crates. The wood was smooth and dry, they were all of different colors, some painted and some naturally different. I unlatched the top of the crate to my left like Jeremy said and then lifted the cover to reveal its contents. There were many different little boxes, some had labels while others were left unmarked. I picked up a few of the boxes to see what was inside each, the first one I grabbed was labeled “Sweets”. I opened to box to find a variety of different cookies, some were looked like they were vanilla, some chocolate and others that I couldn’t tell. They had been weird colors but seemed good. The second box I grabbed had no label so I opened it and found more cookies but this time they were all the same, I couldn’t tell what flavor they were either but they looked intriguing so I decided to go with it. At the bottom left of the crate were some bottles of water, I grabbed two and set them on the floor beside me. I put to top of the crate back on and closed the latches, covered it with the blue tarp and attached the corner of the tarp to the hook next to my feet.
I went back to see Jeremy and he wasn’t there, he probably went into one of the small rooms. I sat down where I had earlier and reached into the box and grabbed a cookie. I expected them to be small but they were quite large, they were almost bigger than the palm of my hand. I brought the cookie up to my nose and breathed in the delicious scent, it had smelled like a mix of vanilla and little berries. The cookie itself was a pale beige color and contained little red spots in various places. I took a bite of it and it tasted exactly how I imagined, sweet yet nice and calming, it was chewy in all the right places. The exterior was a crunchy layer and the inside was slightly chewy but it was perfect. The vanilla complimented the small berries very well and the berries were dry but that made them even better. While I was thinking about the cookies Jeremy showed up with some blankets and a few heavy pillows, I instantly got up and helped him set it down. We lay 2 dark green blankets over each other and laid the heavy pillows over them. When we finished we sat down together on the blankets and chatted for a while snacking on cookies. After eating a few cookies I felt full and lay on my back, I began watching the clouds again and looking for weird shapes. Soon Jeremy lied down as well.
“I forgot to ask, does the name on your boat have a meaning?” I asked. I looked over to see his smile fading away, a small frown replaced it instead. Whatever I brought up wasn’t a very cheerful subject and I regretted it right away.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to bring up a sensitive subject,” I frowned. I tried changing the subject again but he didn’t change, his smile was still gone. I lay there silent for a bit, he sat up and looked over to the sea and the distance it spanned. He let out a long sigh, “It was my mother’s name. I told her I could make everything better but I couldn’t and she passed away, this is the only thing I have left of her.” I felt regret and sadness, I should have never asked. He lay back down and put his hands behind his head as a pillow. Minutes passed by that felt like an eternity of nothing but silence and the whispers of the wind. My eyes began to feel heavy, I couldn’t keep them open. I dosed off to sleep in middle of daylight, the warm sun made for the perfect temperature.
When I woke up the sun had been setting, the sky looked like the sun was about to crash into earth, red, yellow, orange with a giant ball of fire hovering over the horizon. I sat up and saw Jeremy near the sails, he was closing one of them while the second stayed open.
“Good morning sleepy head, or should I say good evening?” Jeremy teased. How long was I asleep? I was relieved I didn’t have any strange dreams this time, in fact I had no dreams at all that I could remember of, simply just deep sleep.
“Ha ha really funny,” I said with sarcasm. He looked at me with a grin and then turned back to closing the sails. I offered him help but he politely declined, his reason being I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I giggled and started bugging him, I said the most random facts I could remember from a book I read a few weeks ago about crime. I had also asked him where he planned to go, what city, what we would even do there and how long this would be for. All he did was shrug and tell me that he’d figure it out when we got there.
“So we’re just wandering in the middle of the ocean without even knowing where to go?” I teased again. He nodded and we both started laughing. When he finished closing the larger sail he began quickly closing the smaller one. Once he was finally done closing the sails and securing some knots he let down the anchor of the ship until it hit rock bottom. I peeked over the handrail and looked at the chain holding the anchor, the water seemed to bottomless. I backed away in fear, what would happen if I fell in?
“Lights out at 9,” was all Jeremy said. He took his shirt off and jumped over the rail and all I heard was a splash. I rushed over to see him floating in the water, how was he not afraid of the creatures those depths housed? He waved me over and I shook my head.
“No way! I’m not going in there,” I yelled. I guess he thought I was joking because he had waved me over again. I shook my head and started to walk towards the little rooms.
“Come on Nat, what are you? Scared? It’s just water, scaredy cat!” he reminded me right then of the people who bullied me in high school. I couldn’t hide my frustration anymore and blew up at him.
“You know, you could at least ask me nicely why I don’t want to! You don’t have to go assuming things! So what if I’m scared of the water, what does that do!?” I rushed away from him and locked myself in the green room. I lay on the hammock and my eyes started tearing up. I heard Jeremy come back onto the boat, I saw his feet under the door through a small a crack. He stopped and then just walked away. That night I had cried myself to sleep thinking I was back in high school with my bullies that I hated.
I had no dreams again but my heart felt broken, the guy I had been friends with for so long can’t even remember that I didn’t know how to swim. Had I really trusted him so much that I forgot of protecting myself first, yes but it’s hard to think someone you love would hurt you.
The boat swayed a bit at night, swaying with the little waves of the ocean. Then in the morning it began to move, Jeremy had already been awake. I wanted to go apologize but my gut told me none of this was my fault, even if I started yelling at him that was all because of his arrogance and ignorance.
After a while I decided to get up and peek outside the door. Jeremy wasn’t near so I stepped out and leaned on the handrail once again. The morning breeze was accompanied by not many clouds in the sky. The sun had only recently woken up, it was hovering high above the sea level.  I stayed there for a little and when I felt like returning to the room I noticed a small oak box with a little note sticking out from inside That hadn’t been there last night. I walked over to the box and picked it up, it was heavy but it looked light. There was a lock on the box, when I tugged on it nothing happened, it stayed locked. Why would he leave the box here without the key, that seemed so stupid.
I returned to my room and sat on the small couch and slipped the little paper out of the box being careful for it not to rip. Once the paper was out I unfolded it and began to read the small cursive handwriting which I could tell was Jeremy’s.
(note)  I’m really sorry for everything I did, it was foolish of me. I should’ve known, I was being stupid. I’m not even sure how I forgot, I know you can’t swim and it’s my fault for bringing it all up. I really hope you can forgive me because I can’t afford to lose the last person that I truly care about, nobody was ever as nice to me as you are. I’m really sorry.
The box opens with a key I left in that room, I didn’t want to bother you last night so it’s up to you to find it, only clue you get: The key lies within the knowledge of sailors.
-Jeremy

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if I believed him anymore but everyone deserves a second chance, nobody gets exceptions. It was worth a shot so I stood up and began to pace back and forth along the length of the room. What did he mean by sailors knowledge, maybe a manual about sea, maybe near the sails, I couldn’t think straight. It couldn’t be by the sails because he had said it was in my room, I began looking through every item in the room. The last place I hadn’t check was the small cupboard with the locking mechanism. I examined it for a few seconds before lifting the locking latch to open the small wooden door. Inside there were around 2 dozen books, each with their own style and genre. Some of their covers were simple and others were more complex.
I ran my hand along the spines of each of them, all of them were thin books except one, it was thicker, maybe 700 pages or so. I tipped out the top and pulled it out, the title was “The Knowledge of Sailors”, was this what Jeremy had meant by the knowledge of sailors? I quickly flipped through the pages half excepting a key to fall out and the other half of me was telling me that this was too easy, there was a trick to this. I set down the book on the hammock and started doing the same with all the other books in the cupboard. They all had something in common, the were all blue and gold. Regardless of their story line they were all collectors edition. I counted 16 books in total. There was something I wasn’t understanding, it felt so obvious yet impossible.
I spent 30 minutes rearranging the books over and over again until I figured it out. When the books were placed in a certain way all the first letters of each title made up the words “Sailors Knowledge”. But that wasn’t all, together in the correct order they all formed a line leading towards the picture of a small intricate key, but it wasn’t quite a picture. I picked up the book that had the key, I tried to pick it out of the cover but it wouldn’t budge. There had to be a second step I was missing. I read each book cover in order until I realized 3 had numbers, 4, 8 and 2. I tried flipping to page 482 but found nothing very remarkable, I read the page just in case. It had mentioned Sailors Knowledge 3 times, once again I flipped through pages until I reached the beginning of chapter 3. The only thing written on the first page was “I Grow In These Vines.” I immediately looked up at the vines hanging from the ceiling, had the key been hanging around here for so long? I looked through every single leaf dangling from above. I had finally found it, the small key that unlocked the miniature chest.
Before attempting to open the box I put all the books back in the cupboard, I couldn’t remember the order I found them in so I place them randomly. When I was finished putting all the books back I locked the cupboard with the small metal mechanism and went back to the small couch where I had left the box.
I picked up the little wooden box and inserted the key in the small designated hole. It fit in perfectly and clicked when I turned it clockwise. Inside there were 2 small stones and another note hidden at the bottom. The stones were a deep purple color and they were shaped like hearts, they weren’t perfect but they were beautiful to me. The surface of each were cold and smooth, one was much smaller, it could pass as a pendant. The second one was larger, it could probably be used as a book stopper on a shelf.
I set aside the smooth stones on a small table beside the couch. I tried to grab the paper at the bottom of the box but it wouldn’t move, it was stuck. I rushed outside my room and went to the small bathroom. I grabbed a pair of small tweezers and used them to fish out the paper. Once I got the paper out I noticed the same cursive handwriting as the previous note.
(note) I found these while I was walking on the beach once and I’ve wanted to give them to you ever since I found them but I felt it wouldn’t be right. The day I found them was the day you told me you were gonna marry someone. I felt sad but didn’t want to bother you about it so I held onto them for a while. My friend says they might be polished amethyst but I’m not quite sure. They are yours now, from me, as a friend. I’ll always be there when you need me, I won’t make fun of you and if I do please tell me. Even if something I say insults you, say something. Come see me when you feel better and we can talk about it.
-Jeremy

I felt relieved to know that he wasn’t making fun of me on purpose last night, maybe I should let loose a bit, focus on more important stuff rather than making a fuss about something my friend said to me. I wanted to hide forever, I felt like going back to see him would make everything awkward so I just curled up in a ball on the couch and stayed there for a while. I had stayed there until my stomach kept rumbling, I was starving but I didn’t want to face embarrassment.
Eventually I gave up and left the room to go see Jeremy. He wasn’t doing anything, sitting and watching the sky just like the day before. He turned to look at me, “I’m really sorry about last night I-” he cut me off.
“You shouldn’t be the one apologizing, I should be the one to apologize. You did nothing wrong, I was the one who brought this all up,” he said with a hint of sorrow. I wanted to tell him how it was equally our faults but whenever I started to speak he told me to just let him finish. When he was done explaining everything he added on one last thing, “Maybe it was both out faults?”
“You know I’ve been trying to tell you that but you never listened,” I said imitating him. He looked at me with a grin then whirled around to grab some food, it looked like beige powder.
“What is that,” I asked while looking at it funny.
“You’ll see, just give me a few minutes and I’ll be back.” With that he left with the powder, a water bottle and two small bowls. I paced back and forth while thinking about home, was it right for me to leave or had I just made the biggest mistake of my life? I kept wandering around and thinking.
After a couple minutes Jeremy came back holding two steaming bowls, he handed me one and we sat down together. The bowls had mashed potatoes in them, they looked perfect, creamy, smooth and topped with a few herbs and a small slice of butter. As a kid my mom always made me mashed potatoes except she would add little vegetable inside to form a smiley face. At some times I thought it was because she wanted me to eat my veggies but then I just thought of it as her way to lift my spirit when I felt down. I missed her a lot, if only father wasn’t so selfish, she would still be here.
“Thanks a lot,” I said as I reached for a spoon from one of the nearby boxes. I put my hand into one of the boxes and started shuffling stuff around until I grabbed hold of the utensil box. After pulling out a couple of spoons, I offered Jeremy one and he gladly accepted it and thanked me. We began to dig into the potato dish he had prepared, even though I knew it was just dried potato powder with how water I still enjoyed it a lot.
At home I would never have had potatoes in the morning but this time I strangely didn’t mind, I was just glad Jeremy and I were all right. I was about to finish my food but felt too full so I set it aside and told myself I would snack on it later since it would go bad quickly.
“I’ll be right back before I forget to ask, do you have any spare clothes I could use?” I mumbled as I rose to my feet. He pointed me to one of the crates near the door of the little green room while his mouth was full. I nodded and began to make my way to the large cedar crate.
I lifted the latch that held the top shut and inside I found various clothing items. Shirts, pants, sweaters, socks, you name it and you could find it here. All the things were my size too, it’s like they were all mine. I dug around for a little while until I found a nice pale blue sundress with some short fringe around the waistline. I set it aside and started picking out some other stuff to change into. When I found everything, I grabbed the sundress and my other stuff and made my way to the tiny bathroom.
After taking a short shower and changing I went back to see Jeremy and found him setting up something but from a few meters, I couldn’t tell what it was. After dropping off the sweater and sweatpants in my room I returned to see what he was doing. As I got closer I realized he was setting up a game of monopoly, the board, the bank, the players and the chance and chest cards. The paper money and cards were weighed down by some small items so they wouldn’t go flying away with the wind. I sat back down beside him and we started to play, within the first few moves Jeremy bought a few plots but I kept waiting out until I reached one of the further ones so he would have to pay up more than a couple dollars. While playing he would get up every 20 minutes or so to make sure we were still heading in the right direction. He also brought his radio over and we started playing music and talking about random stuff while playing. I don’t remember it well but I think we played monopoly for almost the entire day since we didn’t really have anything else to do.
When the sun started to set we put away the game and cleaned up a bit before a beautiful strand of lights lit up above us. Hanging between a couple of posts was a long line of warm yellow lights that made the evening feel magical. Beneath the lights, we set up our blanket and pillows again and Jeremy brought out a woven basket with food inside.
“I wanted to take you on a real picnic but I never got the chance to, will you join me this evening for a moonlit dinner?” he asked trying to sound fancy.
“Oh, but of course, I will kind sir,” I curtsied, and he bowed. He held his hand out to me and when I grabbed it, he pulled me in close with his arm around my waist. At that perfect moment the music began, it was as if the music was alive and waiting for the right moment to start. The music was a slow waltz that I’d never heard before, but it was beautiful. I didn’t know how to dance, I looked at Jeremy with a strange look.
“Just follow my lead,” he whispered into my ear. He took a couple of steps and I followed. Soon we had made a full circle and began to take the same steps as we did before but this time I looked into his eyes and he looked into mine. I got lost in his eyes, they seemed perfect as if the heavens had sent me the perfect guardian. Cycle after cycle the moves just kept repeating themselves. My mind drifted on into a dream, we were now dancing in an empty ballroom. I had a pale-yellow gown and he wore a black suit with a black bowtie around the collar of his white dress shirt. The floors were made of white and black marble with a few touches of golden waves, the walls were filled with beautiful portraits of various people I did not know. On the ceiling hung three chandeliers, the center one larger than the other two. They were made of gold with hundreds of diamonds hanging on small edges all around the beautiful structure. Atop the diamonds were candles, hundreds of them too, tall and skinny they all lit up the room. This was like a dream come true even though none of this was real, the music was as if an orchestra was playing live in the room but whenever I looked around, I saw nobody, not even a sign of pets.
My legs started to go numb slowly but I held up well until I felt Jeremy slowing down. We came to a stop and my mind snapped back into the real world, on a boat in the middle of the ocean. He let go of my waist and we backed away from each other, He turned off the radio and then we sat on the blanket that was laid out on the ground near us. In the center of the blanket sat a woven basket full of food. It looked like the typical baskets you see in movies or tv shows and I loved it.
I never knew he had a side to him like this, it was sweet, and it gave me butterflies. I wasn’t sure if this was one of those times where he would play romantic as a joke or not, I couldn’t tell, I secretly hoped he was being serious. The music started playing again but this time it was soft and quiet, just enough to set the perfect mood, romantic and quiet.
Jeremy opened the picnic basket and pulled out some sandwiches wrapped in plastic and a couple drinks, snacks and a few desserts.
“Take whatever you want, there’s ham and cheese sandwiches, pulled pork ones too. There are also some apples, other vegetables, there’s some drinks too like iced tea, orange soda, grape soda and some other stuff. Last, but certainly not least, the desserts to save until the end, chocolate dipped strawberries and grapes.” He went on and on about what he brought for our little picnic. He slowly shifted off the topic of food to what we would do in Mexico and how long it would take to settle in.
“Do you have an idea where we are going to stay? I mean I don’t think we could just live in this little boat forever,” I was being serious, but I don’t think he caught on to that, he just kept teasing “Why not”
Instead of messing up the mood I let it go and started looking through the food. I picked up one of the ham and cheese sandwiches and then started looking through the vegetables. There was a cucumber, a pepper, a couple carrots, some onions although I don’t even know why those were there. It’s not like be had something to even cook them with. I picked up the cucumber and a potato peeler I found lying around the basket. I wiped the peeler with a napkin I had with me and then I started peeling the cucumber.
“What are you gonna do with that?” Jeremy asked while staring at me like I was some sort of alien from mars. I stared back at him, “I’m going to eat it, what else am I supposed to do with it?” He let out a chuckle and then picked out one of the many sandwiches he had stashed away in the basket. We both fell silent, the stars burning bright throughout the sky felt as if they were watching us. The windy breeze filled the air with the smell of the sea, salty, usually I wouldn’t like the smell of salt water but today for our journey I didn’t seem to mind it much.
With the music still going in the background we fell silent, eating while occasionally looking up to see the various stars looking over us. The gentle waves against the boat made it seem like the sea was trying to speak with us, a gentle swish here and there. The radio had a clock built into it and it read 10:48, it was getting late, and I felt pretty tired, but my mind wanted to keep gazing up at the stars. They were beautiful ad since there was no light pollution we could see so many of them, more than I could have ever imagined.
“I think I’m going to head to bed it’s getting late,” I mumble while putting away my stuff. I turned around to grab something from one of the nearby crates but when I turned back to face Jeremy he was already standing, and it startled me causing me to trip backward. Without hesitation, he grabbed me instantly and pulled me in close. Still holding a firm but gentle grip on my arm we looked each other in the eye. I could feel my face, it turned hot and red as a tomato but hopefully, the poor lighting wouldn’t show it too much. He leaned in a little closer so that our lips were almost touching. I wanted to kiss him so bad, his lips looked so soft and it was the perfect moment and I wasn’t sure if he even felt the same way as me. We danced to together and he even saved me from a marriage I did not want yet I still wasn’t sure if it was all because he was trying to help me or because he felt the same way.
Before anything could happen I slipped away from his grasp and picked up one of the pillows, bid him goodnight and started for my room not even wanting to look back. I locked the door and began rummaging through some drawers I found tacked to the floor, they were filled with clothing, both women's and men. I picked out a light blue shirt and a pair of sweatpants and began to change. I was still able to hear the music playing from the radio out on the deck but it was nice and relaxing, still being the same slow romantic type that had been playing earlier. When i finished changing I put the clothes I had been wearing onto the small corner sofa and then went to unlock the door. I stepped out to smell the fresh air for the last time then returned to my room closing the door and locking it once again.
Before slipping under the covers I checked my phone, I hadn’t been able to get any service since we left but I thought maybe I might tonight. Wrong. No service, again. I set my phone down beside one of the books in the secured cabinet then crawled into bed. I couldn’t stop thinking of Jeremy, our dance and the way we looked at each other. I tossed around for a while before letting my mind drift off with the music. My mind went blank and all I could here was the fade of music until I laid there, sleeping in peace as the boat swished slightly with the flow of the water.