The Journal

Chapter Five

"What do you mean something 'absolutely horrible'?" Daniel asked, not with disbelief, but with concern.

"Think about it," Brooke began laying out her theory on the events halfway around the world. "Part of the crew is found dead, and the lifeboat is missing. It sounds to me like something had to have killed those men. Whatever it was must have happened qui—"

Daniel cut Brooke off before she could finish her speculative hypothesis.

"Well, I remember the news said the SOS included engine problems maybe—"

This time, Brooke cut Daniel off.

"Let me finish!" Brooke snapped. "Something terrible happened really quick, and those four men must've died or were killed from who knows what, but it was something that made everyone panic and leave in a hurry. Why else would food be left on the table? It doesn't make any sense." Brooke's conjecture came to a close.

Daniel silently pondered Brooke's theory for a minute or two. While he was contemplating the idea and ramifications of it, he came to a startling realization; this entire time, he had mostly focused on his loss, being his roommate, Adam. Grace and Mr. Collins were in his mind, but he had hardly considered how their demise might affect the people around him, including his teacher and his best friend beside him. Daniel hadn't taken any time whatsoever to devote any thought to the four men that had perished on the boat. They were undoubtedly somebody's best friend, brother, or husband. He scolded himself internally for being so inconsiderate.

"What's the big frown there for?" Brooke asked, bringing Daniel out of his internal lambasting.

"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking about everything that you said is all. I hadn't thought about it when I saw the news, but it is pretty peculiar the food was left on the table. What do you think it means?" He inquired, challenging Brooke to expand upon her theory.

"I don't know. Your guess is as good as mine. I just think something extreme happened to make everyone up and leave the food, then four guys died in there, so it must've been sudden. It sounds like some Bermuda Triangle stuff if you ask me!" Brooke shrugged her shoulders in ignorance, for any speculations they concocted were just that, speculative.

"Maybe the food was poisoned or something, that's why they didn't eat the rest?" Daniel suggested.

"I guess that's a possibility, but why would everyone else jump ship? That wouldn't be necessary if it were just poisoned food." Brooke quickly deduced.

"Yeah, I guess that's true. Pirates, maybe?" Daniel proposed taking another shot in the dark.

"Again, it's a possibility that can't be ruled out, but I think they prefer a bit warmer climates." She responded with a wry smile.

Before Daniel had the chance to piece together another unanswerable question, Brooke took the reins of the conversation and steered it in a different direction.

"Well, there's no way we can really know what happened, and I'm sure sitting here stewing in all these possibilities isn't going to help us. Let's just try to get our minds off it for now. Maybe we'll get an update in the news tomorrow." Brooke had a real glimmer of hope in her voice and an optimistic sparkle to her eyes. She was indeed a glass half full kind of person. "In the meantime, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. We really need to get that essay done. I hate procrastinating. It always comes back to bite me." Daniel said, staring at his backpack, imagining all his schoolwork that waited inside for completion.

"But we both agreed we wouldn't be able to focus on that right now. And don't worry, we have until the end of the week!" Brooke waved an uncaring hand toward Daniel to convey her complacency with the due date.

"Yeah, but that's in just a few days!" Daniel exclaimed, sounding lost and distraught.

"We only have a few pages left, don't worry! If worst comes to worst, I'll finish it off for us. You've done your fair share, plus I better finish it if we want to get an A." Brooke finished with a snicker

"Oh, haha, real funny." Daniel shot back, rolling his eyes.

"For real, though, what do you want to do in the meantime? Heck, we wouldn't be out of class for over an hour normally!" Brooke said, picking up Daniel's arm to read his watch.

"Well, I did have a job to do after class, but that wasn't supposed to be until this afternoon. I kind of thought about calling it off too since all this came up." Daniel frowned slightly, remembering the shortly forgotten predicament and unanswered questions that remained.

"Nonsense!" Brooke shouted.

Daniel looked up quickly, expecting one of the librarians to be glaring at them.

"That should help keep our minds busy! And if you're getting paid, you can buy us some lunch!" Brooke smiled as she stood up.

"Isn't that generous of me?" Daniel laughed. "Let me call my neighbor. That's who the job is for. Maybe we can get over there early." Daniel sifted his phone out of his deep pockets and skimmed through the contacts.

"What's the job anyway? More pictures?" Brooke inquired, leading the way to the library's exit.

"Yeah, well, videos of his property and whatnot. He wanted to get some good landscape views since he was thinking of selling the place when he retires."

Daniel stopped conversing with Brooke and switched to talking to his neighbor, who had just answered the phone. Brooke could hear his neighbor's hard, grizzled voice over the speaker. Daniel picked up the pace toward the concrete mezzanine once he noticed one of the infamous librarians staring daggers at him for his phone conversation, polluting the library's sacred silence.

They waited on the mezzanine, enjoying the warm, early summer mountain air while Daniel finished hashing out the details of the new plan with his neighbor.

"Okay, sounds good. I'll see you then, Dave!" Daniel ended the call and slid his phone back into the abyss of his pocket. "He says we can come over early, but not before noon, so it looks like we're going to lunch first! Where do you want to go?" Daniel asked Brooke, who was staring into the large open grassy area in front of the library, looking down toward the parking lot.

"Doesn't matter to me, I didn't eat breakfast, so I'll eat anything! How about you pick since it's your treat?" Brooke offered.

"Man, I get to buy it and pick where we get to go? It must be my lucky day!" Daniel joked, playfully taunting Brooke. This time it was Brooke who was rolling her eyes. "Want to hit the usual place?" He suggested.

Brooke nodded swiftly in agreement.

"Burgers it is!" Daniel declared as they headed down the concrete stairs toward the parking lot.