Sixth Sense of a Sixth Officer

Chapter 4

When Will Murdoch awoke, he found himself in the Doctor's cabin with a nurse tending to the bruise that Lightoller's punch had left behind. He tried to lift his arm, but found he was restrained to the bed by his wrists and ankles. "What the fu-?" "Captain Smith ordered to have you retrained for safety." Said Wilde, his broken nose patched up. Next to him was Lowe, who had some bandages around his wrist and palm. Upon looking at his friend's wounds, something seemed to hit Murdoch. "Shit... Did I hurt you two?! I didn't mean to... did I hurt anyone else?" For a moment, Wilde and Lowe looked at each other, obviously knowing something that Murdoch didn't know. Obviously sensing this, Murdoch asked, "What? What'd I do?" There was a small bit of panic beginning in his voice. "Well, you see," Wilde began. "It wasn't really you. Rather, it was your other personality, Murderous Murdoch, you call him?" Murdoch nodded. He felt more nervous. He well knew that anything with Murderous Murdoch couldn't be good... He swallowed hard. "Henry, what did I do?" He asked. "Well, in a way, we found Pitman and Boxhall," Lowe chimed in. He was a person who had a bit of a habit to do so. "What do ye mean in a way?" Murdoch asked. There was another pause, as Henry Wilde and Harold Lowe looked at each other once again. "They're... they're dead..." Wilde concluded. William was quiet and shocked for a few moments. "What?!." He mutters shocked. "...Did... Did I do that?!." Lowe swallowed hard, and Henry breathed in and out a heavy sigh. "Will, it wasn't really you," Wilde then said. "It was more of your other side. The doctors told us they had been dead since late yesterday evening." Lowe added. "I don't remember any of it..." Murdoch said, partly in a whisper, as he stared at nothing in particular. A horrified look on his face. "It's not your fault, Will." Wilde said. "But in some ways I'm still responsible and I still have their blood on my hands. As of now, I'm a danger to others, and perhaps even a danger to myself!" Murdoch replied. Captain Smith was just outside the door when he heard that sentence. "Mr. Murdoch?" He announced, finally opening the door and entering the room. "How are you feeling?" He asked. "I've been better, but at the same time, I've also been worse. So I guess I'm somewhat of a 50/50. I'm sorry, sir. I'm sorry for everything that's been happening..." The Scotsman said. "It's alright, Mr. Murdoch. I understand. This isn't your fault. We all know you can't control what's been happening." Meanwhile, Charles Lightoller was back in the wireless room, sending another telegram, at the command of Captain Smith. For Charles himself, he wasn't really sure if sending out another message was a good thing. Was it really good that other ships were aware of this? What if the message is sent to a station onshore and someone gets the authorities involved? God himself knows that that wouldn't go down well with Mr. Murdoch... they wouldn't buy what has been going on with him lately either... all of these were questions that he brought up to Captain Smith. "Mr. Lightoller, tell other ships that we are not in need of assistance. We can handle this problem ourselves. And if an onshore station hears about it, we'll be right in informing them to stay out of it and keep other authorities out of it as well." "Yes, sir, and if you say so." Once again, Phillips and Bride were met with Lightoller strolling into the small cabin. He stood at the desk, writing something down. There was an awkward silence in the room. "How's the officer situation, sir?" Phillips asked timidly. "It's taken its turns and such... we found Mr. Pitman and Mr. Boxhall." Lightoller replied. "Where were they?" Bride asked. "...uh... well... they're  uh...." Lightoller struggled and stammered. "Well, uh... they're dead." He finally bluntly said. Phillips seemed to do a double take, slowly turning to look at Lightoller. "Pardon?" He said. "Yeah, they're dead." Lightoller said again. "How?" Bride asked. "Well, it has to do with the situation with Mr. Murdoch. It's a long story really." Lightoller said. "Is Mr. Murdoch aiming to become a serial killer or something?" Phillips then asked. Lightoller paused. How could he answer such a question? Obviously no one wants to believe that such a loving person as William Murdoch could do such things. But he's not in control of his mind. "No. I wouldn't say that." He finally said. "Understand that Mr. Murdoch is not in his right mind at the moment. But truly, we don't know what's gonna happen in the future." He added. Phillips nodded, his gaze on the cabin floor. Bride also had his eyes on the floor, listening in silence to what Lightoller was saying. "So... what happened?" Phillips finally asked, breaking the silence. "Well, all we know is that we found Mr. Murdoch, not in his right mind, at the stern with the bodies of Pitman and Boxhall, assuming he was trying to dispose of their bodies by throwing them overboard, and we did our best to stop him." Lightoller said. "Did Pitman and Boxhall get buried at sea?" Bride asked. "No. We took their bodies to the doctor's cabin, where they'll be stored until we get back to England for a proper burial." Lightoller said. There was no point in lying, right? The deed was done, so what was there to cover up? "No reports shall be sent out to other ships nor the press about this, you understand, you two?" The tone in Lightoller's voice was strict, but calm at the same time. "Yes, sir." Phillips said. "Yes, sir." Bride followed. Nodding, Lightoller left. As Lightoller made his way back to the bridge, he just thought of how much of a mess this whole situation was... for a short moment, Lightoller was away in his cabin, splashing water on his face, drying it off with a towel, and looking at himself in the mirror. He sits down on the side of his bed, just thinking. What was Murdoch doing right now? What was Captain Smith doing? What was Smith truly thinking about all this? Has he gotten Mr. Ismay and Mr. Andrews in on this insanity? He remembered briefly seeing both Mr. Andrews and Mr. Ismay present during the whole stern situation, but were they told about everything that's been happening? The answer to that question was 'yes'.  Squeezing his eyes shut, Lightoller pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt like he needed a drink. A glass of water, a shot of strong liquor, he didn't care. He felt like he also needed a good chunk of sleep. While the officers did very little drinking of alcohol for the sake of their jobs, it was usual for a little indulgence from time to time, as even the Captain did it, too. Lightoller felt like he just wanted to forget about everything, even if it was just for a short time and even if it involved getting shitfaced. He figured poor Will Murdoch felt the same... but with such an odd and serious situation, Lightoller figured that both he and Will knew the last thing Captain Smith would want to deal with was one or two shitfaced officers. But a little would be fine. Charles knew his limits, and so did Will, as everyone should. "Fuck it." He finally said to himself. One or two shots won't hurt. "Besides, I figure Will probably already has some whiskey or something in his coffee..." he mumbled to himself as he closed his cabin door, making his way out of the Officer's Quarters and to the Mess Hall. Henry Wilde was at the bridge on watch. Lightoller approached, with the feeling of wanting to talk. "What do you think of this whole situation, huh?" Lightoller asked, standing besides Wilde. "It's a mess. No doubt about that." Wilde replied. "Yep. I figured a shot or two of some whiskey would help. I could bring you a glass if you'd like." Lightoller replied, a joking tease in his tone at the end. Wilde snickered. A smile playing across his face. Lightoller noticed the splint on Wilde's broken nose. "How's your nose?" "It's good. It should be healed within three weeks." Wilde replied. "Something's going on with Will. We're all past knowing that part, but it's not his fault." Lightoller then said. Wilde nodded. "Have you seen him at all since the stern situation?" Wilde then asked. "No, not since that situation. You?" "Last I saw him was when I replaced him at the bridge. Captain Smith says that he's probably planning on having someone temporarily replace Will's watch shift in the near future. But it depends on if his condition gets worse. He says that if Mr. Murdoch feels like he can't do his evening watch shift one night, all he has to do is let one of us or the Captain know and someone will replace him for that night." Henry paused before continuing. "I asked him how he was doing when I went to relieve him. He said he was doing okay, but he just felt guilty because of what happened to Pitman and Boxhall. He felt bad that he's been giving us so much trouble. " "Do you know where he is now?" Lights asked. "If I had to guess, he's either in his cabin or in the Mess Hall." Wilde replied. "Alright, well, I wanna see him, and anyways, time for a shot or two." Lightoller said jokingly. Wilde chuckled again. The two said their temporary farewells and Lightoller headed down the deck