And Silent Were The Stars

- 8 -

Large purple jellyfish were the only source of light. The glow they emanated ripped out a small patch of the mess hall from the clutches of darkness. A thick shadow submerged the rest of the room, silhouettes of the metal dining tables and chairs with plastic seats sprouting out of the gloom behind her back. Rebecca put one hand in front of her face. The shape of her slender fingers - dark and unclear - was surrounded by the mauve glow coming from the huge aquarium in the background. She touched the thick, cold glass which separated her from a large, bulbous shape with long tentacles the color of pomegranate stretching behind it as it silently floated through the water.

The deep, cold silence was interrupted by faint, unclear noises that were coming from far away. Rebecca turned around. She felt the humid, cold air on her skin. It was coming from the other side of the mess hall, invisible, creeping closer and enveloping her, sending shivers through her body. She took one step back and the darkness seemed to have crawled a little closer towards her. Somewhere near, she heard the legs of the chair scrape the floor.

"Who is there?" she asked, hoping that the answer would not come. Her voice sounded faint, a faint echo followed every word until the sound was erased by the silence. For a moment everything fell quiet, only the distant moaning persisted, penetrating through the thick walls of the Syracusae hidden in the darkness. The floor and the mess hall furniture in front of her seemed to be shifting, lingering as the jellyfish behind her back floated by, one moment closer, the other farther away from the thick glass pane, creating a game of light and shadow where every object seemed to be alive. A muffled groan came from the bowels of the ship deep down in the engine rooms.

Rebecca leaned forward and squinted her eyes. For a second, she thought she could make out a shape in the darkness, a man sitting behind one of the tables. She took a step into the darkness and tried to make out if the shape she was seeing was really there.

At first, she heard just a low humming which then grew in strength and permuted into words.

"...twinkle little star..." It was her brother's voice.

"Tom?" Rebecca took another step closer. Her voice trailed away into the penumbra in front of her and dissolved in a vague echo. Now the light from the jellyfish tank seemed to penetrate deeper into the darkness and she was sure that the man she saw sitting by the table was actually there.

"Up above the world so high..." His voice was weak, the intonation on the last word broken, making the song sound crippled and eerie.

"Tom, is that you?" Rebecca took one more step closer. It was hard to concentrate. Her mind felt heavy, the sounds repeating themselves - muffled and unclear as if the entire room was submerged under water. "Tom, it's me, Rebecca." The light seemed to follow her further into the mess hall with every step she took. Now she could see the man sitting at the table with his back turned towards her. She could see the upper part of his body above the plastic back of the chair. He was naked, his head shaved, revealing the structure of the skull. He sat there shivering.

"For you n-never sh-shut your eye..." He was stuttering. He skipped a whole chunk of lyrics, melody now barely recognizable.

"Oh, my god, Tom..." Rebecca gasped.

"Though I know n-not what you are..." With every word, his voice turned more gritty like a rough sandpaper. His shoulders trembled and Rebecca rushed towards him, taking off her jacket at the same time and putting it on him.

"I'm here, darling." She hugged him, closed her eyes and felt him shiver in her arms. "Shhh, I'm here now." Tears streamed down her face as she slowly swayed back and forth, pressing him against her breast. "Shh..."

She rubbed his cold shoulders under the jacket and felt something sticky and cold under her fingertips. Rebecca opened her eyes and looked at her hand. The dark brown goo covered her fingertips. She drew back from him and saw that the man was all covered in this slime.

"Tom..."

"Twinkle... Twinkle..." Now the words sounded almost distorted, barely understandable, the last part of the song muffled and instead of words he gave out a groan and turned sharply in the chair. Rebecca backed up as the creature - it could not have been her brother - slid down to the floor from the chair which collapsed to one side, making lots of noise. Her jacket was still covering the thing's shoulders as it crawled towards her. It was reaching out its long limbs, trying to touch her. The face of what slightly resembled a man was distorted, pale skin stretched over the skull, black eyes deep in the eye sockets. Its nose had sunken in, no cartilage to support it, and the lips were drawn away from the teeth. The dark-brown goo seeped from the gums and dripped in clots from its chin. Rebecca moved away. The creature almost grabbed her ankle with its bony fingers. It gave out a disappointed cry, followed by clicking and a low growl.

"No..." Rebecca whispered, her feet shuffling backwards, backing away as the creature tried to get closer. "No..." She hit the wall of the jellyfish tank with her back and heard it crack right before the glass shattered. And as the ice-cold water poured over her she took a deep breath and closed her eyes...