ocean boulevard | 5sos | michael clifford

iii.

chapter three.

The restaurant erupts into unadulterated chaos within seconds. Most people become hysterical, sobbing and screaming and collapsing and pleading. Others frown in denial, which I don’t blame them for, because it is quite absurd a predicament. I can’t tell if it’s a good or bad thing, but Makayla fits right into the first category, whereas I hover along the fine division between both groups of people.

“What the hell is happening?” Makayla wails. Her eyes are huge and they falter; I can tell she’s going to break down very soon.

“The ship’s sinking,” I tell her, glancing around in an attempt to formulate a plan. All at once the ship rocks again, and thunder rolls, and people scream and weep, and Makayla begins to whimper. “Okay, listen to me, Makayla,” my gaze snaps back and we lock eyes. “I know this is terrifying and I know that there’s no guarantee we’ll get out of here safely, but I need you to stay calm, and you need yourself to stay calm, because otherwise, the chances of us surviving are going to be an all time low,” I plead. “Do you understand?”

I look at her desperately and thankfully, she sucks in a deep breath of air and nods.

“Wesley!” I yell and he comes running right over. His face is nearly impassive, his composure secure and collected, but I can tell he's frantic as well (but then again, who wouldn't be?). “Is there a back-up plan for this?”

“There are lifeboats around the ship.”

“How do we get up to the deck?”

“Same way we came in.”

Lightning flashes. “We need to round everyone up and head there, then. There's no way we'll survive if we stay here any longer. The ship's going down and no amount of denial is going to stop it from sinking.”

Wesley nods. “You and Makayla round them up. I'll alert the rest of the crew and we'll handle the lifeboats.”

Makayla and I jog around the restaurant, gathering everyone, and in spite of the craziness of the situation, I am impressed by Makayla's maturity. Freaked and frightened as she may be, she somehow manages to soothe trembling children and reassure senior citizens nonetheless.

“It'll be okay. Just stay calm, and I promise we'll get through this. We've got lifeboats all around the ship. You'll be fine,” she coos, and I know that she's trying to sound a lot more confident than she actually feels.

“This way!” Wesley hollers and he heads towards the door. We follow him obediently, and albeit the impending adversity, everyone is considerably calmer than they were just moments ago. Now the hardest bit awaits; the main challenge is getting everyone across the deck and into a lifeboat, safely.

“That ship's sinking and the weather is hell, so focus on your balance and listen carefully to instructions,” Wesley says when we reach the door separating the deck from our dry soon-to-be-doomed haven. “Be careful. You'll be fine.” With that, he presses down on the handle and gives the door a push.

Outside, the storm is even more ferocious, and increasingly so; the clouds have engulfed the sky, so that what looms above us now is just an infinite expense of blackness, streaked with occasional flashes of lightning. Wesley and the crew dispatch. The rest of us follow, grab onto the railings closest to us, and watch as they pull levers and shout orders to one another, most of which go unheard, because their yells are incompetent against the roar of the storm. The rain is cold, hard and relentless, and it makes everything much more unclear.

The ship is rocking even more vigorously now, and I watch as the waves leap and thrust and swallow themselves whole. Everything is shaking, and I feel dizzy, but closing my eyes makes me more nauseous, because it feels as if the ship is a knot being forcefully undone. There is a perpetual rise and drop, rise and drop, rise and drop. The thunder continues dropping beats and the lightning shoots across the sky in staccatos, like an unrehearsed orchestra with an outstanding degree of dissonance taking center stage, led into a dark war chant by its conductor, in which case, Mother Nature. I for one did not buy tickets to this concert.