Open Seas

Strait of Malacca

Aaliyah ~ May 21st, 2016

The moment I step on the yacht, I regret it. Here I was about to throw away two years of my life. Two years I could have dedicated to the tasks I needed to finish. But instead, I agreed to go gallivanting around the world with my best friend and two of her mates. For all I know, they could be serial killers and we wouldn't even cross the Straits of Malacca before they would kill us.

"Pack your bags, we are leaving." Emmett speaks the moment I open the dark blue door for her. I let my gaze rest on hers as I raise an eyebrow, almost instantly saying, "You are about 4 hours late for the ceremony." She scoffs in response and that is when her words hit me. "Wait, leaving?" I ask, watching her walk past me and into the dorm room, her hands on her waist as she looks around for my luggage. "What?" I question once again, turning to face her. In response, I earn myself a roll of her blue-grey optics. 

"We are leaving, Aaliyah." She repeats, twisting around to place her hands firmly on my shoulder, "We are going to travel the world; break out of this cycle you have trapped yourself in." A grin spreads across her rosy lips. "You are joking, right?" I blink, this was my best friend - one of the only people I didn't manage to push away with my rush to cross out things from a list. The older brunette and I had met over the internet, the two of us instantly bonding over common interests and slowly growing into an inseparable pair. Then, when I shifted to Singapore, she obviously visited me once in awhile. However now, as I see the complete seriousness etched onto her pale features, I doubt my choice in friends.

"Emmett Hathaway, are you out of your mind? What do you mean ''travel the world"? I have a life. Hell, you have a life. We can't just get up and leave!" I protest, gripping her shoulder in return and giving her a firm shake. If this was some sort of a phase, I had to knock her out of it. 

"Why not?" She asks, folding her arms across her torso. "What is stopping you? We have everything sorted out, the supplies, money, visa. Just two years." She queries, narrowing her eyes at me. 

"Because I have things -" I pause, inhaling sharply. What was stopping me? Emmett knows about my recent regrets, my need to feel all the things that I had pushed aside in the past years. And she knows just how to get me to agree with anything she wants me to do. If Emmett wants something, she gets it and right now she wants me on this trip. I bite my lip, my gaze drifting to the suitcases packed and ready at the edge of my bed. "Emmett...." I sigh, "Two years is a long time." That is when my hues fall on the polaroid camera and the picture of the couple, lying on my bed and I wonder what it'd be like if I could experience the warmth, the love - the freedom. 

"You aren't leaving without me, are you?" I ask, a defeated sigh escaping my lips and as she nods her head, laughter bubbling out, I squint my eyes. This was my last chance. My brain slowly losing its rein, in a last attempt, it reminds me of my parents. They would never approve of this. No way.

"My parents won't agree." I blurt out immediately, shrugging my shoulders. "Already talked to them and they are more than happy to see you let go a little and live your life."  Emmett informs me and I gape at her in shock. "You talked to my parents? What? When?" However, my best friend, as usual, chuckles and walks towards the luggage. Her slender fingers curl around the metallic rod of the trolley as she pulls it towards the entrance of the dorm room. 

"Let me teach you how to live a little."

"Have you run their background checks? Are you absolutely sure they wouldn't take us to some third world country and sell us off?" I ask, my tone dead serious as I scan the deck, hesitation still written all over my sharp features. Emmett rolls her eyes at my suspicions, but I simply continue. "You can't take chances with things like this, Em. What if they take us to the middle of the Indian Ocean and kill us to trade our organs for cash to buy drugs?"