Black Sea

Chapter 7

No, it can't be, but it is, isn't it?

As I slowly made my way through the thick and oppressive atmosphere I see something rising up out of the mist. Something that cannot be real but yet there it is a now rusting and destroyed hulk.

Impossible, yet somehow it is here the Caribbean Star; my cruise ship!

I sat silently in the raft not quite certain what my next move should be. I was in awe of the hulking ship sitting before me, in awe and disbelief. Slowly I rowed to her side and reached out and touched her and felt her and indeed she is truly real unless I am dreaming.

The ship is a decomposing colossus now, the decks empty and derelict. I told myself that this was not possible yet here it was, I could touch it so it could not be a figment of my imagination; could it?

I'd been out here on this ocean for a long time so every thing happening right now could be part of a construct from inside my head or, I could be dead. That thought struck me and I suddenly felt cold. I looked around at the otherworldly atmosphere that surrounded me and realized I may well be dead after all.

How else to explain all of this, how else indeed, because there is no other explanation; I have died. I wonder when it happened, maybe it was when Palmer came to me and maybe he led me to the other world, this world.

I rowed around to the opposite side of the ship and there I found an opening a few feet above the waterline with a ladder conveniently placed for entry; too convenient. Cautiously I reached for the ladder and with some trepidation I began to climb aboard.

I shouldn't be afraid though as I am dead and nothing much else can happen to me, unless, unless this is my pathway to the depths of hell. I tied the raft to the ladder and then took hold and stepped onto the first rung. My legs were like jelly and it took all of my strength and will to pull myself up and into the ship where I lay exhausted.

The raft where I had spent the last several weeks, or was it months drifted alongside bobbing up and down on the waves and then the knot I had tied slipped and the raft began to slowly drift away. I reached for it but I was too exhausted to make any decent attempt at retrieving and instead just watched helplessly as it slowly disappeared into the mist.

Well here I am and here I will stay so now I must figure out what my next move will be. I stared out into the fog for some time until even the raft's strobe was no longer visible before turning my attention to my surroundings.

Carefully I sat up and examined what was ahead of me and there was nothing but darkness. I slowly stood up on shaky legs and moved forward into the darkness. It was pitch black but just ahead I saw a dim light.

Moving forward ever so carefully I approached the light and found it was emanating from a small room. Inside the room was a table lit by a single candle with one chair and on the table was a plate of food and a large cup of water.

I touched the plate and found that it was warm and I sat down. I considered that the food may be poisoned but it did not seem to matter at this time and I finished it off in large bites. It was my favorite meal, roast pork with potatoes, carrots and brown gravy.

I had not even stopped to wonder how a plate of warm food happened to be in here inside this dead ship, how my favorite meal could just be here for me to consume but due to the fact I had already consumed one imaginary meal already I figured that maybe it was better to just enjoy it.

At this time I am almost certain that none of this is real, it can't be. Palmer wasn't real, the Mexican restaurant, the waitress, the beer; all imagined and if this is not imagined my body is out there somewhere floating in a raft, a rotting corpse and if that is so then I may as well just follow through with this because I really have no choice.

It was then I heard a piercing scream, It echoed off the steel walls of the ship and seemed to come from somewhere deep in the liner or at the least some distance from my present location.

I jumped up from the table and stood against the wall and a chill ran down my spine; those screams must be the screams of someone who was just cast into hell!