Sailing Away

Chapter One

Madison was feeling a bit dizzy this morning. She didn't know what was causing this. It certainly wasn't seasickness since she had been on this boat for weeks now and never had felt like that. She turned to her right on the bed and notice Travis sleeping. It was the first time she had seen him sleeping in days. Tiredness had definitely won over his body. She snuggled up to her boyfriend and tried to get some more rest, maybe that's what she needed. But this light feeling of nausea didn't seem to want to get away. So, silently, she got up and walked to the front deck and let the wind blew on her face. Feeling a little bit cold, she wrapped her vest around her and pulled it up to her neck level. She was so focused on her breath that she hadn't heard her son approaching. He was wrapped in his sleeping bag and the dark circle around his eyes could show that he had one more sleepless night.

"You okay, mom?"

Madison turned back, surprised. It was pretty early and never thought she would have been seen by someone at this time.

"Yeah, don't worry."

"You sure? You're pretty pale. You look sick."

"No, really Nick, I'm fine. I just... Maybe it's just because I'm tired."

"You should get some sleep then."

Nick hadn't been moving since his mother had turned back. He was standing at a few feet from her as she was leaning back on the edge of the boat.

"I tried," she quietly said, walking to her son.

She approached her son and with the tip of her finger, she put the hair away from his face, noticing the dark circles around her son's eyes.

"You should get some sleep. It seems like you haven't slept in years."

Nick awkwardly laughed.

"You know I can't. Thinking of all the people we left behind, how could I have a peaceful night?"

"At least, try a few hours," she suggested walking away.

Nick turned back to see his mother getting back inside the cabins. Once he was sure she was inside and probably heading back to her cabin, he walked back to his sleeping place to try to get a few hours of sleep.

Madison was back to her cabin to try to get some sleep. She knew that in a few hours, if not minutes, they would be back on their routine: trying their best to survive. Nevertheless, she wasn't even back to her bed that she felt a huge wave of nausea which forced her to run to the toilet in their cabin.

Travis had been woken up by some strange noise coming from their bathroom. He turned to his left, expecting to see Madison, but she wasn't there anymore. He heard some whimpers followed by a heavy breathing. He knew it was his girlfriend.

He got out of the bed and, tousling his hair, he got in the bathroom.

"Madi?"

She turned back. She had hoped not to wake Travis up, but she had lamentably failed. She got up, not wanting to make Travis worry.

"Madi, you okay?"

She put her hair behind her ear and walked passed him.

"Yeah, Trav. Don't worry."

He knew he hadn't hallucinated.

"I heard you throw up. You sure you're okay? Is it something we ate?"

"No, Trav, I'm fine."

"Dehydration?"

"No, Trav!" she roughly answered, getting tired of his question.

"What is it then?" he kept asking, in search of a decent answer.

"I don't know!"

She furiously walked to her bed and sat on the edge, letting her head fall into her hands. Travis went to sit on her left and started rubbing her back. Madison knew what it meant to get sick right now and she didn't want anyone to know about it. She silently sighed and lifted her head to delicately lay it on her fiancé's shoulder. He knew what it meant too.

"It's gonna be okay. Just try to take it easy today. I'm sure it's nothing."

And he kissed her fiancée's forehead before getting up to put on a t-shirt.

"You should drink a bit of water," he recommended to her before getting out of the cabin.

Madison laid back on her bed and tried to get some rest.

Once Travis was on the deck, Nick walked to him. Obviously, he hadn't succeeded at sleeping.

"Is she okay?" he asked him, hoping for an answer.

"Who?" Travis asks, trying to hide the real.

"Mom," he sighed.

"Yeah, she seemed completely fine to me," he lied.

"Why're you lying?" Nick asked, raising his voice.

The fact that Nick raised his voice drew the attention of Alicia.

"Come here," Travis whistle between his lips, grabbing Nick by the arm and dragging him to a safe place no one could hear them.

Nick was pretty surprised by his mother's fiancé's reaction but didn't try to move away.

"Listen," Travis whispered, looking around him to be sure that no one was listening. "We don't know what's going on, okay? And we all know what it means to be sick on this boat, alright? So don't tell anyone about your mom's health for now."

"I completely understand, but what happened to her?"

"I don't know if it's caused by the food or by the water, but I heard her throwing up this morning."

"I knew she was sick!" Nick declared a little too loudly.

Travis quickly covered Nick's mouth with his hand and made him sign to lower his voice.

"No one has to know what's happening to her, okay? You keep your mouth shut about what I just told you."

Nick nodded and Travis removed his hand from his face. Travis rubbed his forehead as Nick walked away. Travis got to the back deck and found his son fishing with Daniel as Alicia was looking for an island or anything with her binoculars.

"Morning," he told everybody.

As expected, nobody answered. He walked up to the flying bridge to ask Victor what was the plan for today.

Meanwhile, Alicia put away her fishing cane and walked to her brother.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Nothing. Why would there be anything wrong?" he replied, innocently.

"You're such a bad liar. C'mon. I saw you this morning with Travis. Where were you talking about?"

"Nothing! I swear!"

"I'm gonna discover it, don't worry about that," she declared, walking away.