Singing Parasite [On Hold]

3.3

"H-hurry," Duston said.

"Wait." Tyce got up and searched for his shoes. He found them by the foot of the bed and looked back at Duston who was now giving him an impatient look.

"Seriously, what do you want me to see?" Tyce asked. It was now his turn to get impatient.

"Mr. Mani, if I told you right now, you won't believe me," Duston said, "you won't believe me at all."

That piqued Tyce's interest. "Alright." He shuffled into his shoes and trotted out of the room. They began climbing the stairs and soon were on the upper deck.

"Where is Rod?" Tyce asked, glancing at the empty seat in front of the helm.

But Duston didn't reply. He was busy staring out the large windshield. "I can't see it," he muttered.

"Duston," Tyce said, now a little vexed.

"Huh. Y-yes?"

"Where is Rod?"

"Oh. He is in the bridge. Let's go." Duston walked past Tyce, and when Tyce didn't follow him, he turned around and said, "What happened, Mr. Mani?"

Tyce had just realized that the boat was not moving. "We stopped? Why did we stop?"

Duston looked at him uncertainly. "I really don't know. It was Rod's decision."

"Why do you want to take me to the bridge? Did you find some island?" Tyce asked.

"No. It's not the island." Duston shook his head. "You need to see it before it's gone." He spun around, pushed open the glass door and disappeared behind it.

Tyce sighed and began following him.

Duston led him across the luxurious middle room on the deck, past the coffee table near the stern, and up the spiraling staircase to the bridge of the boat.

When Tyce and Duston walked into the room, Rod turned away from the helm and blurted, "We saw a sea monster."

Duston slapped his forehead. "We were supposed to show him."

"We can still show him," Rod said and looked about the room that had glass walls on all the four sides.

"Rod," Tyce said, "you are kidding, right?"

"Me? Kidding? In a situation like this?" Rod held an expression of an offended man who had been accused of a very serious crime. "The sea monster. It was just near the bow. It was circling the boat."

Tyce glanced at the port side of the boat. He didn't notice anything unusual. He turned his eyes to the starboard side. Nothing. Just a long stretch of water waving under the rosy, orange sky. He hadn't realized that it was evening. Small gobs of clouds had crowed the sky, giving it a look of a dusty ceiling.

"If we are done here," Tyce said, "Then I'm go--" The floor beneath him rattled, forcing Tyce to take the support of the nearest glass wall to prevent himself from falling. But Duston hadn't been near to any wall, and he fell hard on his butt. Before Duston could climb up, the lights flickered and the boat slightly tilted toward the port side, toward its left, and sent Duston to slide across the floor toward Tyce who simply stared as Duston's head bonked against the glass wall.

A second later, the floor leveled back and Tyce heard a loud splash. Straightening himself up, he helped Duston to his feet. "You alright?"

Duston was rubbing the back of his head. "I-I guess."

"See there it is," Rod shouted.

Tyce looked in the direction Rod was pointing and saw something huge--as huge as their boat--moving just under the surface of the water. As the thing moved away from the boat, it left behind a wide, white, foamy wake. To Tyce it looked like a huge shark without a fin. But he was not sure.

"What is it d-doing?" Duston shuffled over to the helm and stood beside Rod.

Tyce didn't know and didn't care. He was alright seeing the foamy white straight line moving away from the boat. He was happy that this so-called sea monster was going away. But just when Tyce had relaxed, the straight, foamy white line curved around, making a big inverted 'J', and started darting in their direction. Then the creature did something that made Tyce think about a movie monster that came out from the sea. The creature pushed some part of his body above the surface of the gushing water. Tyce expected a grey, scaly, rocky skin. But what he saw was nothing like that. It had sinewy hide.

And it was pink.

"Rod, start the goddamn boat," Tyce said.

"Right away," Rod said. He started the engine. "Actually, you guys handle the helm. I'll go and try to scare it away. Use this throttle to control the speed and you already know about the helm." Saying that he tore away from the huge steering wheel, ran past Tyce and bolted out of the room.

Tyce had thought about jumping in front of him, stopping him, and asking him what was he planning to do. But then he remembered the difference in their size and realized that if he did something like that, he would be trampled to death. He looked back at Duston.

"H-he left. That idiot left," Duston said. He sounded as if Rod hadn't abandoned the room but the whole ship.

"Listen," Tyce started but stopped as another quake shook the floor. A deep, sonorous cry echoed in his ears. His eyes met Duston's, and a thought passed between them.

"I-is it a whale?" Duston asked, eyes wide. "A goddamn pink whale?"

Why did the words "Pink Whale" sound so familiar? Tyce realized he could think about it later. "You have flown a helicopter, right?" he asked Duston. "Steering a ship should be a piece of cake."

"What?"

Tyce started running out of the bridge.

"Mr. Mani wait," Duston called after him.

But Tyce had already begun clambering down the staircase.