Escape

Chapter 1

"Believe it or not, I'm getting out of here", A male voice spoke, quietly whispering in the ear of his friend. The boy didn't seem to listen, as he was focused on the crowd in front of him. Hundreds of people were sitting in their small, uncomfortable chairs, waiting for each person to say a word. They were parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters of the students who were nervously waiting to leave the building. Some of them were excited. Some of them were sad.

It was graduation day, but the right mood was hard to find amongst the students. Last night a student had died of cancer and everyone seemed to be in a sad mood because of it.

The principle began to speak, sometimes stuttering and not finding the right words to say. When he ended his speech, a sound of loud clapping hands followed and echoed through the building.

"Liam", One of the students called out his friend who still seemed distracted. He looked up. "It's your turn", the student said.

The boy walked up to the front of the stage and just stood there, arms hanging below his hips. Nothing came out of his mouth at first. His friend threw up two thumbs and slightly smiled. As he spoke about his passed friend he broke down to tears, earning everyones compassion. It was so quiet that you could hear the raindrops tapping on the high windows. It made him even more nervous.

When he ended his speech everyone rose from their chair and again the sound of loud clapping hands followed.

Liam walked away from the stage and the principle called out his friend; Harry. He walked up the stage and grabbed the microphone.

"Hi everyone," He started. He didn't prepare a speech at all, but he wasn't nervous. Soon he would be out of this school, this city and even the country. "I would like to say something special to all of my fellow students and teachers", he finished his sentence. In the corner of his eyes he saw Liam smiling, trying to contain his laugh. "I would like to say fuck you all! And I'll never see you again. Bye!" He ran off the stage and grabbed Liam by his arm. "Come on," He whispered, "Let's get out of here!".

The two friends ran to the other side of the street after they left the old school building. You could tell they were both glad to be done with every stupid little assignment, annoying teachers and this stupid building. All the teachers drove them crazy; especially Harry. He was a kind of rebellion, but everyone loved it. The popularity rose quickly after he started the most ridiculous discussion with the principle which then appeared in the school magazine. He was liked by all the girls, who tried to get his number every now and then. It was understandable though. The boy had an unbelievable body; tall with a six pack. His emerald green eyes were so bright they would pierce through your soul if you looked right through them. He didn't have a lot of friends though. He liked to keep things private. Liam was his best friend since kindergarten and never left his side. And now they decided to travel the world. It had been their plan since third grade: traveling the world after graduation. Money would never be a problem for the two boys; Liam's parents were rich and Harry had been saving money since he was thirteen.

Harry didn't feel the need to contact his family. Since his mother passed away when he was five, his father wasn't able to raise his son by himself. The boy was left at an orphanage. His family barely made an effort to contact Harry, and neither did any of them show up for his graduation.

Harry already brought his suitcases with him. Liam on the other hand forgot to bring his boat ticket that the two had booked for this evening. Harry was annoyed at the fact that Liam had to go home to get it, but still decided to come along. He knew his parents well, and they would treat him like family; especially Liam's mother, who would offer him food every thirty minutes.

"Hi miss Payne," Harry said, smiling and waving at the same time. She looked up from her phone and looked confused. Liam had already walked up the stairs at the entrance, searching as quick as possible for his ticket. "Liam forgot his boat ticket," Harry mentioned before miss Payne could say hi back. "Well that's not uncommon," She replied while laughing. Liam could be clumsy from time to time and it was funny as hell.

Liam held his ticket in front of my face, proudly. Then his parents got up and gave him the last kiss on his cheek. "Go see the world!" His father said proudly. The two boys smiled. Liam's parents also gave Harry a strong hug. Then the last goodbye's rolled off their tongues.

It was evening and the two boys were waiting for their boat to arrive. There was a huge line at the dock and raindrops were falling from the dark clouds.

"Great," Liam murmered, "Now I'll be soaking wet before we even get on the boat". Harry laughed. "Are you made of sugar?", he said, receiving an annoyed look from Liam. Harry always had a thing for rain. He would find it romantic and tragic at the same time, causing him to stare into the sky for several minutes. His thoughts trailed off as more raindrops touched his face, until Liam pulled his arm to walk further towards the dock.

It was getting darker by the minute and the two boys were on board. They were brought to their shared room. It was so small that only one bunk bed could fit. Liam had already claimed the top bunk, while Harry went out to get something to eat.

After a few hours Harry got bored. Everyone had gone to sleep, including Liam. The ship had gotten quiet, so Harry felt like reading his book that he brought. He loved fantasy romances, although he also found a certain interest in thrillers. Reading his book used to help him relax and not worry about the bad things in life. He would just wander off to his own little world.

As he was reading his book, he suddenly felt the ship turning to it's left, harshly. He looked outside the small window that was placed in the back of the room. A rough storm was passing by. Big raindrops fell onto the window and the wind was blowing loudly. Harry crawled underneath his blankets and tried to sleep, but the storm kept having his attention.

The ship turned harshly, now to it's right. Harry heard a moan coming from Liam's mouth as the ship moved to it's left again.

"Ouch!" Liam groaned, as he hit his head against the ceiling. "Everything okay?" He asked, annoyed because he almost fell asleep. "Yeah it's fine, the movements of the ship are just making me nauseous". Liam got out of the top bunk and slowly walked towards the little washing table to get some water, as at that exact moment the ship sailed into some kind of rock. A loud noise followed, causing the alarm to go off.

"What the hell is happening?" Harry said while opening the door of their room to see if there were more people concerned. One by one the doors opened, followed by confused men, women and even children. Suddenly a cracking sound coming from the speakers could be heard. And it had a concerning message:

"Dear travelers, we have a problem".