Holiday Drama

Chapter 1

The hot summer sun beats down on me, the flies buzz around my head and the pool side is so crowded even I, being the skinny person I am, couldn't squeeze through. I sit out on my balcony aboard the ship 'The Octavia', heading for my home country Australia. I have been traveling Europe for 8 years now and am not used to the hot weather and the never ending buzz of flies. The crystal clear water below me seems to be beckoning me to dive in, and I am tempted to jump from my 6th story balcony, but think better of it. Besides, I came on this trip to have fun and relax, not have to go to the on-board hospital on the 4th day. I grab my iPhone and ring my boyfriends number, but the line goes dead as soon as I put the speaker to my ear. I guess I will have to enjoy the trip without the comfort of his voice.

I wearily get to my feet after my 5 hour nap. It is now late afternoon but the sun still burns away at me. The pool side is nowhere near as crowded as it had been before so I may as well go for a dip. I slip into my 1 piece and pull a loose shirt on over the top. I quietly step out into the main hall and close my door behind me with a bang. I cringe as I hear the sound of the elderly couple who stay next door to me shout and complain about all my racket."Young people these days, have no respect for their elders!!" I decided against knocking on the door and giving them a piece of mind, I did not want the old man to carry out his threat and throw me overboard. Slowly I tiptoe down the hall, not wanting to disturb anybody else whom has already threatened me. Finally I reach the elevator, a nice modern one with shiny silver automatic doors and mirrors all around the inside. Sometimes when no one is in the elevator, I go in there and dance and fix up my makeup. I am pretty sure they don't have cameras anywhere in them. The keypad buzzes as I press in the button that has the letter 'P' on it for pool and a tiny shiver runs down my spine. I wait in the elevator for 2 minutes because an elderly couple couldn't decide which floor they wanted to go to, so I got to go up and down the floors until finally they hopped off on the same floor as me. I quickly run to a spare sun chair and strip my shirt off, careful not to put a hole in it. The ground was burning my feet and my eyes were squinted against the sun. I ran up to the pool and dive bombed in, splashing whoever else happened to be in my splash zone. I turn to the side and get a fright as a man fat enough to be a sumo wrestler wearing speedos dove into the pool beside me. The wave of water knocked the breath out of me and I spun out of control for 10m before finally resurfacing and gulping down air. I am glad I didn't bring goggles because I certainly don't want to see that sight that's lurking down there.

My chest heaves as I climb weakly out of the pool after swimming 40 laps up and down. I take my asthma puffer out of the pocket of my shirt and breath in deeply the medicine. A wave of relief comes over as I feed fresh air into my lungs. A finger pokes me in the back and I startle, but soon recover as I find out that it's just the ship co- captain. I listen intently as he tells me that the pool was closed 1 hour ago and that I was only to use the pool for recreational purposes, not for personal training. I tried to explain to him that I was just trying to take my mind off everything but he retorted with a threat of a hefty fine and I kept my mouth shut. The last thing I needed was an empty wallet.