Tell me... The Violinist's Truth

So easily

"And make sure not to miss it!" The blonde girl waved to them with a smile, before disappearing into the crowd again.

The thought of having a party here on this ship seemed absurd. Brett appeared to be thinking the same. "How are we supposed to even get into the mood for this? Why are they behaving as if we were on a holiday cruise or something?"

Sure, they were concerned about the well-being of the passengers and had ensured everyone got a decent dinner but this, after all, was not a holiday. To think that if they weren't here on this ship, they would probably be dead by now.

"Weird, huh?" Eddy scratched his nose. It almost seemed like the concept of really enjoying life one more time before they would say goodbye forever. Was the crew that unsure about their chances of getting through that one narrow passage?

That's ridiculous! 

Then again, he had overheard two of the navy officials discussing it earlier. There was a very slim channel running between two coastlines, both of which had apparently been set ablaze by the spreading fire. But of course he would say nothing of that to Brett. In any case, if the security of the passengers was at risk, surely they would...-

Eddy's thoughts were interrupted by a tense commotion erupting above them, on the bridge.

Several people looked up, eager to see what the reason of the argument was. Four uniformed men were hotly discussing something but Eddy was too far away to be able to grasp the words.

"No, I can not do that!" one of the officials shouted, so loudly that it was distinctly audible above the machine sounds of the ship and the actively conversing crowd. The latter, however, had gradually fallen quite silent over the course of the argument.
For a moment, neither of the four blue-clad colleagues said a word. The other three stood glaring at the one who had just shouted. He was tall and thin, with short brown hair and he was the only one of the four wearing glasses.

Brett was starting to look somewhat unnerved. Eddy began shifting from one foot to the other. What the hell are they arguing about?!

"Do you think there's something wrong?" The red cotton fabric of his t-shirt was being pulled at by a rather uncomfortable Brett, looking at him with a furrowed brow.

Eddy decided that the truth was better than leaving Brett to try and find meaning in a bunch of empty words, so he stuck to what he knew which, admittedly, was not much at the moment.

The lighting went on, brightly illuminating the upper deck.

"I don't know. But if there was some kind of problem, they would tell us." Now that provides a lot of comfort, Eddy thought. "In any case", he said, as he took in the gradually darkening sky strewn with wildly storm-whipped clouds, "what could possibly be wrong?"

He realized that perhaps it wasn't the best idea to ask such a question because it would cause Brett to think of all kinds of catastrophic scenarios and which of them were the most likely to occur.

"What about those clouds, look at the sky Eddy! What if we get caught in a storm and..." his voice trailed off.

"We're not going to die just because the waves are a bit higher." Eddy said, but as he noticed the touch of annoyance that had mingled with his voice, he made sure to speak a bit more gently. "Look, Brett, there's still no guarantee we're even going to notice anything because of those clouds. But if it rains a bit, think about the koalas and the kangaroos and all those, it might save quite a few of them."

The men on the bridge seemed to have relocated their argument to the inside part of the bridge and could now be seen gesturing behind the large angular windows. The other passengers had resumed their chatting and Eddy had to lean in a little more closely to hear what Brett was saying.

"No, you're right, I didn't think of that. Of course, some rain would be great for the animals."

"Besides," Eddy added in an attempt at bringing back some humor into the situation, "if there's a storm, well, sorry but it will have to wait until after the party."

Even Brett's face twisted in a little smile, tight but not too artificial. He reached up to his hair.

"What?" But then Eddy felt it himself. The first large raindrops were falling from the skies.

A loud metallic screech caused the entire deck to flinch. Somewhere inside the ship a child screamed. Some of the passengers began running to the more sheltered side parts of the deck for cover.

"Just go! Now!" someone yelled as a bald, skinny guy in uniform ran down the wet stairs from the bridge. "Everyone inside and stay in the cabins!" the man shouted just in time to be heard before the calls and shouts of the passengers drowned out his words.

Without warning, the floor began to shake, heavy vibrations coursing through the entire construction. The only thing Eddy thought as deafening sirens rang through the air was how easily an entire ship like this could be engulfed by chaos.