Dockingboys

Chapter Five

They say that Wayne saw Rake's body on his daily trip to the shipyard. Poor Wayne was scared half to death at the sight of Rake's corpse, and some of the other boys had to take him back to the bunks to comfort him. Rake was considerably shy, and not many boys hung out with him except for the boys with the similar age as him, which included Wayne, Kane, little Jamon, and Ivan. Although Rake was a rookie and a newcomer to the West Docks for a few months now, everyone was hit hard by their fellow dockingboy's death. Eli, the supervisor, was surprised as well, and he immediately fell into working order, asking the younger boys to stay away from the body, while telling the older boys who were more mature to take care of the body, which included Declan, Rusty, Marcus, and Yangshi.

The body itself didn't actually have any wounds on it except for a few bruises and scratches. The body was also under Crane Eleven, a crane in the shipyard, which led to them going with the conclusion that Rake fell from the crane during a shift. But what confused Declan was that the shipyard had been off-limits to them the past night, and Rake was there at both dinner and joking along at Toland's bunk that night. But no one else seemed to notice, so Declan decided to forget about it.

They had a funeral of sorts for Rake after lunch, in which Rake's body was encased in a Minor container and everyone mourned for him. Later on, Eli had called for the five oldest dockingboys to come into his office for a chat.

Eli's office was something of an amazing feat. It was a Titan container, but instead of the bare metal interior, the outer metal had been sawed off and replaced with a few glass windows, which lighted the interior a bit more. Eli also had a working desk and some carpet on the floor of the office.

"Hello, boys. I'm sure you all are still sad and caught by surprise, correct?" Eli had said, hands clasped and with a sad expression on.

The five of them nodded, and Toland paused to wipe his eyes.

"The death of Rake has been a tough experience for all of us, as we've never had to go through the death of a fellow dockingboy," Eli continued. "Anyway, I called all of you here to ask if you boys had any idea whatsoever of Rake's death. You five specifically as you are the oldest of the team."

The boys shook their heads, but Declan straightened. "Well, sir, I've been thinking something like that."

Eli widened his eyes. "Is that so? Well, I'd like to hear it."

"Well, I'm a little confused as to when Rake fell from Crane Eleven, as last night, you ordered all of us to stay away from the shipyard, but Rake fell from Crane Eleven, which is a crane in the shipyard."

Eli nodded. "Yes, I'm also a bit confused about that."

"Also, we all saw Rake at dinner and at Toland's bunk last night," Declan continued, and the boys nodded. "So he couldn't have died during the day, but other than that, I have as much as an idea about Rake's death as you guys do."

Sighing, Eli nodded sadly. "Okay, I understand. Actually, I forgot to tell you all the good news. Due to the death of young Rake Moorings, I'm allowing everyone to take the next week off. Well, return to work, boys."

With that, the boys left Eli's office and went back to work. But even with Rake's sudden death, they couldn't hide their excitement about having a whole week off.

~~~

At around two PM, Declan noticed something was different. Well, not different among the dockingboys, but different on Saint Morales. Just the day before, the crew onboard seemed as friendly as they come, but this time, their faces were grim, tired, and one of them even kicked poor Wayne when he accidentally walked right into a guy with a clipboard. They were probably also sad about Rake's sudden death, Declan figured, but it's not like they were long-time friends or anything. In fact, Declan didn't think any of the crew ever even saw Rake, but if that was not the reason, what was it?

Declan also noticed most of the crew members staying away from a large, black Titan container that was on the first deck. The only people even remotely near it were two men dressed in dark suits and wearing sunglasses. They shoved Marcus away when he came too close to the container, and they told everybody, even the ship's own crew members, to stay away. Declan thought this could also be a potential reason for the crew's sudden pissed-off vibe. The two men sat atop the container, sipping on coffees and mostly just watching the boys work as they transferred the cargo to the cargoyard, or brought back some cargo that were scheduled for the Saint Morales.

With all the secrecy and the sudden attitude, the ever-so curious dockingboys were itching to find out what was with this container. Declan and the older boys knew better than that; they simply tried to ignore the two men, the crew, and tried not to piss anyone off. But the younger boys were all trying to check out the container, and each one was met with a firm rejection from one of the two men.

That night, dinner was quite grim. The boys rarely talked, and when the occasional joke came from Kane or Toland, trying to cheer up the others, they were met with uncertain shrugs and shakes of the head. Other than that, dinner was a rather depressing event that night, and Declan was more than happy to go to his bunk.

His bunk was a rather messy one, with his sketches of boats and gondolas stretching one wall, while some of his art supplies were scattered across the floor. His bed was covered in his change of clothes, and his school things were shoved into one of his drawers. A few pictures of his late father, who'd drowned on a fishing trip. His mother had left the family a few weeks before his father's death, and Declan felt a burning hatred for his own mother. A photo of his elder sister was framed and stood on his nightstand. Irene, who was currently a rather popular and famous celebrity in Oakton at age 25 only, had been very close to Declan. The two of them would often try to one-up one another, and she would usually let Declan win. But after their parents died, Declan was sent to one of the steeplejack crews to work, and by then, Irene was already past age to be able to work as a steeplejack. And of course, girls weren't allowed to be dockingboys. Now, the two of them rarely got to see each other.

Even though his room was full of scrapped-up paper and other stationery, he could see a single white envelope sitting in his doorway before he even got to his bunk. Looking around and making sure this wasn't a little joke or prank made by the other boys, he picked it up and closed the door to his bunk behind him. Clearing the bed of his clothes and shoving them into his closet, he cleaned up his bunk a bit and sat down on his bed, contemplating whether or not he should open the envelope.

The envelope itself was honestly and obviously written and sent by someone with a high regard in the city. Someone fancy, such as his own sister, for one. He opened the envelope carefully and pulled out the paper within. Actually, there were two papers, one was standard lettering size, and the other was a small piece that was folded up. It was beautiful, the type of paper that the businessmen and the billionaires in the city used to write letters to lovers and letters to the bank. The paper was smooth and soft to the touch, and Declan immediately earned a papercut while taking the first paper out of the envelope.

Declan turned on the lights in his bunk and saw that the first slip of paper was just a boring chart with different words and numbers. Slightly disappointed, Declan took out the second paper and unfolded it carefully. There, on the small paper, written in lettering that was small and loopy, was a single sentence:

Rake Moorings did not die by pure accident; he was murdered.