Death on Holiday

Chapter 5

Dinner rolled around soon enough. There weren't enough tables for the 18 of us, so we were put on tables, completely split up; 10 of us on one table, then 2 tables of 4. Me and my mates grabbed one table all for ourselves. Our dads and Max's older brother Ben grabbed the other, so that all of our mums, my two brothers, the Johnson's younger brother Luke, and all of Pheobe's sisters; Chloe, Lucie, Kate and Marie sat at the other, larger table.  The good thing was, we were all positioned in a line, so we could easily talk among each other.

We were discussing the basics of the cruise, like where we were headed and going to land, and our rooms, which we had checked out just beforehand. Our family had a room for 5, with mum and dad having a king, me having sofa bed, and my bros having bunks. Pheobe had to share with her younger sisters, Lucie and Kate, but she also had to use a sofa bed. The others, however, were luckier. Maxine and Harvey had their own room. Two single beds all to themselves. We'd tried to talk our parents into letting the four of us share a single room, but they'd said no, we were still too young. In a couple years time, though...

But Marie then asked the famous question that all of them except her and Brendon knew the answer to. "How'd you guys become such good friends?" she asked innocently.

We all looked over and glared. Chloe placed a hand on her shoulder. "NEVER ask that question again", she groaned, but it was plain to see that she loved her sister, with the look that she gave her.

Our 6 parents all looked at each other. "Well, where do we begin?" Celeste, sorry, Mrs Johnson, smiled around at us.

They told of how my mum, my dad, Celeste Carson, and Charles Watson had met in year 7, and become close friends there and then. Over the years, they'd become closer, and my parents had begun dating. So had Celeste and Charles, but it had never felt quite right, and they'd agreed to stay friends. Later on, both Robert and Luella had moved to their schools, the boy in year 10, the girl in 11. Robert and Celeste had needed a bit of encouragement to get started, but with Charles and Luella, it had been love at first sight.

Such a shame really, that it turned out that Robert and Luella had been the ones to vote for New Zealand as our next holiday, we later found out.

Anyway, the six of them had stayed close friends, staying in contact all through uni and their first jobs and apprenticeships. Charles and Luella had married first, followed soon after by Celeste and Robert, and finally, my own parents, John and Ann. The youngest of us children was Brendon, and 8, and the eldest was Chloe Watson, at 19. The rest of us, the other 10, including me, slotted in between their ages.

That was basically the whole story. We'd all grown up together, it was like being part of a massive extended family. We all lived close to each other, within a few streets, so I often didn't come home for a few days and it was perfectly fine.

It's sad to think now that those were the good old days, when we thought they would last forever.

We laughed and chatted about all of our past memories together. Some of the earliest from my time, like when we'd had a pool party in the Johnson's backyard, and us babies had been put in the blow up paddle pool, or when the Watson's had invited a clown to their place, and Max had screamed and refused to move from behind Harvey. And then some more recent memories, like when my parents had reenacted their wedding, and I'd been their fake parents, along with Harvey (DREAM MOMENT I'M TELLING YOU), or when we'd all gone to Dream World up on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, and we went on the Buzz Saw, and Pheobe threw up all over her older sister Chloe. Even simply the time the four of us had stayed up til 3 am at the Johnson's, and had a half-asleep-food-fight. Oops!

And then the topic came up.

"Now", my dad announced, wiping his mouth with his napkin. "Any last minute beggers who want to come to Mount Bellisle and see the volcano?"

I shuddered internally. The idea of even traveling to an active volcano terrified me, let alone actually doing a tour to the very hole (later I discovered is called a crater) where lava could shoot out and burn anything in seconds. I would NOT be going, no one could make me.

Already booked for the boat taking passengers on our ship were my dad, Mr and Mrs Johnson, Max, and Chloe. But to my surprise, I saw Brendon's small hand rise in between Jack and mum.

"Brendon?" I think I whispered aloud, though it was only meant for my head.

He cleared his throat. "I'd like to go with you, dad", he said, with a slight tremor. "I want to see a working volcano, and tell everyone at school in a postcard what I did".

Dad was proud of him. "Well, okay then! I'll book you a seat, son!" Mum smiled down at him. Even Jack looked on a little enviously. But he had Luke. He wouldn't go and leave his friend. As Max had told me Luke was scared of penguins, and Mount Bellisle was known for its' Yellow-Eyed Penguins. It seemed I was the only one who noticed.

My brother was scared. I was him slightly shaking.

If I'd spoken up, maybe the holiday wouldn't have been such a disaster.

If I'd asked him later about it.

But no.

I hadn't.

And now, as I look back over the events that have happened, I would honestly kill myself and go back in time to warn these innocent people, all of them going, that there was danger ahead, they shouldn't go.

But guess what?

I can't.