“Thanks again, Beverly. I appreciate your kindness more than you know. I wish I knew more about what happened to me, though. This is very frustrating.” She patted my cheek and smiled.
“It will come when you’re ready, my dear. Come on; let’s see what my grandson has figured out. Oops, I mean Officer Pendleton. Don’t tell him I slipped.” She had a nice rosy tint to her cheeks and I couldn’t help the giggle that passed.
“It’ll be our secret.” I winked at her, enjoying our comfortable banter. I was starting to feel very glad I’d wound up here.
Keith had my identification as well as my information regarding the cruise. He’d planned on reporting me as a missing person and needed that information to submit a report. Now he was arranging things with Officer Pendleton so that we could make it back to the ship without incident. They were having trouble trying to figure out how to get me back onto the cruise ship when I was already reported missing at sea after the dive. They decided that a letter from the police explaining things should be sufficient and were just finishing up.
“Well, you two are free to go. Miss Natasha, you take care of yourself. I sure do hope you find those missing memories.” Officer Pendleton shook my hand and I mumbled my thanks. Beverly gave me a great big hug and wished me well. Keith wrapped his arm around my shoulders and walked me out to the ship.
It was a quiet walk, bordering on uncomfortable. I felt like I should say something to him, but didn’t know what. His arm was draped possessively across my body and it made me anxious. Distantly, I understood he thought we were romantically involved and having me close was important to him. He wasn’t doing anything inappropriate, so I chose to just deal with it.
“You really don’t remember anything, do you?” He looked at me with sadness in his eyes and I felt bad.
“I’m really sorry, Keith, but I don’t. There are thoughts that keep flitting to the surface, but then they disappear before I can truly grasp them. I see images of eyes, mostly. I feel like I’ve been in a dream, and am only now waking.” We were silent the rest of the way to the ship.
I was nervous about how I was going to be received—it wasn’t an everyday occurrence that someone returns from the dead. I hoped they wouldn’t make too big a fuss about things. It turns out that my fears were completely unfounded.
My little keycard thing that Keith happened to have with him still worked, so they obviously hadn’t closed out my account yet. I wanted to stop by the captain’s room to let him know I was still a passenger, and they didn’t have a casualty at sea. Keith agreed with me and walked me to the captain’s quarters. When the he opened the door, it was obvious that he’d been drinking. We could hear another man’s voice in the room behind and knew that we’d interrupted something.
“Sir, I know it’s late and I am sorry to disturb you, but I thought it’d be best to let you know that I didn’t drown after all. I’m here, and hope that whatever happened didn’t cause you too much trouble,” I said. I didn’t want to linger here. I just wanted to get to my room and pass out for the next few years. My body still ached, my head was pounding, and I was tired of being looked at strangely.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” He swayed slightly and I hoped we wouldn’t be shoving off any time soon.
“Her name is Natasha James, she’s in room 311, and she was listed as drowned at sea after our dive this afternoon. If you talk to the dive instructor, I believe his name was Jorge Mendoza, he can verify that she was on the dive.” Keith saved me from making a complete fool of myself. I hadn’t known any of that information. It felt true as he said it, but everything was still just out of reach.
“Tell him yourself. He may still be conscious, poor fellow. I’ve been trying to get him drunk for the past couple of hours so he can just pass out and forget the whole thing. That man has never lost a body before; he’s taking it rather hard.” The captain ushered us into his quarters.
The captain was a short, stocky man so he had to move quite a bit out of our way for us to pass him. The entire room reeked of alcohol. Off to the side was a small living area. It boasted a love seat, coffee table, and two reclining chairs. A man was slumped in one of the chairs with an almost completed bottle of whisky dangling precariously from his fingertips.
“Mr. Mendoza? My name is Natasha, and I do believe there was a mix-up earlier today. I was on your dive and must have gotten separated. I’m okay, sir.” I gently pried his fingers from around the bottle and tried to get him to look at me.
“Oh, god! She’s come to haunt me for my failure!” He was slurring so badly it was difficult to understand him. His eyes were huge and bloodshot, but he was trembling as he looked at me. “Jeff, tell me you see her.” The captain came over and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
“Jorge, she’s not an apparition. This young girl wanted to let you know that she’s okay and safely back on board the ship. Perhaps she’ll join us for drinks tomorrow when you’re more yourself again and explain to us exactly what happened. Sleep now, my friend, your record remains untainted.” He placed his other hand comfortingly against the instructor’s face, turning him
