“I'd think you had the manners to say that to my face”.
There was a shuffle of someone approaching the door and the click of its electronic lock releasing, before the door itself opened just enough to see his daughter’s face.
“What is it?” She asked.
“No need for the attitude, can I come in?”
“No, we're changing, dad”.
“Oh, okay”.
“Is there anything else I can do for you today?”
“I’d appreciate it if you kept us in the loop, at least for our clarity of mind”.
“Dad, I’ve been living on my own for some time now, I think I’ll be fine”.
“It might not seem like much to you, but for your mother and I, it...”
“Okay, dad, okay I get it. I'll bear that in mind. Anything else?”
“No… no, that's all I needed to say”.
“See you later, dad. Don't worry; I'll keep you in the loop”. With that she shut the door on him before he could get another word out. There he stood once again feeling foolish.
Sighing, he left the door and the corridor.
What happened to the sweet and loving child she once was? Was this just part of maturity or some form of rejection towards parental interference?
If it wasn’t already apparent to her, Christine was going to have a mountain to climb repairing this relationship, convenient then that they were aboard the MS Heaven of the Seas, where better to find miracles than heaven.
Wow, that very cringe-worthy thought was precisely something his father would conjure up, scary.
He found himself standing amongst busy passengers accumulating in the lobbies and corridors, not being one for crowds, he beelined his way right out of there as briskly as possible and made his way to the upper decks, where he found a short strip of unique bars beside railings he could peer off of. It was horribly chilly, but as he gazed up at the drinks behind the counter, he knew a stiff whiskey would warm him up soon enough.
A barman stood behind the bar cleaning glasses with the sound of Anna Swenton’s new single, Stranded, pumping out from the speakers behind him. That woman sure was talented.
“What have you got today?” Edward asked him. The barman placed the glasses to the side and stepped over to attend to him.
“Welcome aboard, sir. Your barman today is Adam. We have quite an array, anything in particular tickle your fancy?”
“Whiskey preferably. Do you have any Daviduke?”
“Well if it's whiskey you'd like, I can crack open a twelve year old, single malt bottle of Marley Brown, it’s a great deal better than the Daviduke we have”.
“Ooh, not too shabby, not too shabby at all. I'll have a glass of that then if you would”.
“Certainly, coming right up, sir”, the barman replied and began pouring him a glass. “You are my first customer, but a whiskey breakfast?”
“Wife, daughter”, Edward replied exhaustedly.
“Ah, I see. I hope this can at least offer some ease”.
“I hope so too, Adam. Pleasure to meet you, Edward”, Edward replied, taking a seat at a stool and outstretching his hand to shake the barman’s, who reciprocated.
“Ever get those days when you just wonder if life has some positives waiting around the corner for you, because you've certainly had your fair share of negatives?” Edward asked.
“I do indeed. I think you'd be hard pressed finding someone who hasn't”.
“That's me at the moment. I don't do well with ships or boats in general”.
“Oh? How did you find yourself to be on one then?”
“Wife, she insisted. Family bonding to be more specific”.
“I feel for you, sir”.
“You don't know the half. I don't think I've ever dreaded anything more in my life”.
“I'm sure it'll work itself out somehow, sir”.
“That's what I'm hoping for, hope is about the only thing I have left to cling to right now. I probably sound ridiculously melodramatic”.
“I think you’ll find that initially even the smallest problems can feel like bigger problems. Time alleviates that”.
Edward scoffed.
“My good man, you couldn’t be more on the ball”, Edward sighed, “positive thinking, positive thinking”.
“That's the spirit”, the barman replied, placing a glass of Marley Brown upon a napkin on the counter before Edward.
Edward took a sip and shuddered.
“Ooh yes, that hit the spot perfectly”.
“Glad you like it, sir. See that as the commemoration to a voyage that will hopefully be more life changing than you could hope to believe”.
“I'll drink to that, Adam”, Edward replied and raised his glass in the air.
CHAPTER 4 - RACHEL
9:07am - 5 Days until outbreak
. . .
. . .
Rachel couldn’t have been more satisfied with where her life was right now. There were of course a few loose ends, but who didn't have those? The relationship with her parents was a prime example.
Fixing the broken always took longer than building something from scratch and her family were broken, there was no arguing that, though how long it would take to repair was another question. They were exhausting at the best of times, downright unbearable at the worst and coming out to them a year after meeting Sadina was still a memory she buried deep in the crevices of her mind, it just created undue stress she didn’t need. Yes, it was cathartic to get the secret off of her chest, but the way her parents treated her she wouldn’t be able to forget easily.
She was already well acquainted with the feeling of disappointment by then though, so heartbreaking though it was that her parents didn’t show more solidarity, she couldn’t say she was surprised and perhaps it was safe to say that she had already anticipated things not going as she would have otherwise liked, she could thank Sadina for instilling that newfound lack of faith in society. On the
