“Maybe he should have kept his penis in his pants…”
“Are you coming or not?”
“No”.
“Suit yourself. Christ, how difficult was that?” Christine sighed and grabbed her handbag. “Will you be okay on your own, or did you want Irini or someone else to look after you?”
“I'm fine. You want to go, so go. Stop bothering me already”.
Christine shrugged and left the cabin. That woman tested her patience to the utmost degree, even the saintliest of saints would have to repent for thinking the possibility of scot-free murder should the opportunity arise by the time they were finished with that venomous snake of a woman. Why was it such a chore to love someone unconditionally?
She ran her hands across her face, all this stress was doing her health no favours, slowly her precious beauty being chipped away by the lumber of life's infernal hassles.
“The glass is half full, the glass is half full”, she reassured herself, “now where did that man wander off to?”
She wandered aimlessly throughout the corridors of the ship, partially in search of her husband, but also to satisfy her curiosity, taking a mental reminder of the spa quarters, manicures, pedicures, hot rocks, acupuncture, mud baths, full body massages with ship exclusive oils and soothing scents, hot tubs, a steam room and the list seemed to go on.
“Ooh, I must treat myself here; I'd say a trip here followed by a cold cocktail daily would make me one happy lady. No one can say I don't deserve it”.
Returning to her mission at hand, finding her wayward husband, she made her way to the upper decks, suspecting he was most likely at a bar; she knew him all too well.
Just as she had suspected, based upon his predictable nature, she found him nonchalantly sipping away at an alcoholic beverage and engrossed in what looked to be a very entertaining conversation, totally liberated of all responsibility.
Propping her hands upon her waist and glaring at her husband, the barman noticed her first and put an abrupt end to the conversation, pointing her out to her wayward husband.
Finally spotting her, he composed himself, clearly embarrassed that he had been caught in the act.
“Christine, you erm… found me”.
“Don’t you Christine me; I spent the past half an hour unpacking and I’m still not fully done, without your help. Why? Because you said you were going to check up on the girls and that you’d be right back, so I came looking for you. I gave you the benefit of the doubt and what did I find instead? This, you sitting here downing drinks without a care in the world. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I… err… don’t really have an excuse… but… maybe we could get tipsy together? Like the good old days?”
“Christ, Edward, can’t you see I’m pissed off with you? Get a clue”.
“You’ll get over it, come, we’re on vacation, don’t be so uptight, drink with me. It’s not like we get to do this often”.
“And whose fault is that? On another note, we’re a Christian family, we don’t drink excessively”.
“We don’t… usually, but this trip is an exception. Come on, relax a little. You said this was our opportunity to rekindle relationships, well… let’s rekindle”. He took hold of her wrists and playfully pulled her towards him.
“Edward…”
“Rekindle”, he sang.
“Fine”, she conceded and took a place at the stool beside him.
“What can I get you, miss?” The barman asked.
“A gin and tonic”, Christine replied.
CHAPTER 6 - RACHEL
10:03am - 5 Days until outbreak
. . .
. . .
Sitting by a pool with her girlfriend, a stunning view of Southampton, sipping on cocktails pretending to be posh, this surely had to be the life… well, all that bar the weather, but that wouldn’t be an issue for much longer.
The ship wouldn’t be leaving for at least another hour, so there was ample time to settle in and squeal with giddy anticipation.
The premise of being out in the vast expanse of the ocean, on a vessel large enough to fit a town worth of entertainment, shops, accommodation and people, was a marvel to behold and ridiculously exciting.
It would probably take the first two to three days to fully explore and partake in everything that there was to offer.
Would she make use of all these pools before the end of the trip? Would she have the chance to make the most of all the excursion opportunities? Would she be able to get tipsy at every one of the bars onboard? So many things to do, so little time.
She had initially been reluctant to join her parents and grandmother; there was nothing conceivably worse than being stuck in a confined space with three bigoted people, even if they were blood. In fact, that probably only compounded matters.
Still, there were benefits to coming along and maybe, just maybe, she could knock something into their clouded skulls. Besides, her holier than thou parents had their own dirty laundry and in the worst case scenario, she’d just highlight the glaring double standards that this family seemed to thrive on. They could say many things about her, but if there was one thing she wasn’t, a liar and coming from self-proclaimed Christians, the irony wasn't lost on them.
If there was ever a crime she was guilty of, it was the crime of lying to herself, once upon a time pretending to be someone she wasn’t, but that girl, that girl who kept convincing herself that she was normal, that girl was gone now and she’d never return, not to this world.
As she watched her girlfriend sip
