My heart skips a beat when finally, the cruise leaves the harbour for the deep unknown ocean. I remain rooted to the top of the cruise. Today I realise how tiny I really am. The ocean is endless...and so much greater than us, but yet we remain afloat. And yet...if a small stone is dropped into the ocean, it sinks to the bottom of this unknown world. How miraculous it is really, I do remember all the physics behind it, but that is what gets me more awestruck.

I also stress about these unknown calls. My friends would never play along with a prank for this long. Who is the person calling me? I try to call Sabby and then realise that I ran out of airtime. Mom also plays at the back of my head as well as baby Zaki...how is he coping staying with his grandparents while his parents get a divorce? Is mom safe? Uggh. My head begins to ache with all the stress.

I don't know how long I remain standing alone against the railing staring into the blue world. I come into realisation when the blue world soon becomes a darker world...no more bright and blue but now darker and serious. I turn to look at the time and realise that it is quite late. I look at my phone and feel helpless. In a fit of anger, worry and stress, I let out my frustration on the phone, banging it on the rail.

"Why let out your anger on the poor phone?", a voice booms behind me. I turn suddenly, shocked and alert. James Whittaker stands tall and smiles at me, and I return the smile back in relief. "Oh... it's only you?", I tell him as I place my right hand on my chest to comfort my racing heart. He frowns,"Why...are you afraid of someone? Is someone worrying you?", he asks me and makes me laugh at how concerned he sounds.

"No no...just...you never know...anyone could be dangerous. Everyone is a stranger here.", I tell him. He grins and then joins me as we lean on the rail and look at the deep water.

I don't know why, but I don't mind his company. We talk for a while and realise that we both have a lot in common. Both of us love cheesy food..like pizza and lasagna (even though he is the son of the most famous chef ever). Both of us love the ocean and love to swim. We like the same type of music, movies, and guess what? He likes spongebob too. I instantly feel this connection with him, and feel like talking to him more.

"You know..", he tells me. I turn to him as he bares his blue eyes into mine, "I am also a stranger...we have only met approximately 4 hours ago.", I realise that he has a point.

But I don't know why...its like an instinct...I am just not afraid of him. "You never know, I could also be dangerous.", he whispers. I stare into his blue eyes and tell him,"your eyes don't lie. I don't think that you will ever hurt me." He smiles then nods, turns to the ocean, and the frown on his face returns again.

Suddenly, my phone (which to my surprise, survived my wrath) starts to ring. My heart starts to beat faster as I slowly turn to look at the caller ID, hoping and praying that no "unknown number", appears on the screen. James notices my concern, "Are you alright?", I nod at him and look at the screen.

To my relief, it does not read "unknown number", however it does present a number to me that is unknown. I gulp and it takes me forever to answer the phone.

"Hello..."I nervously speak into the phone. "Missey...", a loud, strong very familliar voice replies. Oh no!! "Mr murderer!!", I yell into the phone surprised. James jumps in shock at my sudden raise in tone and choice of words as he tries very hard to not listen to me talk on the phone.

"How did you get my number and why are you calling me??", I demand. He groans. "Ughh...would you ever stop barking? Don't worry missey arrogant...I don't have time, nor am I interested in talking to you alright!! In fact, I wish I didn't have to call you...or even see that beautiful, distracting face of yours if it matters, but it's urgent. Dad has called us all to meet him at the dining area urgently, so therefore, I had to inform you.", he states sounding really annoyed.

I close my hand into a fist equally annoyed. "So couldn't Richard or Malak inform me?", I shout at him. "Well don't blame me if everyone is missing from the morning okay!! And I don't think anyone would want to converse with you, Missey arrogant. Unfortunately, I am the one that has to deal with all the stress", He raises his voice too. My blood boils.

"Who is this missey arrogant?...How dare you call me that??", I fume. "Well who is this Mr murderer???", he replies back. "You know what...get lost jerk.", I tell him. "Whatever loser", he cuts the call and once again I attempt to bang the phone, but notice James motioning for me not to, and I slowly put the phone down.

"One hectic call hey.", he tells me. I wrinkle my nose as I hold onto the heart pendant. "Yeah..I'm gonna have to go.", I tell him and he smiles. "No problem.", he replies and gives me a quick hug before I leave. As I reluctantly walk away, I turn around one last time to wave a good bye to James, but he has disappeared. I turn around to look for him. Right. Left. No where. He has disappeared into thin air.
Weird.
This time, I am the one frowning as I walk downstairs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So this is a toast to us!!", Mr Hillburg announces as we all sit around him at the dinner table holding our wine glasses as high as possible.

We all had a wonderful, amazing dinner together and it is weird how we all seem so happy. I feel so comfortable with these people (except when I come across Mr Murderer).We laugh and share life experiences over the dinner table.

"Would you like to see a play later on or maybe tomorrow?", the very kind Mrs Hillburg asks me as the others laugh at a joke Richard has cracked.

I remain quiet for a while because I didn't expect her to ask me. "It's okay if you don't want to come along. My husband and son do not want to come with. I have asked Malak but she refused at the moment I mentioned "play".", she laughs. However, she seems clearly disappointed with Malak and I feel sorry for her. , "you youngsters!..aa it's alright...", she waves it away with her hand.

"No I would love to accompany you to see one of the plays.", I tell her. And her eyes light up. "Oh thank you my dear.", she thanks me.

"So Amy...your turn!"; Richard tells me. I look at them with a blank expression on my face. "What?", I ask them. Richard shakes his head. "Amy...your turn to tell us something about your life.", he tells me.

I gulp. "You know...you are the secretive one...We'd like to know more about you. I have a feeling that you have something interesting to tell us!", he exclaims.

"No...no my life is very boring...nothing to tell.", I say quickly. Mr murderer frowns...then pretends as if he is not interested. But, I notice him turn now and again to see what I have to say.

"Impossible!", Richard shouts. I shrug. Mr and Mrs Hillburg stand up, "We'll leave you youngsters to yourselves.", Mrs Hillburg chuckles and the both of them walk away.

Malak turns to me, "Oh C'mon Amy...there must be something you've gotta say about yourself.", she says in her musical tone indicating to me that it is very silly for me not to have anything to say. I, once again, am surprised that she even spoke to me.

"Yeah...Amy...tell us about your family.", Richard presses on. I gulp but don't reply. There is an awkward silence. "Okay we are coming back to you Amy...your turn Malak.", I nod vigorously.

"Well, my life is amazing...I mean everyone hates me.", she says unexpectedly. We all become quiet yet again. She changes the subject quickly, "my mom is a fashion designer and dad is a businessman." She pauses then sighs as if tired of pretending, "They are both married...but not to each other....They are both happy...but not with each other.", we listen to her for the first time and I realise that she is just a young girl. Richard puts a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry...", he whispers. "Don't be...I'm not!", she exclaims. " I live with my older brother...brothers can be really annoying. But he loves me a lot. And I love him too.", she smiles.

I smile too as I remember my brother. His smile and eyes. His cute ways of annoying me. His ways of caring for me as well...and the last time I saw him. Don't go....

"What? I'm not going anywhere.", Malak tells me. I shake myself. Did I just say that loudly? "No nothing."

"So Jhon...what type of a person are you?", Richard tries to shift the topic away from Malak.

" A murdering park place thief.", I whisper. Jhon turns his face abruptly to face me. He stares at me, anger filled in his eyes. "What??", Richard asks me. "Oh...did you hear that? No I was just thinking about a book I recently read, very interesting I must say. The name of the book is 'A murdering park place thief'." I quote with my fingers.

Malak chuckles. "Weird name for a book." I giggle secretly glad that she is no longer sad."Oh! Was it that interesting? What is it about?", Jhon asks me sternly, his teeth clenched. I stare at him with a smirk on my face.

"Oh it's just about this innocent, beautiful, sweet, lovely, girl who one day finds a parking spot in a crowded parking lot, but is murdered because an irresponsible, arrogant, lazy boy decides to take her parking spot unexpectedly, and murders the girl in the process.", I tell him loudly and bitterly.

"Oh no!", Malak exclaims..."I hate the guy already.", she says. "You do get some crazy ones.", she tells us. "He should be jailed for life!" She flips her hair as both of the guys stare at her.

"He doesn't kill her!", Jhon shouts. I raise my eyebrow. "Did you read the book as well?", I ask him sweetly. He pauses, "Yes...yes I did as a matter of fact." I shake my head. "He doesn't kill her...she is alive, safe and sound...in fact, she makes a mizery of the life of the boy, only because of his small mistake."

"SMALL mistake. Nearly killing someone is NO mistake!", I say. He shakes his head and remains quiet.
Good! Small mistake my foot.

We talk for a while and laugh until Richard turns to me. "Don't think we forgot about you Amy. C'mon...tell us about your family." My heart races again. Reluctantly, I reply, "my mom is a teacher at a primary school just down the road from my house.", I hesitate.

"And your dad?"

That gets to me. I knew that was coming. I take a deep breath and try to come up with a lie. I open my mouth but nothing comes out. My mouth is dry and I am speechless. I don't realise until a moment later, that I am tearing.

They all, including Mr murderer, stare at me in shock. Anger sweeps over me. "Why can't you guys stop prying in people's lives? Why don't you get the fact that I don't want to talk about myself or my family?? I'm tired of these sick, irritating questions.", I blurt out when I finally give up.

I look at the hurt expression on Richard's face and suddenly feel terrible. "Sorry", I whisper, and quickly get up. "Please excuse me,I have to go."

And I flee.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ comment! Please let me know if I am doing a good job with this story. I love you all. Mwaah ;-)

And what do you think will happen next? What is Amy hiding?