My husbands secrets and lies

Episode Five: Sailing in the mist

It is a sunny day in paradise. We go out to the dock and put on our life jackets before getting on the large, luxurious sailboat. The nannies and servants are accompanying us today as we head out to go to a nearby island that Phillip has mentioned. He wants to show us the waterfall there. Me and my girls sit in front while Phillip steers the boat at the opposite end. I watch him as he handles the sails with ease. Another thing I never knew he could do. We have never been sailing before. He must have learned it before we met. Maybe when he stayed at his mother’s beach house during the summers? I do find it strange that this is the first time he brought us to this island and his mother’s house, this being such a beautiful place.

We enjoy the two-hour boat ride out as we head further and further away from the shore. At one point, we are surrounded by nothing but the ocean with no land in sight. As we approach the island, Phillip turns the boat towards a small dock that is in great disrepair and he then jumps out and ties up the boat. We all get off and follow him as he starts to make his way through the trees. We reached the waterfall, which is jaw-dropping beautiful. The kids and nannies jump into the water and swim towards the waterfall. Phillip and I stayed at the bank with Becky.

“This is just absolutely mesmerizing. Thanks for bringing us here. I need this after the last couple of days.” I say as Phillip puts his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer.

“You’ll be fine, it's just all in your head.” He says and smiles at me. Then he turns his attention to the nannies in their bikini’s. Still young, I’m not surprised that they will get any man’s attention, but still, it pisses me off and I pull away from him;

“Becky lets go in the water. Just keep your life jacket on and you’ll be fine.” I told my little girl and got in the water with her while holding onto her. We swim to the others and enjoy the waterfall coming down like a shower over us. Phillip soon follows and joins us as well.

The servants set up a bouffe for us on the beach under gazebos. The chef has prepared some fresh tropical fish and lobster and has fried some coral to go along with the meal. This is the first time we will get to try this.

“Mom, this is so much fun, I wish we could stay here forever.” Megan says, while enjoying her lunch.

“Yes, can we pleeeaaase stay here forever”, Alice follows. But her pleading stops when Becky throws a hand full of sand at her and she runs off to chase her sister.

This is the vacation I had in mind, not sleepless nights and horrible dreams. And for a moment, I also wish that we can stay here forever.

“I have some snorkelling gear on the boat if you would like to see the fish?” Phillip says, and then gets up to retrieve the gear.

“Best. Day. Ever!!” Alice shouts with excitement.

The day passes by and the girls soon tire out.

“Can we go now? I’m tired, I want to go home now!” Becky is the first to start complaining.

“Yes. Let’s go. We can come again another day.” Phillip says. We packed up everything and headed back to the boat.

As we started to sail back, I became aware of the nannies staring at Phillip. He is not wearing a shirt and the time at the beach over the last couple of days has given him a good tan. I can understand their fascination with him. If we were alone on this boat, I might probably jump him. He looks good steering the boat shirtless and looking extra yummy with his white shorts. Maybe I overreacted when he was looking at the nannies. People cannot help to notice when someone has a nice body and he wasn’t that obvious about it like the nannies are being now. Looking over at him and whispering among themselves. But that is enough.

“Kaylie, Courtney, please take Becky down below to have her nap.” I said, trying to distract them from my husband.

“No! I want you to take me!” Becky says.

“Fine. You two, keep an eye on Alice and Megan then and stop playing around.” I said in a strict tone. The two of them jumped up and go sit next my kids and away from my husband. I’m sure they are aware that I know what they are up to.

I took Becky below the deck. It looks like a house inside with a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen fully furnished and decorated. I put Becky on the bed and lay down next to her. I tell her a story while she drifts off to sleep. The boats rocking causes me to fall asleep as well.

I dream that we are suddenly surrounded by a cloud of thick mist while we are in the middle of the ocean. I got up and went on deck and started to scream at Phillip;

“Why did you do that? You must pay for your sins; you must go to jail! You are evil!”

“What are you talking about? What are you doing!” Phillip said, now starting to lose his temper as I walked closer and closer to him with a crazy look in my eyes.

“NO! Don’t! How can you do this to your own mother!” I said, and then went to sit next to the sail post and started to scream hysterically as I felt my skin starting to burn. I then got up and ran to the boat's edge and just as I got over the rails to jump overboard, Phillip pulled me back and slapped me hard across the face.

I wake up. But it wasn’t a dream. Phillip has a look of horror on his face like he had just seen a ghost and everyone on the boat is staring at me like I am crazy. Alice and Megan are holding on to each other in one corner of the boat.

“What the f**k is wrong with you Amanda!” Phillip was the first to break the complete silence.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to. I, I,…” I tried to explain, but I had no words. Phillip is right. What is wrong with me?

“Come with me,” Phillip said, and I followed him to the deck below.

“This has to stop! Who told you to say those things? Where did you hear that!” he says?

“What did I say? That wasn’t me! I mean it was me, but I was not in control. I don’t know what is going on with me, this place is driving me crazy!” I said, still confused.

“You need to see a psychiatrist when we get back home. You are scaring everyone, especially the children! You are losing your mind and I cannot deal with this anymore!” he says, and then walks out in anger.

Why is this happening to me? It started as soon as we arrived on this island. I have never had episodes like this before. I don’t want to scare my kids like this. Every time I sleep, this happens.

I went up to the deck.

“I’m sorry I scared all of you. It will not happen again. I think I need to see someone to find out why this keeps happening. Please forgive my behaviour.” I said to the staff and my children. Alice and Megan jump up and start hugging me tight;

“Mommy, why did you yell at daddy?” Alice asks.

“Sorry honey, I didn’t mean to, I was sleep walking again.” I said as that is the only explanation I have to give her.

The mist cleared as fast as it appeared, and we continued to head back to the island. The rest of the ride back is filled with an uncomfortable silence. Everyone is just staring out at the ocean, lost in their own thoughts, still shaken by the whole event. Phillip looks angry, but why? I didn’t mean anything I said. I cannot even remember what it was I said to him, but he seems to be very upset by it.

We arrive back on the island and I have managed to ruin the whole trip with my daydreaming and sleepwalking again. I wait for everyone to come ahead of us while I wait for Phillip. I want to apologise again; I really didn’t mean to do what I did. He finishes lowering the sails and tying everything up and then gets off. Still mad, he walks past me and just ignores me. I ran to catch up with him.

“Are you angry? I told you I was sorry and that it was not intentional. I didn’t mean any of it. I don’t even remember what I said. Will you just slow down and talk to me? Why is your instinct to always run away!” I told him while trying to catch up. He stops. Looks back at me and says:

“This is becoming embarrassing and you should see someone when we get back to D.C. In fact, I think we should leave as soon as possible. I can’t handle this craziness anymore. If this island is what is driving you to act like this, then we should probably get the f**k off it.” He says with ice-cold eyes. He turns his back on me and starts jogging to get away from me. I just stood there, staring after him, shocked by how he had just treated me.

This vacation is starting to destroy my marriage, rather than save it. And something Phillip says, repeats in my head; If the island is what is driving me crazy, maybe I should start to listen to it. Maybe the island is trying to tell me something. I do not have any explanation other than what is occurring to be supernatural and everything points to Phillip’s past. Maybe something happened here that he does not want me to know about.

I suddenly hear a scream, followed by several others, including my girl’s, and I start to run to the house as fast as I can, adrenaline taking over my body. In the distance, I can see the staff and children forming a half circle on the beach where the waves are streaming in and I can see the water splashing over something lying on the sand motionless. As I approach them and make my way through them, I can see the body of a girl, covered in sand, her face is buried in the beach and her blond hair blowing in the wind. She is wearing a bikini and jean shorts;

“Don’t just stand there, call someone!” I yelled as I flipped her over to face us. I looked for a pulse, but I could feel her body was stiff and ice cold. Her eyes are frozen and faded, her mouth is open, her lips dark blue and her skin is a bluish grey;

“She is dead Amanda. Who are we supposed to call? We are on an island. She must have drowned in the ocean and washed out on shore, maybe from a ship. I will call the police, it’s probably a shipwreck or maybe she fell overboard?” I heard Phillip say.

“What do we do with her, we can’t just leave her here?”, one of the nannies says.

“You two, get the children away from this”, Phillip says to the nannies and they take the children and head towards the house.

“You two, pick up the body, clear out the walk-in-fridge and place it inside until the police show up. That should preserve the body long enough until they show up.”, he says to the two butlers.

They start to pick her up by her hands and legs and then I see it. The earring. She is wearing the exact same earring on only one ear, as the one I had found in the girl’s room the night before. This means she was in the house yesterday when I heard the footsteps and that she was alive just a day ago on this island.