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2194 Words
Pearl
The resort was beautiful. Our drinks were always full. The sand felt perfect underneath our bare feet. The sunsets were even more beautiful than the sunrises. It was everything anyone could ask for.
It was a great opportunity for Jacob and me to rekindle our dead relationship. When we first moved in together, we were madly in love. We were one of those couples who couldn’t keep our hands off each other. But as time passed, the romance died and we became roommates. The s*x was mediocre—if that. I caught Jacob m**********g in the bathroom a few times. I pretended to be only partially offended.
But maybe this vacation would turn everything around.
The s*x was never the kind I read about in books. When the guy actually knows what he’s doing and how to make a woman come. But if I rubbed my c**t during s*x, it usually did the trick. I wasn’t going to complain because he couldn’t make me come on his own. At least I was getting some s*x.
We stayed at the resort most of the time. It had everything we needed because the place was all-inclusive. We had unlimited cocktails and food, and of course, unlimited sun.
“I made reservations for this place near the dock. I heard it’s nice.”
“Off the resort?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He buttoned up his collared shirt even though it was eighty degrees outside and humid. “It has great reviews. It’s near the shipping dock where they have the cruise ships. I’ve never seen one in person before. It should be cool.”
I always heard bad things about the dock area. It’s where the tourists left their ships and ventured onto land. It’s also where beggars and thieves corralled unsuspecting people to donate change or steal their wallets. Basically, it was a tourist trap.
“I’m excited.” He smiled at me before he examined himself in the mirror.
Since he was looking forward to it, I decided to swallow my protests. We would stick together, and everything would be fine. I would leave my passport and driver’s license at the hotel so no one would be able to snatch those things. If someone really wanted my cash, then whatever. It was just money. “Me too.”
***
Jacob didn’t want to spend the money on a cab, so we walked to the restaurant. I thought it was a stupid idea, but he insisted it would be fine. I could always burn a few extra calories, but I’d rather spend a few extra dollars for convenience.
Hand in hand, we reached the restaurant without any problems and had a nice meal. We had a table near the window so we could see the ships in the harbor. Palm trees swayed in the wind, and the water glistened from the light of the moon.
The restaurant specialized in seafood, which was one of my favorite things to eat. I ordered mahi mahi along with a glass of wine the waiter recommended. Jacob ordered a seafood platter, and of course, calamari. It was his favorite thing to eat. If any restaurant had it, he always ordered it.
The candle in the middle of the table flickered and cast a romantic aura in the dimly lit restaurant. Other couples surrounded us, vacationing just the way we were. Our relationship had changed over the last few days, and I could feel that in the air. We were getting closer, our friendship solidifying. For a while, I lost faith in our relationship, but now, I was starting to believe in it again.
Jacob wasn’t as relaxed as he had been a few moments ago. He started to shift his weight repeatedly in his seat, touch his hair, and check his watch. He checked it five times in two minutes.
“Have somewhere to be?” I teased.
“What?” he asked with a flinch.
“You keep looking at your watch...” I pointed at his wrist on the table.
“Oh.” He placed his hand under the table where I couldn’t see it. “We’re on vacation, so I’m not sure why I brought it.” He chuckled awkwardly, and it turned into a cough. He grabbed his wine and downed it like water.
I raised an eyebrow, unsure why he was acting so peculiar. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Yeah.” He cleared his throat then looked across the restaurant.
Was he going to propose to me? Was that possible? He’d been so distant for the past few weeks I wasn’t sure if I could believe that. Our relationship had been in a deep rut. If I noticed it, so did he. But why else would he be acting weird?
***
By the time we were done with dinner, it was completely dark outside. The light blues that touched the edge of the horizon had completely disappeared. The red and orange clouds had vanished under a blanket of darkness. Now, the water was an infinite black pool that reached out to nowhere the eye could follow.
Jacob paid for the meal and we left, hand in hand. I was eager to get back to the hotel and considered calling for a cab. Walking in the dark was just stupid, even if we were together.
“I’m going to call a cab.” I pulled out my phone.
“Wait.” He pulled me farther toward the dock where the enormous ships bounced in the harbor. “Let’s take a look at this.”
“I don’t think we’re supposed to go over there.”
“We aren’t going to break in to the ships,” he said with a laugh. “We’re just looking.”
“Uh...I still don’t think we should go somewhere we don’t belong.” I turned back to my phone. “Just let me call a cab.”
He pulled my hand down so I couldn’t see the screen. “Call a cab later. Come on, I want to see this.” He grabbed my hand again and pulled me along.
Since he was in a good mood and I didn’t want to ruin the progress we made, I let him get his way. “I didn’t know you cared so much about ships. We have a dock in New York, you know.”
“Yeah, but it smells really bad. Like old fish. Here, it’s clean. It always smells like palm trees.” He stopped at every ship and stared at the side, looking at the names of each one. “Maybe we can get a boat someday.”
“Maybe.” Or a jet ski. Those were manageable.
He pulled me farther into the docking area, stepping away from the streetlamps that lit the pathway. We were completely cast in shadows, and I felt a shiver creep up my spine. It had nothing to do with the weather because it was humid as hell. “Jacob, I really think we should go back.”
“Wow. Look at that military ship up ahead. Do you think that’s a US vessel?”
“Uh...” Even when I squinted, I couldn’t tell. “Probably. Now let’s go.”
“Come on.” He dragged me along. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. You have me.”
“Yeah...” Would that be enough if some homeless man had a knife? “That doesn’t mean I should walk blindly into danger like I’m invincible.”
“Chill, Pearl.” His hand remained tightly around mine, squeezing it until it was numb. We reached the large military ship and stared at it in awe. “Wow. This is so cool.”
“You know, we could come back during the day when you could see it better.” I couldn’t appreciate what I was looking at because I was too paranoid. I glanced over my shoulder in fear that someone was lurking around. It was a ridiculous fear, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching us.
“I wonder if this is an active ship or if it’s retired.”
Something crunched behind me, like a heavy boot against plastic. I could have sworn I heard it. Perhaps my mind was playing tricks on me, my paranoia in charge of my thoughts. “Jacob, did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” he asked.
I looked over my shoulder but only saw blackness. “Let’s go. I don’t like—” A black sack covered my head and painfully tightened around my throat. I couldn’t see anything, and I immediately panicked. “Ahh!” I swung my arms around and tried to fight whoever attacked me. I felt a massive arm squeeze around my shoulders and hold me in place while the bag was tied around my throat. “Get off me!”
“Pearl!” Jacob’s frantic voice came from a distance away. He moaned when someone struck him, and I heard the sound of a heavy body collapsing on the wooden floorboard of the dock.
“Jacob!” Despite my own situation, I feared for his safety. “Jacob!”
A terrifying and foreign voice entered my ear. “Shut that cunt up.”
I kicked harder, slamming my heel onto the man’s shoe.
“f**k!” He shook me aggressively then threw me hard on the ground. “Stupid bitch.”
I scrambled to my feet to run, but a heavy body slammed on top of me. “Let me go, asshole!” A needle suddenly slammed into my neck and something was injected.
Instantly, I couldn’t think. I tried to move my arms, but they wouldn’t respond. My head rested on the dock, my eyes growing heavy inside the hood. My legs were unresponsive as my body prepared to enter a deep sleep. “No...Jacob.” I fought the fog as hard as I could, but it swept me away, taking me to a place I was forced to go.
Chapter Three
Pearl
My body shifted back and forth from the constant motion. I swayed toward my stomach then swayed back, rocking to a rhythmic beat. The distant slap of water against a hard surface came into my ears.
I was back at the hotel, listening to the waves crash onto the shore from my window. The sunlight was greeting me, telling me to rise and get ready for the glorious day. I could taste the margarita on my tongue without even taking a sip.
But then harsh reality set in.
The last thing I remembered was being facedown on the dock, Jacob’s limp body lying somewhere nearby. The hood was pulled over my head, and I was stuck in eternal darkness. Then the syringe was plunged into my neck, sedating me into a helpless mess on the floor.
Please be a nightmare.
I didn’t open my eyes because I wasn’t ready to accept the truth. If that’s what really happened, then my fate was worse than death. It had to be a nightmare, the result of too much sun and too much to drink.
But I still didn’t open my eyes.
What if I was wrong?
Finally, I did. I opened my eyes to see a porthole in the steel wall of a ship. Water covered the hole, and when a wave emerged, I saw the sky. The sight of blue stretched on forever until it was submerged once again.
What. The. f**k.
I sat up with a jolt and examined my surroundings. My body kicked into survival mode. I was on a ship out to sea, and there was no one coming for me. All I had was myself. And I would figure out a way off this damn ship.
And then I remembered Jacob.
Fuck, please don’t let him be dead. Is he on this ship with me? Is he being held somewhere?
What did these people want with me? I had some money but not a lot. They couldn’t hold me for ransom because I had no family who would fight for me. The only person who cared about me was Jacob. And I had no idea what had become of him.
Just stay calm.
You can get out of this.
Use that brain of yours to find a solution.
There was always a solution to any problem.
The room was a dorm. It just had the bed in the corner with nothing else. The door was closed and probably locked. I walked to it, thankful I was still wearing the same clothes as the night before, and tried to get the door open.
The handle wouldn’t budge. It was tightly locked in place. I tried to jiggle it, but it wouldn’t move a centimeter.
Alright, I just have to find something to open the door.
I searched the room but found nothing useful. My bed was just a mattress on the floor with a few blankets. There wasn’t a closet or even a bathroom. I was in a room with four walls.
- Writer
