Charles Whispers

Fear

"Damn it! No matter how many times you remember it's still annoying!" Elen thought. She was restless and it made it difficult for her to close her eyes.

Charlie's words hit her heart and made her hate him even more. Not to mention she had to share a room together. It's like falling, falling on the stairs too. Misfortunes that come incessantly.

Elen turned to the side, the place where the shameless stranger was sleeping on separate beds. He was fast asleep like a prince who was not sensitive that there was a poor girl who could not sleep because of his presence.

"You bastard! Just so you know, I can also choose any man without me! You bastard!" Elen had to scream inwardly to calm her anger.

Realizing that it was futile, Elen tried to take a deep breath and exhale slowly. After her feelings began to calm down, Elen got out of bed and stepped out of the room to get some fresh air. This was the first night she had slept on the boat and she had to pass it with strangers.

"It's quiet, what time is it?" Elen muttered. She forgot to check the clock on her phone which she kept in the desk drawer.

Elen walked towards the deck of the ship which could be called her favorite place so far. But the quiet and dark conditions and the sound of the big waves scared her. The sea at night is indeed very scary, no matter if she sees it on a luxury yacht.

"Should I just go to my room? There's no one here anymore!"

Elen changed her mind, she thought that she should go back to the room because obviously being alone in a place like this is much worse. But just as her feet started to walk, Elen heard a voice from far away.

"What is this sound?" She tried to listen carefully. But the voice grew louder and clearer.

Elen began to realize that the sound she heard was a sexsophone sound that seemed to be playing from somewhere. Eyes turned to the door, it was clear that the sound of this music was not coming from inside the ship. This is very strange, because this sound seems to be mixed with the sound of the waves from the sea.

"This voice? It can't be from over there, can it?" Elen shuddered looking at the dark and vast sea.

Her body began to tremble as the memory of her nightmare this afternoon entered her head. This song is exactly like the voice played by the mysterious man on the boat. The song sounds sad and heart-wrenching. The song shows the deep despair and loneliness of the person who performs this song.

"Impossible!" Whether this was real or a dream, Elen found this very hard to believe.

She didn't want to stay in this place and thought that she should go back to her room and get some sleep. But before she could move, her eyes caught a woman in a red dress standing at the bow of the ship as if she was about to jump into the sea.

Elen was confused, she didn't know since when she was in this place because she had not seen anyone here before. She was sure that she was the only person in this place right now.

"Who is she? How long has she been there?" Even though she had a bad feeling, she couldn't say for sure what she would do. But when the woman climbed up and was about to jump, Elen panicked and tried to stop her.

"Charles, take me! I love you to death...!"

"Oh no! Hey, what are you doing? Stop it...!" Elen screamed hysterically as the woman actually plunged into the sea.

Elen almost reached her, but it all happened so fast that she was too late. Elen's body trembled, her heart skipped a beat. She was afraid of what she had just witnessed. A woman plunged into the sea right before her eyes.

"Oh no! This is impossible! Please... please, help...!" Elen screamed hysterically, trying to get help from whoever was still awake.

Uncle Elen, Captain Carl along with three crew members who heard her screams immediately rushed to him.

"Elen? What is it? What happened?'

"In the bow, there is a woman who jumped into the sea!" She said panicked.

"Oh my God! Are you serious?"

"I saw her and tried to stop her, but it was too late! She actually jumped!"

"All right, Elen! Calm down and hurry back to your room, you understand?"

"But, Uncle-"

"Elen, listen to me! We don't know what happened and who the woman who jumped was. Did you see her face?"

"N-no! I didn't see her face. Her hair was blonde and long, she also wore a red dress. That's all I know!"

"Okay, go back to your room now and mess around! Let me take care of it, you can't get involved. You understand?"

"A-alright, Uncle!" Elen answered. Her face was so pale that she couldn't even step back into her room.

After a few steps, Elen looked back. She saw her Uncle along with some crew members began to prepare for the search for the mysterious woman. And when she realized, all around her, dozens of ship passengers were trying to find out what was going on. They heard Elen's screams as well as her conversation with her Uncle. They looked at her and whispered. Elen didn't know what they were saying, but it was definitely not a good thing to hear.

Elen opened the door to her room, she saw Charlie with thorns in front of the balcony of the room. She had forgotten that the reason she couldn't sleep tonight and was forced to leave her room was none other than this man.

"What happened? What's the fuss?" Charlie asked who was unexpectedly quite curious because he heard the sound of footsteps of many people who seemed to be running.

Elen didn't want to answer it. She walked over to her bed and lay down restlessly. She buried her face in the pillow as she tried to hold back his tears.

"Sob..."

Elen sobbed. This was her first time seeing someone commit suicide in person and she had no idea it would be such a traumatic experience for her.

Seeing this girl cry like this made Charlie sympathize. He brewed two cups of Darjeeling tea and thrust one into Elen's hand.

"Calm yourself and drink this tea!"

"Leave me alone!"

"I told you this is also my room. Why are you so stubborn?"

"It's all because of you! If I didn't share a room with you, I wouldn't have to go up on deck in the middle of the night and watch that woman jump! It's all your fault!"

"Hey, do you really always pass all your blame on others? Do you think I like sharing a room with you?"

Charlie who always gave a relaxed response made Elen feel even more annoyed with him. Elen who was unstable and childish, it was a little difficult to deal with this man's calm and indifference.

Elen lifted her head from the pillow. Her face was wet with tears. At times like this she misses her family even more, especially her father and mother. She wished she could contact them now.

Elen turned to Charlie, she knew that she couldn't do anything to make Charlie leave. Therefore, the only thing she could do was to force herself to accept the fact that she would be seeing this man as often as possible.

Charlie took a sip of tea from his cup. He sat on the chair with his elegant style and the way he held his teacup also looked like a noble.

"What do you see? Already starting to be fascinated by my good looks?"

"You were playing the sexophone at the restaurant, weren't you?"

"Yes, why?"

"Are you a sexophone player?"

"Yes, of course! As long as you know, Miss! I am very famous!"

"Really? But I've never seen you on TV or heard your name? Could it be that you're just a scammer, because if you were famous, you couldn't possibly be an economy class passenger on this luxurious cruise ship! You must be a fraud!"

"Crap, huh? How am I explain it? Actually I have a special room for me and it's a VIP room. You know? A room for the elite and socialites!"

"So, why are you here?"

"You could say to avoid something!"

"What do you mean?"

"You know that I'm very handsome, attractive and also charismatic. I'm also sexy and talented. Because of that, there are many women who are crazy about me and some start to become annoying stalkers. Because of that, I had to rent a spare room to escape the madnes women!"

Elen is surprised because Charlie seems to be much more of a narcissist than she thought. He praised himself proudly before answering Elen's question.

"Listen, that's a totally ridiculous excuse! You must be lying, right? I've seen scammers like you pretending to be important just to hitch a ride for free with the rich!"

"Hey Miss, why do you call me a cheater? You must have seen my show at the restaurant, right? Isn't that enough to prove that I'm famous?"

"No famous people claim to be famous! Do you hear? Just watch out if you dare mess with me, I'll report you to my uncle. My uncle is the captain of this ship, you know?"

"Oh, so the middle bald man is your uncle, huh? Haha.. so funny!"

"What did you say? Middle bald? Who are you calling middle bald?"

"Your uncle of course, who else?"

"You're not being rude, are you?"

"Uh...scared!" Charlie kept on teasing her and Elen couldn't return his argument. She felt very angry because she had to lose in an argument against a man who usually always succumbed to her because she was a woman. But on the one hand, she was also angry with herself for not realizing that she was fascinated by Charlie. In Elen's eyes, Charlie was too charming, completely opposite to his strange personality.

Elen could only think while holding back annoyance at not being able to reply to Charlie.

"You damn bastard! Just watch out, if there is a chance I will definitely repay you!" She thought.

"Hey what are you thinking? The tea is getting cold!"

"No! You must have put something, right? Sleeping pills or poison for example?"

"Oh my gosh! You're a weird girl, aren't you? I told you I wasn't attracted to you at all. So why would I put sleeping pills? I'm not going to r**e you or anything, let alone poison you. Why would I do that?"

"Who knows?"

"Yes, fine! I understand! I will continue my sleep and it's up to you whether you want to drink the tea or not. Good night, Miss?" Charlie went to his bed and lay back down after turning off the light.

He left Elen pensive in the darkness. Elen grabbed the teacup on the table and started to drink it little by little.

"Delicious!"

***