((Hi everyone! So...I'm gonna go on ahead and apologize in advance for this craziness. I got snowed in the other day and this just sort of...popped out in the midst of my cabin fever. Anyway, I hope you like it!))
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Jodie gazed out at the ocean, a few wisps of short, peroxide-blonde hair flitting over her eyes. She knew that the shimmering sheet of water should have filled her with wonder, or some nautical sense of adventure, but she was still trapped in a haze of gloom. As she sipped her sixth glass of free pinot grigio, (which had doubtlessly come from a Costco-sized box of some sort), she thought of her worthless ex-boyfriend and the enormous hole that his ticket had left in her bank account. Despite the vindictive joy she had felt while she tossed his belongings out of the window of their apartment, she couldn't help but wonder why he couldn't have waited just another two weeks before he stuck his cock in their next-door neighbor. They had been planning this trip for over half a year, and on such short notice, she couldn't find a single one of her friends to take his place on the cruise. She had been forced to eat the expenses and tour the Caribbean alone.
Granted, there were worse things in the world. But after spending two days avoiding gooey couples, ignoring the ballroom slow-dances, and pretending to be unimpressed by the gloriously romantic sunsets that turned the water into miles of glittering fire, part of her wanted to rig that Costco-sized box of shitty wine to an IV and shove it in her arm. On top of that, the Harlequin-esque fantasies she had entertained about finding a beautiful man to dally with during her trip had quickly been dashed to pieces when she realized that the ship was inhabited almost entirely by middle-aged couples.
Her thoughts were quickly interrupted as she glimpsed an enormous silhouette glide past the side of the ship. She squinted at the water, her brain struggling to comprehend exactly what she had just seen. It hadn't resembled any sort of fish she had ever heard of, but then again, she thought absentmindedly, the saltwater depths were brimming with alien-looking creatures. Like anglerfish. Eels. Giant squid.
Slightly unsettled by this hypothetical procession of carnivorous sea creatures, she scurried away from the rail and made her way towards the chair she had claimed in the middle of the deck. The sun beat down on her exposed shoulders, and a steady gust of wind made the hem of her filmy lavender sundress flutter over her knees. She was glad that she had finally had a chance to wear it: her long, thin legs had made the dress look scandalously short on her, and she had been terrified to walk around in it in public. But before she got too drunk, she thought firmly, she needed to apply another thick layer of sunscreen. She wanted to come back from her lonely vacation with a glowing tan, not a lobster-like complexion. As she flopped into the beach chair and opened her bottle of sunscreen, she suddenly felt the deck...shudder.
Judging from the dazed expressions of the tourists next to her, she wasn't the only one who had felt it. The hand that wasn't holding the bottle of sunscreen unconsciously gripped the edge of her chair, and she waited with baited breath until another vibration rumbled through the steel frame of the cruise ship. Her eyes widened with terror. The voices of the other tourists rose in a worried crescendo atop the deck, merging into a single hectic murmur. Jodie swallowed hard, and everyone went silent as a brief moment of perfect stillness passed over the ship.
Then, with a horrible groaning noise, the ship lurched precariously to the side.
There was a series of piercing shrieks as a few of the tourists were sent reeling over the side, and Jodie cried out as her chair toppled over and deposited her painfully onto the deck. The boat rocked again and she clawed at the smooth wooden surface, searching for something, anything to grab hold of as the motion of the ship sent her tumbling towards the rail. A tumultuous screeching sound sounded from deep within the hull, like a metal earthquake.
The entire ship had descended into chaos, and waves of tan, scantily-clad people were flooding onto the decks from their cabins. A man dressed in a tight navy-blue shirt and snappy white pants was shouting something about lifeboats. Another lurch, and Jodie screamed as her body slipped right between the railing poles. She clung tightly to one of the rungs, and her heart leapt into her chest as she felt the ocean spray mist across her calves.
"Help me!"
she begged in a piercing scream, and she thought she saw the man's eyes dart towards her seconds before the ship was ripped in half.
That sent her plunging towards the sea, and she was falling through space for what felt like an eternity before her body crashed painfully into the water. The impact knocked the air right out of her chest, and she could only watch as she was submerged in the frigid blue.
Her lungs seared as she paddled frantically back towards the glimmering light of the surface, and she finally emerged from the water gasping like she had never really learned how to breathe properly. Above her, bodies were plummeting from the towering ship like swarms of ants. She gaped at the scene before her, nearly oblivious to the chill of the water, and something pink and slimy and disturbingly large snaked its way around one half of the ship. It was impossibly long, and its pale underside was studded with a pattern of enormous white suckers.
She found herself growing dizzy, and a terrible sort of numbness was blossoming from her chest and spreading to her fingertips. The water around the ship began to ripple, and she watched in stunned horror as more of the gigantic tentacles shot out from the surface and twisted at the frame of the ship. The steel crumpled beneath their grip like paper. A tinny ringing noise blotted out the deafening groans of the ruined ship, her eyelids fluttered, and then her whole world was swallowed up by darkness.
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A little moan echoed from nowhere, and Jodie's eyelids slid open. She heard it again, low and tremulous, and it took her several moments before she realized that it was coming from her own throat. Her fingers twitched. She was laying on something flat and solid, and her soaked sundress was plastered to her body. Icy water had puddled around her frame and in between her fingers, and her hands skidded against it as she strained to push herself into a sitting position.