2 The Cruise(2)

"What just happened?" She fluttered her eyelashes in shock while trying to comprehend why she couldn't see the feather anymore. Had it sunk into the sea? What was more important, when did she draw the dress? She could swear that she didn't avert her gaze from the feather from the moment she laid her eyes on it.

"What just happened, my dear Jasmine? You drew the best design draft of your life!" Vivian was more excited than she would be if she were the one who had drawn it.

"I need to take a nap." Jasmine frowned, trying to get away from whatever absurdity was going on. First, it was the island she thought she had seen, the one which Vivian claimed to be the Wandering Islands. Now, the feather and the design draft miraculously appeared on her papers. It wasn't sure why she was suddenly having these strange hallucinations, but she wanted to clear them off her mind before she could go crazy.

"Go ahead. I will grab something to eat from the kitchen. I'll save you something to eat when you wake up!" Vivian promised and Jasmine smiled.

"Thank you."

Soon after Vivian left, she drifted into a calm, peaceful slumber.

All was peaceful until she started feeling chills, and her eyebrows tightly knitted as she turned rolled onto her left side. She thought she could hear a voice, but it was not clear. It sounded like a whisper that she couldn't quite make out amid the darkness she was shrouded in. She walked on until she could hear the voice more clearly even though it was still a whisper. The darkness faded slightly, leaving just enough light to reveal a silhouette. It was a woman, and she was sitting on her knees while sobbing.

"Child...My child…" The woman spoke through her sobs, and this time Jasmine heard it.

"Mother?" She called out in surprise, and her eyes shot open.

Sitting up, Jasmine realized that her entire body was drenched in sweat. What was that about? Was it because she missed her parents so much that she was starting to have nightmares?

Turning to glance to the bed on her left, she found that Vivian was fast asleep, and on the table between their beds, there was a tray that was covered, which was probably the food that she brought for her.

She smiled gratefully and decided to ask one of the kitchen staff to warm it up for her. She drew the white, silky curtains and realized from the rising sun that she had slept throughout the entire day into the next morning. No wonder she felt so hungry.

Placing her suitcase on the bed, she took out a set of toiletries, a white towel, and bathrobe. She then made her way to the ensuite bathroom.

When she returned, Vivian was awake and stretched on the bed while trying to keep her eyes awake.

"Morning, sleepy head. I was starting to wonder where I would get a prince to kiss you awake." Yawned Vivian.

"You don't need to do that." Jasmine laughed and dressed up, then checked her phone.

The signal was much worse than it was when they left the port. She glanced at the telephone on their bedside table and finally understood why it existed.

"I hope it works." She mumbled, sat on her bed, and picked up the black telephone. She keyed in her home telephone number on the dial pad.

She then sighed in relief when the call connected.

"Jasmine? I could not get through to you earlier. How are you, my dear?" Her mother, Sophie, sighed in relief.

"I'm doing great, mother." The remnant fear she had from the bizarre dream from last night flew away when she heard her mother's jovial voice.

"Are you enjoying your trip?" Asked the older woman, to which Jasmine nodded even though her mother couldn't see her from the other side.

"It's the best trip of my life. We will dive soon!" She left out the parts that she neither wanted to talk about nor think about.

"How is Father and Dahlia?" She asked about her father and sister.

"They are doing great." Her mother responded. "Dahlia finally managed to pass her spelling tests."

Jasmine chuckled as she imagined the little girl fumbling with words. "Send my congratulations to her. I will bring back a present for her."

"Have fun, my dear. Make sure to take care of yourself, okay?" She urged, and Jasmine nodded before ending the call to let her mother get back to her own work.

"Do you want to check on your family too?" She asked the sleepy Vivian as she handed the telephone to her. When the latter shook her head, she placed it back to its original position.

"Don't you miss them?" She asked curiously, knowing that she would have died if she didn't get to check on her family for a day longer.

"It's alright." Vivian chuckled. She was not as close to her family as Jasmine was to hers, not that it mattered.

Jasmine rang the crew bell and when the staff appeared, she gave them the food to warm and ordered some for Vivian as the latter went to take a shower.

_

Soon after they ate their breakfast, Vivian wanted some fresh air and went up to the top most platform. It wasn't long before she came rushing back to their room.

"Jasmine! Come quick!" She waved her friend over.

"What happened?" Jasmine looked up from her drafts, but before she could finish asking, Vivian had pulled her off the bed and was dragging her out of the room. She had to rush to keep up with the speed of her friend who was excitedly running up, and when they got to the top platform, Vivian pointed into the distance in front of them.

"It's the port! We are approaching it."

Jasmine could not hold back her gasp. "Cannon Island. I didn't know it was so beautiful in real life." She had seen a ton of pictures and paintings, but the real deal was much more beautiful than all of them.

"I know right? I will take a ton of pictures to flex on my page later!" Chirped Vivian and Jasmine ran to the end of the platform to take a closer look at the island that seemed to be drawing closer and closer.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are approaching Cannon Island." Came the annoncement from the captain who sounded to be as excited as they were. What followed was a myriad of instructions—none of which the girls heard because they were too busy imagining the beautiful island and wondering how long they would be allowed to go site-seeing before the trip resumed.

The platform was starting to fill with more passengers who couldn't wait to see the island and had rushed over.

She went to the swimming platform instead, and as soon as she sat down, she felt water trickle down her head.

"Knock it off Vivi! You know I don't like water poured on my head." She complained and turned to glare at Vivian, but the woman was not behind her. Instead, she was on her own.

"Huh? What was that?" Her head was still turned to look for Vivian, and she felt more water pour on her head, drenching her in an instant.

"Hey!" She angrily pulled the wet hair that had stuck on her face and looked up to check whether there was someone above her. She saw nothing, and when she stood to go back to her room, she felt a pull on her hair that fluttered wildly, then it dried up and so did her clothes.

She pulled her hair to look at it and patted her dry clothes with her eyes widened.

"Okay, this trip is officially haunted." She mumbled and hurried to her room.

_

"I swear, there was water in my hair and clothes. Then this gust of wind happened and it just… dried." Jasmine's voice lowered through the last word as she tried not to appear insane, even though she herself thought she was crazy.

"When did that happen?" Vivian would have said that her friend was crazy if she was not so obsessed with magical happenings.

"Just a while ago when I went to the swimming platform. The water trickled on my head and seemed to be from nowhere." Jasmine continued to explain, and Vivian was not the only one who was confused. She was too.

Vivian closed in on her and ran her fingers through Jasmine's hair and was amazed that it was indeed dry. "You didn't dry your hair?" She asked, even though she knew that Jasmine had sat on her bed since she returned to the room.

When the latter shook her head, Vivian brought a hand in front of her mouth and chuckled. "What if…"

"I don't have a good feeling about that look." Jasmine stood and went to the window as though trying to get away from whatever insanity Vivian was going to insinuate.

"Hey, don't ignore me." Vivian followed her, laughing. "What if the sea was flirting?"

When she was done speaking, she came to a realization. "That's it! Jas, what if a water god fell for you and that was their way of flirting with you?"

Jasmine turned to look at her friend in shock, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Vivian, gods do not exist."