Broken (8 page)

The inside was red and the steering wheel was huge — like
on a bus. The driver, who was male, had to turn it with one hand
crossing over the other. The radio was playing what sounded like
The Beach Boys masked in static.

There was a passenger in the seat next to him — a woman.
She was nibbling on his ear while he drove with her hand on his
thigh. I hate to make judgments without knowing more about the
circumstances, but something about their behavior didn’t seem
quite right.

We were driving past fields of corn that were dotted with
weeping willows. The groping and heavy kissing was causing the car
to swerve.

I didn’t like where this was going. Plus, I wasn’t
sure how much longer I wanted to be in the car, especially without
a seatbelt.

The woman in the front was giggling incessantly and the man was
moaning. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to see exactly what
they were up to, but I think his pants were undone.

I slid over in the back seat to get a glance at the man. Between
more heavy petting and kissing, I realized that this was my
grandfather. I’d seen photos of him as a child. The prominent
chin was unmistakable.

There were no cars coming towards us, nor behind us. So, I was
relieved to know that their reckless behavior wouldn’t
necessarily cost them their lives. At the same time, I wasn’t
entirely sure what might happen to me if I was caught in an
accident. Maybe I’d just slide right through whatever came at
them.

The woman in the front started to get a little more aggressive,
licking my grandfather’s neck and almost sitting on his lap.
There was a hunger to her.

The car swerved again. My grandfather was struggling to see as
he drove, but he wasn’t exactly asking her to stop either. He
hoisted her onto him so she was straddling him. I noticed
something. My grandfather’s wedding ring. He was married, and
I knew my grandmother to have had black hair. This woman’s
hair was golden.

I nearly gasped. I hadn’t really paid attention to it,
until I got a glimpse of her face. This was the same woman
who’d been at the door on my last trip like this. The one who
had been trying to sell beauty products to my mother just as my
father was being electrocuted.

The woman looked right at me as the car swerved again, this time
towards one of those weeping willows. She was smiling.

I screamed as the car drove into the tree.

Chapter 10

I woke to find Chris nudging me. The earrings were in his
hand.

“Hey, you okay?”

Like the last time, I felt really groggy. I blinked at him.

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” he said. “But you were mumbling a
little, so I took the earrings off.”

“How long was I out?”

“Not even five minutes,” he said.

It seemed longer than that, but I have to admit this trip was
brief compared to the last one. I took the earrings. I was going
back. Twice in my family’s life that woman had shown up, and
she looked the same age. The fact she had looked straight at me
both times didn’t sit well. Something was going on.

“I’m trying again,” I said. I hooked one of
them in.

“What did you see?”

“I’ll tell you after. Something’s not
right.”

I hooked the second one and the blackness took me again.

I was beginning to get a little used to these trips, but I have
to say the death part was never pleasant. Not only was watching my
family members die upsetting, but actually being a part of
the car accident in that last one was unnerving. I hoped that
wasn’t how
I
was going to go.

Then there was that woman. That part bothered me the most.

Who the hell was she?

This time my ghostly form stood inside the bowels of some kind
of ship. Or so I thought. There was a seesaw motion and a hollow,
metallic creaking. It was dark here, and cold, with only a faint
metal-encased bulb at the end of the corridor to let me see where I
was going. I walked the corridor to a metal door. There was no
point in opening it — I just slipped through.

The next room was darker, and from what I could tell, this
appeared to be some kind of crew’s quarters. Bunks with men in them filled the
tiny room. I knew this couldn’t
have been the standard crew — there were too few of them.

I tried to make out the time as it must have been the middle of
the night. I had no luck. No clocks.

There were two other things on my mind as I scanned the room.
Which one of these men was I supposed to be following? And where
was that woman?

I searched through the snoring, flatulent bodies and found
nothing that indicated who I should be concentrating on. I had been
hoping for some kind of glow, or something.

Nothing.

Fortunately, the woman wasn’t around. A part of me hoped she might
not be here this time.

I was suddenly jolted as a thundering sound echoed through the
hull. The ship heaved, knocking the men from their beds. They were
so young, some not even eighteen. As they yelled out, I caught
their accent.

Brits.

They paused for a moment, as if waiting for something. Somewhere
in the mumbling I could hear an announcement come over the speaker
system. I didn’t catch it all, but there was something about
checking the magazine temperature. I had no idea what that
meant.

There didn’t seem to be anything further, and the men
climbed back into bed with the exception of one. He made his way to
the door.

“Gregory!” called one of the men. “Where are
you going?”

The man called Gregory was dark-haired and had the prominent
chin of my grandfather. I had never seen a photo of my
great-grandfather, but I was pretty sure this had to be him. In the
dim light he looked pretty dirty, but he was built like a brick
shithouse.

“Back in a minute,” Gregory said, and slipped
through the door.

I whisked after him, through the cold, metallic corridors. He
moved as if driven by some purpose. I followed him through dark
hallways until he arrived at a room that smelled acrid. He poked
his head in, as if checking something, and then moved on. I
continued to trail him up ladders and along further tight corridors
until we reached the deck. It was a narrow ship with a huge tower
and massive turrets.

It was difficult to see in the dead of night, even with the
Northern Lights in the distance. That green and red weaving
meant we had to be pretty far north.

I continued to shadow Gregory as he walked through the chill of
the night to each side of the ship, leaning over to examine the
sides and the water in the distance. He finally stopped at one part
of the ship. His hands gripped the railing. He was staring into the
distance, and as I got closer I knew what was coming.

I didn’t even reach him before the explosion hit. It was
followed by another right after. The ship lurched and I fell to
the deck screaming, Gregory with me.

Why was I feeling this?

Now I was worried.

The few lights that shone went out. Explosions boomed within the ship, and flames flared from the ladder we had climbed up. The ship
tilted, spilling Gregory and I along the deck towards the other
side.

We both clung to the railing. I tried to pull out the earrings.
They weren’t there.

“Chris!” I called out. “Wake me up!”

I wanted out of this. Now!

Screams bellowed from below us as the ship started to tilt
further. The open portholes at the side of the ship were now going
under the surface of the water. We were sinking fast.

The ship lurched further. Gregory and I tumbled overboard. I
screamed until I hit the water. It was cold, and my breath was
taken from me. I struggled to get it back.

“Chris!” I called again. The ship groaned as it
began to sink.

I saw Gregory swimming away, towards shore. I went after
him.

I used to be a varsity swimmer, so it didn’t take long to
catch him.

I wasn’t sure we’d make it to shore before the cold
took us. I didn’t know what season this was. It wasn’t
quite winter, but it was far from summer.

I heard men yelling, others attempting to swim like us. The ship
was now mostly under water. I caught its name on the side.

H.M.S. Royal Oak

Gregory was now struggling to swim and his head kept going
under, like he was being pulled.

I tried to grab him, but my hands went through him. Again, his
head came up for a moment, and then he went under again.

I saw his problem. The golden-haired woman was there, under the
water. She was pulling him down. She looked up at me through the
dark waters, and gave me her wicked smile.

After one last gasp, Gregory was pulled to the depths of the
sea.

I continued to tread water. Why wasn’t I waking up?

“Chris!” I called again. “Wake me
up!”

I started to swim for shore. There was no way I was staying
here, not when I could feel the cold like this.

I got about one hundred yards when I felt a tug at my leg.

No!

I looked down. The golden-haired woman was there. She was
holding the earrings out with that malevolent glint in her eye.

Then, she snatched my leg and pulled me under.

I couldn’t believe this was happening. I was supposed to
be on an airplane. This was supposed to be a dream. It wasn’t
real. This bitch was not supposed to be tugging at my leg trying to
drown me.

I kicked at her head.

“Chris!” I gurgled as I resurfaced.
The waters were so cold, and I didn’t have the energy to
fight this woman.

Then, I jerked awake.

The familiar hum of the cabin was like music to my ears.

Chris was nudging me. I coughed up water on him.

“What happened?” he asked. He didn’t seem to
mind the water. “Are you all right? I’ve been trying to
wake you.”

“How long was I out?”

“A few hours.” He lowered his voice to a whisper.
“I came back a couple minutes ago and the earrings were gone.
I thought maybe you took them out and were sleeping, but when I
heard you mumbling I tried to wake you. You took a long time to
come back.”

I clung to him. He was a source of sanity in all this, mostly
because he believed me. “She has the earrings.”

“Who?”

I told him about the golden-haired woman, how I’d seen her
in every trip and how she seemed to be responsible for the deaths
of my family.

“Wow,” he said. “So who is she? And why is she
doing this?”

“I don’t know,” I said. I coughed up more
water. This time I swallowed it down. It was salty.

“You sure you’re okay?”

I shook my head. “This is salt water. She tried to drown
me in the sea. The dreams, or whatever they are, are becoming
almost real.”

A shudder ran through me. Maybe it was good she took the
earrings. Another one of these trips and she might actually kill
me.

The salt water churned in my stomach. I unbuckled.

“I think I need to use the washroom.”

He took me by the arm and escorted me down the aisle.

What the hell was going on? Who was this woman? For that matter,
what
was she? No woman stayed that young over a period of three
generations. It wasn’t possible.

And why was she killing my ancestors? And if she was going to
come after me, how was I going to stop her?

Chris opened the door to the washroom.

“Can I grab some paper towels?” he asked. I grabbed
a few and patted his shirt.

“Sorry about that,” I said.

He smiled. “Don’t sweat it.”

His pants were damp as well. I looked down at them,
contemplating whether I should pat those dry as well.

He didn’t need to encourage me with words; his eyes were
doing that for him.

Quite frankly, this was a welcome distraction.

I felt that rush of warm charm envelop me. It was all I could
do to resist.

I didn’t.

Instead, I pulled him into the washroom and locked the door.

Chapter 11