The four stepped into the ferry's interior and made their way to the cabin to greet the others. In the slightly small room sat a mother and her child. The mother was currently playing with her child with a somber expression. Upon hearing the footsteps, she turned, expecting to see some of the ship's crew. When she saw Doe squad, her eyes slightly widened.
"Oh, pardon me. I'm probably taking up most of the room." She turned and started gathering up the toys. She spoke quietly to her son, "Come on, Hugo, let's clean up our mess."
The young child, Hugo, mumbled a quiet, "Okay…"
"No, no, you're fine. We just came to see the others on the boat. We're going to sharing a ship for a few hours, we might as well get to know each other." Leo said as he stepped forward. He bent down towards the child and asked with a smile, "So your name is Hugo?"
The kid looked at him with large eyes and nodded slowly. Leo laughed and said, "That's a wonderful name. My name is Mathias, it's nice to meet you, Hugo." Leo stood up with a smile.
"Mathias? I have a cousin with that name…" The lady said with a pleasant smile, "It's nice to meet you, my name is Vera, Vera Galway. And you've met my son, Hugo."
The others introduced themselves to Vera.
"So, are you two from the island, or are you travelling through?" Faust asked as he went to go sit on a seat.
"No, we're travelling to Mixilo for some personal reasons. I've never been to the island, but I've heard its nice this time of year there." She answered. "What about you gentlemen?"
"No, we're heading to Mixilo as well. We're heading on a vacation before starting college." Luke answered.
"Oh, I see. What college are you all going to?" The group, mainly everyone but Leo, immersed themselves in conversation for a while. Eventually Vera got up to take Hugo to the restroom.
In the meantime, Leo began exploring the rest of the boat. He headed out to the observation deck to get some fresh air, when he saw a man leaning against the railing. He seemed to be deep in thought before he looked over and noticed Leo.
"It's strange, I used to get seasick easily, and now look at me. I'm perfectly fine. The boat's rocking isn't making me want to vomit my insides out." He chuckled.
Leo joked, "Hey, we haven't left the dock, you've still got time."
The man laughed and looked at Leo. He stuck out his hand, "Clarence Fleming, pleasure to meet you."
Leo shook his name and gave him his fake name. The two quickly began chatting and they had to speak up over the waves and the idling engine of the boat. The conversation quickly made its way over to their reasons for travelling. Leo gave the same excuse he gave Vera, the man however, brought up his line of work.
"I'm a marine biologist, a friend of mine discovered something out here, by the island. I'm heading over to see him. It was quite a large organism, something I've never seen before. It could be the discovery of a lifetime, but… well, time will tell." He said with a happy smile.
"Oh really? What does it look like?"
"That's just the thing, my friend has only seen it himself. I've got nothing as of yet, not even a picture, to go off of. He's sure that it's something never before seen, but we'll have to catch it first. Hopefully it doesn't migrate away, if it doesn't, it's quite large so it shouldn't be too hard to find. But, then again, the ocean is a large place." He gave a hearty laugh.
Clarence and Leo began talking to each other for a few minutes when they both heard a commotion coming from inside the boat. They looked at each other before they both headed inside.
Inside was a man and a woman, but the man was laying on the floor yelling at Hugo. Faust, Luke, and Andrew weren't having any of it and were stopping the man from doing anything stupid. The woman was also yelling at them. Hugo was crying and hiding himself behind his mother who was covering him and calming him down.
From what the man and woman were yelling, Leo could understand what took place. The man had slipped on one of Hugo's toys that were laying on the floor. Then he had fallen on the floor and this whole event kicked off. Leo could hear the man yelling about being hurt by the fall, and demanding compensation.
Leo shook his head and walked forward. He placed his hands under the man's armpits and lifted him up. When Leo let go, the man was dumfounded by what Leo had done. So much so, that he didn't seem to be in any pain whatsoever. Leo turned around and headed over to Vera and Hugo.
"Are you two alright?" He asked gently.
"Y-yes. It was just an accident; I didn't mean for anything to happen…" Vera said softly.
"It's alright, like you said, it was just an accident." Leo turned towards the two with an annoyed expression. "You two need to calm down, it wasn't on purpose. I understand it probably hurt, but you're adults, you can handle some pain."
"Listen bud, I don't need your lip. I got a bad back, and I don't need to fall onto the floor because of some stupid kid." The man said with clear aggravation in his voice.
"Or you could pay attention to where you're walking. You know, having even the slightest bit of situational awareness…" Faust retorted.
"I don't need a lecture from another kid."
"I'm twenty years old dude." Faust said with a face full of distain. The man was most likely in his late twenties, meaning the word 'kid,' was nowhere near accurate.
"Yeah, and I don't care." The man said as he turned to leave, "Come on…" He said to his wife as he grabbed her hand to leave. The two walked out of the room and disappeared.
At the same time, the idling engine roared to life and the ferry started moving slowly. The captain from earlier, the man who wore the shorts and flipflops, entered the room. He scratched his head slightly as he looked at all the people crowding the area.
He squeezed himself past everyone and opened a cupboard, taking out a new pack of cigarettes. He turned and squeezed back out. He looked at everyone in confusion since they all were staring at him. He paused for a moment as he tore off the plastic covering the package.
"W-what?"
"…Nothing." Andrew said with a sigh as he shook his head. The captain looked over at Andrew and furrowed his brows as his confusion deepened.
"Did something happen?" He asked.
"It's alright now. It was just an accident." Vera said quietly as she checked up on the now tired Hugo.
"Well, I've got to get back to… ya' know." The captain motioned behind himself, towards the rest of the ship. He slowly left as he took a cigarette out of the packet and began lighting it.
Vera sighed with a weary expression, "Thank you all."
"It's al- uh… You alright?" Leo asked as he turned towards Clarence who looked like he was getting sick. His eyes slightly glossed over as he did a thousand-yard stare. He wobbled slightly and fell to a seat.
Leo wrapped his arm around the obviously seasick Clarence. It was then that Leo noticed the irony. Clarence was a marine biologist who got seasick.
Talk about having the wrong profession.
Leo took the man and they walked outside over to the bathroom of the ferry where the man quickly began throwing up. Leo patted Clarence's back as he looked away, trying not to inhale any of the smell.
A few hours passed and it was now much darker out. In the far distance, while standing on the deck, Leo saw a lone island. He leaned back as he saw all the small lights being obstructed by some fog.
For the first time in his life, he also got to see an actual lighthouse. The light spun around and around, again and again. Leo thought it was beautiful in a strange way.
The island itself was still a ways away, however, and Leo was starting to get hungry. He turned around and began heading into the kitchen on the ship. He opened the door and found everyone quietly eating. Faust, Andrew, Luke, and Clarence were huddled together separating Vera and Hugo from the couple.
As Leo entered, he noticed the captain leaning on the counter with a bowl of soup and some crackers. When the captain saw Leo, he handed over some of the food and Leo took it.
"Bet you didn't expect me to also be the ship's cook. None of my boys can cook for shi-" He quickly looked over at Vera and apologized, "Sorry ma'am, you know they say about a sailor's mouth and all that."
She nodded with a smile and continued feeding her son some food. Leo leaned against the counter with the captain.
"I heard from a friend," Leo wasn't sure what to call Bunny, but a friend seemed accurate enough, "that some strange stuff has been going on the island."
The captain looked at Leo and clicked his tongue, "Nasty business that. I don't really believe any of that stuff, but then again, I don't stay on the island. When you get on the island, you'll meet a man by the name of Bishop Miller. He's eccentric to say the least. He works for the same company as me, but he stays on the island providing bedding and food for those waiting on the ferries if they're late or delayed. He'll talk your head off about the island being cursed. He locks himself up in his lighthouse whenever he isn't gathering you all or visiting us at the docks for supplies."
"This Bishop… is he reliable?" Leo asked.
The captain got a little hesitant to answer, "Well, yes. But that doesn't mean he isn't, you know, a little wrong in the head. As long as it relates to his job, he does it perfectly, but again, anything else he refuses. He thinks the only safe place on the entire island is his lighthouse. The man's gone mad. It makes me sad, he used to be my best mate." There was a tinge of depression in his voice.
Leo nodded and started eating his food before it got cold. The captain then finished his food and got up to continue steering the boat, but Leo stopped him.
"One moment please, those two, what are their names?" Leo pointed towards the couple.
He scoffed, "Buncha' cheapskates. They'd tried to bring the prices down so far this boat would sink. That's Mrs. Adeline Bennett and that's Mr. Marshall Bennett. Buncha' pricks if you ask me... Oh." He looked towards Vera and apologized again.
"Alright, thanks." Leo said as he let the captain get back to his job. Needless to say, Leo would be keeping a close eye on the Bennett's. Leo started finally digging into his meal.
One by one, people got up from the table and went their separate ways. Leo was the last one in the room, and he began finishing up his food. He got up and placed the bowl in the sink with a blank expression.
He started cleaning it when he heard a pair of footsteps. He turned and saw Hugo looking around the room, underneath all the furniture.
"You need some help?" Leo asked while putting the bowl away to dry. Hugo looked back at Leo and nodded slightly.
Leo quickly wiped his hands and turned around. He bent down to the floor and asked with a smile, "Alright, what are we looking for then?"
"A-a boat." The kid mumbled.
"A boat? Oh, that's easy. Found one!" Leo joked as he tapped the floor.
Hugo smiled and said, "No, a toy boat!"
"Oh? A toy boat? Hmm… That'll be harder… Only one way to find it! Let's get searching!" Leo smiled and began looking under the table and seats. Hugo began looking around the room near the counter.
"Mathias?"
Leo looked over and saw Vera standing by the door.
"Oh, hey. Hugo lost his toy boat, I'm just helping him look for it."
Vera looked over and saw Hugo also on the floor looking around, "Ah… I was wondering where you went." She smiled and walked over to Hugo. She bent down and lifted Hugo up.
"I'm sorry Hugo, but we've got to go." She said with a sad expression, she looked over at Leo, "We've made it to the island and we're going to get off in a moment."
Hugo's lip began trembling, but he tried not to cry. Vera began patting his back and helping him calm his emotions.
"Hey Hugo, don't worry, I'll find it for you." Leo said as he gave a thumbs up. Hugo looked at Leo with wide as he nodded slowly. He clung to his mother's clothes as she smiled towards Leo.
She mouthed out a silent, "Thank you."
Leo nodded and she left. He quickly began looking around for the toy and eventually the captain came into the room after a few minutes had passed.
"Hey, we've got a schedule to keep. I can't stay here much longer, what are ya doin'?"
Leo stood up and looked at the captain with a frustrated expression, "I'm looking for a toy that kid lost. I can't find it though. He seemed sure he left it in here too."
The captain looked at Leo then at the room for a moment. Then he sighed and pointed up, behind Leo. Leo's brows scrunched together in confusion, and he turned around.
On top of a cupboard, near the ceiling, was a little toy boat hidden away. It was obviously in a spot that Hugo definitely wouldn't have been able to reach, meaning someone put it there. Leo instantly narrowed the suspects down to two people.
"Those little shits." Leo mumbled as he reached up and grabbed the toy. He thanked the captain and the two went down to the deck.
There, everybody was standing, waiting for him. Hugo and his mother were holding their hands together as Hugo watched the door. As Leo walked out, he lifted the boat slightly and made it 'fly' over to Hugo.
When he got to Hugo, Hugo raised his arms with a smile. Leo made the boat gently land on his upturned palms. Hugo clasped them with a giddy expression as he looked at the boat.
"Thank you!" Hugo said with his entire focus on the boat, as if it contained the secrets of the universe. Leo chuckled and walked over to his group.
"Thank you, Mathias." Vera said softly.
As Leo stood with the others they began talking quietly behind his back.
"I didn't take him for someone who'd like to be around kids." Andrew whispered.
"I'd thought he'd dropkick a kid before ever interacting with one." Luke whispered back.
"I wouldn't go that far, but yeah, I didn't expect that either." Faust whispered to the other two.
"You know I can hear you all, right?" Leo whispered with a horrifying smile that foretold the downfall of the three. They felt their lifeforce draining away with each passing second.
"S-sorry." The three mumbled.