67

-Third Person's POV-

" Please stay calm as we have everything under control. Do please wear the life vests given by the crew members but we have everything under control." The cruise director told everyone with a smile on his face.

" We just lost power and they expect us to remain calm? As if the whole ride wasn't stressful enough." One of the students whispered to their friend as they took one of the life vests.

"We are just one day away from reaching Norway, and then this happens."

"This is like every other movie scene where the crew members tell us to remain calm when they themselves are panicking on the inside. Who knows if they'll just abandon us without us knowing." Another rolled their eyes.

"It's quite scary, it's almost 9:30 pm and it's already sunset. The waves might pick up and we'd have no power..."

" Good afternoon, Ladies~" Meredith greeted them in a sing-song voice.

"So, who the fuck are you, Miss ugly ass?" Charm bit as she glared at her.

"Ooh~ feisty aren't we? I'll let it pass since this is the last time we'd ever see each other." She said and rolled her eyes. She glanced at the whole room and she was drawn to the specific woman that made her begin the plan in the first place.

"If it isn't the one and only Miss Aera Whitfield? The soulmates of those bratty, self-important, rich, spoiled, idiots. " Her words filled with distaste.

" Y-You..you're Meredith..aren't you?" She started breathing heavily. Her eyes shook slightly from the anger building inside her.

The reason for their trauma

The person behind their pain

The person who started it all.

" What made you think I am her? Pfft- who am I kidding? Of course, I am Meredith~ Though I do go by the name Kendra nowadays but, who cares? " She laughed.

" You know her??" Charm questioned Aera, in shock.

"Yeah I know her, she is the reason why I was rejected in the first place." Not wanting to disclose the whole story, she said what Charms would understand from what she had previously told her.

"What do you want from the rest of us? If you have business with this student, then why bring all of us with your drama????" Samantha gritted.

"I want my last performance to be grand. What better way to end it all than with a bang with the soulmate of the people I hate the most and a whole bunch of immature and spoiled people? " She laughed even harder.

"Wait..are you planning to commit suicide by killing us all with you?!"

"Indeed I am, Miss Supermodel. It sure would be lonely to die by myself. Wouldn't you agree, Miss Aera?" She patted Aera's cheek harshly and giggled.

Aera remained silent, she stared directly at Meredith's eyes, studying her.

"Those brats are quite lucky, aren't they? You are quite a beauty..but beauty only lasts when you're young..and alive. In the end, we'll all be a pile of bones or in our case, ashes. And don't get me wrong, it's not like I hate you..I despise you. It's funny since we don't even know each other."

"Can you tell me why did you do that to them? Why did you not vent all your anger towards your parents instead? Why?? " Aera asked in a monotonous tone.

"I'll tell you why, it's because none of this would have happened if it weren't for your bloodline. If your great grandfather hadn't rejected my grandmother then none of this would have started. I would be a happy child with a loving mother and everyone would live in paradise. But not everything goes the way you want it, right?? It's only just I get my revenge." She started laughing maniacally.

" I see." Aera nodded her head and leaned back on her seat.

Meredith stopped laughing and stood over her. Her eye twitched and she raised her had to slap Aera across the face.

"Leave that girl alone!!" Samantha screamed at her. Meredith turned around and glared at Samantha.

"You know..you are quite annoying."

"What are you doing, be careful Lorey!" Archer grabbed Lorelei's hand as she nearly tripped. They found a way to sneak back to the stairs when they didn't see any crew members in sight.

"I couldn't see which deck we are at now but I think we might have accidentally reached the bottom. Can you turn on your flashlight??" Lorelei asked him while holding his arm.

"Sure, in a sec."

"Do you hear that?? It sounds like water doesn't it?" She spoke while leaning her ear to the open dark space.

"Isn't it because we are literally in the ocean right now?" He said, confused while searching for his phone.

"No..no.I'm pretty sure I hear it from the inside." She shook her head.

When Archer turned on his flashlight, they both tensed up.

"T-That's water isn't it?" She pointed at the floor.

"Let's go back up, hurry! " He pulled Lorelei and rushed upstairs.

"A-Ah.." A small voice came out of Samantha as she tried to hold in the pain on her thigh.

"You finally shut up now, didn't ya?" Meredith hid her gun back to her belt and crouched to meet Samantha's eyes.

"Well, I really should be going. Do have fun drowning...or burning, whichever comes first." She laughed.

As she turned around, Aera stabbed her in her stomach and kicked the knife to go even deeper.

Meredith crouched down on the floor and held her stomach while looking up at Aera with widened eyes.

"Didn't think I'd have more knives, didn't you? " She smiled while copying her crouching on the floor.

" Y-You bitch." She managed to grab her gun but was easily taken away with one kick to her wrist.

Aera grabbed her gun and pointed it at her.

"I'd want to kill you in a much worse way but I don't really have much time to lose. " She then pulled the trigger and shot her twice in the chest.

Wallace walked in but she quickly shot him square in the head.

"Eww but FUCK YEAH!" Charm cheered.

She rushed to Samantha's side and untied her then went to Charm who immediately crushed her in a hug.

"I didn't believe that stupid vice principal or your ugly bodyguards even for one minute." She said through their hug.

"..I knew you wouldn't." She said with a smile on her face.

Since there were only emergency lights on, their vision was limited.

Upon reaching the top, they found the students in a panic.

"What's happening?? " Charm worriedly asked.

Suddenly, Samantha managed to run to the side making them even more confused but then they saw that she was holding onto a crew member.

" Where the fuck do you think you're going?? " Samantha gritted.

" C-Captain, I- I- " The woman stuttered but Samantha could still hear the distant sound of the crack releasing.

She grabbed the flashlight that the crew member had and pointed it at the direction she heard it.

It was a life boat with other crew members in it.

"What the fuck do you fuckers think you're doing?!! Why are you all in there and not the fucking guests?!!"

It got worse when she stretched out the light further to see four more lifeboats out and only filled with crew members.

"..They're all in on it." She muttered silently, in shock.

In a midst of rage, she pushed the crew member off the ship and rushed out to the nearest speaker.

"THIS IS THE CAPTAIN SPEAKING, I AM NOW BACK IN CHARGE OF THE SHIP AND ALL CREW MEMBERS STILL ABOARD, HELP THE GUESTS TO GET IN THE LIFEBOATS. WE ARE ABANDONING SHIP. I REPEAT, WE ARE ABANDONING SHIP."

She then continued on saying where the students should go and what they should do.

"AERA! CHARM!" Lorelei yelled as she ran towards them with two life jackets.

"Lorey! what the hell is happening?!!" Charm asked while shaking her shoulders.

"Water is flowing in the ship, I can't tell if it's fast or not but we tried placing a cup of water on a table to check, we are definitely leaning on one side more than the other. Hurry and wear these!" She pushed the life jackets to them.

"Wait, where is Archer???" Aera asked.

"Aren't I suppose to ask you that? we were in the middle of looking for you just a minute ago when a woman came to us saying that you needed our help, she was all bloody so we panicked. Archer told me to grab life jackets but when I turned around he was gone. I assumed that he went to look for you. Why? isn't he with you???"

"B-Bloody woman?? Did she have, r-red hair??" Aera stuttered.

"Y-Yeah..what's wrong??..Aera, tell me what's wrong!"

Aera and Charm shared a look when Aera then ran off.

"Charm, what the fuck is happening?? Where is Arc???" Tears started forming in her eyes as she asked her.

Bumping into student after student, Aera tried her best to pass by them and scan the place. She went back to the stairs and saw the track of blood leading back down to the lower deck.

*click*

'What was that?'

*BANG*

To be Continued . . .