Chapter 9 Lucas ghost and an approaching storm

Nights on the ship became ghastly since the death of Lucas. I was haunted by nightmares of him in my sleep and got scared at night. I could see his shadows lurking around. I could sometimes feel his weight on me, and the incident that occurred replayed at night. Jules and the rest of the sailors all said it was all in my head and wasn't real, but my mind failed to believe. I got scared of getting up at night after that one night I got up to get a drink from the kitchen cabin. I kept on hearing footsteps and the lantern I lit began flickering until it went off.

I had long forgotten about taking a drink and wanted to return to my cabin immediately. I picked up a box of matches and tried lighting it, but it refused to light up. I proceeded to walk back to my cabin without a lantern, letting the moonlight guide me. I got terrified when I saw an image of Lucas' bloody body on the deck and screamed. My screaming woke everyone up, and Jules rushed to me. I immediately hugged him tightly while the others looked around for whatever might have made me scream.

"Young lady, why did you scream so late in the night?" the captain said, displeased that I had woken him up.

I was too terrified to say anything and held on to Jules tightly. "What's wrong Akhona? Why did you scream?" Jules gently whispered in my ears.

"I saw Lucas' dead body on the ship, and I got terrified. It might be his ghost that is haunting me," I whispered back, terrified.

He chuckled gently, annoying me that he took it lightly. "There's no such thing as a ghost, remember. It's all in your head. Come, let's go to bed, okay?" he said, comforting.

"I'm just telling you what I saw. Can I stay with you for the night? I can't stay alone in the cabin," I replied back as he gently lifted my face and placed his lips on mine. As he gently kissed me, I became less terrified and felt calm. "Alright then, let's go to my cabin," he said with a grin on his face. From his look, I could tell what he wanted, but I was in no mood for that. I was certain that I had seen Lucas' ghost or dead body and couldn't sleep with that fact.

"Next time you scream like that, let it be something reasonable," the captain said, retiring from the search and heading for his chambers.

"Jules, please be kind enough to stay with your Akhona every night. I don't like waking up at night; I'm not sure if Lucas' ghost, but the spirits of the Night Eagles still lurk around," Phil said, terrifying me a little as he returned back to his cabin followed by Derrick.

Jules and I walked back to his cabin, but I kept looking back for Lucas' ghost but saw nothing. Maybe my mind was simply playing a game with me, but a part refused to believe that. Resisting Jules was more difficult than I thought; he was bent on getting what he wanted from me, and I couldn't give him a good reason to refuse.

"Stop resisting. I promised myself I would make you feel better, and you'll stop thinking of Lucas' ghost haunting you," he said while planting kisses on my neck. I turned my back to him, pretending to sleep, but it only gave him access to my back. His hands gently caressed my body while he continued planting kisses all over me.

"Next time, please. I really need to get some sleep," I continued resisting and finally got up to face his desiring eyes. He was already shirtless, revealing his well-defined abs built up from his many adventures on the sea. At that point, all I wanted was to grab his face close to mine and lock my lips with him. I gently shook off the thought and stood my ground. Lately, he had been demanding, and I didn't want to keep on giving myself to him.

"Why are you doing this to me?" he said childishly, trying to draw me closer to him.

"I really can't do this right now," I finally said, standing up from the bed. He also got up and hugged me from behind, "Don't leave, please, I need you," he said, still kissing me gently on my neck.

I pushed him off gently, "Jules seriously, no. If you can't control yourself, it's best I go back to my room and face my ghost problem," I replied, annoyed that he was still bent on getting what he wanted.

I could hear him sigh from behind as he slumped on the bed disappointed. I left his cabin and returned back to mine. I had to choose between staying with a ghost and a sex-demanding boyfriend. At times I missed Zuko and wished I could meet him. I slept off later with the thoughts of Zuko. Just remembering the memories we spent made me feel safe.

I woke up the next day rather late. I must have slept deeply. Breakfast was made by Phil, and everyone had theirs except me. Surprisingly, Jules didn't wake me up and had his breakfast without me. He had never done that before since we always had our breakfast together. I quickly had breakfast and went to meet the captain, who kept staring at the sea.

"You look distant, captain. Anything bothering you?" I said.

"Days from now, we would land on dry land. Our supplies are getting low, and it looks like a heavy storm is approaching," the captain said, still staring at the sea.

"The sky looked clear to me. There's not a dark cloud in the sky. For the supplies, we can manage until we land, and I feel it's my fault that the supplies won't reach. You didn't plan to have an extra sailor to feed," I replied.

"And I didn't also plan to lose a sailor. We can manage the supplies, but it's the storm I'm worried about. You can't see it now, but I can feel it coming, and it's coming at us," the captain said, still looking at the sea. "If we decide to change our course and avoid the storm, it would take days before we reach dry land, and we would be left with no supplies," he continued.

"So either way, we are at risk. We either die of hunger or die through the storm," I said.

"But we have a better chance with the storm. It wouldn't be our first time facing a storm, and it wouldn't be the last, captain," Phil cut in. "We just need to plan ahead and face the storm. Just like other storms, it would pass away, and dry land would be ahead," he said confidently, but the captain wasn't still moved. I couldn't understand what made this storm different from the rest they had faced.

"I love your positivity, Phil, but it wouldn't be easy, and not all of us might survive," the captain said.

"That's what you always say, captain, and we always survive. In every adventure, there's always a risk attached to it, but we can't let that scare us. We can't remain on the sea forever," Phil added.

The captain finally stopped looking at the sea and turned to face Phil, "As always, you tend to motivate me each time there's a storm. I'm ready

to forget my fears one last time and believe your words, but we need to prepare for anything that might happen," the captain finally said, motioning to leave. "Call Jules to my cabin; tell him a storm is approaching, and we need to secure the ship," he said and left. "Alright, captain," Phil replied and left too, leaving me on the deck alone.

I looked at the sea, trying to catch a glimpse of the storm the captain was talking about, but I couldn't see anything. Maybe he was talking about a different storm or maybe both. It had been a while now, and Jules hadn't come to meet me. I couldn't wait again and headed to meet him in his cabin. As expected, he lay on his bed, looking up, thinking about something. I gently knocked on the door to get his attention, but he simply turned his face away and told me to leave.

"Why should I leave now? You haven't come to meet me, so I decided to come and see you. What happened? You didn't even wake me up for breakfast?" I said, sitting on the bed next to him while he turned his back at me.

"You wanted to sleep, so I decided to let you sleep. I didn't bother waking you up since I knew you would wake up yourself," he said coldly.

"I guess you're still mad from yesterday," I said, trying to get him to fix me, but he resisted. We had switched roles now, and I was the one now trying to get him to talk to me. "Okay, Jules, I'm sorry for refusing you like that yesterday. I wasn't in the mood, and I was still terrified over the ghost incident," I said, embracing him from behind.

"And I'm also not in the mood to talk to you right now," he replied, getting up from the bed, but I held his hand, refusing him to leave. I held him tight, "Please don't go, I already said I'm sorry."

"You saying sorry isn't enough. Please leave; we can talk later," he said, breaking the embrace.

I decided to leave him alone, realizing he was actually serious about what he said. If I continue begging him, he would use it as leverage to get what he wants from me any time he wants. Since he was acting stubborn, it's best I played along and focused on other things.

Days, weeks, or months from now, we would approach dry land. According to the captain, we would arrive in the United States. From there, I could begin my journey in looking for dad. I brought out the old book again and looked at the address. '14 Abraham Lincoln Avenue, opposite the old city church.' It was his address alright, but from many years ago. What if he wasn't there anymore? What if he wasn't in the city anymore? What if he had a new family and wouldn't recognize me anymore? What if he refused to take care of me, or what if he never left at all and still lived in South Africa? Would my whole mission coming here be a waste? If he was still in South Africa, he would have found out about mother's death and come looking for me? And worst, what if he was also dead? Many "what ifs" kept trailing in my mind. There were so many possibilities, and all I needed was to trust my instinct that I would find him no matter what. A voice in me kept telling me he wasn't in South Africa, and I would find him. I trusted that voice, and that's what kept me moving. I had long forgotten about Jules' stubbornness and now focused on how I would find Dad. He was more important than anything else, and he was my only family I had for now.