Sea breeze whipped my face. I was on a ferry boat, taking my normal route to see my parents. It was a pleasant view, a pure and infinite ocean surrounding me on all sides. There was no human destruction in the ocean, there was peace and a sense of overwhelming calmness.
That was until my phone rang. I picked it up. It was a random number, so I answered it without speaking.
"Hello, James Horben. You're going on the U.S.S. Portsmith to New York City, on a visit to your parents." It was a random voice I had never heard before. My mouth dropped, and my heart beat faster than ever before. "Who are you?" I whispered to the phone. The voice didn't answer my question. "You have 1 minute until a bomb goes off. It's hidden inside this vessel. I don't know where. You can either jump off or find the bomb, although the latter will be tricky, to say the least. Good luck."
The phone turned off. My eyes were wide with shock, looking at the once peaceful ocean. Now, I felt the uneasy waves shift the ground below me. I felt the breathes of air I had leave my chest. I couldn't breathe for several moments, until I was settled down again. My thoughts had subsided from pure terror to adrenaline. I had to act fast, or else everyone's lives were at stake.
I looked at the ocean. It probably was freezing. I looked back at the passengers, eagerly entertaining themselves until they got to NYC. One was a little girl in a bright red cap next to her mother, reading a People magazine. Another was an old man, playing a game of solitaire in his phone. If I said nothing, they would die. But if I said something, it would cause chaos.
I ran through the passengers still on the top of the boat, going down the stairs. The bomb would be on the first floor at the least, if an attacker wanted to cause the most damage. On the first floor, I saw security. I gave a sigh of relief.
"Excuse me, I need security." I explained, running towards them as quickly as I could. I didn't care if it made me seem like a small child running after a lollipop, I would do it.
The security was a young men, most likely in his twenties. His brown eyes peeked into my own. "What's the issue?"
"I got a bomb threat for this ship. It explodes in less than a minute-"
"Do you have anything to verify this? Do you have a record of the threat?" I nodded no. "It was a phone call-I didn't recognize the callers voice-I didn't get it recorded."
The security guard cleared his throat. "I can report this to the head of security, but if there's no proof..."
I nodded. They wouldn't get it in time. I climbed back up to the top floor, not paying attention to the security yelling back for my attention. Time was ticking, the chance to make our break my world was slowly disappearing from my grasp.
The little girl now had her head on her mother's shoulder, her eyes closed for sleep. The old man had turned to reading a book. I scanned the ocean floor. Dark waves battered against the boat. I didn't bother to yell. I couldn't even tell if I was being told the truth, or it was just a prank by one of my mischievious friends. Yet, I had told no one but my parents and my sister that I had been visiting. My brain thought back to the old man and the little girl. Would they survive? Should I take the plunge right now? How many others were on the boat that were about to die?
Hesitantly, grabbing the handle bar, I took a step closer to the boats edge-
The ground shook below me, and the cold hard grip of reality grabbed me by the shoulder. 60 seconds was up.
ns 15.158.61.23da2
