Heavenly Seas Chapter Four

The idea of another party made Heath heave. What was the point of being around food that he couldn’t have or refused to have? The tensions between Calvin and their mother made his heart rate accelerate. Their bickering still echoed in his head. Every time he heard glass shatter, he thought of his family.

The last thing his father heard before he died were broken bottles. The world was so quick to brand his mother a murderer, they must not have known that his dad had a nut allergy. Calvin avoided peanuts like the plague.

It had been over a decade since Heath almost perished to anaphylaxis caused by dairy milk. His father was so worried about him being on the farm, that he shipped Heath off to relatives who embraced a plant-based lifestyle.

So Heath never understood how a household with a family history of allergies could lose vigilance over the years. It didn’t make any sense. Nor did he understand why people pointed the finger at his mother. The only one who could benefit from his father’s death was Calvin. He was the one set to inherit the family farm.

Heath gasped. Holding his hand on his heart, his head sunk into his chest. Both legs tumbled to the floor as he fought back the tears. He couldn’t believe his thoughts. He was starting to think that Calvin had murdered their father. He wished he could make the thoughts stop. It scared him more than any monsters that lurked on the ship.

He knocked on Josephine’s door. He half expected to be swamped with a thousand balls of wool. Josephine seemed to have aged backwards. Her grey hairs were blonde, and her wrinkles had been ironed out. From the distinct mole and thick glasses, he could tell it was still Josephine.

“Hello, Josephine!” He greeted her like a friend he had known for years. At least she was the closest he had to a friend on the ship.

“Hello, Dearie!” Josephine was one of those women that people his age would sniff their nose at. Heath knew his family wouldn't even stop to look at her. She’d fit in well in his village. Heath could imagine her mesmerising the church’s knitting group with her creations. “Come in.”

She looked like someone who just wanted to talk. The kind that scammers would target door-to-door insurance or with random telephones. When Josephine invited him into his cabin, he thought he had entered an enchanted craft fair.

“How is the jumper coming along?” he asked.

“Oh.” Josephine pushed up her glasses before rummaging through her tiny handbag. “Your jumper has been ready for ages. I had a sudden burst of creativity that I just couldn't stop.” She pulled out a kitchen sink and a doll house before getting out a green jumper with the cast of Noah’s ark in the background. “There we go.”

It was the first time that anyone had given Heath a handmade gift. With a click of Josephine’s fingers, the jumper was on him. He never realised the chill within her room until the warmth of wool hugged him.

“What do you think?” Josephine asked with a smile on her face.

“It looks great!” Heath said. He sunk his head lower to admire all the patterns and the animals. “Thank you so much.”

Josephine patted his back. “No! THANK YOU for giving me such a fun project to work on. It was a challenge getting all those animals in. You know, I would consider this jumper my magnum opus.”

“Do you knit jumpers for other people often?”

“Sometimes. I did knit one for a Korean lady yesterday.”

“What kind of jumper?”

“She used to work as a barista at a big coffee chain,” Josephine explained. “So I knitted her one with lots of cups. And best of all I managed to give it a scent of sweet iced tea.”

Hearth smiled. “I’m sure it looked beautiful.”

She nodded. “Oh, it was the first time I had ever seen her smile. She had the face of a woman who jumped from one abusive relationship to another. At least her jumper will protect her from harm.”

“Are there truly supernatural creatures roaming around this ship?” Heath asked. The last thing he wanted to believe was that Heavenly Seas was cursed, but the unusual incidents were too big to ignore.

Why would Calvin, the most optimistic about the trip be so eager to leave?

“Yes!” Josephine declared. “It’s not just werewolves and vampires you have to worry about on this ship. Sometimes the worst monsters are right under your nose.”

“So if everyone wears a jumper, we can all be saved?”

Josephine shook her head. “It can’t just be any old jumper.”

Heath adjusted his question. “So if you knitted everyone on this ship a jumper, the curse can be lifted, right?”

“I’m afraid some people are beyond saving.”

That was when Heath knew that somebody would die that night.

The Captain’s party was meant to be a joyful occasion. For the first time in his life, Theo felt like the black sheep of the family. For so long, it had been Heath who had inherited that role with his environmental missions. Theo knew the names and faces of several people in the room, and many knew him. But none knew him in a way that Theo could consider as a friend.

Rose was his only friend. It was as if he wasn’t there. The cold no longer bothered him, but the missing reflections in the mirror did. The bright lights didn’t tingle his skin like he saw in movies, but he sought comfort in the dark corners.

Mummy Dearest was dancing with Gong-Gi. He was in some K-pop bands and got into a lot of trouble for being sexually promiscuous. He got cancelled for it in the East, but in the West, he would have been considered a hero. Then again, he was hot and hot celebrities could get away with everything, at least for a decade or two.

He swerved his head, hoping to catch a glimpse of Rose, but he wasn’t there. Maybe she was duty elsewhere. Such a pretty room with all the gothic chandeliers, but not as good as Rose.

Heath came in with a green jumper with animals on it. Theo had never seen him in it before. His eyes widened as he marched towards him. “Nice jumper you got there?”

“Thanks.”

“When did you buy that?” Theo asked and stroked the sheep. The wool felt so real that he could almost hear the sheep.

“A friend knitted it for me.”

“A friend?” Theo widened his mouth and cackled. “I thought your only friends had paws and fur.”

“I made a new one today in the library,” Heath said, crossing his arms. “Her name’s Josephine.”

“Oh….a lady?” Theo continued to laugh. “Has she shown you her tits yet?”

“Don’t be so disgusting!” Heath punched his shoulder. Theo felt nothing. “Theo…it’s nothing like that. She’s an elderly lady with no family.”

“Oh, so you’re into your old ladies now. Well, there’s one good thing about them: their money!” Theo’s laughter ceased when he saw Heath’s glare. “Hey, it’s all a joke. You need to loosen yourself up a bit more.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Heath asked.

“I don’t know, it must be the alcohol.” Theo shrugged his shoulders and eyed up the buffet. “Come on now, Mummy Dearest wouldn’t want us fighting. Let’s eat, I’m sure there’s something here you can eat.”

Theo gleed in excitement when Elodie, his Mummy Dearest came charging towards them. His smile turned upside down at the sound of her shrieking at Heath. “WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU WEARING?”

“It’s a jumper…” Heath muttered.

“Oh dear,” Theo said, feeling his mother spit on his cheek.

“Take it off!” Elodie ordered. “You look like a tramp.”

“I can’t,” Heath said.

“Are you cold?” Theo hugged Heath tight. He could feel the warmth radiate around him. “Your jumper is so warm. You might get burned.”

“HELP ME THEO!” Elodie yelled, trying to yank the jumper off Heath. “This needs to come off.”

Theo shook his head. “But it’s so comfy.”

“Leave him alone!” Calvin barked. “It’s a jumper, there’s no need to make such a fuss.”

“He needs it take it off!” Elodie squealed. “It’s not in the dress code. Imagine what they would think about us”

“What dress code?” Theo didn’t know there was one. He saw people in cocktail dresses and suits, but nobody was turned away for wearing denim. Mummy Dearest had a skirt too high and a top too low, but nobody complained about that. It filled Theo’s mind with worry. His beloved Mummy Dearest could catch a cold.

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” Calvin insisted, sneering at his mother’s cleavage. “And for god’s sake put them away.”

“You can’t tell me what to do!”

Theo sighed, he hated it when they argued in public. He wished that Calvin would just give it up and just let their mother have their way. It was a common trait for a member of the Figgs family to never back down.

“You’re being a hypocrite,” Calvin hissed with his arms crossed. “Now stop picking on Heath.”

“Wow, you’re taking Heath’s side for once.” Theo gasped. Pot the kettle black. Calvin spent his whole life making fun of Heath’s little quirks.

“It’s only a bloody jumper. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s…nice. Suits Heath a lot.”

“Thanks!” Heath said, smiling.

Elodie turned her back towards her sons. She faced them again after seeing the guy was dancing with earlier with another woman. She waved her fingers at Heath. “Well, I’ve lost my date now thanks to you.”

“Don’t blame him!” Calvin said. “You could have ignored it.”

“And he’s the reason I can’t lose weight anymore.”

Mummy Dearest, always blamed her inability to lose weight on everything: the weather, genetics, age, hormones and time. Calvin, being the man he was, never took any excuse. If it hadn’t been for the farm, he would have made a great soldier. “You’re the size you are because you eat so many cakes.”

On the other side of the hall, Theo noticed the guy Elodie danced with earlier was arguing with a different woman. He was sure his name was Gong-Gi. Used to be a famous pop star back in the day.

“You get with everyone!” Gong-Gi snapped. With that smug look and purple hair of his, he looked like someone Theo would love to give a knuckle sandwich. “Sook-Jo, your brain is messed up. Why else would you want to wear that stupid jumper.”

Sook-Jo dug her hands into her hips. “If you think I’m some sort of slut, why did you invite me here?”

“I told you we were friends!”

There Theo was amid two dramas. He was drawn between the two Koreans arguing. It was refreshing that the attention wasn’t drawn to his family. From what he could hear, Sook-Jo and Gong-Gi were friends with benefits. Sook-Jo fell for him because he reminded her of the things she missed about her ex-husband. But to Gong-Gi, she was just a tool.

“You’re so jealous,” Gong-Gi shrugged his shoulders. “Just because I have a woman in my life now.

“I’m not jealous!” Sook-Jo squealed. Theo’s hands clenched in excitement. He prayed that she would throttle him. “I’m sad. Sad you used me to cheat!”

Theo couldn’t contain his excitement anymore. “GO ON LASS! BREAK HIS BALLS! HE DESERVES IT FOR DITCHING MY MUMMY DEAREST.”

And now the two separate fights had been connected. Theo felt his whole body become dragged away as hundreds of eyes star art him. Then a blonde woman marches into the centre of the hall with a smirk on her face. Theo wanted to give that blonde woman a piece of his mind too, especially after the horrible things she wrote about Mummy Dearest.

“Well, it looks like I, Elain Jinx is about to achieve my glorious comeback as a journalist!” the woman laughed.

“Shut up you old hag,” Theo muttered under his breath.

“Dal Gong-Gi and Elodie Figgs…you two are the most despicable celebrities in the world.”

Theo observed the grief-striken eyes so wide they could pop out of Gong-Gi’s skull. A part of them wished they would.

“Sook-Jo…” Gong-Gi panted, glaring at the woman. “What have you done?”

“Why are you blaming me?” Sook-Jo asked. “You’re the one who gets with everyone.”

Elaine erupted with laughter as she gazed at Theo’s mother. “So Elodie, have you come to introduce Heath to his REAL father?”

“I did not put no baby in no one!” Gong-Gi yelled, stamping his feet.

Elaine rolled her head and tutted at Gong-Gi. “That’s a double negative darling. What about the daughters you had with your ex-wife, do they not count anymore because she moved on?”

“Don’t be so stupid,” Elodie shouted. “You tried this story before, and nobody bought it.”

“But are any of your sons truly Figgs?” Elaine appeared to be enjoying it. Theo hated journalists like her who took pleasure in humiliating others. The only way to draw attention to herself was through lies and slander.

“Of course they are,” Elodie responded. “They had DNA tests done.”

Elaine’s smirk got wider. “Apart from Heath.”

“Mother…” Heath opened his mouth and drew back towards the corner of the room. “Is this true?”

“Of course not!” Elodie shrieked back, holding her hand by her chest. “This is just another outrageous claim by a failure of a journalist.”

“MAKE THE OLD TROLLOP WALK THE PLANK!” Theo wailed waving someone’s whiskey glass in the air. Since becoming a vampire, he was more determined than ever that nobody would insult his Mummy Dearest and get away with it. Security escorted Elaine out of the party with a click of Captain Mortville’s fingers. Theo gave them a round of applause when the hag was thrown out.

“I KNEW IT!” Calvin flipped over the table behind him. Champagne and glass splattered everywhere. “That explains why Heath’s different to us. And you had the nerve to say my daughter wasn’t mine.”

Elodie took a step back. “Calvin! Are you seriously believing the words of that mad woman? That woman has been trying to destroy me for years.” Elodie croaked and tumbled onto the floor. “It’s a miracle she hasn’t put a knife in my chest.”

Calvin confiscated the whisky glass from Theo’s hand and threw the contents in Elodie’s face. “You are an attention seeker, Elodie Figgs. You’d be nothing without me.” Calvin grabbed Heath by the arm. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“Sure!”

Theo observed the silence and yawned. Now the drama was over, it was time for the party to come back. “I thought this was a party. Where’s the music?” As the live band played again, he tiptoed towards his mother and bowed. “Let’s have a dance, Mummy Dearest.”

“All right,” Elodie said. “At least somebody here loves me.”