The Boat Trip

I watched my boyfriend, Marcus, swimming in the ocean. He thought it would be the perfect time to jump into the water, and go for a swim.

We had been planning this trip for months, and we were finally here, on a boat going for a smooth sailing, and the guy I have been with for two years was basking in the cool waters of the ocean. The smile on his face was enough to make this trip worth it.

Marcus lifted up a hand, while he was swimming doggy style.

“Hey babe, isn’t this awesome? God, I’m so glad I’m away from the real world…my boss is such a dick.”

I rolled my eyes as I applied sunscreen to my arms.

“Yeah, he is. Bastard always finds an excuse to hit on me.”

“He’s the kind of sleazebag that would end up dead in a horror movie.”

“And his death would be really hard to watch,” I teased.

“It would definitely be the most brutal one,” Marcus agreed.

We shared a laugh. We have always shared a sick sense of humor. That was one of the reasons why Marcus attracted me. He was a nerdy guy, and even though he resembled a model, this aspect was what put off a lot of women from wanting to go on a date with him.

Luckily, I’m into horror movies and videogames, so we were perfect for each other. We can talk for hours about any horror movie, and my family had told me multiple times that we could start a horror movie podcast. I told Marcus this once, and he scooped me up and kissed me all over the face. Yeah, I’m a pretty lucky gal.

While Marcus was whistling a tune that resembled an old 80s song that I couldn’t remember the name of, I spotted another boat in the distance. I picked up my binoculars, spying on the people in the boat.

I was far away, so why the hell not? It didn’t hurt to take a peek at people having fun like me and my nerdy boyfriend. There was a couple on board from the looks of it, and they both appeared to be arguing. The blonde woman was older, appearing to be in her fifties.

She wore a bikini that showed off her body, and for her age, she looked great. Her partner was surprisingly quite young, and wore blue swim trunks with a white tank top. I would have assumed that the guy was her son, but the skin the woman was showing told me that they were together. You would never wear something so revealing in front of your son.

The woman put her hands against her face. I think she was crying. The young dude placed his hands on her shoulders, comforting her. Then he pointed at something on the bottom of the boat. The woman nodded, and the couple both bent down to pick something up.

It was a long sort of object, bundled up in a white blanket. There were red stains on the white bundle. I didn’t realize that the binoculars had slipped out of my hand and into the water.

“Erin? Are you alright? Babe!”

Marcus swam over to join me back on the boat. I flinched when he touched my shoulder. His hands felt cold.

“Babe? What’s wrong?”

I pointed at the boat. My hands were shaking.

“I think those two threw a dead body into the water.”

“What?”

Marcus looked in the same direction.

“Are you being serious? Are you sure that you weren’t -’’

“I’m 100% sure. That shit looked too fucking creepy. Something does not feel right.”

Marcus touched my cheek.

“What do you want to do?”

Marcus and I watched the boat sail away. I buried my face in his chest. Marcus hugged me close, and I started to cry. It was unlike any reaction I had experienced before. Horror movies were awesome, but not when it came to seeing the real thing. And that was real. I was sure of it.

And God, this was the worst feeling in the world.

“I think we should report this,” Marcus said softly.

I wiped at my tears.

“What…what if…what if it’s fake? What if I was seeing things?,” I asked in a hopeful voice.

“Then we can be fools together, and we laugh about it later.”

I was crying too much to laugh. Marcus sat me down gently on the boat, and he began to move our boat back to the direction of our hotel. We were both silent the whole way, except for the occasional ‘asking me if I was ok,’ but I kept assuring him that I was.

We got back to shore, and Marcus took hold of my hand, and led me to the hotel. After a couple of minutes of trying to calm myself down, I explained to the manager of the hotel what I saw. Worry was etched onto his features, and he contacted the police.

Marcus wanted me to stay behind, but I didn’t want to. I had to point out where I had seen whatever it was fall into the water. The whole time as we were waiting on the boat, I was praying that it was a stupid dummy wrapped up in a white bundle splattered with red paint.

My heart sank when I saw the police pull out the white bundle. When they opened it up, they both turned away, their hands against their mouths. Marcus pulled me to his chest, and I could feel his heart beating erratically. I held onto him tightly as the one police officer on our boat led us away from the scene.

It was now a crime scene.

When we got back to shore once again, it was already reaching the evening. I had to give out my account of what the couple looked like. Marcus was by my side the whole time, holding onto my hands.

The investigation was going to begin. Marcus and I really wanted to leave, but doing that would be strange. We saw a lot of horror movies to know that we would be the prime suspects. However, we didn’t have to wait long. In four days, they arrested the couple.

Marcus and I had spotted them in handcuffs, being led away by the cops. The woman was crying, and the young dude wore a forlorn expression. It turned out that they had been staying in the same hotel as us. We decided to get the hell out of there right away. Our job was done.

Our trip was cut short, but I don’t think any of us wanted to spend time on our trip anymore. Our two weeks went by in a blur at home, and we ended up back home working together in the office.

Yes, we were co — workers, and that was how we started dating.

When we made it back to our workplace, I was surprised to see that Marcus’ boss was nowhere to be found. Instead, we were greeted by police officers speaking with the employees. Marcus and I froze in place when the officers looked over at us.

“What the fuck is going on?,” Marcus whispered.

The faces of our employees shocked me even more. Several of the ladies were crying, and the men’s faces were pale. The officers walked over to talk to me and Marcus once they were done with the group.

The male officer greeted us first.

“I’m sorry about this, but I think each of you are going to be out for a while. We have discovered that Mr. Edwards has been murdered.”

“What?” Marcus half yelled and said in a calm manner. If you could call it that.

I felt my jaw drop. How else could I react?

The officer shook his head.

“His wife and his butler had murdered him. Mr. Edwards had planned a trip with his wife to the Lavana Beach. Little did he know that his wife and his butler were having an affair. They killed him so that they could live off his money and stay together.”

Marcus and I looked at each other. Then we both vomited all over the cop’s shoes at the same time. Horror is awesome, but I guess we both couldn’t handle the real thing.

Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn