Cruising Into the Unknown

It was May 23rd, 2015, the MS Anthem of the Seas was traveling on its route through the Mediterranean Sea as it steamed towards its next destination in Greece. The passengers were all in a good mood on this particular afternoon as the ship continued its voyage.

Or at least most of them were, seated at one of the bars aboard the ship was a young woman with short red hair and dressed in a low cut top and long skirt. She sighed a little as she took a long drink from her glass and looked over at the bartender.

"Another," she said as she put the glass down and the bartender just shook his head as he poured another drink.

"What's got a pretty lady like you sad, your boyfriend break up with you or something?" He asked as he moved the drink over in front of her.

"Not exactly, more mourning over unrequited love," the woman said as she downed another drink. "I came on this cruise to get away from it I guess."

"Let me guess, you booked the cruise so you could confess your love to them and it didn't work out," the bartender said and she nodded softly. "Bummer, I've been there a few times myself."

"Yeah, she ran off with some guy she met on the first day, I haven't even seen her since, but its a big ship," the woman said with a shake of her head as the bartender raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, I didn't take you for being into women," he commented which just made the woman shrug. "Well, I hope you figure something out, there's still plenty of fish in the sea you know."

"Yeah, I know, its just I always really kind of had a thing for her and she was always nice, I guess I just hoped that she would feel the same way," the woman said with a sigh as she shook her head. "Honestly I don't know what I'm going to do, its just not been easy since we're on the ship together."

"Well, here, have one on the house," the bartender said as he poured another drink before he went to serve another passenger.

The woman sighed and looked at her drink, she had taken this vacation to try and relax, but so far it hadn't exactly been that relaxing with her lack of luck with love. She downed the drink again and was a bit surprised when someone sat down next to her and ordered a drink of her own.

"So what's your story?" She asked as she looked over and saw a woman with long blonde hair and dressed in a t-shirt and jeans who gave her a shrug.

"What makes you think I have one?"

"Because you're sitting at a bar when its barely even noon," the first woman said and looked at the newcomer for a long moment. "I'll go first if you want. I came on this trip with my best friend who I've always had a crush on and wanted to come clean to her, but she ran off with a man on the first day of the voyage."

"Geez, that's harsh," the newcomer said with a slight British accent and shook her head. "I'm just, its a long story, but I don't really want to talk about it that much."

The first woman nodded and shrugged, she understood that not everyone would want to talk about it. She probably wouldn't have even bothered but it felt like the alcohol was starting to loosen her tongue a little. She offered a hand to the other passenger and gave her a smile.

"I'm Molly Turner."

"Isabelle Baker, everyone calls me Izzy," Isabelle said with a smile as she shook the other woman's hand before downing her drink. "I'm just, its a long story really, lets just say that my parents aren't exactly fond of some of my life choices."

"Don't worry about it, we're here to get away from all of those troubles," Molly said with a nod as she looked at Izzy, she blushed a little when she realized she was staring at the woman's chest and tried to look away. "It took my family a little while to come around to me being a lesbian when I came out of the closet a few years back, but they came around eventually."

Izzy looked at her and smiled a little, maybe it wasn't going to be that bad at least, but she didn't want to try and do anything crazy at least not yet. "So, what brings you aboard the Anthem?"

"Just on vacation now I guess, its pretty nice, I've never been on a cruise before," Molly said with a smile as she gave the blonde woman a nod. "I've just been kind of stressed out ever since the first day though, things are not exactly going as I had hoped."

"Yeah, well I can't blame you for that," Izzy said as she put her hand on Molly's gently. "So where are you from?"

"Boston, I saved up for months to pay for this trip, and I'm just glad I'm here," Molly said as she blushed a little at the contact from the other woman, she didn't want to try and think about it though as she gave her a nod. "What about you, where are you from?"

"Oh, a little town in England, you've probably never heard of it," Izzy said with a shrug as she looked her over. "My family is here on a vacation, but I'm not exactly looking forward to meeting up with them for lunch given everything that's been going on."

"Don't worry about it, if you want you can always hang out with me," Molly said with a smile as she gave the woman a nod. "I've got nothing but time right now, actually I was thinking about checking out the observation tower, would you like to join me? I've heard its the tallest observation tower on any cruise ship."

Izzy looked at her surprised for a moment and smiled a little at the other woman's suggestion, she hadn't really expected her to suggest that kind of thing but it might at least take her mind off of her family for a little while. "Sure, I'd like that a lot."

"Come on, lets go then," Molly said with a smile as she took the woman's hand and they headed off towards the observation crane tower

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In one of the restaurants a pair of couples were seated at a table talking, a woman checked her watch as she looked around a little worriedly. She had long brown hair and was dressed in a simple dress as she looked at her watch again.

"Where is Isabelle, she said she'd meet us here for lunch," she said worriedly as she looked around. "Where do you think she is, Richard?"

"Don't worry Sharon, I'm sure she's fine," Richard Baker reassured his wife, in truth he was glad she hadn't shown up after the incident the other night when she had come out of the closet to her parents in the middle of dinner. "Besides, we're supposed to be on vacation, I think we should let her do her own thing for awhile, and we can just sit here and talk with... what did you say your names were again?"

"Mitchell and Donna Marlowe," the other man who was dressed in a neatly pressed suit and had short black hair said with a nod.

"Yes, with the Marlowes, we don't have to worry about what Isabelle is doing right now at least," Richard said as he turned to look at the couple again. "Sorry about my wife, she's just been a bit worried lately about Isabelle."

"Of course, we understand," Donna said as she looked over at Sharon. "I'm sure that she'll be okay, lets just enjoy lunch for now."

Mitchell and Donna Marlowe were a wealthy couple from the United States that were on vacation together aboard the Anthem of the Seas. They had come from old money and were here to take a trip away from the country for awhile, and had been on the cruise since the last stop.

"So what about you two, have you thought about having children of your own?" Sharon asked as she looked between Donna and Mitchell.

"We've tried but we haven't really had any luck," Donna said with a shrug as she took a bite of her food. "Really we haven't had that much interest in raising a child right now, but our families have been very, insistent at times."

"Of course, well Isabelle at times has been, a challenge," Sharon said with a shake of her head. "Especially recently, we had hoped that this cruise would give her a chance to relax but its not exactly going according to plan. I'm worried about what she might do."

"I think she's overreacting personally, Isabelle is a smart girl, I don't think she's going to do anything reckless," Richard said with a shake of his head. "We're still a bit surprised about what she told us the other day to be honest, and that has admittedly made things hard on all of us."

"Well, that's her business," Mitchell said with a shake of his head. "What are you going to do?"

"We're, still deciding to be honest," Richard said with a shake of his head. "She's a good girl really, but we don't really know how we're going to deal with this. Maybe we can deal with this when we get back to England, we're on vacation right now, as long as she doesn't do anything too crazy like run off with some girl on the ship that she'll never see again."

"Right, we'll make sure that everything is okay with her, I hope," Sharon said as she took a deep breath. "So, what do you two do, any hobbies?"

"Well, I collect old cars mostly," Mitchell said with a shrug as he took a bite of his food. "Its something that keeps me occupied at least. This ship has been an, interesting experience to say the least."

Sharon nodded and sighed a little, she was still a bit worried about Isabelle but she didn't want to focus on it for much longer. The cruise wasn't going to last forever after all and a vacation was not the time to worry about their daughter's personal life.

For now they would just enjoy their meal and hope that everything would be okay.

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"Is everything still running smoothly?" A woman in a neatly pressed suit and tie asked as she made her way around the hotel section of the Anthem.

"Yes Ms. Thompson, everything is in place as you told us to do," another woman said as she looked over the checklist. "We've got everything ready for our next stop from shore excursions to Athens and everything should be in place once we arrive."

"Good, make sure housekeeping is getting everything ready to clean the cabins, I don't want anything to be out of place when the guests return," Naudia Thompson, the hotel manager aboard the ship said as she looked at the checklist. "Have there been any incidents aboard?"

"Nope, everything seems to be going normally," the woman said. "Why, do you think something is going to happen while we're out here?"

"Its just a feeling, I can't explain it," Naudia said with a shake of her head, the Anthem's voyage so far had been without any real problems outside of the usual. "What about Doctor Sawyer, is she reporting anything unusual going around the ship?"

"Just your usual really, I don't think we have anything to worry about on that front at least," the woman said with a shake of her head. "I think you're just worried, I'm sure we'll make it to Greece without any problems, don't worry about it."

Naudia nodded as they headed up a set of stairs and into the main part of the ship where people were walking along the corridors and talking. Naudia smiled a little as two children ran past them in swim wear with their parents trying to catch up to them as they headed up to one of the pools on the upper decks.

"So, what brought this on anyway?" The woman asked as she looked at her boss.

"Honestly, I don't know, it just sometimes feels like this is going a little too smoothly as if its all building up to something, it may just be my imagination," Naudia said with a shake of her head. "I've always had feelings like that before something happened, but I honestly could never really explain it. Maybe its nothing, maybe its something, right now I just want the passengers to enjoy their vacation."

She smiled a little as she watched a red haired woman pulling a blonde woman into one of the cabins on the deck. Maybe there was something to be said for young love on trips like this. She thought back to her boyfriend back home, it had been awhile since she had last seen him and she had some time off coming up once the ship docked in New Jersey, but for now she just wanted to do her job to the best of her ability.

"Alright, well let me know if anything else happens I guess," she said as they continued to head through the ship towards the main deck.

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"You're going to be fine Miss. Beretta," a woman with long black hair tied into a ponytail and dressed in a doctor's scrubs said as she finished examining a younger woman with shoulder length dirty blonde hair who was dressed in a button up shirt and long skirt. "How long have you been feeling this pain?"

"Just a few days now," Claudia Beretta said, she was a singer aboard the Anthem that would entertain the guests most evenings and she had come to Doctor Sawyer to see about some abdominal pains. "Do you think I'll be able to keep singing?"

"Honestly, I think you should rest for at least a day, I'm sure the cruise director can think of something," Doctor Samantha Sawyer said as she gave the singer a smile. "You're going to be just fine, I'll give you some Aspirin for the pain, but if you keep having these problems come let me know okay?"

"Alright," Claudia said as she headed back out of the ship and passed a woman who was coming in with a young girl who was holding her arm at a funny angle.

"Hey there, how can I help you?" Doctor Sawyer asked as she looked at the little girl with a smile.

"She banged her arm up pretty badly, can you take a look at it?" Her mom asked as she looked at the doctor worriedly.

"Of course," she said with a smile as the little girl took a seat on the table and she started to check the arm out. "What's your name?"

"Emily," the little girl said nervously and flinched a little as the doctor touched the arm and started checking it out.

"Okay Emily, my name is Samantha, but everyone calls me Sam," she said with a smile as she checked the arm more. "So what happened here, were you playing around or something?"

"Yeah, with my brother, I accidentally fell on it," she said with a shrug. "Am I going to be okay Sam?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it, young bones heal fast and I don't think you broke it, just let me set it in something," Dr. Sawyer said as she took out some items and set about getting the arm all set. "Don't worry, you'll be just fine in a day or two."

"Thanks!" Emily said as the doctor finished and she got off the table and headed back to where her mom was waiting.

"Just try not to roughhouse with your brother too much okay?" Dr. Sawyer said with a light chuckle as she looked at the girl's mother. "Don't worry, she's going to be just fine."

"Good, thank you Doctor," the mom said with a smile as she headed out with her daughter.

Samantha took a seat in her chair and leaned back, that had been the worst she had to deal with other than the occasional bout of seasickness since the ship had arrived. She had taken the job with Royal Caribbean because she had hoped it would be a chance to work in the sun and sea air and it was pretty nice at least, it just took a little getting used to when she occasionally suffered from seasickness herself, not something you wanted to admit to your patients.

She looked at her watch, her shift in the medical center was going to be up in a few hours and she was looking forward to spending some time next to the pool in her bikini. It would be nice to try and get a tan, and if that wound up being the worst things she had to deal with that day then everything would be just fine.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair and played some music, letting the soft sounds relax her.

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"Are you sure about this Molly?" Izzy asked as Molly pulled her into a passionate kiss and started to run her hands along the blonde girl's back slowly. "I mean we just met and I think you're a little drunk."

"Mmm, maybe, but I don't care," Molly said as she shut the door to her cabin and started pulling the other woman's shirt off slowly. "Come on, live a little we're on vacation, we're two hot young women who want something more out of life. Lets just have a little fun, its not like you have to worry about getting pregnant or something."

"I know, but what about..." Izzy started to say but she was silenced by another kiss from Molly before she pulled the woman's shirt off and she blushed a little as she stood there in just her bra and blue jeans. "I've never really done this before..."

"Don't worry, we'll learn together," Molly said as she tossed the shirt to the side and pulled Izzy over to the bed. "Don't worry about your parents, just have some fun!"

Maybe it was the alcohol she had consumed but Izzy was actually tempted to do just that as she laid out on the bed and looked up at Molly who was pulling off her top to reveal only bare skin underneath.

"You only live once, and what's the harm?" Molly asked with a smile as she leaned down and kissed Izzy on the lips, their bodies pressing against each other as Molly unhooked the other girl's bra.

Izzy kept thinking about what her parents would think if they found out she had slept with another girl she had just met that day and would probably never see again. Right now though she didn't care about that kind of thing as she felt a growing arousal between her legs, she just wanted Molly and nothing else.

"Alright, lets do it," she said with a smile as she leaned up and kissed Molly, and started running her hands along the woman's bare back gently before resting them on her butt.

It was going to be a day to remember for both of them.

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Captain Charles Smith looked out at the ocean from his vantage point outside the ship's bridge and took a deep breath of sea air. He had been a veteran captain for the Royal Caribbean line for awhile and was close to retirement, with his time aboard the Anthem to be his last job as Captain for the remainder of the year while his replacement got used to the ship and its systems.

"Sir, what brings you out here?" His first mate, a young man dressed in a similar uniform asked as he moved up next to him and looked out at the ocean that surrounded the ship.

"Just enjoying the view right now," Charles said with a sigh as he looked at the sea. "Its hard to believe that after so long I'm already this close to retirement."

"Well, you've done a fine job running this ship sir if I do say so myself," the first mate said as he looked out at the sea. "Have you decided what you're going to do next?"

"Honestly, I don't know, me and the wife are probably going to move to Florida or something and spend the rest of my days relaxing on the beach or a golf course," Charles said with a shrug as he looked at the sea for a long moment. "I've had a good run, I just don't know what's left for me after all of this is over."

"You'll figure something out, we all will," the first mate said with a nod as he looked out at the sea. "The ship's not going to be the same without you if I may say so, you're the only Captain most of us have even known."

"Well, you're all going to do fine without me around, don't worry about it," Charles said as he leaned over the railing and looked out at the ocean. "I guess I'm going to miss this life a little, its weird to think that I'll be leaving it behind in just a few months."

"Don't worry, everything will be fine," the first mate said and Charles nodded as they headed back into the bridge.

The ship steamed on normally for awhile longer as life aboard passed normally. The passengers and crew went about their daily lives as the ship steamed towards its next destination.

But on that day, along with billions of people worldwide, the Anthem of the Seas vanished into thin air, and would not return for a long time.