Tragic Hero: A Narrative Fiction
It was that moment: the moment that was going to scar me for the rest of my life. He laid right there in front of me, lifeless and cold; the only one that knew how to steer us to safety. Our captain, Owen Cash, was dead. As everyone was crowding around the dead body with wide eyes, someone finally found the courage to speak up.
“What do we do?” whispered Dr. Hurt. “There’s nothing I can do to save him now.”
I then glanced around and noticed that it was pitch black and we were deserted in the middle of nowhere with no one to get us back home. Everyone stared at each other, eyes glassed over.
“How did this even happen?” shrieked Charlotte. She’s the wife of the dentist, Ben Dover. “No one even touched him. There’s not even a scratch anywhere to be seen.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” I replied. “He could’ve been murdered when we were on the main deck partying.”
A couple minutes ago, everyone was dancing and having a great time on the main deck, doing things people normally do on a cruise ship. Everyone was there except the captain and my twelve year old son, Stephen. He was probably looking for his cats, Jasper and Cheezeball, like he does every single second of the day. We were all partying until Cheryl, the vet, went to the bathroom and …show more content…
seconds later screamed bloody murder. We all rushed to the spot where we heard her voice, which led us up to this moment.
Cheryl’s husband, Brock Lee, started to speak, “It was probably that darn boy that’s always sneaking around looking for his cats. He did--”
“How could you ever blame that on my son. He would never do something like that. Shame on you!” I argued while he stood there glaring at me.
As I stood there in shock, trying to comprehend the situation, someone interrupted my thoughts.
“What do you suppose we do Tara. You’re the lawyer here,” Dr.Hurt said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. I felt like I was the only one who picked up on it because everyone stared at me as if I was the new leader.
“Well, I suppose the first thing we do is throw Captain Owen- I mean the body overboard. We don’t want it to start stinking up the whole ship.”
“I guess that’s the best idea we-” Brock started to say as he collapsed suddenly. A wave of panic swept through the ship as Cheryl started bawling hysterically after she checked his pulse and realized it was nowhere to be found. Slowly, the doctor meandered his way over to the still body, inspecting the crime scene carefully. I felt someone come up behind me and I noticed that it was Stephen holding his pet cat Jasper while Cheezeball, the other cat, was wandering around the crowd. I could see the fear in my son’s eyes.
“Do you know what happened to Brock?” I consulted Dr.Hurt as everyone else on the ship was comforting the panic-stricken Cheryl.
“This is one of the strangest cases I have ever seen. I have no possible idea of what caused these innocent people to die because they seemed to be in phenomenal shape. I can’t begin to fathom this situation.”
Splash-splash, the sound of the bodies hitting the water was unbearable. I looked over the edge and gagged at the sight of the bodies drifting away. Quickly I grabbed Stephen and rushed back to our room while announcing to everyone to go to bed. I needed time to think about the situation.
“Mom! Mom! Mo-”
“Not now Stephen. I’m busy thinking. Go to bed,” I implored.
“But-”
“Not now Stephen!” I hollered. That finally got him to close his eyes and drift to sleep. After an hour of pondering the events that took place tonight, I too found myself drifting off to sleep.
The following morning, I woke up to see Cheezeball sitting on the bed. As I lunged for him he shot out of the room. I shrugged it off and reminded myself to tell Stephen about it later. Only a few seconds did a pale faced Charlotte barge into my room.
“What’s wron-”
“It happened again!” Charlotte let out. With those three words, I bounded out of bed, threw on a pair of sneakers, and dashed out of the room. Together we bolted to the newest crime scene, the lounge, to find Cheryl face down on the carpet. Everyone else on the ship was hovering over her body with worried looks. As they noticed my arrival, their eyes went from the body to me. Dr.Hurt looked at me with questioning eyes, almost as if I was the killer. “We need to figure out what is causing everyone to die and who’s behind it,” stated the doctor. I nodded my head in agreement. “It has to be someone on this ship…” Ben chimed in. “I say the first step to solving out this mystery is searching the entire ship for clues that might lead us to the culprit.”
“Lets split up in pairs and each search a different section of the ship. Ben and Charlotte can inspect the main deck and Dr.Hurt and I can inspect the all the rooms, along with the captain’s room. In about an hour let's all meet up in this same spot and compare the clues we find.” I guess everyone thought my idea was a good plan because they started walking away.
Dr.
Hurt and I started with the empty captains quarter. Right when I walked in I noticed the orange cat hair all over the master bed. I knew right away that it had to be Cheezeball’s fur; the only thing I didn’t understand was how he got into the room. It had been locked ever since Captain Cash’s death. I didn’t mention anything to the doctor because he acted like nothing was out of the ordinary. I made a note in my head and carried on to the next room. The next hour proved to useless. The only other evidence I could find was the same orange hair inside my own room, but this was understandable. Cheezeball was Stephen’s cat. Dr.Hurt and I began making our way back to the lounge where we were met by the Dovers and the dead
body.
“Did you come across anything abnormal,” I questioned them. To my surprise, they nodded their heads and pulled out a small plastic bag.
“Inside one of the drawers near the bar, we found a bottle filled with an unusual substance along with a few syringes.”
“Let me check it out,” replied Dr.Hurt.
They handed it over to him and after a quick glance he came to the conclusion the mystery substance was hemlock.
“Oh. I brought this with me for medical purposes. Just in case.” I didn’t want to question what medical purposes because I wasn’t all that smart in the medical field, so I left it up to the doctor, even though I was a little curious.
“We don’t have any other clues now that that’s figured out,” stated Ken Hurt. Quickly we all went our separate ways, and I went searching for Stephen. Soon I found him, and of course he was looking for Cheezeball.
“Any luck?”
“Nope, Cheezeball hasn’t been around for days. I’ve looked everywhere for him.”
“Did you check the captain's quarters? I was in there earlier with Dr.Hurt and I had seen an awful lot of orange fur. It looked a lot like Cheezeball’s.”
“I guess I’ll go check there now.”
“Okay good luck honey, I’m sure he’ll turn up sometime.”
“Wait, Mom, I have something to tell you.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
Well… nevermind, it can wait till later.”
That was odd. I started to worry about my son until I just regarded it as stress. He was under a lot of pressure with the alarming events that had happened in the past two days. And not to mention the fact that we were floating in the middle of the ocean with no one to get us home as for now.
For the next two hours I sat in my room and read some of my favorite books, trying to actually enjoy my vacation. After a while I noticed that it was strangely calm on the ship. I got up and went to investigate. Right as I stepped out of my room I noticed a trail Cheezball’s fur scattered around on the floor. I decided to follow it and I wasn’t the least bit surprised that it led me to the captain’s quarters. The sight inside the room was what actually terrified me the most; sitting right in front of me was the other members of the ship. Ben, Charlotte, and even my own son were resting unconscious, tied up in chairs. The only thing that kept me from breaking down right there on the spot was the fact that I could see they were still breathing. The door slamming behind me is what pulled me out of my trance. I turned around and saw the one person I didn’t want to see; Dr.Hurt.
“Well, well, well. I didn’t expect you to show up anytime soon.”
“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!” I yelled at him. Right as that came out of my mouth, I heard a low grumbling. I glanced over and realized that Stephen had regained consciousness. I sprinted over to him and removed the ropes from his hands and feet.
“Mom, I knew that it was Dr.Hurt doing this the whole time.”
“WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!”
“I tried to tell last night but you just yelled at me to go to bed. I was going to say that I had seen Dr.Hurt go into this room with Cheezball and earlier today I was going to tell you of something I found out about Hemlock. I was reading one of my books and I found out that Hemlock was dangerous to humans. As soon as it touches your skin, you drop dead. I thought you were going to yell at me again and that’s why I didn’t tell you sooner.
“What do we do?” whispered Dr. Hurt. “There’s nothing I can do to save him now.”
I then glanced around and noticed that it was pitch black and we were deserted in the middle of nowhere with no one to get us back home. Everyone stared at each other, eyes glassed over.
“How did this even happen?” shrieked Charlotte. She’s the wife of the dentist, Ben Dover. “No one even touched him. There’s not even a scratch anywhere to be seen.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” I replied. “He could’ve been murdered when we were on the main deck partying.”
A couple minutes ago, everyone was dancing and having a great time on the main deck, doing things people normally do on a cruise ship. Everyone was there except the captain and my twelve year old son, Stephen. He was probably looking for his cats, Jasper and Cheezeball, like he does every single second of the day. We were all partying until Cheryl, the vet, went to the bathroom and …show more content…
seconds later screamed bloody murder. We all rushed to the spot where we heard her voice, which led us up to this moment.
Cheryl’s husband, Brock Lee, started to speak, “It was probably that darn boy that’s always sneaking around looking for his cats. He did--”
“How could you ever blame that on my son. He would never do something like that. Shame on you!” I argued while he stood there glaring at me.
As I stood there in shock, trying to comprehend the situation, someone interrupted my thoughts.
“What do you suppose we do Tara. You’re the lawyer here,” Dr.Hurt said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. I felt like I was the only one who picked up on it because everyone stared at me as if I was the new leader.
“Well, I suppose the first thing we do is throw Captain Owen- I mean the body overboard. We don’t want it to start stinking up the whole ship.”
“I guess that’s the best idea we-” Brock started to say as he collapsed suddenly. A wave of panic swept through the ship as Cheryl started bawling hysterically after she checked his pulse and realized it was nowhere to be found. Slowly, the doctor meandered his way over to the still body, inspecting the crime scene carefully. I felt someone come up behind me and I noticed that it was Stephen holding his pet cat Jasper while Cheezeball, the other cat, was wandering around the crowd. I could see the fear in my son’s eyes.
“Do you know what happened to Brock?” I consulted Dr.Hurt as everyone else on the ship was comforting the panic-stricken Cheryl.
“This is one of the strangest cases I have ever seen. I have no possible idea of what caused these innocent people to die because they seemed to be in phenomenal shape. I can’t begin to fathom this situation.”
Splash-splash, the sound of the bodies hitting the water was unbearable. I looked over the edge and gagged at the sight of the bodies drifting away. Quickly I grabbed Stephen and rushed back to our room while announcing to everyone to go to bed. I needed time to think about the situation.
“Mom! Mom! Mo-”
“Not now Stephen. I’m busy thinking. Go to bed,” I implored.
“But-”
“Not now Stephen!” I hollered. That finally got him to close his eyes and drift to sleep. After an hour of pondering the events that took place tonight, I too found myself drifting off to sleep.
The following morning, I woke up to see Cheezeball sitting on the bed. As I lunged for him he shot out of the room. I shrugged it off and reminded myself to tell Stephen about it later. Only a few seconds did a pale faced Charlotte barge into my room.
“What’s wron-”
“It happened again!” Charlotte let out. With those three words, I bounded out of bed, threw on a pair of sneakers, and dashed out of the room. Together we bolted to the newest crime scene, the lounge, to find Cheryl face down on the carpet. Everyone else on the ship was hovering over her body with worried looks. As they noticed my arrival, their eyes went from the body to me. Dr.Hurt looked at me with questioning eyes, almost as if I was the killer. “We need to figure out what is causing everyone to die and who’s behind it,” stated the doctor. I nodded my head in agreement. “It has to be someone on this ship…” Ben chimed in. “I say the first step to solving out this mystery is searching the entire ship for clues that might lead us to the culprit.”
“Lets split up in pairs and each search a different section of the ship. Ben and Charlotte can inspect the main deck and Dr.Hurt and I can inspect the all the rooms, along with the captain’s room. In about an hour let's all meet up in this same spot and compare the clues we find.” I guess everyone thought my idea was a good plan because they started walking away.
Dr.
Hurt and I started with the empty captains quarter. Right when I walked in I noticed the orange cat hair all over the master bed. I knew right away that it had to be Cheezeball’s fur; the only thing I didn’t understand was how he got into the room. It had been locked ever since Captain Cash’s death. I didn’t mention anything to the doctor because he acted like nothing was out of the ordinary. I made a note in my head and carried on to the next room. The next hour proved to useless. The only other evidence I could find was the same orange hair inside my own room, but this was understandable. Cheezeball was Stephen’s cat. Dr.Hurt and I began making our way back to the lounge where we were met by the Dovers and the dead
body.
“Did you come across anything abnormal,” I questioned them. To my surprise, they nodded their heads and pulled out a small plastic bag.
“Inside one of the drawers near the bar, we found a bottle filled with an unusual substance along with a few syringes.”
“Let me check it out,” replied Dr.Hurt.
They handed it over to him and after a quick glance he came to the conclusion the mystery substance was hemlock.
“Oh. I brought this with me for medical purposes. Just in case.” I didn’t want to question what medical purposes because I wasn’t all that smart in the medical field, so I left it up to the doctor, even though I was a little curious.
“We don’t have any other clues now that that’s figured out,” stated Ken Hurt. Quickly we all went our separate ways, and I went searching for Stephen. Soon I found him, and of course he was looking for Cheezeball.
“Any luck?”
“Nope, Cheezeball hasn’t been around for days. I’ve looked everywhere for him.”
“Did you check the captain's quarters? I was in there earlier with Dr.Hurt and I had seen an awful lot of orange fur. It looked a lot like Cheezeball’s.”
“I guess I’ll go check there now.”
“Okay good luck honey, I’m sure he’ll turn up sometime.”
“Wait, Mom, I have something to tell you.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
Well… nevermind, it can wait till later.”
That was odd. I started to worry about my son until I just regarded it as stress. He was under a lot of pressure with the alarming events that had happened in the past two days. And not to mention the fact that we were floating in the middle of the ocean with no one to get us home as for now.
For the next two hours I sat in my room and read some of my favorite books, trying to actually enjoy my vacation. After a while I noticed that it was strangely calm on the ship. I got up and went to investigate. Right as I stepped out of my room I noticed a trail Cheezball’s fur scattered around on the floor. I decided to follow it and I wasn’t the least bit surprised that it led me to the captain’s quarters. The sight inside the room was what actually terrified me the most; sitting right in front of me was the other members of the ship. Ben, Charlotte, and even my own son were resting unconscious, tied up in chairs. The only thing that kept me from breaking down right there on the spot was the fact that I could see they were still breathing. The door slamming behind me is what pulled me out of my trance. I turned around and saw the one person I didn’t want to see; Dr.Hurt.
“Well, well, well. I didn’t expect you to show up anytime soon.”
“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!” I yelled at him. Right as that came out of my mouth, I heard a low grumbling. I glanced over and realized that Stephen had regained consciousness. I sprinted over to him and removed the ropes from his hands and feet.
“Mom, I knew that it was Dr.Hurt doing this the whole time.”
“WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!”
“I tried to tell last night but you just yelled at me to go to bed. I was going to say that I had seen Dr.Hurt go into this room with Cheezball and earlier today I was going to tell you of something I found out about Hemlock. I was reading one of my books and I found out that Hemlock was dangerous to humans. As soon as it touches your skin, you drop dead. I thought you were going to yell at me again and that’s why I didn’t tell you sooner.