Young Writers Society

Angelique Tannhauser

The girl in the gray sheath dress grinned and ran a hand through her blazing red hair. "Hello Angeli, Ella Cameron." She said while shaking my hand. What a pretty name! I thought. "So how are you enjoying the cruise?"

I smirked. "Oh, it's pretty boring don't you think?" Ella laughed, "Most uneventful cruise I have ever been on. And that means a lot."

How wonderful that she could go on curises all the time, I thought wistfully. She could go on adventures and learn something new instead of staying at home and rot. "Can't say I have ever been on any comparing cruises." I sighed.

She grinned. "Well, that will have to change, won't it?" Her eyes sparkled.

"Is the Captain's daughter trying to convert me?" I chuckled, rubbing my hands with glee. Now that I have a new friend I shan't be bored anymore!

"Maybe." She winked, and linked arms with me. She motioned towards the food table, and caught my eye. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I grinned, and walked with her to grab some food.

The ballroom was full with people already. Some were just chatting and flirting with the staff. Ella rolled her eyes at the provocative, flirtatious women, and said in a low voice, "I don't understand why people could go so...low." I patted her hand, and grinned. "I'm glad we share the same sentiments, Ella!" We're going to get along just fine, I silently added in my head.

She laughed and we let some of the fawning boys pour cola for us. We sat down beside the food tables and watched as the ladies danced in the middle. Suddenly, I noticed from the corner out of my eye that Roxi was on the other side of the food table, glancing around the ballroom and munching on a roast beef sandwich.

I tapped on Ella's shoulder, and asked, "Do you know that girl?" She looked confused. "Who?" She said, peering around. I subtly gestured towards the blonde, and she gasped.

Isadora Norwood|Ballroom|7:16pm:

Sonya skipped ahead of me as we entered the ballroom. There were people everywhere, children even. This wasn't a mourning ball. It was a celebration. I frowned and shook my head.

"Mommy!" Sonya said, tugging on my hand. "I see some friends! Can I go talk to them?" I looked down at her. She smiled. "Please mommy?"

I sighed. "Sure darling, why not? Off you go."

Sonya skipped off, over to the group of children by the far wall. I watched her go and waited a few minutes before looking around the ballroom. There was not one scrap of food left. I frowned again. How could some much food go in fifteen minutes?

I shook my head and walked towards the kitchens, planning on finding some staff to tell them about the lack of food. I bumped into several people who thought they knew me or fans wanting autographs. By the time I got to the kitchen doors, it had to be close to seven-thirty now.

"Hello?" I called as I pushed open a door. One of the chefs looked up.

"What are you doing back here?" he asked.

I hesitated, letting the door fall shut behind me. The sounds of music, talk and laughter died. "Um, they're running out of food in there."

The chef swore. "More work for us then," he muttered and walked over to one of the two freezers at the back of the kitchen. He tugged on the door handle but it wouldn't budge.

"What's wrong with it?" I asked, stepping towards him.

"Locked," he muttered, then went over to the other one.

"What do you mean locked?"

The chef looked at me and shook his head, and then he paused, watching me. "You're that actress, aren't you?" I stared at him. Now it was awkward. "Yeah, you are. Isadora Norwood, right?"

I just sighed. Typical. Then, just at that moment, the door he'd been trying to open clicked and fell open, revealing the poor girl inside. I screamed.

This is Isadora's dress:

-Timothy-kitchen-7:33pm-

I covered my ears, waiting for her to stop shrieking before speaking. "What the hell's wrong with you?" I muttered, walking over and peering into the freezer to see what all of the commotion was about. The woman was absolutely- My eyes widened, mouth dropping open. I swore--loudly--and pulled Isadora away from the freezer.

By then most of my staff had gathered, screaming, yelling, shouting over the screams. "WOULD YOU ALL SHUT UP!?" I shouted, fuming. I wanted to let go of a good scream or two myself, but that wasn't happening any time soon. The room went into a stunned silence. Whether it was from my outburst over a situation like this, or the situation itself, I couldn't be sure. I was just thankful they had stopped talking.

I swallowed and turned back to the freezer, eyeing the girl inside. She couldn't be much older than fifteen. Dead as... well, dead as a dead chick. I gagged and looked back to the others. I could feel the colour draining from my face. "Somebody go call... somebody," I muttered.

The fact that there was a dead teenager in my freezer was taking its toll on me. My stomach churned, and for a second I was afraid I was going to vomit all over the floor. I scanned the room, watching. Nobody made any move to go call anybody, which ticked me off.

"Somebody. Go. Phone. Now!" I demanded. One of the girls scrambled off.

I turned to Isadora, trying to think of something to say. Finding nothing, I looked back to my staff. They were all quivering, whispering urgently. Most were crying. A few were just standing in stunned silence. I didn't know what to do, what to feel. "Oh god," I muttered under my breath, resting my face in my hands.

Jamie Kyo:

I'm so late, probably Angelique's waiting there for me with boiling temperature already.

Jamie Kyo paced abruptly through the narrow dark hallway, her heels almost killing her. Without thinking twice, she removed her heels off from her feet and gripped it both with her right hand. A slight shiver transmitted down her spine as her feet pounded against the hard cold floor. She started decelerating when she was alarmed by the sound of fading turmoil coming from the room. With sweaty hands, she pushed open the entrance door.

"A girl in the freezer!" A random blond girl shouted with petrified look, ran around the hall and people started panicking. Anxiety began forming across Jamie's face. Her eyes wide open to the people escaping the room. Blinking twice, she shook all the nervousness around her.

"Where's Angelique?"

Her woozy brain made her legs to wobble which she was still barefoot. Feeling slight unconscious, she almost fell until someone held back her small shoulders.

<This can be anyone>

Chris-7.37

A girl in the freezer. The thought nearly made Chris vomit. He was queasy at the best of times. Still. he was part of the staff, and he assumed it was his job to stop people from panicking-

or fainting right into his arms, as someone just did.

"Wow, are you alright?" he asked, shocked by the auburn haired girl that had so promptly landed on him.

She put a hand over her eyes and tilted her head towards him. "There's... there's a..."

"A girl in the freezer, I know," he said, trying not to dwell on the image. "We're getting it sorted out, don't worry."

"They said that we should call someone..." she said as he propped her up on her own feet, though she looked like she could topple over any second.

"Call who? We're in the middle of the ocean," Chris said, half grinning, half grimacing. "Security'll be up in a few minutes. Maybe you should go back to your room. Do you have any family with you?"

"No, but I have a friend, I just can't see her." She began craning her neck to look around the ballroom. "She's wearing black..."

"Yeah, it's the colour of the season," Chris said quietly, a little sarcastically. Half the women in the room were wearing black. "Look, what's her name? If I happen to meet her I'll tell her you- wait, what's your name?"

"Jamie. And she's Angelique. But really, I can do it on my own."

"It'll be my pleasure," I said, with a winning smile. You never know, these rich girls tip well for things like that. "And I'm Chris, it's nice to meet you. Now really, maybe you should return to your rooms."

Angelique Tannhauser

To my surprise, I saw Jamie half lying, half struggling in the arms of the Italian waiter that gave me champagne. She was trying to get up but promptly fell and landed in the lap of the (rather annoyed) waiter. Without waiting for an answer, I took Ella's wrist and pulled her along with me to where Jamie was. Ella looked affronted, and I quickly mumbled an apology, saying that it was my friend who had fainted. Hearing my urgent voice, she understood and we hurried across the gigantic ballroom.

We arrived where the pair was at. I heard the waiter introduce himself, but I cut in and exclaimed, "Jamie! Are you alright?" Jamie looked sheepish, and waved a gloved hand at me. "I'm fine, Angeli! And I'm sorry that I was late." I could see that Ella had immediately taken a liking to the Asian girl, and she grinned at her. "I'm Ella, Ella Cameron." She reached out and pulled poor Jamie up, who I then noticed was barefoot.

Jamie brushed her crinkled dress and shook Ella's hand. "I'm Jamie Kyo, nice to meet you!" They beamed at each other, and I knew they were going to get along just fine. The waiter coughed, "Shouldn't you ladies return to your rooms?" I crossed my arms, and demanded, "Why?" You aren't the boss of me, I added in my head defiantly.

He swallowed, and said in a low voice, "There's a girl in the freezer. Dead."

Me and Ella just stood there gaping at him. What?! Jamie slowly nodded her head and looked like she was about to cry. "It's true, Angeli. It's true." Ella was the first to recover, immediately straightening up and began talking about what we should do. "We really need to go back to our rooms, Angeli, Jamie," She motioned for us to follow her, "I'll go and find Father, while you two go upstairs or downstairs, wherever your cabins are."

I shook my head. "No, Ella, it's too dangerous!" I protested. "The murderer might be out there, waiting for a chance to do us in!" Jamie added, sending shivers all over my cold skin. I wrapped the cloak against me more tightly and looked at Ella. She hesitated for a bit, before saying, "I --- alright. You can come with me."

I was going to have a fantastic night, I wistfully thought to myself as I hurried along after them. I was going to have so much fun! But now that murder has ruined everything. I gasped, and looked fearfully behind me, around the now deserted ballroom. My blood ran cold. What if Jamie was right?

What if the murderer was after us?