The Mad Lady

My mother and father died in a car accident when I was ten years old. My mother’s name was Marsha; she had hair as black as night and forest-like green eyes. She had dotted freckles all on her porcelain face. She was always calm and content even when I would do something that might have frustrated any other parent, like, when I would track mud in the house everywhere. My father, Vincent, was a tall chiseled man that had a strong jaw line. He had curly chocolate hair, which is probably where I got mine from. He always had an amazing sense of humor. My mother and he loved each other very much. She always used to tell me that I was destined to do something special, something meaningful. Of course me, the curly brown haired little boy would never know what she really meant.

                Two days after my parents died my Aunt Betty and Uncle Rick decided that they would take care of me back at their place in Miami, Florida. They tried not to mention the fact that just one car accident had taken not only one but, two of my parents away from me. “Oh look at you,” Aunt Betty exclaimed, “your all grown up! What beautiful emerald eyes you have, my sister must have passed that down to you.” She chuckled nervously at me and then started to cry. Uncle Rick sighed, “Betty, not in front of Evan, it’s hard enough on him as it is!”

                Now, seven years later I am standing at the end of the dock waiting excitedly for the cruise boat to come in. I could smell the salty air through my nose and bounced on the balls of my feel. I was finally going to go on a vacation with my friends, Finn, and Luke, while we celebrated our graduation of high school. Luke had shaggy blonde hair that hung down to his shoulders. It almost looked like dread locks. Luke Wooho’ed in excitement. “Dude, this is going to be awesome!” A fat lady with a sundress and an extremely enormous hat behind Finn looked at Luke annoyed. I silently laughed at how obnoxious my friends can be. Finn comes up behind me and puts me in a headlock. “Yeah,” Finn replies, “I can’t wait to go to La Concha Beach in San Sebastian!”

The door of the gigantic cruise ship swung open and a large, lanky man with a handlebar mustache walked out. He looked at everyone with a cheeky smile and cleared his throat until everyone ceased their conversations. “Welcome, welcome. Everyone welcome.” He screeched with his squeaky voice, “I am your captain of this fine ship and my name is Captain Caligo.  I’d just like to say that you will have an amazing time on La Concha Cruise. The first four days I will be sailing you all along the big ocean blue to La Concha in San Sebastian. But, don’t fret because there are plenty of activities on the boat! We have two pools, a water slide, a buffet, and we will also be having a fancy dinner in the dining room on the last day till we get to La Concha. When we arrive to La Concha we will spend five glorious days there. After the La Concha visit is over we will head home. I hope you have a splendid time on the La Concha Cruise Line. Now let’s start getting this ship in the sea and start a party! Ooo that rhymes.” After Captain Caligo finally finished talking the door opened up from the boat and the ramp started shooting down toward the boat.  Finn looked at me excitedly “Are you ready to go all aboard?” “Totally!” I replied while I walked up the ramp and look over the blue horizon.

I walked up to a booth were behind the counter was a lady dressed in a pink flowery dress. Her name tag said Mary. She smiled when I approached the desk. She had beautiful white teeth, and gleaming blonde hair. “May I see your ticket please, sir?” I looked at Finn who raised his eyebrows and then winked at me. “Yeah of course you can. Here it is.” I smiled and she took my ticket. She scanned my ticket and once it went through as clear she handed it back to me. “Thank you and have a nice time on the La Concha Cruise Ship.” I took my ticket back not breaking my eyes from hers. “Hey,” I said, “Maybe I’ll see you around sometime?” She looked at me and the next thing I knew she starting laughing really hard. “Ha-ha, you’re funny. How old are you, like 17.” I looked at her mortified. When I looked over at Finn and Luke they were rolling on the ground because they were laughing so hard. I walked away briskly hoping no one heard. Oh god. Finn looked up at me, “Okay dude that was hilarious!” Luke smiled and then started cracking up. When he finally could manage to say something he said “You just got TURNED DOWNN!” Then he started cracking up.

The next few days was probably the best days I’ve had since my parents died. Luke and I got to go and rock out at the band they played in the nights while Finn was at the all you could eat buffet. But, something happened the night before we were supposed to arrive to La Concha.

I went to the dining room with Finn and Luke as we walked briskly down the hallway hoping we weren’t late. When we finally got there a servant escorted us towards our table. “I am starving!” Luke said between bits of fish. I nodded, scarfing down my fish too. I looked over to see a lady.  She sat at the dinner table adjacent to mine. Her face was red and I could see sweat trickle off her finger and into her soup. She was shouting at a short man seated across from her. He had a cowering look on his face as steam came spewing from her ears. “Okay fine, here…here, just please don’t do anything rash darling.” She took the strange object the short man had given her and put it in the side pocket of her dress and continued her tantrum. Her hands started to shake, her arms following the movement. Only a few seconds later did her whole entire body shake. As she shook, her table was wobbling with her, and plenty of her soup fell out, cascading onto the nice white table cloth. She looked like she was about to explode at any second. Before she could, she stood up and stumbled out of her chair, almost falling because of her four inch heels. Her brow furrowed and her pupils got as big as the sun, glowing just as red too. She stormed out of the doorway looking as red as Clifford the Big Red Dog.

 I followed the lady out of the door and down the corridor to the left. I lost her for a second when the ship hit a big wave because I fell to the floor. Suddenly I heard the stomping of her feet and found her again. She wore a purple fitting dress, maybe too fitted, with red trim and also wore striking, red heels. She was crying which didn't make her look good at all, with her puffy face, black smeared eyes, and a lot of freckles. "I beg your pardon" I said, which seemed to have startled her, “are you alright?" I questioned. She looked at me and for a second I sensed she was actually going to answer me, like any normal person would have done. But then her brows furrowed, as I have seen before, and she started shouting at me! “What are you looking at!?!” Her face turned red, redder, reddest, until she gave me a humph and strolled away as if it had never happened.

I continued to follow her. My friends were probably expecting me to be back soon, but I couldn’t resist the urge to know what had made her so furious and where she was even going. As I was tip-toeing behind her, her feet were clacking so obnoxiously loud that I bet everyone on the boat could hear it. We turned many times, going this way then that until she finally stopped at a monstrous looking door. The door was engraved with winding flowers and vines crawling up, and twisting, with a flower in the middle every now and then. She looked from side to side cautiously, probably wondering if I had followed her. When she concluded that I hadn’t, she pulled out a golden key. This key was not an ordinary key; this key is one of those keys that you’d find for an old mansion that hid tons of secrets just waiting for you to discover them.

She was slowly putting the key into the lock. After a few seconds I heard the resounding click I had been waiting for, excited to see what was on the other side of the mysterious looking door. She turned the knob as slowly as she could and when she finally swung the door open something I never expected happened. “I’m glad I got your attention, Evan McCall.” I watched from my hiding place, which was behind a shrub inside a decently sized planter. How does she know my name? “I know your there Evan, come out behind that shrub…..I can see you.” I cautiously moved from my hiding place, wondering how in the world she knows my name. “…………H-how do you know my name?” I question, mentally slapping myself for sounding so wimpish. She strolled from the door and came towards me.

As she moved out of the way of the door, I peered inside to see an entry way with a long hallway, doors on either side. The walls were colored a blinding shade of red and there were gold paintings of the ocean, big and blue, acting as a foil to set off the bright red. I heard her talking but I couldn’t break my eyes from the hall. “Evan, what are you staring at? Oh yes, my suite, there aren’t many rooms, are there?” I look at her astonished, “How do you know my name....?” I continued to ask. She looked at me, annoyed, with her eyes rolling and a grunt of frustration. “We will get that later. Now come inside.” I tried to argue, knowing that going into a strange, probably bi-polar lady’s suite would be a bad idea but she walked into the entry way without a second glance. What could be the harm, I thought.

I strolled in, but before I could get a better look to see what else was inside, she beckoned me. “Where are you taking me?” I persisted, “How do you know my name? Why did you throw that big fit at the dining room?” She stopped at one of the first doors looking back at me as she pulled out the same key that she had used before. “Evan, your questions are getting very annoying.” She put the key into the lock. How is that going to work, I wondered.  It’s the same key as the one she used to open up the main door. I heard a click and looked quizzically at her. She slyly smiled back at me and walked through the door. “Sit down why don’t you.” She said. As I sat down I noticed that I was sitting in the living room, it had a roaring fire and a nice red velvet couch, which was just so comfy when I sunk into it. “Evan I want you to stay here while I go freshen up, the performance I made back in the dining hall probably made me look a wreck.  Be right back.” She said. Before I could answer her she had gone through the door we had just come through, shutting it behind her.

This is getting really weird I say to myself, I better get out of here. I reluctantly got up from the couch and try to open the door. To my surprise the door wouldn’t budge. Has she just locked me in? Well I will just have to wait till she gets back. I look around to see numerous paintings on the wall. All of them were, again, of oceans. Well I guess that is accurate since we are in a boat, in the ocean. I also see there is a small bookcase and surprisingly all of the books are all classics. Moby Dick, The Lord of the Rings, and ugh The Lord of the Flies. I personally don’t like Lord of the Flies. I got disinterested after seeing Lord of the Flies was there and decided to sit down. Wow how long is this lady going to take? Buzzzzz. Ugh, I look at my phone to see that Finn, my friend has texted me. Where r ya? We’re gonna go to bed, k? Txt me back when ya can. What do I tell Finn, I think to myself?

Before I could text Finn back, the door swung open with the lady I had seen before looking much better and a beautiful lady standing  beside her in the door way. “Evan, nice to see you are still here. I haven’t properly introduced myself, my name is Mistress  and this is Audrey.” I looked at Miranda noticing now that she looks a lot older than she did before, maybe 50 or 45 years old. She had short blonde hair, a long, pointed nose with freckles dotted all around it, and a curvy body. She was now wearing a ruffled, purple shirt, with a simple, black skirt. She looked much plainer now then she did before. The girl standing next to her named Audrey had bright coppery, reddish hair that corkscrewed down to her shoulders. She also had bright evergreen eyes and a button nose. She was wearing a flowing white blouse with long black, fitted pants, and some brown, lace-up shoes.

 “I couldn’t even leave, you locked the door and yes I have plenty of questions. Why am I here? Why did you make a huge scene at the dining room? How do you know my name?” I remarked. Miranda scowled and replied “I was just trying to make conversation, well, now that you’re here I will answer all the questions you have for me.” Audrey sighed and with a bored expression she sat down on the armchair beside me, “Is this going to take all night, Miranda? I have got better things to do then listen to this little boy learn the ropes around here.”

 Is Audrey talking about me, a little boy? I am almost 17 years old and she calls me a little boy! “I am seventeen,” I replied, “I am not a little boy.” Audrey gave a stare that was telling me to shut-up. God, what is this girl’s problem? Audrey rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She sighed and slunk back in her armchair. Miranda scrunched her nose in a frustrated look towards Audrey, “Well Evan, I am from a top secret agency called I.S.A, the International Spy Agency, we have been watching you for such a long time, practically since you were born, your parents were part of the I.S.A. They were the most excellent agents we have ever seen; unfortunately they died, as you know. But, what you don’t know is that they died on one of their missions trying to defeat the most notorious group of people in the world.”

 I looked at her, and chuckled, shifting uncomfortably in the squishy couch. “Are you crazy? Is this some kind of joke?” I question.  “Ahhh the usual response.” She says as she looks to Aubrey.  Aubrey smiles in response. “Evan, I am most certainly not crazy. It is common for newcomers to be confused.” What is she even talking about? My parents died in a car accident, not in some I.S.A mission to save the world. “Okay if what you’re saying is so true, then show me some proof!” Miranda