Creek!  The door opened slowly and Alex dove behind the boxes as the dark figure entered the room.
      The figure dragged its blade along the floor.  It’s eyes emitted red and it gave out a stench of sulfur. Alex, who was always faint-hearted, stayed behind the boxes of food and hid from the dark figure.
      The sound of the figure’s blade dragging across the floor grew louder and louder.  Alex covered his ears and closed his eyes real tight. Suddenly, the noise stopped. No sound, no smell, no glow from the eyes. Everything was calm and the room fell silent.
      Alex poked his head out from behind the boxes. Still nothing, no figure, no smell, no sound.
      He tread swiftly toward the iron door.  He bent down on his knees and looked about the hallway.  Blood spatters covered the faint green walls.  The ceiling lights flickered and the halls of the ship swayed back and forth.
     Alex raised slowly.  He took small steps out into the hallway.  He realized something gooey was on his feet and without looking down, he realized it was blood.
     Alex slowly moved down the hallway being cautious with every turn.  He would occasionally turn back to see if the darkness followed him.
     That’s what Alex called it,”The Darkness.”
     Alex came upon another iron door.  He slowly turned the handle on the iron door, dreading what could be on the other side. His fingers shook as the door opened slowly. The door revealed a dark room.  No light came from the room and no light came in.
    Alex knew that if no light entered the room The Darkness had been there.  He quickly turned away from the room and darted down the hall in fear.
   Alex turned one last corner and let out a scream when he saw a black, smoky figure standing at the end of the hallway. 
      ***

     “Alex Hunter! You get back here this instant!” yelled Marie Hunter, a single mother of a single child, Alex Hunter. Alex was her pride. Alex was the only thing that kept her going through the day.
    “Mom! I’m about to finish eating! Can’t I finish eating my steak?” asks Alex, who was quite fond of food. He would eat just about anything and he still managed to keep a healthy weight.
     “No, mister! You cannot finish. You need to get down to our room and clean your bed!” Marie demanded.
      Alex dropped his silverware onto the table and wiped his face off with a napkin.  He walked over to his mother, regretting every step.
      “Hey, listen, boy. I love you. Don’t you ever think I don’t,” said Marie as she put her hand on Alex’s chest.
      “I know, Mother. I know you do,” moaned Alex.
      “I’ll be in the room in a few minutes, Alex. I’m gonna help clean up the dining area a bit.”
      Marie did small favors often. She hoped that if she did enough favors, people would pay her a little something. Marie never asked for anything above twenty dollars and turned down anything above fifty. She loved working for people and helping them out. She started helping people after Alex’s father, Michael, passed away.
      Michael was an electrician and an inventor. Well, he tried to be an inventor, but none of his ideas hit the market. Alex would visit his father in his lab back when he was young. Alex would ask his father what his favorite invention was. Michael would pick up his son and look him straight in the eye and would say,”You’re my greatest invention, Son.”
      Alex would then wrap himself around his father and say,” I love you, Daddy.”
      Alex always tried to forget these things because it made him remember how his father died. The police said his body was found on a cruise ship much like this one.
     Alex walked down the hallways of the cruise ship. The ship swayed from side to side very calmly and very pleasingly. Alex hadn’t had a problem with cruise ships before, but he had it in his mind that this one would go horribly wrong.
     The walls of the hallways were glazed in a faded green color and some of the lights on the ceilings flicker. White stripes lined the bottom of the walls and the paint seemed to chip off, giving the boat a peculiar look. The floor was plated in a white tile, but it was sadly covered in dust and dirt from all the people who had been here. Each door was also marked with a number or name for specific rooms. Alex’s room number was 719 which was on the seventh floor, the bottom floor.
     Alex gets on the elevator and presses the red button marked by the number seven.
     The elevator descends down into the seventh floor.  The door opens very slowly. Alex looks around and sees nobody is in the hallway and some of the lights flickered or swayed.
     He walked past several rooms when he noticed the utterly disgusting smell of sulfur. He covered his nose up with his sleeve and walked on. Eventually smoke covered his eyes and he seconds and he was forced to walk blinded. He stumbled around the hallway and he could only open his every few seconds. Each time he tried to turn back, the smoke would block the light, blinding him.
     Alex, who was very dizzy from the smoke, fell against a metal door. He looked up at the door for a split second and saw the room number 719. Alex opened the door to his room and quickly closed it. He sprinted toward the bathroom. He wiped off his face with the cold water and grabbed a drink to hydrate. The smoke had made him dehydrated and dizzy. He  rests his head in the bath water and just breathes slowly. Oddly enough, the smoke did trouble his breathing. And the smoke was a thick black color, and blocked out the light from entering and it made him very dizzy.
     Alex laid on the bed and passed out.
      ***

     Alex awoke feeling fresh, but he heard nothing of the world. He looked out his door window and saw no smoke, but the lights still flickered. Alex opened the door and called out for someone.
He got no reply.
     Alex walked down the hall and saw that the elevator had gone only a little up and just stopped. Alex became curious about the elevator and he climbed into the elevator and found the words,”This Is the only safe place! Do not turn on the power!”  Alex saw a couple bags full of clothes and food. The second bag was full of water bottles that were not opened yet. Alex grabbed the bags and brought them back to his room. Afterwards he walked out of his room and back into the hall. He ventured down into the darkness. At one point, the lights in the hall did not work, but at the end of the hall, there were words written on a door.  Alex could not read the door so he walked closer. The words, “Darkness is where it lies. Always have light!” written in blood. And a hand print was on the door under the words.
     Alex stopped in his tracks and stood still and stared at the words written in blood.
     A faint banging noise came from the end of the hall to his right. As he slowly turned his head, Alex saw a man standing in the hall looking at him. The man quickly looked to his right, which led down another hall then turned back towards Alex and started to run towards him. Alex started to back away, but the man was far too fast. He caught up with Alex and grabbed him by his shirt collar.
     “Listen, boy. It’s coming for us. We have to get to the elevator! Come on!” commanded the man.
     Alex quickly followed and jumped into the elevator. The man held out his hand and Alex pulled him up.
     “Now you listen, boy. It’s coming. It’s going to be scary. All I want you to do is just look away and be silent,” said the man.
     “What is it?” asked Alex.
     “You’ll hear it coming, and you’ll smell it too.”
     Just then a sudden scraping noise came from the hall that the strange man came from. It was the sound of metal scraping against the walls of the ship. Laughing was heard along with the terrible smell of sulfur. Whispers came along with the creepy things as well and they whispered Alex’s name over and over. Alex covered his ears and sat in the back wall of the elevator farthest from the doorway.  The strange man sat back with him and put his finger to his mouth, commanding Alex to stay quiet.
      Then, Alex saw the darkness. He saw the dark beast slowly slither by and made ferocious sounds. 
     The man moved his hand away from Alex’s mouth and asked himself, ”Didn’t I leave food on this elevator?”
      “Was it two bags? One with water and the other canned goods?” Alex asked.
      “Yes, uh, it was. Wait, how did you know?”
      “They, uh, they’re down that hallway and in my room because I thought that I could hide there.”
      The dark skinned man looked down the hall where the beast had gone. Blood smeared across the walls and floor from every step that the darkness took and dark gases emerged as well. One’s that Alex could only conclude to be the same gases that made him dizzy and blinded him.
      “So, are we going to get it?” Alex asked the man.
      “If you want to live on this boat, then yes we should,” he replied.
     “We? Why can’t you just get it yourself?”
     “Are you kidding me, boy? I ain’t walking down there all by myself. You put the bags there, so you’re gonna help get them.”
     The two jump from the elevator and onto the floor. They land right within some of the blood that the beast left behind.
      “Here, put this on. It’ll keep you safe from the smoke,” commands the strange man.
      The man handed Alex a mask and Alex did not find it very comfy.
      The man walks through the smoke first. Alex quickly follows through the dark smoke and the sulfur and blood shroud their bodies like dust. Alex ran in front and pointed toward room 719.
      The man nods and opens the  door quickly then lets Alex. He slams the door behind Alex.
       “You okay, kid?” asks the man as he takes off his mask. Alex quickly does the same.
       “I think I’m okay. The bags are in the bathroom. We should get them and then move on,” Alex said.
      “Hey, uh kid. What’s your name? Mine’s Lamar. I came from Pennsylvania and came on a nice boat trip with my parents who I pray are alive. I also came on a business trip, but my parents are the most important thing to me.”
      “Alex. My name is Alex.”
     “Listen, Alex, the only way we’re gonna get out of here is if we believe. Don’t you believe?”
     “Believe in what?”
     “That we can escape this place and return to the people that we love and cherish?”
     “Sure, but I’m not too concerned about this. I’m sure my mother is alive and well.”
      “Oh boy,” says the man, wiping his hand across his eyes.”I’ve seen the thing. I’ve seen what it does to people. It is relentless, ferocious and demonic. The, the thing has glowing eyes of the devil and the smell of hell itself. I watched it murder my brother. And you still believe that your mother is alive? By all means I hope that she is alive and well, but the chances of that being true are very slim.”
     Alex turns his head away from him and says,”You don’t know my mother, how would you say that she is dead.”
    Alex ran out and back into the hall. He ran straight to the elevator and didn’t even notice that all the smoke and blood was gone.
    Lamar quickly came running into the hall after carrying the bags.
    “Alex! What are you gonna do without the food and water?” asked Lamar.
    “I’ll find more!” shouted Alex.
    “Listen, your mother is not dead!”
    “But you said that she-”
    “I know what I said, I’m just scared for my life. I said the wrong thing and I know that your mother is alive!”
    “How? How do you know this?” Alex asked loudly.
    “Because, I saw her! She is fine.”
    Alex fell back against the edge of the elevator and started to sob, but they were tears of joy because he knew his mother was living and healthy. According to Lamar, that is.
    Lamar opened one of the bags and pulled out a bottle of water and said,”Here, you’re going to need this. It helps me clear up from the smoke. I promise it’ll work miracles for you.”
    Alex grabbed the bottle and drank the water quickly. He put the bottle on the floor and looked back up at Lamar.
    “Lamar, are we going to get out of here… alive?” asked Alex faintly.
    “You listen here, Son. I’m going to get us out of this. I promise I will get us out of here. Do you hear me?”
     Alex nodded and smiled. He believed that Lamar could truly save him from this evil within the ship.
     Alex asked for another water bottle and Lamar handed him one. Alex found that the water helped clear his head from what was happening around him.
     “Listen, boy,” commanded Lamar “If you want to find a way out, we can’t stay here. We need to get up to the higher levels, but I bet that thing is just waiting for us at the stairs.”
     “So, what do we do about it? Hey, that water helped me clear my head from that smoke. What if it could lure that thing away from us?” asked Alex quietly.
     “Maybe… but it will have to take a lot of water. I’m not one hundred percent sure about it. I mean, we don’t know if it will even work on the thing. For all we know it could easily make it stronger or faster than before. But considering it did help us clear our minds, I think that the water could work and help us out.”
    Alex grabbed the bag full of water bottles and jumped off the elevator and onto the floor. Lamar dropped the bag of canned goods to Alex then jumped onto the floor.
     The lights in the hall flickered once more which made the halls much more eerie. The stench of sulfur lingered throughout all the halls. As the two of them wandered along the halls they read messages written blood  that were scattered across the walls and on doors. Some read,”No escape for the living” or “Where is your God now?”
     Alex stopped at one of the doors that read, ”Who could let this happen?”
     He read it carefully and thought of all the pain that people had to go through from this, simple, dark figure. He pondered upon the thought of his mother’s existence. Was she truly alive waiting for him in the end? His mind raced and soon came with a conclusion that his mother had most likely perished from this world. The woman who had always been there for him, the one woman who took care of him for most his life, had likely passed away from an unimaginable death.
     Tears ran from his eyes and he slowly fell onto the floor.  Lamar quickly sat next to him on the floor. Lamar knew exactly what Alex was going through.
     “Son,” started Lamar,”things like this are difficult and I understand the pain of losing the one in your life that was always there and raised you. I know because I lost my mother as well. My step mother and father came with me. The worst thing we can do in a situation like this is do nothing. We need to move away from here and get off this boat.”
     “Where is our God, Lamar?” Alex asked.
     “He’s up above, and when I tell you that he will let us out of here alive, he will. I know he will.”
     “How can you be so sure? Maybe we were meant to die here, like the rest these people.”
     “This is the devil’s doing. God wouldn’t do this. Now get up. We shouldn’t stay here for long.”
     Lamar stood up and grabbed Alex’s hand. The two ventured down the halls once more. As the more they walked the more the whispers grew. Not just in volume, but in abundance. Multiple voices taunted them by saying their names, first and last. The stench of sulfur grew thicker and most of the smoke returned, but it only merged on the ceiling.
     Lamar put his hand on Alex’s chest just before they rounded a corner. Alex stood back as Lamar peeked his head out to see what was there.
     Lamar got to see the spirit standing still, holding something. Mourning upon something as if it still had something to fulfill in its never ending existence. Its eyes were narrowed downward as if it were sad or moaping over something or someone. It held a ring in its hand. A golden ring which was most likely a wedding ring. 
     Alex crouched and looked at the spirit as well. Both of them wondered how a murderous beast could mourn over something.
     “The spirit clearly did not have any usable organs, but it had a definite soul that must’ve been crushed in the past, but why was it here?” Lamar thought, “Why was it on this boat, murdering all of it’s passengers?”
     Suddenly, Alex felt something come up inside him. A horrific feeling that if the action of this feeling was acted upon, the spirit would most likely find them. Alex held his breath and covered his face with his shirt. He tried his hardest not to let it out!
     Then, he sneezed.
     The spirit quickly looked up and saw Lamar standing peeking over the doorway. Lamar quickly grabbed Alex and took off down the halls. The spirit quickly followed, calling their names and telling them to come closer, but the two kept running as fast as possible. Their feet carried them past the elevator and past Alex’s room. They ran on past the level seven cafeteria (each floor had a cafeteria and a public bathroom) and up the stairs. Lamar pulled on the door at the top of the staircase, but it was locked. Alex tried to kick it and Lamar joined him. They kept kicking and throwing their bodies against the metal door, hoping it would do something!
     Then, a voice flew into Alex’s ear that sounded much like the voice of Laurentine. It called unto him saying,”Alex! I’m here! I need you now more than ever!”
     Alex turned quickly looking down at the strange spirit, which was standing at the bottom of the stairs. He took one step toward the spirit, slowly. His eyes never drifted away from it. Lamar, who was kicking the door, realized that Alex was no longer helping and became concerned when he saw the smoke lurking on the ceiling and blood climbed up the stairs, completely ignoring the laws of physics.
     Lamar quickly grabbed Alex and threw him into the door. Lamar pulled out a flashlight from his pocket and tried to turn it on. He pressed the button several times before realizing that the batteries were dead. He shuffled through his bag even more as the spirit grew closer and start to call for Alex more and more. Soon, the spirit began to call Lamar’s name as well in hopes that they would give in and come to it.
     The spirit was at this point very close to Alex. It seemingly knelt down and reached out a faint hand to Alex, who had his eyes clamped shut, ears plugged and was sitting against the wall next to the door.
     The spirit’s eyes went from red to a faint blue hue. Lamar stopped kicking the door when he saw the smoke and the smell disappear. Lamar looked at the spirit, eyes wide open. He could not believe that the noises had stopped and that this spirit was not killing Alex. Lamar pondered on why it did it, seeing as Lamar had watched it kill several people. Lamar would only assume that this could be a gift from God. The spirit chose not to kill Alex, but what about Lamar?
     Just as the spirit started to speak, a female, shouted, “hey gasht  face, why don’t you murder someone else for once! How about me?”
     The woman quickly ran down the hall as the spirit followed, angry and determined to kill this woman. She ran around the corner and past Alex’s room and leaped into the elevator. The spirit flew past the elevator and rushed down the hall.
     Soon Lamar and Alex reached the elevator and hopped in. The woman sat in the elevator, tired and winded.
    “Saved you boys back there didn’t I?” she asked.
    “Sure,” started Alex,”but you should’ve ran. Could’ve just let us die rather than risking your own.”
    “I’d rather burn for forever than watch two fellow survivors be murdered by some beast.”
    “Good nuff. I’m Alex and this is Lamar. We haven’t gotten out of level seven since this thing started.”
    “I’m Ashley. You’ve only been on this one floor? I’ve been everywhere. I’ve even been on the deck. How have you two been only here for the past few hours?”
    “I actually was on level six, but came down here when I saw it coming. That’s when I saw Alex just standing in the hallway,” spoke Lamar.
   “How have you been getting from floor to floor so easily?” asked Alex.
   “I climbed. Here, let me show you,” said Ashley.
    She put her hands on the ceiling of the elevator then pushed it off to the side, opening to elevator shaft. The cables and ropes moved gracefully back and forth. The walls were silver and reflected everything in the shaft itself. The three of them stood on top of the elevator. Lamar and Alex were both perplexed by the shaft itself and how Ashley could’ve gone up and down in it.
     “Well, here’s a fancy way of getting around,” chuckled Lamar.
     “I second that. This is quite interesting. In fact, Lamar, why didn’t we try this?” asked Alex.
     “I just never thought of it. I knew the elevator was the safest place, but I never saw it as a bus stop of sorts.”
     “You, boys climbing up or what?” asks Ashley as she clings to the ladder in the side of the shaft.
     The two nod and Alex jumps on the ladder. His left hand slips and he almost falls, but his right hand still held a good grip.
     “Boy, don’t you fall on me now,” stated Lamar.
     Alex climbed up higher and higher. The ladder itself seemed to become less effective as they climbed higher. At one point, Lamar almost lost his life because his hand slipped off the ladder. He about dropped the bags once or twice.
     Alex grew weaker. Fatigue had started to set in, not just physical, but pathological fatigue hit him the hardest.
     “How much farther are we going?” Alex asked.
     “Up to the first floor, it’s not the deck, but we can’t risk it knowing where we are,” commented Ashley. She never lost grip once and climbed much faster than the other two.
     “What’s the first floor like? I never actually got on it, I just used the elevator to get back and forth,” explained Alex.
     “It’s the worst,” started Ashley, but she took a breath before she started again, as if she was about to regret every word that would protrude from her mouth.
     “The lights don’t flicker. They stay on, which may seem all good and amazing, until you realise that it shines red because of so much blood everywhere. The walls themselves are riddled with hand prints of blood and messages. That smoke covers the ceiling so don’t stand too tall. But lastly, its base is there. It stays on the first floor to block anyone from leaving. It can travel through walls, and move much faster than we do. It just chooses not to. I guess you could say it likes us enough not to kill us quickly.”
     “Or it just wants to kill us slowly, you know, for fun,” added Lamar.
     “Let’s just keep climbing.”
     The three started up again. They climbed and climbed until they finally reached the first floor of the ship. Immediately all three of them noticed that halls stank much worse than the others. Not only did sulfur lurk around, but the smell of decaying flesh and rotted corpses also lurked.
     The three jumped into the halls, Ashley in front and Lamar and Alex just behind her.
      “You ready?” asked Ashley.
      “How could I be?” replied Alex.
      “I’m ready,” said Lamar, who showed no fear of what lay ahead. So, Lamar was the the first to walk down the halls of the first floor.