Sea Sick: A Horror Novel

That’s one ship that’s certainly sailed.

Jack turned his mind to other things and looked down at the pool below. It was still packed with children. It now appeared that one of them – a young boy – had slipped while exiting the water. The boy’s mother was currently nursing an injury on the boy’s knee by rubbing at it vigorously. It seemed to make him cry even harder.

“Were you in the army?”

Jack looked around and saw that the teenage girl was talking to him again. “Huh?”

“Were you in the army?” She pointed to the Andy McNab novel in his hands. “Your book looks like it’s about war.”

Jack nodded. “It is, and, yes, I was in the army. Six years in the Signals.”

“Cool. I bet you saw some nasty stuff. Were you in Iraq?”

“No. That was after my stretch. I was still in my mid-twenties when I left the service. The army wasn’t really for me.”

“Don’t blame you. I couldn’t hack it, being screamed at all the time by some arsehole sergeant.”

Jack was silent.

“Oh God,” she said. “You were a Sergeant, weren’t you?”

Jack laughed. “When I left I was, yeah.”

“Sorry. What did you do when you left?”

“I joined the police force. Been an officer ever since.”

The girl’s eyes widened at that. People were always shocked when they found out they were talking to an off-duty police officer. It was as though people didn’t expect them to be actual human beings. It looked as though she was about to comment, but a third person arrived and stood between them before she had chance. It was the lad Jack had seen the day before on the docks, the one with all of the lines and squiggles buzzed into his hair. He was currently topless and displaying a perfectly carved set of abs.

The lad tilted his head towards Jack suspiciously. “How you doing, mate?”

“Good,” Jack replied, ignoring the macho attitude being fronted at him. “I was just chatting to your friend….?”

“Claire,” the girl on the sun lounger replied. She sounded a little nervous.

“She’s my bird, not my friend.” The lad extended his hand out to Jack. “My name’s Conner. Who the hell are you?”

Jack took Conner’s hand and the two of them shook more firmly than either of them needed to. “I’m Jack.”

“Jack was just telling me he’s a police officer,” Claire explained.

Conner pulled his hand away and took a step back. He impolitely snorted back a wad of snot and moved his attention to Claire, acting as if Jack had suddenly ceased to exist. “Come on, babes. They’re about to start serving up hotdogs. The lads are already down there.”

“I’m not really hungry.”

Conner clicked his fingers at her. “Get moving.”

Claire got up reluctantly and seemed to flash an awkward glance over at Jack. She reached down and pulled on a long t-shirt that covered her down to the knees. Then she shuffled into a pair of pink, jewelled flip flops and stepped up beside her boyfriend.

Conner sneezed. Then sneezed again.

Claire put the back of her hand against his forehead. “Your cold still getting worse?”

“Yeah,” Conner said. “I’m starting to feel well rough, innit. Steve and Mike have got it too. We haven’t stopped sneezing for the last hour. That’s why I need you to stop lazing your fat ass about, so you can look after me.” He went in for a kiss but Claire dodged it.

“Well, don’t give it to me, babe!” She instead planted a kiss on his forehead and wrapped her arms around him. “I’ll look after you, honey. Let’s go get some hotdogs inside of you.”

“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.