Fate's Eternal Foe

Derrick.

Ring!...Ring!...Ring!

An arm shot out suddenly and knocked off the alarm clock jerking violently on a bedside desk.

The alarm clock fell on the rugged floor and continued ringing loudly.

A pair of red eyes opened wide and stared at the white intricate ceiling.

As the blares from the alarm continued from the floor, a dark figure rose from the bed to a sitting posture.

The figure reached for a phone that sat on the table. It opened up the phone and scrolled through for a few seconds. Soon after a sigh escaped its lips then it stepped down from the bed and walked to a corner of the room.

Flip!

The formerly dark room brightened up. A man in dark pajamas appeared in the bright light. His pale white skin formed a contrast with the pajamas he was wearing. His hair was full and black. He had a handsome profile with a pair of emotionless eyes.

" Another monotonous day of work". He murmured as he entered the bathroom door.

As he brushed his teeth in front of the sink mirror, past memories started flashing through his mind.

Derrick had a normal childhood, not exciting, but also not equally boring. It was just a normal life but, for him it was memorable.

His family consisted of five members, but it quickly became four when his energetic father died from a chronic disease when he was just ten years old.

Life became difficult for his family of four after that.

Derrick and his siblings had to go to school and also had to feed, and all these burdens naturally fell on his mother.

Nevertheless, she managed to hold on. Strong woman, she was, Derrick's mother.

Derrick and his siblings Darren and Isabella and his ever-loving and caring mother trudged on in life and faced its challenges as they came.

Though things were tough, his mother managed to take them through all levels of education his country had to offer.

When Derrick and his siblings graduated from college through both their hard work and their mother's sweat, life began to shine for them.

Since Derrick and his siblings all managed to study professional courses in college, jobs were pretty much just waiting for us by the time they finished.

He studied accounting, his brother became a lawyer, and his sister a doctor.

After that life became pretty smooth sailing for them. After all, they were living the working-class dream. They all got good jobs with great pay, and after some time of romance, they all got married to good spouses.

Later into the years, the babies started popping out and his mother finally had someone to call her grandma.

At that time life was fulfilling and enjoyable for the family and everyone was living comfortably and contented.

They were all having a good time.

Until the year 2037 during the Christmas holidays when everything went south.

Derrick's whole family including his wife Sonia and his two little boys, Jake and Davis had gone to his mother's house to spend the holidays.

He could not follow them immediately because he still had some unfinished business at his workplace that he needed to round up before the close of the year.

He had planned to catch up with them before the boat trip they were going to have on Christmas Eve, so they could all enjoy and spend the time together.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Derrick handed in the last stack of files and was finally done with work for the year.

Immediately after, he ran home to get his things before heading for the airport. He took the afternoon flight to the state where his mother's house was.

The flight took thirty minutes since it was an intercountry flight and the plane touched down at exactly 3.15 pm.

Derrick came down from the plane very excited.

He was still early.

He had time to get to the seaport before the boat trip started. Since it starts at 4.00 pm, or so he thought.

He boarded a cab that was headed to the shore area, but along the way, Derrick realized that his luck was shitty today.

A full-blown car traffic had started and it went on for miles with the cars moving at a snail"s pace.

This kind of traffic was the one where a person could leave for an appointment by 6.AM which was scheduled to hold by 8. AM and still get there by 10. AM.

It was this kind of traffic Derrick found himself.

He watched as the cars revved up and moved five meters and then continue again for almost two hours.

He was so held up in the traffic, that he arrived at the shore at 5.10 pm while the normal time for a cab trip from the airport to the shore area was just 15 minutes.

Derrick was so frustrated that he got caught up in traffic for almost two hours and cursed silently.

He started walking dejectedly to the wharf. It was already a hard fact that he would not be able to get on the boat for the trip.

After a few minutes, the ground started getting sandy and Derrick had arrived at the wharf.

He just wanted to go sit in a corner and wait for his family to return.

The poor man was already formulating a reasonable and soothing apology.

When he got near the shore, Derrick realized something was seriously wrong. There were small crowds of people gathered around in clusters on the beach while they talked loudly.

Some people were wailing and he could see a young man sitting weakly on the sand with tears rolling silently.

" What's going on?". Derrick thought.

He was a little puzzled by these people's behavior, so he drew near towards them and he could finally hear some of what they were talking about.

It was a cacophony of shouting and wailing so he could not hear everything. He had to go to a small cluster before he could finally hear what they were saying. As he heard the conversations his head started buzzing immediately.

"It's such a pity, all those poor people ".

" What the f**k was that big assed wave? For real just drew in that ship in seconds".

"Joe, it was a boat not a ship".

" Same thing, f**king idiot! But all those people though".

"I almost entered the boat, shit! I got saved by a f**king fruit juice".

"It vanished in like three seconds. All those people, gone just like that".

" Can you f**king believe it? Just before Christmas. Right on the f**king Eve! ".

" Are you serious right now?!!! The full boat?!!!".

" Lord bless their souls".

"Just sank like that ".

" Ahhh!!! You're kidding! Till now they have not found any survivors?!!!".

" None at all".

As the last voice rang out in Derrick's ears, a huge force crashed into his mind and his brain became blank.

He stumbled towards the nearest person and grabbed them. It was a short stubbled man.

" Where's the cruise ship? Where's the cruise ship? Where did they drop off the boarders?". He asked frantically.

The man wanted to push Derrick away, but when he heard him saying 'cruise ship' a light of sympathy flashed through his eyes. He put his hands around Derrick and started consoling him.

" It's going to be alright. You just have to stay strong. You hear. You have to stay strong".

Derrick threw the man's hand off his shoulder violently.

" Who the f**k are you telling to stay strong? I'm asking you where the cruise ship is you are telling me to f**king stay strong! Where's the cruise ship?". He shouted angrily.

The man shook his head sadly and said.

" It's the cruise ship that sank".

Immediately, everything around Derrick became blurry and he couldn't see anyone around him again.

He staggered on the sand as he hurriedly ran to the shore, he tripped and fell, but he stood up and continued running.

He looked around everywhere for his family frantically to the point of scaring some people.

With red eyes, he searched everywhere, but it was in vain.

He took out his phone and hurriedly dialed his wife's number.

" We're sorry but the number you are calling is currently switched off". Customer service blurted out in his ear.

" It's a lie! It's a lie! It's a lie !!!!". His already red eyes grew blood red as he shouted crazily.

He then tried his mother's number.

" We're sorry the number you are calling is currently switched off".

His brother's number.

" We're sorry the number you are...".

His sister's number.

" We're sorry the number...".

He collapsed on the sharp white sand, and hot tears dropped from his eyes.

The sound of the rolling waves of the ocean resounded in his ears, and he seemed to be hearing it say

"They are gone".

His vision grew dark slowly, and the growing darkness took him to its embrace.