�What the hell is going on here?� Gil questioned as he followed his wife down the numerous corridors of the ocean liner, �I mean we could be going on a wild goose chase, I cannot believe that I am saying this, but this little girl did not tell us what exactly we are to be helping her with, what did she seen in us that could free her from this hell on water?� he asked as his wife disappeared into another room. �Catherine are you even listening to me?�
�No, not really,� Catherine replied and turned to look at her husband, �We cannot give up on this little girl, I mean just think if this was one of our daughters, for her to ask us for help she is either desperate or she knows something that we are capable of doing and we cannot see it yet.� She explained as she over looked what was once the dinning hall.
Every room that the two of them were investigating were all beginning to look the same, all the walls were covered in the same disgusting muck, everything that was once in order was now in a disarray. It was like the whole ship had flipped over and been shook like a snow globe. Grissom and Catherine separated in the large room, both searching opposite ends of the dinning hall on a senseless search for clues they are not even positive are clues.
Catherine headed up on to the stage that was in front of the dinning area. There was live entertainment once on this boat that looked to have put on quite a show. There was a piano off to the side that still had sheets of music propped up on the stand. Catherine over looked the room from the viewpoint of the singer, she imaged the place filled with passengers, sitting down at the large tables all around the room, convoluting with the other people at their tables enjoying their food and drinking bottles of expensive wine. She could picture the singer, her beautiful voice filling the room as passengers that did not want to sit were dancing to the soft sounds of the music being played from the band.
�CATHERINE!� Gil screamed as he ran towards his wife who snapped out of her trance. He grabbed her around the waist in a football tackle as both of them crashed to the floor off the stage as what was left of a chandelier came crashing down from the ceiling and exploded right where Catherine was standing moments ago.
Gil quickly looked over his wife�s body, inspecting her for any injuries. She had a few minor bumps and bruises but she would be alright. Gil could see the fear and relief wash over her face as she stared at the broken pieces of crystal that were scatters across the place she was once standing. If Gil did not save her she would have been dead.
�Are you alright?� Gil asked as he moved a few strands of hair out of her eyes. Catherine just nodded, still in too much of a shock to say anything.
�From now on, we stick together, this place is like a floating time bomb anything is willing to snap, crack or fall at any moment.� He said and kissed her cheek.
�Your husband is right, you must be careful when walking the halls of this place. Everything used to be safe, until that horrible night,� the little girl�s voice was heard from behind.
Both Gil and Catherine turned and the same girl appeared once again, standing their as if she was the life size version of a doll. She walked across the floor, with every movement she made the floor transformed from the dirt to pure tile. It was if she was a goddess and everything she touched turned to gold.
�I guess I should introduce myself, my name is Cathleen, I�m eleven years old and I have an older sister named Natasha, who is probably dead now as well. I was traveling alone on this ship to meet up with my parents who were living in the United States; they are dead now as well. I guess, I never made it to the new world either.�
�What exactly did happen on this ship Cathleen?� Gil asked as he stood helping his wife to her feet.
�It was the third night of the six night journey from England to the United States. There was a massive ball that was happening right in this room, everyone was invited, and everyone was having a splendid time. It was the maiden voyage of this ship; the Captain was celebrating the half way mark in the journey over the ocean. I could remember the songs that were being played by the band, the sounds of happy couples laughing and corks being popped from wine bottles all evening long.� Cathleen explained as she took a seat on the stage as music was beginning to play throughout the room.
�Where were you when this was happening?� Catherine asked as she sat beside her.
�I was here, for some of it, the Captain had come to my room earlier that evening to formally escort me to the ball, he said that I would be the light of the party and that he would make sure that I would have fun. I was having fun in the beginning, I was dancing with the other passengers, and I enjoyed a pleasant meal and shared jokes at the captains table. However, being the child that I am I began to get bored of the adult scene and left the party thinking that this would be the best time to explore the inner workings of the ship. I had made sure to stay mostly in my room for the duration of the journey, not venturing to far since I was alone and afraid. However, that night was different, I knew that everyone was at the ball enjoying themselves, I would finally have some alone time. That was when I came across something that I shouldn�t have.�
�What is that you saw?� Gil questioned, seeing that as Cathleen was telling her story it was reenacting in front of their eyes, she was showing them exactly what had happened so many years ago.
�I had found a hatch that led down into the lower decks of the ship, as I headed down the steps the music from the hall was beginning to fade and the voices of men was echoing through the hall. I did not know what they were saying it was not in English, but the curiosity was beginning to get the better of me, at first I thought that it was probably just some passengers having their own type of party, thinking their was no harm to be had I continued down the hall. When I reached the door, it was open ajar and that is when I saw what looked to be machine guns, there were six men in their, all with guns, they were planning on stealing something on the ship. They must have heard me gasp because when I tried to cover the noise they flung open the door and chased me down the hall. I tried to find somewhere to hide but because I was not familiar with the lower deck the men had cornered me in one of the halls.� Cathleen explained as she turned to Catherine, placing her hand on hers. Catherine could feel her skin pass right through hers, as if she was touching a cloud in the sky. �Two of the men grabbed a hold of my shoulders, dragging me back down to the room I found them, I was screaming for help but it was useless, everyone was at the ball and the music would have drowned out my screams.�
�Cathleen, you do not have to tell me what happened, it is alright,� Catherine said.
�No, for you to understand why I need your help you need to know what happened to me and the other passengers of this ship. When they shoved me back into their stateroom, they tired to me to a chair, using rope to hold me down. They put cloth in my mouth so I would be unable to scream and every movement I was making the rope burned my skin. I watched as they planned it all out in front of me, how they loaded their machine guns with bullets and loaded their belts with what looked to me like green Easter eggs, I was not sure what those would do but I assumed they would be doing something bad. I wasn�t sure at the time what the men were planning but when they were done they had to get rid of me, so they dragged me, tied to the chair into the closet and used the rope that was tied around my wrists to make what I thought was a necklace, they stood me up on the chair, I was crying the whole time not sure of what was happening and placed the rope around my neck, tightening it just enough so my head would not slip through. As I stood there the men removed the chair from under my feet and left me dangling their by the rope as if I was a fish caught on a fishing rod. After a few moments I realized that this was the end, that they were killing me, and when everything went black that was when I came to terms with me actually being deceased.� Cathleen explained as tears trickled down her cheeks and pooled to the floor.
�Do you know what these men were after?� Gil asked, his voice was filled with sorrow, he had never heard the story of how someone had died from the victims words. He was used to being the voice for the dead; he was used to deciphering the clues to what happened. Now a little girl who had not even seen her thirteenth birthday explained to him in her words what happened to her one night, how she came to be a ghost of this ship. It was something that Gil thought was only possible in movies.
�Instead of having me tell you what happened, why don�t I show you,�
�How are you able to do that?� Catherine asked as she watched the girl grab both Gil and Catherine�s hand, before Catherine could protest her mind had fluttered back to that fateful night.
Catherine and Gil stood in the dinning hall, watching as the passengers danced with their partners on the dance floor, smiles shinned across their faces as the band played their music and the singer�s voice filtered throughout the room. Groups of people were seated all around the room laughing with one another. Suddenly the back door opened and five men with machine guns filed into the dining hall. The music ended as the guests all looked at the men as screams filled the air and people were too scared to even move.
�We are here after something that has been very valuable to our country for years, we know that it is being housed in the cargo area of the ship, we know that the only way to gain this information without any run ins is to eliminate the hurdles that are presented in our way.� one of the men explained as he opened fire on the chandelier over the dance floor, as I crashed to the floor killing numerous people.
The rest of the men followed suit in opening fire upon the people that were once enjoying their evening. Bullets filled the room ripping through people as they fell to the floor like dolls toppling on top of one another blood pooling from their wounds what was once an evening of laughter was now one of screams.
The little girl moved them to another area of the ship, the helm where the captain and his men were standing their controlling the ship. The men walked into the room their guns poised on the men waltzed in with their guns and pointed them on the crew members. The blood from the passengers in the ball room was splattered on their faces as they took the captain hostage at gun point and killed the rest of the crew short circuiting the ship having everything come to a jolting halt in the middle of the ocean. The men led the captain to the elevators down the hall, shooting the couple that was inside at point blank range and brought the captain down to the cargo hold level.
It was obvious that what they were after only the captain had access to, when they reached the lower levels there was a key pad as soon as he did his duty the man with the gun poised on his back fired, blood spattered and the Captains limp body fell to the ground. The men stormed into the room knowing exactly where they were going in the cargo hold, knowing exactly what they wanted to get, what was worth all of those peoples lives was at the very back of the cargo hold.
The men cracked open the wooden crate at with a crow bar snapping off the locks as the scattered in pieces across the floor. They searched through the packaging to finally finding what they had been after since the beginning. One of the men pulled out a sword that was encased in a leather satchel. As he pulled it out Catherine could see why it was so important to them, the blade was covered in their ancient writing and the handle was encrusted with all sorts of a jewels. They watched as all the men knelt down on the floor and prayed to the sword which showed that it had a religious significance to their culture.
The vision of the past floated away and Grissom and Catherine were back in the decomposing ballroom that they began in. Catherine sat down at the edge of the stage, she could not believe exactly what had just happened, never had she witnessed an actual person dying, let alone numerous people who were just enjoying themselves at a ball and then in a moment their lives had changed forever. Gil sat beside his wife placing an arm around her as she jumped at the feeling of another body close to her. This whole boat was beginning to give her the creeps.
�I�m sorry I had to show you that, but for you to understand how I got to where I am and how everyone else on this ship has gotten to their final resting place,� Cathleen explained reaching out for comfort from Catherine.
�What exactly are we to help you with Cathleen?� Gil questioned knowing the sooner they do what is asked of them the quicker they can go back to their yacht and think of this as just a bad dream. �What is a couple enjoying their vacation able to assist a ghost with?�
�I need you to destroy the ship, I need your help to free our souls from this barren ship, we are all prisoners here, and that mark that is on your hand is the mark of those who are imprisoned on this boat are fused with. The men that had killed us for that sword, they died by a passenger who killed them, for that duty that man was freed, however those men patrol this ship as if they are guard dogs on a rich persons grounds. Their culture binds them to that sword, which is the reason that they died.�
�How are we to destroy this ship? We do not have the tools to destroy an ocean liner, we are demolition experts or salvagers, their unfortunately is no way we would be able to free your souls.�
�But you can, you see the two of you have something that binds people together more than life and more than death; the only thing that can defeat death is love. The people that I had come here before, the people I have tried to recruit to help me have failed, I was never sure of why, I had people that were stronger than I could even imagine a person to be and they failed. After pondering about this for weeks and days on end I can to the realization that everyone I sent here was single and male and then I remembered about a couple that was aboard this ship when this disaster happened, I still do not know why it took me so long to realize that the love they had for one another had spared their souls from being confined to this hellhole and were allowed to enter heaven together and live together basking in their love. This is when I knew I needed someone with passionate love to help us, that is how I came across you two, the love that both of you have for one another is electric, the vibes from it can be felt throughout the whole hull of this ship, that love may just be enough to defeat the evil of this place,� Cathleen explained excitement radiating in her eyes.
�How is our love going to free your soul? Will the guardians of this place just not kill us and make us prisoners here as well?� Catherine questioned, unsure of this little girls plan.
�With your love both of you are immortal, they are unable to harm you which makes you able to get close to what they are guarded by, that sword that they were so fond of that night. If you are able to destroy that sword, even if you are able to throw it into the ocean our markings will be gone and our souls will be able to make it up to heaven where they should be, so I can see my family again. Please, I know it sounds obscured but this is the way of these peoples culture, this is unfortunately the situation that I am in, please do not leave please, help us,�
Catherine and Gil looked at one another, they were unsure if they could believe that this little girl was presenting to them, if what she was saying was even real, if everything that has happened in the past few hours is even real. Catherine could tell by looking at her husband that his analytical thinking has kicked in and he was being very leery about attempting to help out. She grabbed his hands, running her fingers over the raised area of the burn in his palm, right then that was when Catherine knew that everything was real that they were brought their for a purpose and they need to fulfill that purpose and save the spirits of people that were innocent. They would be doing exactly what they do day in and day out however it happened over a decade ago.
Gil gave his wife a kiss, the feeling of her lips on his was the reality check, he knew that he was now really on this sinking boat speaking to the ghost a little girl who was robbed of her life and innocence by a group of men pursuing a religious conflict. When he looked into his wife�s eyes he could tell that she wanted to help her, she always had a soft spot for children since they have two of their own, and deal with them on the metal slab in the morgue about once a week. It did not matter to his wife that this girl was a ghost, she treated her like a human, and to Gil, and this whole story was so unreal that it was becoming realistic. Only he and his wife would find something like this on a vacation.
�What would you like us to do?� Catherine asked turning towards Cathleen, seeing her smile, knowing that today would be the day she would finally be free.
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