Voyage Of The Dead

• Ishaan Kapoor, Grade 4, Pymble Public School -
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

“Captain Brian will never know who ingeniously filched his ship from the docks,” hissed Marcus. “He’s far too imprudent to comprehend that his ever so cherished ship was gone!” Meanwhile, Captain Brian was toasting his fellow sailors as they had traversed over the Pacific Ocean from New York to Casablanca on his astounding ship, which he valued awfully.
The next morning in Casablanca, Lieutenant Jeff was up bright and early to scrub the decks on the ship. As he was listening to the sweet sound of the scarlet tanagers, he slipped on a stone and plummeted into the water. At first all he thought about was that he was now saturated, but then what came to his mind, was that the boat should be exactly where he had fallen. He abruptly hauled himself out of the water and raced back to where they were…playing cards?! “Sorry, but now is not the time for gambling. Our ship is gone!” exclaimed Lieutenant Jeff. “WHAT?!” roared Captain Brian. Admiral Max was puzzled. “What exactly is happening?” he yawned. “Oh, I’ll tell you what’s happening!” Bellowed Captain Brian. ‘Ok’ Squeaked Admiral Max. “Wait a minute” thought the captain… “I remember Marcus’ words when I last caught him with my telescope. The ship has sailed,” Murmured the captain, “Hmmm…”
3 Days later
After they tracked down Marcus by following the oil trail left by one of the oversized trucks that helped transport the ship to Marcus’ secret headquarters, the crew had their plan ready. Captain Brian began, “Plan A: find the ship and if that doesn’t…wait a minute, the ship’s parked straight out the front. Well boys, Atlantic Ocean here we come!” Exclaimed the captain confidently.
4 days later
“Boys on the sails!!! Water spout! Water spout!” shouted Captain Brian. “We’re dead!” Howled Lieutenant Jeff. Suddenly the water spout was struck by lightning, which lead to complete chaos. The ship twisted and turned, the sails were singed and torn – they didn’t stand a chance. Max, Jeff and Brian woke up – dead. After many years, they learnt the potential perks of being ghosts and soon mastered the necessary skills to become horrors without culpability. What fun they had. One misty night of mischief, a thick fog caused the ghosts to lose control of their ship and to steer through a house where a lady was peacefully sipping a hot chocolate and watching reality television in her dining room. The lady captured a brief glimpse of the spunky ghosts and their ship as it sailed through her living room, partially blocking her view of the television. However, being unable to capture the handsome brutes for her own ends, she reported them instead, to the authorities. After a somewhat cynical search of her house and a perfunctory investigation, it was concluded by the police that the ghosts and their vessel must have left without a trace. Captain Brian and his crew continued on their mischievous adventures, happily disturbing all those in their path.