GHOST SHIP
                                      By Sharon Jones

                          CHAPTER 1

        “What are you looking for, Dorian?” asked Alvar, an old gray haired, blue eyed, sailor who has 
sailed the world one-hundred times over.  Alvar had so many stories of sea he was an encyclopedia on 
ocean folk tales.  
        “The ship,” replied Dorian who was a young inexperienced sailor with bright, youthful, hazel 
eyes, with chestnut hair.  Alvar was his friend and his trainer on being a sailor.  Which will go obsolete in 
Dorian's lifetime because the Wright brothers had invented the airplane a few years ago, and now working 
on a way to make it for commercial use.
        “What ship? We're the only ship for miles, my boy.”
        “No. We're not.  Every night I wake up to laughter and celebration.  Then when I come on deck to 
find who it is I don't see anyone but the laughter continues.  And when we left England for the first few 
days I saw another ship near us.  At least within a mile of us.”
        “I see.  You've got the gift.”
        “What gift?”
        “You hear and see the ships of the past.”
        “What?”
        It's as simple as it sounds.  You hear the old ships that have sunken.  All of these ships haunt the 
seas, but they're special sailors like you, that hear and see them.”
        “I think you've spent too many years at sea, Alvar,” Dorian said jokingly.
        “I'm serious Dorian!  What made you become a sailor?”
        “I've always been drawn to the sea even though I grew up by a small creek.  My father used to 
have us sit around the fire and he'd tell old legends.  I loved it when he talked about the sea.  So when I was 
old enough, I went to London and got a job as a sailor.  This is my third time being out on the sea.”
        “You were drawn to the sea even though you didn't live near it.  That's one of the signs.”
        “Weren't you drawn to the sea?”
        “Yes, but I lived near it.  I always wanted to go on amazing adventures as a boy.  Just like the 
sailors that would come home and tell me stories of pirates and other tales of India and such other places.”
        “Then we're the same.”
        “No. I was on a voyage with this one sailor.  He was just like you.  Drawn to the sea without the 
sea near him, heard things in the night.  I had been a sailor for a few years when I met him.  John was his 
name.  Well there had been an old coot sailor on board, Riley, and when John told him of hearing things, 
Riley told us of the special sailors that sometimes hear things in the night.  Riley was one of those special 
ones and said anytime we sail very close to the route a sunken ship had sailed, he heard it all every night.  
Even the screams and final words of its passengers.”
        “It's rubbish.  You should know that.”
        “I am a light sleeper and when I heard John go out on deck, I followed him and he searched for the 
ship, but there was none.  Since then I've met about ten other ones.  And that's after a lifetime of sailing.”
        “Who cares if that's true or not?  It's a story you tell to entertain.  There's no truth behind that.”
        “Then how come on my way back from India the captain jumped overboard?  In his last journal 
entry he said that the nightly voices drove him insane.  He could only get rid of them by death.”
        “Your memory must be getting things mixed up.  I heard the captain on that ship knew that he 
didn't get the right cargo from India and the king would've beheaded him for it.”
        “That's what he said, because no one would have believed us if we told the truth.  You may deny 
the voices exist, but just you wait and see.  You'll either hang yourself, go mad, or believe me by the end of 
this journey.”


                                        Chapter 2

        That night Dorian was awaken to the sounds of merriment and celebration.  Alvar’s words 
repeated themselves continuously in his mind.  Even though he knew the legend, he didn't believe it.  Dorian 
was convinced that another ship was near by.  He got out of bed and climbed the small ladder-like staircase 
to the deck.  On the starboard side he heard the noise.  Dorian walked over and leaned as far over the 
railing as he could without falling off.  In the distance he saw a ship.  It looked antique.  It was a very 
exquisite ship with quality like you wouldn't believe.  The ship sailed closer to the ship Dorian was on, until 
it was a quarter of a mile away.  He saw lights and sounds of happiness and laughter.  Thinking it was an 
illusion, Dorian rubbed his eyes several times.  The ship was real.  Then all of a sudden the ship 
disappeared into thin air.  Remembering the legend Alvar told him he thought out loud,  “That can't be a 
ghost ship. Or was it?”

Is it a real ghost ship or is Dorian just imagining it?  Will Dorian face the ghost ship? What will he do?

Find out in our next issue when we reveal the next chapter.