Aquaria - 6. Aqu Chapter 6

Trenton’s POV

Happy with what they had worked out, for the students, I left Mitchell to go through the plan to make sure it was ok, while I went to find my cousin, and arriving in the Junior officer’s lounge on Deck 2, I found myaunt and cousin chatting.

“Hello Trenton, this is your first cousin Wallace” Natalia said making the introductions, and I shook mycousins’ hand and welcomed him onboard the Aquaria. “Why don’t you both go down to Deck 5 and get settled into your suite, and by the way, your father has accepted a recommendation of your uncles to turn the starboard side VIP suites into 4 Family cabins” Natalia suggested, and I just nodded my head in understanding and turned around to head out again.

Earlier this morning, before most of the crew were up, I had moved some of my luggage and belongings into Suite 1 of the two executive suites, which shares a private lounge room, with my new accommodation being two times bigger, than what I had before.

“So, what were you best subjects in school? I asked as I stood just outside my cousin’s new quarters, “I did fairly well in all of my chosen subjects, but my favourites were mathematics and language” Wallace replied, as he began to unpack.

“What languages?” I asked, “Swedish, Italian and French, do you have a girlfriend?” Wallace replied, “Well I know a little French that is all, and no I don’t, but I use to have a boyfriend” I replied cautiously.

“Well get the hell away from me then, and I don’t want to see or talk to you” Wallace snarled, as he shoved me backwards to the wall, in shock at what my cousin had just said and done, I dashed out of the Executive lounge, and headed back to my former cabin, where all of my valuable belongings are still located, including a lot of purchases that I had made over the past few days.

Once in my cabin, I locked the door, and went and had a hot shower, where I cried a lot, before stumbling into bed and dozing for a while. When I woke up a short while later, I remembered the homophobic comments that my cousin had made, and I trembled at the thought of it.

When there was a light knock on the door, and Mitchell’s voice called out to him, so I climbed out of bed and unlocked the door, to allow him inside. Seeing how upset his friend is, Mitchell wrapped his arms around me, and I began to cry again.

Once I had calmed down, I told Mitchell what had happened in the executive suite, where my cousin is going to be staying, and stated that I didn’t want to be on the vessel anymore, well at least while Wallace is onboard. “How about we see if we can get you off, and get you back home, to Australia, then you can stay in my little cottage in the Perth hills” Mitchell suggested.

“That sounds great, but how am I going to do that, its’ not as if I have a lot of money” I replied, “Ok, I will loan you some, to cover your transport costs from here in Rio, back home to Perth. There is a spare key hidden in the hollow of a ceramic budda that is in the front garden, make yourself at home, use the car if you need to and I will see you when I get back from the Falklands in just over two weeks” Mitchell suggested.

For the next half an hour, Mitchell and I planned what we needed to do. Mitchell would go to the suite and collect all my luggage, which had mostly been left in a stack just inside the door, and I used his mobile and Mitchell’s credit card to book a flight from Rio to London, and then to Perth, which was the cheapest way.

Mitchell also organised and brought up a meal for me, so I could eat before leaving. We decided that soon after the cadets, parents and teachers from the school arrive, and are getting organised, would be the best time to leave without being noticed.

Shortly after 3pm, the school group arrived, and amongst all the chaos, I slipped off the vessel, and was soon in the terminal, where I had to go through customs and passport control, before I could slip away into the crowds of Rio de Janeiro.

Sending a text to Mitchell to let him know that I was heading to a taxi stand to get to the airport, Mitchell soon returned the text to say that so far, no one has noticed me missing. I told my friend that I had left a letter addressed to his uncle, and I asked for it to be delivered to his uncle in a few days, when they are well out to sea and down the coast.

I had to wait 6 ½ hours before my flight was due to leave Rio, and so once I had checked in my luggage and collected my ticket, I settled down in the boarding lounge with a book to pass the time. When I was about to board the plane, I sent another text message to Mitchell, unsure if he would receive it, since they were probably too far out to sea.

“Boarding flight to London now, due to arrive there at 1300 hours tomorrow, see you when you get back to Perth, and thanks heaps for doing this for me, Trent”, and surprisingly I received a reply.

“We are stopping off at Sao Paulo, as one of the parents has to return home urgently, the captain has asked me if I have seen you, and I let him know that you were sick, and staying confined to your cabin, at least till tomorrow lunch time, safe travels, Mitch”.

I smiled as I read the message, before switching off the phone and heading for the boarding gate, to board the plane. With a 11-hour non-stop flight to London, and a 20-hour flight to Perth via Singapore, I was tired and exhausted by the time that I had arrived in Perth and passed through customs.

All I wanted to do was find a bed and get some sleep, so I found a motel near to the airport, and checked in, and went straight to sleep, after laying down. When I woke up the next morning, it took him a few minutes to remember where I was, and after a quick shower, I checked out of the motel and called a taxi, to take meto the suburb of Darlington, in the Perth hills.

The 30-minute taxi ride cost me nearly $70, but it was better than relying on public transport, which would have taken a few hours to complete the trip. The cottage was set well back from the street, about twelveblocks back from the main highway, there was plenty of trees and shrubs on the large block of land, which hides most the cottage from the street.

The property is on a sloping block, about half way up the steep street, just over one kilometre from the centre of the township of Darlington, and 3.5 kilometres from the main highway. I managed to easily locatethe little buddha, where the key was hidden, and I let myself in. The house had been closed for a while, but it was clean and tidy, which is all I needed.

I spent a good hour looking around the house and property, which was a good 2.5 acres in size, which is rare in this area. The fridge was open and switched off when I arrived, so I closed the door and turned on the power, and while it was cooling down I continued looking around.

There is three bedrooms in total, all thou one has been made into a study, and in one of the cupboards in the study I found a key rack, with half a dozen sets of keys. House spare, Car, Shed & Garage were the only keys that had tags on them, and I grabbed the spare house keys, garage keys and car keys, before heading outside to look in the garage.

Inside, I found a Landrover Defender, which surprised me a little, and I unlocked the vehicle and climbed in, and I was pleased that it started up easily, and that it had over half a tank of fuel, so I started it up and let it run for a few minutes, while I quickly raced back, grabbed my wallet and locked up the house, before driving into the village to get some food supplies.

When I found no food shops there, just a café and a few small shops including a hair dresser, I called into the post office to make some enquiries, where I was directed to go to either Midland, which is 11 kilometres down the highway, or I could go to the small IGA store in neighbouring Glen Forrest, which is just 4.5 kilometres away.

Once I had completed some food shopping at the Glen Forrest store, I relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. I knew that the vessel would take at least 5 days to reach Port Stanley in the Falklands, from Sao Paulo, so it would be another 2 days at least before a get a call from my uncle or father, and I planned to use that time to have some free time to myself, with no one to disturb me.

When I woke the next morning, listening to the sounds of birds singing outside, with very little other sounds around, it took me a few moments to remember where I was. I looked around the spare room of the cottage, which looked like it had last been decorated in the 1970’s, but it was nicely furnished, and the bed was very comfortable.

I went to have a shower, only to discover that there was no hot water, so getting dressed I went looking for the hot water system, which was outside the bathroom, and nearby outside the kitchen are two large gas bottles. I gave one a shake, and it felt like it was empty, but the other one was full, so locating the switch, I flicked it over, and heard a hissing noise.

Back inside I went to the kitchen and let the hot water tap run for a while until I had hot water, once it washot, I went for a hot shower, and changed into some fresh clothes. In the shed, I found a spade, rake, secateurs, garden fork a wheel burrow and gloves, and I set off to work, to get the garden back into order, pulling out all the weeds out of the rose garden, then pruning the roses.

By the middle of the day, I had managed to remove many weeds, and prune the roses, so they were not so wild, and pruned a few shrubs to tidy them up. I created a large pile of green waste, just inside the gate of the cleared area in the lower garden, which I will leave Mitchell to decide what to do with it all, and after putting everything away and locking up the shed, before heading inside for some lunch.

As I sat down to eat, my mobile rang, which made me jump, and the caller ID said unknown number, I was debating on whether to answer it or not, and eventually I pressed the accept button and listened. “Trent, this is your father speaking, what is going on? Why have you left the vessel and where on earth are you?” came the voice of the man I hardly knew.

“Hello father, I left because your nephew is a homophobic bastard, and I will not put up with his attitude, and I am in Perth, I arrived here yesterday and I am taking some time to myself for a while” I answered, “Oh, I didn’t know about Wallace being homophobic, and I am sorry that he feels that way.

I will have a chat with your uncle and find out the full story, all I have heard so far is that you left the vessel in Rio, soon after the school group arrived, and that is all. Are you ok, do you need any money, I can send some to you if you like” Hamysh responded.

“I am fine for now thanks father, it was my decision to leave the vessel, so let’s end this discussion for now” I said, “Very well, take care and I will talk to you soon, goodbye” Hamysh said and he ended the call.

After lunch, I cleared up the kitchen, and sat in the lounge room, which had no television, just a bookshelf and a display cabinet, the lounge suite and chair, and a wonderful view out the front window, as I thought about what I could do for the next two weeks, till Mitchell gets back to Perth.

Later in the day, I headed back out into the garden and continued with cleaning up the garden, adding more green waste to the growing pile. By the time it came to be finishing for the day, due to the lack of daylight, I packed everything away, and headed inside and decided to have a long hot bath to soak my aching muscles.