The ship is so empty I heard the other passengers echoing their conversations

The ship is so empty I heard the other passengers echoing their conversations<br><br>I stood on the edge of the railing, full to the brim and just a little tipsy, and looked out at the endless ocean. My friends all stayed inside, warily eyeing the coming storm, but I loved the sea with a passion that rivaled the amount of booze I had just swallowed. <br><br>I felt so free, so powerful, looking out at the waves and the wind as they crashed against the side of the boat. As I stood there with my hands on the railing, I felt like I was a part of it all. Like I was the ocean itself raging against the entrance they had built to try and tame me. <br><br>And as I danced and laughed and screamed into the raging wind, I heard the echoes. They were words, maybe sentences, maybe just sounds. I couldn’t quite make them out. It was just as well. I didn’t need to know what was being said; I only needed to know that someone else was there with me, in the storm. <br><br>I laughed again, and took another swig of my drink. Some of it spilled down my chin as I raised my face to the sky. I had never felt so alive. <br><br>As the storm roared on, I went back inside and fell asleep on a couch in the bar. <br><br>The next morning, I woke to a knock on the door. I didn’t want to answer it, but the knocking was so incessant that I finally dragged myself out of bed. It was one of the ship’s staff. <br><br>“Good morning, miss. I see you’re feeling a little rough. Let me bring you some water.” <br><br>I took the water and drank it greedily. Then, I asked, “Why are we so empty?”<br><br>“What do you mean?” the staff member replied. <br><br>“I mean, the ship is so empty. I heard the other passengers echoing their conversations last night, even though no one was around. Why is the ship so empty?” <br><br>The staff member looked at me sadly. “There is no one else on the ship, miss. Only you, your friends, and the staff. You were the only people on the ship.” <br><br>I stared at her in surprise. “But I heard echoes of other passengers.” I said. <br><br>The staff member smiled. “You must have been drunk, miss.” But I knew I wasn’t. I had been tipsy, sure. But I had also been listening, and I had heard the storms inside and out. I had heard the ocean itself screaming at me to let myself free. And I would never forget that feeling.