Missing in Venice

Even with her mighty engines in reverse, the ocean liner was pulled further and further into the canal.

Kerri wrinkled her pale, faintly freckled nose as a fat drop of rain hit it. She looked up at the sky, exasperated, and turned to her companion. "Jesus, Chris, can't we get some sun around here? I'm tired of this perpetual cloud cover. The whole city is morbidly depressed."

"And morbidly obese." Chris snickered, shrugging off the comment. "Come on, Kerri, we live in Venice. It's not like we're not used to the water."

"Just because I'm used to the water doesn't mean I enjoy it. I want to get tan!" Kerri kicked a lone pebble into the nearest canal, watching as soft waves reverberated outwards.

Chris came up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, whispering into her ear. "When have you ever been tan? Is that even a thing for redheads?"

Kerri elbowed Chris in the stomach hard, laughing when he doubled over. "Jerk. I can get tan. I just need to get rid of these blasted clouds." More plump drops of water plummeted out of the sky, peppering her fine, fiery red hair. Kerri's brow furrowed over her pale blue eyes, and she sighed dramatically. "Why can't we live in America? Where it's always sunny, and all the guys are blonde, tall, and totally hot."

"I'm not sure you know what you're talking about."Chris started chuckling, then stopped and glared at Kerri. "Hey, I'm tall. And blonde. And—"

"If you say you're hot I'm going to smack that self-centered smirk off your face." Kerri came close and stood on her toes, planting a soft kiss on Chris's lips. "Maybe you're not totally hot, but you'll do."

Chris was about to respond, a sneer already hovering on his lips, when it suddenly started pouring. As if the floodgates of heaven had been opened, gallons of water instantly drenched Kerri and Chris. Thin strands of white-hot lightning flickered across the darkening sky, and a loud crash of thunder hammered into their ears, causing the ground to shake.

Kerri screamed in frustration, staring down at her soaked clothes. "You know what? Screw you, world! All I f—" Another clash of thunder shot across the sky, drowning Kerri out, "wanted was a nice, sunny day to enjoy. But no, apparently we get three months of this s—" The next flash of lightning lit up the surrounding area in perfect clarity, and the resulting thunder followed so close behind it was nearly instantaneous.

"Kerri!" Chris yelled into her ear, struggling to be heard over the screaming wind and rumbling thunder. "We should get inside, or we'll catch our death out here." Chris grabbed Kerri's arm and dragged her behind him, trying not to laugh as she pointlessly showed her middle finger to everything in general. All around them, the canals were suddenly empty of locals and tourists alike, leaving Kerri and Chris stranded on the side of the canal. The nearest shop sold antiques and ancient memorabilia of times long gone, and the shop owner was standing passively in the doorway, observing the storm and the couple's progress.

Eventually the drenched, shivering pair of people stood in front of the shop owner, silently pleading with him to let them in. Wordlessly, he stepped aside and allowed them sanctuary. Kerri retreated deep inside the store, grumbling. "Everybody said we'd have sun today. Like a one-percent chance of rain. What did we get? A freakin' hurricane."

"At least it makes for some romantic kisses. Amongst other things." Chris lamented solemnly, gazing at Kerri with a serious expression. Kerri flicked him in the forehead as she walked past, looking at all the strange objects.

"How in the world is this even possible? It was barely cloudy when we left this morning." The store owner still stood at the door, which was now closed against the weather. With an echoing crack, a bolt of blue-streaked lightning struck a building on the opposite side of the canal. The entire store was lit up, and a long, spindling crack appeared in one of the windows. "Holy—"

"No vulgar profanity in my store." The shop owner didn't turn to look at Kerri, still staring impassively at the storm. Already the canals were beginning to lap at the walkways, overflowing completely.

Kerri huffed, glaring at the man's back. "Great, this is just great. Stuck in a stupid store with a stupid, stuck-up old man and a stupid, sarcastic boyfriend with a stupid storm preventing me from leaving. Stupid."

"Well, why in the world would you want to leave? This is just great. Look at this...uh, what is this thing?" Chris held a small, ornately decorated box. A gold clasp held it shut.

"That is a music box. It plays music." Again, the shop owner didn't bother to look at either of the two young people in his store.

"Huh, cool." Chris put the box back, looking around. "This storm won't last too long Kerri, you'll see."

"Yeah, right." Kerri stopped as a persistent rumbling began in the distance. The store began to shake faintly. The store owner frowned and leaned forward, looking in the direction of the strange noise. A long minute of lightning and thunder passed, with the sound becoming consistently louder every moment. Kerri looked at Chris and came to stand by the store owner. "Is it an earthquake?"

The old man shook his head, "No, it is worse."

"How in the world could it be worse than an earthquake?" Chris looked in the direction the man was looking, and stopped talking, mouth agape.

"What? What is it?" Kerri came a little closer to the window and looked.

"It is a boat." The old man pointed, just as a proud white prow appeared around the corner, a dozen stories in the air. Small, iron framed, circular windows followed, emerging with the rest of a massive cruise ship. Even with her mighty engines in reverse the ocean liner was being pulled further and further into the canal. "I suggest we get back." The old man turned around and walked further into the store, as if nothing was particularly wrong. Like panicked animals, Chris and Kerri scrambled after him.

"How the hell is that possible?" Chris pointed towards the window, where the single crack was quickly becoming dozens of spidery faults in the window. The shaking grew louder and louder, accented by the sounds of massive buildings collapsing with the collision of the huge boat. People were screaming in pain and terror, barely audible over the still occurring maelstrom of rain and wind.

The man shrugged, moving as far back as he could. "I do not know how or why, only that there is more to this storm than we can see with our eyes." He picked up a book and began reading, only to have it struck out of his hand by Chris.

"This is not the time to read you bastard! What do we do?" Kerri clung to Chris's arm, fearfully looking towards the door. Waves of green-tinted water hit the door and store windows, spreading out ahead of the impending doom that was the ocean liner.

The old man ignored Chris, looking at the front of his store. With a resounding boom, a stray bolt of lightning hit the windows, shattering them completely. A wave of heat, rain, and wind followed the blindingly bright light, hitting the three people like a brick wall. Creeping after the wave of chaos and nature, the scratched, torn up black hull of a cruise ship came into view from the gaping, sizzling hole of the store.