All I did was get into a little fight with my sister and now I was sitting here, while on a cruise, locked in my room. How unfair was this? She got into just as big of a fight with me as I did with her. Being the middle child, my parents always seemed to take any other’s side than my own. Here is what crossed my mind. How would they know if I just left the room? They were off playing roulette and my sisters were in the spa. All I wanted was to go for a swim and try to get to a nice shade of golden brown for the upcoming summer.

"Alright guys, here’s the plan, get on the boat and off the boat as quick as possible. We don’t want to leave any traces behind that we were ever there. On the boat, to the casino, then off. If everything goes right then no one should be harmed and we will all be a few million richer," the boss rambled on. I was of course the guy that no one wanted to have as a partner. This is because I really had no desire to steal from others. But everyone know if I went against what the boss said, I would end up a body at the bottom of the ocean that someone would discover a few years later on a scuba diving trip. I was forced into a life of fear by my uncle, who was involved with some hostile people and got me dragged into it. Living in Somalia my life was never perfect, but it worked. Now I was twenty miles away from a cruise ship I was about to rob. What have I gotten myself into?

Sitting by the pool I had a lingering feeling of guilt running through my body. Yes I had disobeyed my parents, but I was on vacation. Really I saw no other option. Everyone was gazing out the windows, but I figured it was a bunch of brainless tourists gazing at what they thought was a whale or a dolphin. I overheard someone say, "I didn't know fishing boats came out this far in the water," and that is when an alarm went off in my head. What kind of idiot would believe a fishing boat was out hundreds of miles off the coast line? Since I at least had some common sense, I went for a look out the window. Was that a boat? It was no animal and much too small to be another cruise ship. Just at that moment that feeling of nerves fluttered through my veins as I remembered the movie we had recently watched in history class the Friday before we left. Pirates weren't a modern thing were they? I had always pictured them with peg legs, an eye patch, and a parrot on their right shoulder.

Approaching the boat my head was in a constant battle with my moral fiber. Should I stand up for what is right, or just go along with it? The fact that we didn’t plan on harming anyone made it a bit easier of a pill to swallow. But then again I was going to traumatize these people for life. They would forever be haunted by the images of people climbing the side of their cruise and stealing their money. But with only a few miles until we would hop onto our little motor boats, I made the decision to go through with it. Also the chance of me getting away with it with the crew I was working with was actually quite high. They were some of the most successful pirates in all of Somalia. This was the first job in which I was actually involved. Being a mile away from the cruise ship, my heart was pounding and my face was red hot with nerves.

"The captain has a few words that he would like to directly address with the passengers," the overhead speakers muttered. "Folks I'd like everyone to remain calm, and please return to your cabins in a prompt manner. The ship is being chased by what we are only to believe are pirates. We have verified that no heavy weaponry is aboard their boat, but they are in possession of small hand guns. Return to your cabins at this time, stay in them at all costs, and do not come out until instructed to do so by a staff member, thanks," the captain stated. Right as the microphone hung up panic spread through the boat like wildfire. People were sprinting in all directions trying to get to a safe area. I took a mad dash for the casino to try and find my parents; I did not want to be locked in that room all alone. I have never seen so many people scrambling around like ants in my life. Arriving at the casino you could hear a pen drop in there. It had cleared out in the two minutes it took me to get there, and I was in there, all alone. I could hear voices in the distance and did the first thing that came to mind, hide behind the fake bush in the corner and hope for the best.

"Here we go!" All of us jumped into the water, guns and briefcases in hand, and began our swim to the boat. The back had the easiest access, considering there was a ladder to the docking station. With these guys on my team, it would be a piece of cake getting to the casino. This had to be their seventh cruise ship in the month of June. Not a soul was to be found wandering the halls on the ship. Since we had no intention of harming anyone, this was quite the perfect scenario. Arriving at the casino I could have sworn I saw one of the plants ruffle in the corner, but knowing how violent my partners had the potential to be, I ignored it. Since these guys had studied every blueprint of every cruise ship in the book, finding the safes was no problem. To be in and out in a timely manner we considered all the options, but eventually came to the conclusion to take two of the smaller safes, and worry about getting the money our of them later. Doing this saved time, energy, and left even less evidence than we had planned. Walking out thinking we were the greatest robbers on the earth out situation got a bit more complicated as a plant fell out of nowhere.

All that I could think was that if I moved, there is a strong possibility that I wouldn’t see tomorrow. At that moment my leg began to cramp and I couldn’t help but flinch. Oh my god, the plant fell.
"Who's there!?", I heard an unfamiliar voice shout.
Being at a loss for words, nothing came out of my mouth. The man threw the plant to the side and I was exposed. Running would get me shot and sitting might just be the same outcome. I could hear them talking about how they might have no option but to have to "take care of me" and I knew exactly what that meant. If I had any common sense I would have just made a mad dash for an exit, but instead stood there, petrified.

"Were not killing a kid," I had tried to keep it in but just couldn’t. That would be taking things too far. Explaining the fact that he was too scared to remember anything and killing him would help us in no way saved his life.

Who is this kind man standing up for me? I didn't think that I would be seeing the sunrise tomorrow and out of nowhere one of them burst out in a speech about of how I could do no harm. Should I thank him? Nodding my head in a slight agreement with his statement saved my life. Who I assumed was the leader came up to my face, shoved me into the corner, and walked off in a manner of disgust. As soon as I saw the elevator go down to the base floor and knew they would be off the ship, I could breathe smoothly again. There was too much that had just happened to comprehend, so I did what I should have done in the first place, returned to my cabin in an orderly fashion.

Upon returning to the room in which I was already supposed to be, I was welcomed by warm hugs and many sighs of relief. Explaining the story of what I had went through brought tears to most of my family’s eyes. What the captain said next brought even more, "This is the all clear message. As the security has done a full sweep of the ship, and found no harmful devices, it is safe to move about. The only thing they got was a few safes with little money in them. Enjoy the rest of your cruise, and thank you for being so prompt."