January 1984, A Sea port in Italy 

It was freezing cold night in Italy. People walked while looking at the time in their pocket watches. Almost midnight. But the port was still crowded. Everyone moving with a purpose. Huge ships were arriving and leaving the port with heavy goods or passengers.

A tiny girl, maybe 6 or 7 years old, held her mother’s index finger as if her life depended on it. She looked around at people shouting, discussing or walking at a pace that was too fast for the girl. “Lucia? Oh my tesorina. I told you not to stop, didn’t I? We have to go.”, the girl’s mother called her when she decided to leave her mother’s finger and run for a puppy. Lucia, being an obedient child, quickly rushed back to her mother. 

They soon stopped near a huge cruise ship where Lucia’s father was waiting for them with their tickets. She was delighted to see her father and hugged him. They boarded their cruise. Lucia was very excited for she had never travelled in a ship. She was even more excited about the fact that she was going to London to meet her cousin who lives there. 

Everything about the port and the cruise was fascinating to her. The huge ships, the ocean that doesn’t seem to have an end and a painting on one of the walls in the cruise ship. It was the exact same ship she was on, fighting with the strong waves of the ocean. The painting was indeed beautiful and she stopped to look at it for a while. 

The captain of the ship, a middle aged man with sharp eyes and an intimidating height blew the horn of the ship twice before the ship started moving. Soon after, the ship was in the middle of the ocean in midst of the powerful waves of water. Everyone in the cruise were watching the ship tearing through the ocean belt to move forward. Lucia stayed near her mother and father. 

Everything was fine, until the waves grew stronger and stronger and the passengers were informed to go inside their rooms for safety. It was around 3 in the morning when everyone was sleeping and the ship hit a big and strong wave. It was raining heavily. The passengers were startled and Lucia, who was sleeping peacefully, woke up because her parents were panicked. “The waves are strong, but the ship is stronger. Don’t worry you all.”, the captain said calmly as if this wasn’t something new to him. It took the ship crew almost an hour to convince the passengers and send them back to their rooms.

For hours, the waves grew stronger, eventually dying by the dawn. By 7 in the morning, the ship reached London, and the passengers woke up. But there was no crew in the ship. The captain, the servants, the entire crew, gone. Disappeared. As if they never existed All the passengers got down the ship, but something felt off. The people at the London port looked at the ship and the passengers as if they had seen a ghost. Lucia looked around for her cousin, who promised to pick her from the port. The passengers realized that all others were looking at them with terror in their eyes.

Before anyone could walk away from the cruise, London police cars stopped around the passengers. Most of the officers were shocked and terrified, despite their profession. 

Among all the police officers, the senior stepped in. “Does anyone of you know which year this is?”, the officer asked the passengers with disbelief and fear all over his face. Lucia’s father chimed in, “What nonsense! It’s 1984 officer! Why are you asking us such a question?”. The officers looked at each other and the senior said, “exactly sir. This ship was last seen in 1984 and had disappeared in the ocean. Search teams from Italy and London searched for 3 years before declaring the ship’s disappearance in 1987. The ship did start it’s journey from Italy, but never reached London.” Loud gasps of disbelief erupted among the passengers. They were silent. Terrified. How was this possible? And how long? Then Lucia’s father asked hesitantly, “w-what year is it now officer?”

The officer looked down and hesitated, before saying, “January, 2024“