Catamaran Cruise

The Catamaran Cruise is a scary story written by a member of this website who goes by the name of Padster227. It’s about a family from Australia who win a holiday on a sailing boat to the Great Barrier Reef.

Peter Flannigan was in his late 40s and had a beautiful wife called Denise and 4 children named Tom (15), Kyle (13), Alice (13) and Bridget (11). They were a happy family and lived in New South Wales, Australia.

As the eldest son, Tom was the most mature. He was nice, smart, always fun to have around and cared about his family very much. Kyle and Alice were twins and they were best friends. Bridget was a trouble-maker and a massive liar. She was always up to mischief and, at school, her teachers were sick and tired of her behavior.

It was the beginning of Summer and the children had just got their holidays from school. Peter was reading through a newspaper when he happened to see an advertisement for a competition.

“Quick! Enter now!” it read. “Today is your last chance to win a fabulous cruise on a catamaran. Take the trip of your life to visit the Great Barrier Reef. There, you will spend 14 days and 14 nights on a catamaran. You will be the captain of this boat and you are free to sail where you please and roam the islands”.

Peter had always dreamed of being the captain of a ship and sailing on the open seas, but he could never afford it. In fact, he didn’t have enough money to take his family on holiday this year. When he saw the ad, he thought it must be destiny. If he won the first prize, that could be their big break. So, he entered the competition and hoped for the best.

A few weeks later, he received an envelope in the mail. When he opened it, he screamed and jumped for joy. He had won the competition. His family were delighted and, two weeks later, they were on the boat.

The family took one look at the catamaran and fell in love. Peter spent a few hours learning how to pilot the vessel and then, they set sail.

It was around noon, on the second day of their cruise, when the family spotted the other sailing boat. It was just drifting there on the open sea. Peter thought that someone might be hurt on the boat, so he told Tom they should investigate. Peter lowered and dinghy into the water and climbed into it with his eldest son. Together, they rowed over to the small boat.

When they reached it, there was a bad smell in the air. While Peter tied up the dinghy, Tom took a look around. The deck was deserted.

“Maybe I should check down below,” suggested Tom.

Peter nodded his head and continued tying up the dinghy. He was about to call his son when he heard a horrified scream coming from below deck. He sprinted down the steps like there was no tomorrow, shouting “TOM! TOM! WHERE ARE YOU, BOY?”

“Over here, Dad!” came the reply.

Peter made his way through the darkness and came to a small room. Tom was standing there, his back pressed up aginst the wall. Then, Peter looked down and saw what his son had been screaming about.

On the floor, lay the bloody corpses of four people. Two men and two women. They had been butchered and chopped up beyond recognition. Their arms and legs had been partially devoured and it looked like they had been attacked by some kind of wild animal. Their bones had teeth marks on them as if they had been chewed. Peter began throwing up all over the place.

Suddenly, a cupboard door opened and a fifth body tumbled out. It was a man and he was groaning in pain. They rolled him over and discovered that the left part of his cheek was hanging on by a thread. There were wounds on his chest and strange blue scratches all over his face, but he was still alive.

Peter got sick again and lay down on the bed. When he finally came to his senses, he told Tom that they had to get the injured man back to the catamaran. Together, they carried the man up the stairs and put him in the dinghy. Then, they rowed back to their own boat.

Denise was waiting for them when they reached the catamaran. She took one look at the injured man, then ran to get her the first aid kit. She had worked as a nurse before she married Peter, so as soon as her husband and son carried the man on board, she began tending to his wounds.

While she was applying bandages, the man reached out and grabbed Peter by the arm.

“Are you my friend?” he moaned.

Peter looked at him and answered, “No. I don’t know you.”

The man’s head fell to the side and he slipped into unconsciousness.

Tom and Peter got into the dinghy and went back to the man’s boat. They wanted to see if anything that could help them figure out what had happened.

After an hour of searching the boat from top to bottom, they couldn’t find anything. Before they left, they went back below deck and took one last look at the dead bodies. Tom picked up the severed hand of a woman.

“Look, Dad!” he said. “She has blue fingernails!”

“That explains the blue gashes on his face,” said Peter.

“She must have scratched him,” said Tom. “That’s why his cheek was hanging off.”

Peter bent down and examined the bones closely. He was looking at the teeth marks on them.

“These are human teeth marks,” he said.

“That man…” gasped Tom. “That man is a cannibal!”

Suddenly, the radio crackled and they heard a voice saying, “Dad! Please pick up! Dad!”

It was Bridget.

Peter went over and answered it, saying, “What’s wrong?”

“OMG! Dad! That man you brought onto our boat is a maniac!” she screamed. “He just jumped up from the table and stabbed mum with a bread knife. She’s dead! And so is Alice! She tried to stop the man when he started the boat. He grabbed her and tossed her overboard. She fell onto the outboard motor and it sliced her to pieces. Then, Kyle tackled the man and managed to wrestle him to the ground, but he got his hands around Kyle’s neck and started choking him. Kyle let go in shock and the man took a knife and cut him open! He pulled out his organs! H-h-he is eating h-h-him alive! You’ve got to save me! Plea…”

Bridget never finished her sentance because, just then, the man noticed her and dragged her away.

“NOOOO! BRIDGET!” cried Tom.

Peter and his son quickly searched the boat for weapons. They found a butcher knife, a fire-lighter and some deodorant.

They rowed back to the catamaran as fast as they could. On the way, they found Alice’s dismembered body parts floating in the water. As they neared the catamaran, they spotted Denise’s bloody corpse hanging off the stern of the boat. Kyle’s dead body was hanging from the sail and his guts were dangling out of his stomach.

Tom hopped out of the dinghy and climbed onto the deck. Almost immediately, his throat was slit and the man came out and disarmed Peter.

“This is such a shame,” said the man. “I thought we could be friends…”