Over a few days, sleep deprivation crawled over my body and poisoned my brain. I literally felt zombified. This resulted in reduced brain functions, almost to a minimum. For a while, I thought to myself, ‘Is it just me, or is my brain dying?’ I couldn’t remember what I did or where my cabin door was. One time, someone laughed and woke me up as I sleepwalked.

A crewmember shouted at me, “Cadet! Cadet, what are you doing?”

I said, “I want to open my cabin to go sleep.”

The crewmember laughed and said, “That is a storeroom, not your cabin.”

The crewmember laughed again, and I wasn’t amused. I found my cabin and went inside. Not long after, there was a panic next door, around the 2nd Mate’s quarters.

I overheard Captain Hobo shouting, “Wake up, wake up. Do you hear me?”

I walked up and saw a few crewmembers and Captain Hobo standing above the body of the 2nd Mate. Captain Hobo slapped the 2nd Mate a few times, but without effect. It looked like the 2nd Mate was in a coma; no one could wake him up. One of the crewmembers threw a bucket of water in the face of the 2nd Mate, and he woke up. The 2nd Mate stood up and made his way into the bathroom, where he collapsed. They dragged him under the cold shower until he regained consciousness, I guess. I’m not sure since I went off to sleep. At that time, my brain was not able to produce any emotions, and I felt nothing, just the desire to sleep. The ship’s routine was wake up, work, eat, and sleep. My brain was not able to produce any activity except to follow basic tasks. I remember someone told me to do all this stuff; otherwise, I would probably stand like a zombie in a place, or maybe lurk around without any brain functions. Change clothes or shower, I think I never heard those orders. Anyway, my body worked in semi-active mode, so I guess it forgot to sweat.

Finally, one day the ship changed route, and we had two days to the next port. I dragged my body into my cabin and unplugged myself from this world as I collapsed on the floor. I felt something push me a few times. I opened my eyes and saw a man standing above me; it was a sailor probably on duty. He pushed my body with his boot.

The Sailor on duty said, “Just checking if you are alive, boy!”

I was on the floor with my face all slobbery. I looked around and mumbled, “Yeah. What time is it?”

The Sailor on duty removed his boot from my body and said, “Time? You were out for thirty-six hours. The cook started to wonder where you are, so he sent me. Anyway, it’s almost lunch, so get yourself cleaned up and go eat something.”

Chief walked up to the door and stopped near the sailor on watch.

Chief looked at me with a smile on his face and said, “Here, Jack…this will help you get…on your feet again.”

Chief handed me an ice cream on a stick. I was confused. I opened the ice cream and took a bite.

Chief leaned with a smile on his face and whispered, “Don’t tell anyone…it’s my secret recipe.”

Chief looked at the sailor on duty and said, “What? You…want some ice cream too?”

The Sailor on duty replied to Chief, “Ice cream! Fuck that, I want a beer!”

Chief and the sailor on duty closed the door and walked away. I must admit, I felt a little better after I ate the ice cream. My cabin was a mess. I took off my working clothes and opened the bathroom door, where a North Pole was hidden all this time. The stupid bathroom was all covered in snow, and on the floor, there was like 20 cm of snow. The stuck window did its part in this prank from Mother Nature. My brain spoke to me, ‘Who cares anyway, right!’ I made my way to the mirror and looked at some barbaric figure with an overgrown beard and hair, and even my nails were big, just the right size to play a guitar. I got my face and hands into shape. I realized my feet had turned blue, but the best part was I had to take a shower in a snowy shower. Luckily, if you can call it luck, the stupid shower worked, and it tortured me with icy cold water. In the shower, I jogged in place while I washed. I could feel my skin burn with cold, and my bones felt like cold steel and heavier. A few hours after the shower, my bones still hurt deep with cold, no matter what I did.

At the saloon, I sat down on a sofa as the cook entered with a big 20-liter canister. He was a tall and lean figure with neatly styled dark hair and brown eyes. His sharp and well-defined facial features gave him a distinguished look. "Here you go, boys. Vanilla flavored," the Cook said.

The Sailor said, “It’s winter. Who eats ice cream in wintertime?”

The Cook chuckled and said, “Now you do.”

The Cook turned to me and said, “The boy will definitely try some ice cream after three months of slavery.”

I looked at the Cook and said, “Already three months have passed. No way.”

The Sailor said, “It’s true, boy. You’ve been with us for three months already. Here, check the calendar.”

There was a calendar on the wall. I stood up and looked at the month and date. It was true; three months had passed.

I said, “I can’t believe this.”

The Sailor said, “Better believe it, boy.”

I said, “Three months of my life spent on nothing, no memories, just nothing—a hole in my life.”

The Cook said, “You’re not the only one. The rest of the crew are also coming to their senses.”

Some of the crewmembers walked in, and one of them said, “Come on, let’s watch a movie.”

We all decided to watch movies and relax. Soon after the first movie ended, in which the main actor died, we played the next movie from the shelf. As it turns out, this new movie had the same main actor as the first movie.

One of the crew, named Boby, said, “What is this? Why are we watching this movie again?”

One of the crew replied, “What are you talking about? This is a new movie.”

Boby replied with a loony bin face, “The guy is dead; he just died. I saw him die!”

A few of the crewmembers looked at each other with a question mark on their faces, and one of them replied to Boby, “Actors don’t die, man.”

Boby replied, all hysterical, “You are fucking with my head. I just saw him die. The guy is dead, you aren’t going to fuck with my head. He is dead, he is dead!”

Boby ran into the corridor and screamed, “He is dead, he is dead….”

Boby left all the crew speechless.

The Cook said, “Maybe not everyone came to their senses.”

I laughed, and Chief stopped by our messroom[1].

The Cook walked away to the kitchen, and Chief said, “We are in for some good times. The ship will change routes because there will be a low amount of cargo, and our sister ship will take over.”