Chapter 1: Getting ready to go on a cruise

Zuphixy Van Dijk, a twenty eight year old man from the Netherlands, was sitting on a jet plane on his way to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States where he was going to take a cruise ship. The cruise was paid for by an organisation similar to “Make a wish” in the Netherlands. Jacklyne Van Den Berg, a thirty year old woman with blond hair, was sitting beside Zuphixy. Zuphixy was saying in Dutch to his caregiver “Jacklyne, I heard that flights are notorious for damaging luggage as they put it on the plane. I hope they don’t wreck my wheelchair.” Jacklyne responded “I think they make it sound worse than it really is. I heard that back in 2001 when the terrorist attacks happened, a person who had tattoos all over their body and had colorful hair, like you do, would not have been allowed on a plane. But now all they want to know is if it was a wig.”

Meanwhile the Wilson's family were leaving Walt Disney World by car, on their way to board the same Cruise boat that Zuphixy was going on. Six year old Elijah Wilson, who has autism, was sitting in the backseat beside his sixteen year old sister Zendaya. Elijah was mad that they had to leave Walt Disney World and started to sway back and forth. As he was swaying he pulled his sister’s long black hair to show his anger. Zendaya yelled at Elijah in a pain which just made Elijah more stressed. When Micheal, a forty year old with a long beard, heard his daughter yelling in pain he stopped the car. He got out and opened the car door beside Elijah to see what he could do to calm them down. Elija started to play with his dad's beard which seemed to calm him.

While the commotion was happening, Abeba the mother, was sitting in the front passenger seat with her headphones on. She was playing an online slot machine. She didn't even know what was happening. Elijah fell asleep, so Michael got back in the car and they continued to the terminal in Fort Lauderdale.

As the plane got close to fort Lauderdale, Zuphixy was looking out the window and saw that a lot of homes had been knocked down, which made Zuphixy and his caregiver shocked to see. They learned from hearing other people in the plane that the damage was caused by a hurricane a few months prior, and that the airport and the cruise terminal were not damaged.

When the Wilson's family got to the terminal, they each had to get their photos taken by the cruise personnel to be used as identification later on in the trip. When it was Elijah's turn, he had a temper tantrum from being overwhelmed by all the people. He pulled his shirt over his head just as the camera took his photo, so he had to do it again. To the embarrassment of Zendaya, the other people started to complain about how slow the line was moving. Zendaya tried to pretend that she didn't know Elijah, and tried to get as far away from him as she possibly could in a big group as there was.

As that was happening Zuphixy and his caregiver had taken a shorter line that was reserved for anyone who had mobility problems, and their caregivers. Zuphixy and Jacklyne thought that because they did the face recognition at the airport, that they wouldn't have to do it again. So they walked right past the desk that did the photos. The Cruise staff called them back and they went through the process again. After that they had to wait in a waiting room until all the other passengers were checked in. That's when Zuphixy and his caregiver first saw Elijah, who was staring at Zuphixy. The staring made Zuphixy uncomfortable. He hoped that they could get on the boat soon. Someone from the cruise company was taking photographs of random passengers. He tried to sell the pictures as souvenirs to passengers that wanted them. Now Zuphixy did not know what was going on as this was his first Cruise so he allowed the photographer to take pictures of him with his caregiver. The Wilson family knew about the photographer, but they declined a picture to be taken as Elijah would not behave for one.

As Elijah and Zuphixy were on the gangplank they saw for the first time how big a Cruise ship was up close. The size of the cruise boat gave Elijah and Zuphixy each an anxiety attack. After going through another ID check they were allowed on the boat, and sent to the Buffet for lunch, as most of the staterooms were not ready yet. When Zuphixy and his caregiver got to their stateroom they found a card beside the door that was the key to their room, along with instructions on how to use it. Once in their room Zuphixy took a tour of the stateroom to make sure that everything would work for him as his caregiver unpacked. The room had 2 double beds and a flat screen TV, a desk and a lot of storage to put their personal stuff. The bathroom was large enough that you could easily fit his wheelchair in and the shower was one that he could wheel into. Zuphixy then got Jacklyne to help him onto one of the beds to stretch his legs. Just as she was lifting him on the bed his legs had a muscle spasm. The muscle spasm made Zuphixy trip his caregiver and they both fell on the bed.

Just then the housekeeper, a Taiwanese man with a heavy accent, came to check if everything was the way that Zuphixy needed it. The only thing that Zuphixy and his caregiver wanted changed was to take out any of the drinks that were in the room, as a promotion and that would cost them more.

In another room down the hall the Wilson's family were getting settled. Micheal had taken a tour of the room to make sure everything was safe for Elijah. Their room had 1 king size bed and a bunk bed for the kids. The bath was so small that one person could just fit. The room also had a deck. Abeba was counting how much money she could use for gambling. Without anyone noticing, Elijah in his typical autistic way, got himself undressed so he could be more comfortable; just as their housekeeper came to check on them. Only when the housekeeper asked if he came at a bad time, did anyone notice that Elijah was not decently dressed. The housekeeper removed any alcohol so that Elijah won't try any. After the housekeeper left they all watched a safety instruction video on the tv. Elijah did not understand that it was not a real emergency. He thought that he had to do what the tv said now and went out into the hall not decently dressed. Zendaya convinced him to come back to their room before anyone saw him.

Soon after that it was dinner time so everyone got changed, as there was a dress code. You had to wear long pants if you were a man, and dresses if you were a woman when eating dinner in the main dining room. On their way to the dining room, the family stopped at the front “muster station” and got their ID cards scanned which recorded that they knew where to go if there was an emergency.

Meanwhile Zuphixy and his caregiver also had watched the safety video. Zuphixy wondered how someone with his disability would be able to safely get his chair off the boat in an emergency. The lifeboats he saw didn't look like they would be easy to get a chair in. He wasn’t too worried, as he knew that they would not allow him on the boat if there was a risk. Just like the Wilson's family, Zuphixy and his caregiver went to the same “muster station”. Then Zuphixy and his caregiver went on the front deck where most of the people on the ship were having a party, which Cruise ships always do at the start of every trip. After that they went to the dining room where Zuphixy found out that he had to sit at a table that was beside Elijah.

When the waiter, a Filipino woman with glasses, came to take Zuphixy’s order, Zuphixy was getting anxious. He was worried that they would make a mistake, as he has a special diet. He decided to make sure that his diet was looked after. The waiter gave Zuphixy a form to fill out, but because of his disability he couldn't fill it in himself. So he had to get his caregiver to do it for him. The souvenir photographer came around the dining room and took more pictures of anyone that wanted one. Zuphixy decided, seeing if everything was covered, he would do it.

Next the Filipino waiter took the Wilson's family orders. When she learned that Elijah was autistic she let Micheal know that they could always have room service as it may be overwhelming for Elijah with all the people chatting. Micheal thanked her, but decided that since they were already there they may as well stay and see how things would go. Elijah was so interested in Zuphixy being in a wheelchair, and the way Zuphixy needs help with eating, that Elijah tuned out his surroundings.

After Zuphixy and his caregiver were done with the dinner they went back to their stateroom. Jacklyne helped Zuphixy take a shower to cool down because the temperature in Florida was so hot, Zuphixy was feeling like he was overheating.

When Wilson's family were done with their dinner, Abeba went to the casino and spent hours gambling the money away. Meanwhile, the kids went to the pool and went swimming. Micheal went to the gym to do some weightlifting. When he was done, he went and got the kids from the pool and they went to the theater to see a performance. Elijah was overwhelmed with all the people and requested that they leave and find his mother. His sister wanted to stay and watch the performance some more, so Micheal texted his wife to see if she could take their son. Abeba was so busy gambling that she did not get the text message right away. Zendaya was forced to go because her brother was getting more and more irritated. In order not to cause a scene, the Mitchell family went back to their room. When they got back to their room they found some towels shaped like an elephant on the bed.

Zendaya was allowed to watch a movie on the TV in their room while her brother got ready for bed.

As Zendaya was looking for a movie to watch, she came across the biographies of the crew members, and learned that the captain was their Uncle, John Quinville. John Quinville is a fifty five year old, bigender German, with Gender Neutral Haircut. He loves kids, and likes to joke around with them on any cruise that he was a captain on, throughout the last twenty years. Just in the last year he had to start wearing thick glasses so that he could read the monitors on the boats. John Quinville always had a smartwatch that he used to keep track of the time zone that he had to travel through as a captain. John Quinville is Zendaya’s uncle through a romantic relationship with Micheal’s older sister. The last time Zendaya had seen her uncle was at a family reunion when Elijah was only three years old. Zendaya's best memory of her uncle is when John Quinville showed Elijah a magic trick at that family reunion.

Zendaya then found a movie that she has been wanting to see for a long time. But because of Elijah being autistic, she was always helping her parents care for him, so she never got to see this movie before now.

Abeba had gone to the bar to have an alcoholic drink to relieve her stress from how Elijah had acted up over the last few days, before she went to bed.

They also confirmed with each other if everyone wanted to go to shore at Half Moon Cay. Everyone did, except for Elijah.

After his shower, Zuphixy also went to the performance, which he enjoyed very much, but his caregiver fell asleep in the middle of the performance. Zuphixy had to wake his caregiver up when the performance was over. Jacklyne van den Berg was embarrassed that she fell asleep while she was supposed to be caring for Zuphixy. Zuphixy was not mad at her for falling asleep as he knew it was a long day. When Zuphixy and Jacklyne got back to their room they also found an elephant made of towels, then Jacklyne had to give Zuphixy a painkiller before they went to bed. Zuphixy confirmed with Jacklyne if they were planning to go to half moon Cay or not and she said they would. It was midnight by the time they got in bed.