Ocean water lapped at the edges of the boat as it rocked back and forth vigorously. The rain came down in sheets, only adding to the seawater that was being pushed onto the boat. The wind howled in my ears as it pushed the fore boom with its sails still up whirling towards my head. My heart throbbed as I quickly ducked. The cabin boys were running about the main deck, bucketing water overboard. A wave crashed onto the deck, soaking the wood even further. “Father, what is the matter?” I asked as I ran up to him at the helm. “Cordelia! I thought I told you to stay below deck with the other women!” “I did, the water leaked through the ceiling!” I grumbled. Thunder answered in reply, making my groan seem louder. “I want to help!” I protested, loud enough to be heard over the raging storm overhead. Father seemed to be contemplating this. “Alright. Batten down the sails on the main boom, then collapse the main topsail, but keep to the stern! We’ll survive this storm.” “I want to do more!” “Cordelia, I already told you. I don’t want a young woman like you to grow up to be an old seaman like me.” At that, he ducked under the main boom and gave the order for the anchor to be dropped. “I want to be at sea!” “Dilly, listen to me. When you’re grown up, no young man will want you if you do become like me. Now, make a decision and either stay below deck with the other women or do what I’m asking of you!” Father yelled. The rope he was holding slipped through his fingers. He tightened his grip and wrapped the rope around his hand a second time. I shook my head. /Father, don’t try too hard. I don’t care about young men; I just want you./ “Alright,” I said, “I’ll do it. I’m not going to stay cooped up any longer.” “Good girl,” he said, a smile starting at the corners of his wrinkled face. I ran to the back end of the ship, the wind blowing the shrouds in circles. I climbed them quickly and expertly unfurled the sails and tied them back to the main boom. I looked up. The rain pummeled profusely at my face, making me blink back the water. For one second, I thought the sky was falling in on me. My dark brown hair billowed in front of me, ruining the effect. I straddled the boom with my thighs and untied my rope bracelet to pull my wet hair back before continuing to shimmy across the boom so I could clamber down the mast and to the quarter deck. Below me, Father yelled something to his first mate, and he handed the rope controlling the jib to the first mate. I quickly climbed back down the shrouds. I took a deep breath when my feet hit the deck of the stern as I saw Father run across the deck and grab the life ring hanging over the bow. “Father!” I called to him. “Dilly! Get below deck!” Father threw the life ring over the fence that kept the deck from plunging straight into the ocean. “I don’t want you falling into the water!” I stood my ground through the cold rain pelting on my head. “What are you doing?” “We have a man overboard!” he responded over the wind. “Captain Atherton!” the man in the ocean sputtered, trying to reach the life ring. “Father, you have to save him!” “I’ve done all I can, Dilly!” “I’m not going to give up on you! You can reach the life ring!” I yelled to the man. His head submerged under the water for half a second, then he bobbed up just barely closer to the life ring. “I still can’t reach it! The tide is too strong!” he stammered again. The world seemed to move in slow motion as I looked down at the man, then at the dark, worried face of my father. I shed my soaking shawl and pulled a pocket knife out of Father’s pocket. I opened the knife and slit my skirts as best I could so I could kick freely. I gave a slight nod at Father, then looked at the sea below me. I can do this, I thought. I jumped. “Dilly!” I heard from above me. “Cordelia!” I ignored Father’s pleas to climb back into the boat and swam as fast as I could towards the man who had fallen overboard. Droplets of water poured on top of us. The ship rose and fell, creating even more mist. I looked behind me. My eyes widened and I stopped treading for a second, my head suddenly dunking below water. I coughed as I came back up. “Watch out!” the man whom I was supposed to be saving said. He pushed me again deeper into the water. A wall of water pushed me roughly against the bottom deck of Father’s boat. Bubbles from my breath floated out of my mouth and above my head. I made the mistake of breathing in the salty ocean water. Pain streaked through my chest. I tried to cough out the salty water, but it was of no use. Using the strength I had left, I swam upward along with the man who had fallen overboard. My lungs screamed for air, and I started to feel my body start to shut down. A cloud fogged my brain.
The longer I stayed suspended in the middle of the ocean, the more the fog grew. /I have to get to the surface,/ I thought, making one last attempt at making it to the water’s surface. I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my torso and felt the sensation of being pulled up. I coughed the water out of my lungs and the feeling returned to my fingers in a rush. I felt wood below me, and warm sunlight on my face. The sunlight stabbed my eyelids, so all I could see was yellow. I could hear birds squawking above me. “Cordelia?” I made out above the birds. I groaned and opened my eyes. I closed them quickly after, the light being too much for my eyes to take. “Oh, good. She’s awake,” the same male voice said. “Father…?” I whispered weakly. “We have to get her to the hospital. Now,” a different voice chimed in. I didn’t recognize this one. I took deep breaths. “Hospital…?” “Hush, now,” the same voice I didn’t recognize said. I tentatively opened my eyes again. “Dilly, just rest,” Father said. I felt myself being picked up off of the wooden floor. /Where are they taking me?/ I thought, over and over again. The thoughts in my mind turned distorted. /Wherearetheytakingme? Aretheytakingmewhere? Metakingaretheywhere? Wh— a— m—?/ “Swallow this,” I was commanded. I felt a cold syrup drip onto my tongue. The consistency felt like a reptile; it tasted like a revolting mix of expired tomatoes, cinnamon, and salt. I tried to swallow as quickly as I could. The back of my tongue rejected the bile, and I gagged. “You are able to do it, just try.” I shook my head roughly again and spat out the syrup. The medicine dribbled down my chin. I felt a soft cloth clean it up. Someone next to me sighed. “Do you want to get well or not?” I started to shake my head, then changed it into a nod. “Then you have to swallow this.” The medicine was placed on my tongue again. I gulped it down in several gulps. I continued gulping even after the medicine was gone, hoping the flavor would recede. I tried to open my eyes. “Where… where am I?” I asked as I found myself in a white cot next to rows upon rows of other white cots. I was propped up in the bed with two identically crisp pillows. There was a man hanging over my head with a worried look in his blue eyes. The man laughed. “You are in the London Hospital, and I am Doctor Riordan Lewis.” My breath quickened. “I’m… in a hospital?” “Do you remember anything about the past forty-eight hours?” I wracked my memories as I furrowed my eyebrows. “I remember… I remember… jumping into the ocean.” Doctor Lewis’s eyebrows shot up. “Jumping? Interesting.” He made a small mark on the parchment that was on the table next to my cot. “Is… is that why I’m here?” “Because you jumped into the ocean? I’m not entirely sure. I will allow your Father and Mister Marshall to tell the story.” “Father?” I said, trying to sit up even more. “Is he here? Now?” “Patience,” Doctor Lewis laughed, “good things come to those who wait.” I sighed and lay back down. “When can they come?” Doctor Lewis stopped sorting through the various vials in the cart next to him and turned to look straight into my eyes. “Tomorrow,” he promised, and he turned back to his work. I took a deep breath. /Tomorrow,/ I repeated in my mind. TO BE CONTINUED (hopefully?) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Heylo! This is my entry for @tek_ilovemarvel's writing contest! This took... so long to write :S. I was looking through my Google Docs trying to find a good story that I had started (I have so many dead stories in my Google Drive, it's not even funny) and came across the first two sentences in this. I'm not sure how far I'm going to get with this, but I didn't want to put a whole 100 pages of writing into one small writing contest, so I'm breaking it up. After writing my 200+ page first draft (281 (the last page is only one line) to be precise), I feel like the only way I can write decent fiction is if it's super long xD Anyway, I had lots of fun with this, and I hope you enjoyed! See ya! -- OrEo
