The Sailor's Inheritance

a strange place

Catherine's body was racked with pain. All she could remember was intensity of the pain and total darkness. The whole world around her felt as if it was swaying and jerking. The nausea and black world in front of her mixed with the pain of her body and the horrid scent of tobacco must have been the reason she lost consciousness again.

She was awaken by this horrid creaking and groaning like a tree getting ready to fall. The terrifying image of a tree falling on top of herself caused Catherine to lurch into an upright sitting position. She opened her eyes to a rush of pain and bright sunlight. After composing herself back together she took in her surroundings. She was in a large bed. Not nearly as comfortable as hers at her fathers estate but she was grateful it was at least soft and covered in a wonderfully silk cotton that even she had no business affording. The entire room she was in was not very big. There was the bed she sat in and A large desk in the middle of the room with all sorts of papers on it. There was a large window behind the desk and small lamps and candles throughout this small cabin. A bottle of what appeared to look like the liquor referred to as rum.

She was startled yet again by what sounded like people running above her. She must be in a strange hospital for they had wooden planks for ceilings. Her body seemed to rock towards the edge of the bed and when she tried to catch herself she just fell onto the floor. She took notice of the rug that had to be from someplace exotic for she had never seen the likes of it before in town. Her body rolled again and as she crawled over to the desk to stand up she finally got a look out of the large window and was frozen.

Nothing for as far as the eye could see except blue. Blue skies and even more blue water. She managed to make her way to press against the window and watched a large wake following behind this ship she had found herself upon.

"A Ship!" Catherine called out loud involuntarily.

There was a loud clatter from the other side of the cabin and she noticed a large wooden door was starting to open. She panicked looking for places to hide and obviously not an option decided to put on her business face. She placed her hands in front of her so as to hold them when she realized the part of her corset she normally touches was not there. She was standing in an unknown cabin on a ship she had no recollection of and to make it worse she was standing in her shift.

The door that was open barely enough for a man to poke his head in. He glanced over Catherine and she felt incredibly exposed. He quickly ducked back out the door and slammed it in place. She stood frozen in shock trying to make sense of what is going on when the running overhead suddenly stopped.

she heard muffled shouting and two pairs of running feet passing over head and then after a moment coming closer outside the door. beginning to panic she sat down at the desk grabbed the sharp looking tool and hid her hands under the desk. The soft knock was barely audible over the creaking of the ship.

"My lady?" a voice called through the crack in the door. Catherine felt terror run down her spine as the door began to open.