Aliénor's Song

Where It All Went Wrong

The captain looked at him as if he was simple.

"Not you, HER!" He pointed a skeletal finger at me. It looked like the hand of the reaper sentencing me to some underworld or another.

"Have I done something wrong?" I asked.

I was terrified. I was not accustomed to men shouting at me. My father had always been a loving man, and my husband was cut from the same cloth.

"I told you it was horrid luck having a woman aboard!" the captain said.

He put his fingers to his temples. "My men told me not to bring you on this journey. They told me it would anger the sea spirits. I only meant to make a small profit from ferrying you over." At this point he was muttering to himself, we barely heard him over the din raging above.

He looked at my husband with a mad man's eyes. They were bloodshot and wide as if he were staring into a cannon and not into the face of two terrified passengers.

"No matter, I made a promise, man to man," he looked at my husband. "YOU may stay aboard the ship. I will do all in my power to see you safely to your destination."

He looked at me. I swear for a second I saw a flash of guilt before it was replaced by fear.

"SHE has to go."

My blood ran cold. We were miles from shore. There was no way I could safely return to land with the storm raging outside.

"That's insane! How will she get to safety? You gave your word to ferry us both!"

"That is no concern of mine! I'll not lose 30 men and my own life for a woman. She goes now!"

The captain lunged for me. I cowered behind my husband.

"You will not lay a hand on my bride!"

My husband grabbed a beam from a pile of lumber in the cargo hold and held it in front of us, a warning nobody needed to interpret. My husband had given his word, both to myself and to my father, that he would keep me safe.

The captain tried unsuccessfully to maneuver around him, but the ship was tossing so violently at this point he could not keep his footing. As he stumbled off to the side, we made a run for the stairs.

On our way to the deck we were stopped by four of the captains men. My husband tried to fight our way out of it, but he was no match for so many men. He swung the beam he was holding, catching one of the men on the temple. He went down to his knees. He swung at the other three, when the ship suddenly lurched throwing him backward into me. As he lost his footing on the stairs, he was run through by a cutlass by the second sailor. I cried out, but he was gone before he hit the floor.

The captain grabbed me from behind as I fell to my husband's side, sobbing.

"HOW COULD YOU! HE DID NOTHING TO YOU!"

*slap*

One of the sailors struck me hard across the face. I didn't even feel it. The captain and the three sailors still standing d**g me to the deck above. The sailor my husband had struck with the beam was dragging his body up the steps behind us, grunting from the strain of pulling the dead weight.

Above the hold, the rain was falling down in sheets, creating a treacherous river on board. The captain was having difficulty holding me as he struggled to keep his footing on the slick boards. Between my loss and the freezing rain, I was numb. It was getting harder to fight through the violent shivers that wracked my slender frame.

"Throw her over!" One of the sailors shouted.

"Aye! Let the ocean have her and leave us in peace!" Said another.

The captain looked at my husband's lifeless body and then to me. One look at the cold, staring brown eyes that had once held warmth and looked at me with such adoration caused me to lose all will to fight the man who held me captive.

"Throw them both over. I'll not anger the gods further by having them aboard," agreed the captain.

The sailors d**g us both, limp, to the aft of the ship. They bound my ankles together, although I no longer tried to fight them at that point. I clung to my husband's lifeless body as they threw us into the turbulent water.

The ocean water was frigid. Within seconds I couldn't feel my legs. I was cursing the many layers of skirts and petticoats as I fought to keep my head above water. I stubbornly refused to loosen my grip on my husband as the waves tried with some success to pull me under again and again. Finally, I lost all of the strength to hold on as my fingers went completely numb in the frigid water. I felt him slip from my grasp as the waves pulled me down.

I remember thinking 'this can't possibly be the end,' and I began to sink.

I felt like I sank forever. I knew the storm was still raging above, but under the surface? It was so much more peaceful. My lungs were on fire and I was so cold.

The world went dark for me, and I lost consciousness. My grief was unbearable. Even in my dreamlike state, it stayed with me. I could only think that I would soon see my husband again, in a happier place. Hopefully it would be a much warmer and brighter place than I was in now.

I thought again of my husband, I wished to only see him smile one more time, to hear his deep bass voice say my name. I saw my nieces, the way their golden hair had caught the sunlight as they giggled and threw out flower petals at my wedding. I remembered my mother, almost more than my husband I longed to hear her sing to me one more time. She had the most beautiful voice. I again felt sorrow for the sister I would never be able to rekindle a friendship with.

I knew this was the end for me. We would have no quiet farm or adventures in our new life. My family would check every day for letters that would never arrive. Would someone tell my father? As I thought of how the news of my death would break him, I started to cry. I was amazed that I seemed to feel the tears on my face even under the water. I took a jagged breath, my lungs filled with seawater. This was it now, and I hated the captain and his men for all they had taken from me.

I sank for what seemed like an eternity. I had heard the ocean was deep, but I never imagined one could fall forever and never touch the bottom. It occurred to me that nobody would ever hear me tell of the vastness of the ocean, or of its incredible depth. I would take this knowledge to my grave, which would be right here in the bottom of this ocean. It really is a terrible thing to discover a great mystery and never be able to tell of it.