Fated Waves

• Madeleine Lassig, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2020

Smoke. Thick and dark, rising up from the factories, consuming the world around me. Muffling the shouts of vendors and the trotting of horses on the hard, misplaced cobble. Up ahead the crowd thickened, the finery of the rich glistening in the glow of the oil lamps. I weaved my way in and out, my eyes darting back and forth awaiting the right moment. A gap in the crowd. The smooth silver face swinging within reach from the man’s pocket. I grasped it, the watch warm on my skin and then a shout from behind me. Instinctively I ran, hands reaching for me from every direction. A shrill whistle pierced the air as a pair of black boots appeared before my face. I glanced up into the uniformed body and turned in one last desperate attempt to escape. It was no use. Large, firm hands had me by the neck dragging me away from the market place, the people, my family and all hope of a future. My lungs burned, as spots danced in front of my eyes. Nothing.
***
The smell of sweat and salt is the first thing to hit me as I open my eyes. It’s dark but I can just see the small sheets laid out people huddled on them. The room was overcrowded for its size, not being more than a few feet in each direction. Reaching my arms out to steady myself I slowly lengthened my aching limbs but quickly fell as the floor shifted beneath my feet. My eyes widened, the realisation of being on a boat striking me as hard as any physical blow. After what seemed like hours the door swung open and a guard burst in, shattering the silence. “Up. NOW! All women and children are expected to clean. Men you are coming with me and don’t try to run, we’ll just shoot you.” Hurriedly we filed out the door, as I passed the guard, he leant down and whispered: “Why don’t you come see me later, beautiful?” I opened my mouth to refuse but found no words came out. The guard just chuckled and stalked off leaving me to hurriedly join the end of the line of women streaming down the passageway of the ship.
***
Convict, criminal, worthless. The words a constant echo in my head, filling me with dread of the life to come. But I knew, deep down there would be no surviving if I stayed on the ship. All-day I had been tracking the sun, waiting for it to set so I could escape. We were passing another colony today, the most established one so far and possibly the closest one the ship had ever neared. If I could just make it to shore. No one noticed the me at the railing, no one raised the alarm or shouted as I tipped myself over the edge into the unknown. The darkness engulfed me, the ocean no more than a blanket wrapping me in its cold embrace.