Chapter 4

The light in my eyes woke me. I rolled over, hoping that I could go back to sleep, and return to the peaceful dark waters I had been drifting in in my dream but I was already awake. I sat up and stretched, breathing in the sweet smell of the fresh air and saltwater around me. After a few seconds of just sitting there, soaking up the sun, I stood up and dusted the sand off my clothes.

I began walking towards the beach and was about halfway to the shore when I froze where I was. Almost like a blinding light, everything from before had come rushing back to me. My mind was filled with the images of my life with my mom and aunt, the day of the trip, and sitting with Derrick. I couldn’t help but shudder as I remembered the wreck and seeing Derrick‘s limp body. I looked down at my arms and legs, expecting to see myself covered in cuts, bruises, and wrapped in bandages; instead, I was shocked to discover that I was fine. No scars, no cuts, no bruises even.

The only thing that was out of the ordinary was what I was wearing. My jeans, sweatshirt, and sneakers where gone and had been replaced by a long, plain looking canvas dress with buttons down the front that went all the way down to my ankles. My feet were bare and dusted with sand. The only thing that I had ever seen before that resembled my current ensemble was something I had seen in a movie. Something was wrong. Why was I wearing this? Why was I on an island and not in a hospital? Where was I? I wanted answers, and I wanted them now.

I walked closer to the edge of the water and started following the shore around the island. I kept looking out at the ocean and back in towards the jungle to my left. As I kept going, I thought I was beginning to hear voices in the distance. Further along, I was able to make out what the voices were saying: ‘Aaaaannnnaaa!”. They where calling for me.

I quickened my pace and began running in the direction of the voices. On my left, I noticed a clearing in the trees filled with men, the ones calling for me. I ran to the edge of the clearing and just stood there, bewildered. Once again, I was surprised to see something that I wasn’t expecting. The men were all wearing white pants, bright red jackets with lots of gold buttons and trim, black boots, and some of the men wore powdered wigs. I definitely knew something was wrong. I didn’t recognize any of the faces around me.

The man nearest to me couldn’t have been maybe more than two years older than me and his youth made him stand out from the rest of the men. Upon realizing I was there, he ran over to me, shock radiating off of his face. “Anna! Thank heavens you’re okay!” Without hesitating, almost as if he had known me for his whole life, he scooped me up in his arms, bride and groom style, and carried me closer to the center of the clearing, his chest puffed out and grinning from ear to ear in an obvious mix of pride and relief. The rest of the men immediately began crowding around us, all of them talking at once and saying things like “You really had us scared this time, ma’am… we we’re sure that you were a goner after the second day…” and “Do you need anything? Are you alright?”

This had been going on for a few minutes before I even realized that the huddle around me was actually moving. We were moving out of the clearing on the opposite side that I had entered toward a different beach. I probably would’ve noticed sooner that we were moving had in not been for the fact that the man carrying me, who’s name I had figured out was Thomas from what the other men had been saying, had refused to put me down. He held on to me as if he loosened his grip inn the slightest, that he would lose me yet again and I was his dearest treasure.

I looked ahead of me and saw two large wooden poles jutting above the rest of the horizon. A few more feet and I realized that it was the mast of a large ship. Before long, the parade had reached the shoreline and I could see the entire ship. It looked just like the kind on ships that I has seen on a trip to Jamestown, Virginia with my mom and Aunt Dana last summer. While we were there, we had the chance to walk around on these life-sized replicas of the ships that the colonists had arrived on. This one was different though, it seemed like it was made more for actual sea-faring use than an educational example.

Sitting on the beach, in-between us and the large ship that was floating further out in the water, was a small row boat. The men all eagerly climbed in and offered to help as Thomas gingerly stepped over the edge of the boat and sat down, still not letting me go. Once he had situated himself and the other men had begun to row out to the main ship, he shifted my weight, allowing me to sit across his lap while he held his arms around my waist.

Thomas kept fussing over me and asking me questions like “What were you thinking?” and placing his hand on my forehead and stating “You’re face is awfully flushed. Are you sure you didn’t get too hot?” In all honesty, I didn’t feel all that hot. The only reason my face was flushed was because of how much he was touching me. I had had boyfriends before in Denver but it was never anything serious and none of them had touched me as much and fussed over me as much as Thomas was. And that wasn’t the only problem. The more I looked at Thomas, the more I realized that he was actually a very handsome guy. The longer I was in this situation, the more uncomfortable I felt.

Still, I only answered with short mumbles of, “I’m fine. Really.” and little shrugs as Thomas pressed on with more and more questions. The rest of the men had fallen silent except for various whispers between two or three of them. I couldn’t help but get the feeling that they were talking about me.

Finally, the small boat we were in reached the ship and two of the men quickly scrambled their way up the rope ladder that had been lowered down the side of the boat to our boat while the rest remained seated. As soon as they reached the top and climbed over the railing, Thomas stood me up and ushered me to the ladder where I cautiously climbed up, hearing Thomas not that far behind me. When I got far enough up, the two men who had gone before me grabbed my hands and pulled me up over the railing and onto the deck of the ship. I tried to wander around and gather my bearings but Thomas was not far behind and quickly picked me up just as he had done when he had first seen me.

As Thomas carried me across the deck of the ship, the other men that had been following us began to crawl over the railing and disperse across the vessel, apparently picking up on their lives where they has left off before. All except for Thomas, who kept walking on, refusing to put me down all the while. He looked down at me and smiled a crooked smile, his eyes beginning to shine like they had when he first saw me.

When I didn’t return the smile, he looked back up, obviously a little discouraged, and tried to strike up yet another conversation. “He’s been worried sick about you, you know that right?” Looking up, I finally fully acknowledged him.

“Who? Who’s he?”

Instead of immediately answering me, he smiled slightly and kept walking for a few steps before finally stopping and setting me down. I adjusted my dress and looked back up at Thomas, still looking for an answer. Still, he didn’t speak, he simply pointed his eyes in the direction in front of him. I followed his gaze with mine and saw a wooden door opening, the word CAPTAIN printed on the front. A man stepped out wearing a long-tailed coat, boots, and had many medals, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. The sight of his face made me gasp and sent my mind racing. I knew this man.