THEY KNOW FEAR AGAIN.
There's the smell of something burning and setting her lungs ablaze, the taste of sea salt, and the cold water splashing against her skin. Drowning into the blue sea. It overwhelmed and swallowed her whole and for a moment, dea...
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CHAPTER ONE, i'll find you in these waters
EVERY part of her skin was set on fire. The coldness cling to her tattered dress and permeated each bone, muscle and bare flesh. In the midst of the foggy sea, a girl like her bound to a soaked piece of floating wood should perish away. Drown and singe in the sea salt waves. Setting out to sea with her father may have been her last mistake but Jie didn't want to die. Not like this.
Memories of the passing storm ravaged her mind. Her father's expression when he realized he couldn't stop the boat from being swallowed in monstrous waves. Water pouring into her lungs and the taste of salt sticking to her tongue. Jie only thought about the moments before their tiny fishing boat sank. Not about when her stomach growled furiously out of hunger or the sunburn burning down on her cheeks.
Pirate ships would pass by, just a breath away. A little closer, they would see a girl floating on the surface. Yet none of them spared a glance. Money-hungry pirates or the kind that would kill you with their long swords, it didn't matter, as long as she got another chance to live. Regret and guilt swelled and another day passed when her vision turned black once again.
It's gone quiet.
Someone pulls her out of the water.
His hands were warm, much warmer than her cold, lifeless body. A chorus of deep voices were heard. Jie can feel his hand slip under the curve of her back and lift her up gently. A new chance to be reborn, a breath of air into her lungs. In the middle of slipping between consciousness, the sound of clinking alcohol glasses were heard and the buzz of live music playing in a bar. They were all muffled, as if blocked by a wall although she couldn't distinguish where until she woke up.
I'd wish you wake up soon.
In the dewy morning, soft waves splashed against the hull. A warm, sunset light shone in from the lanterns. Away from the room, the sky had darkened slightly when the night approached. How long had she slept for? And where had she ended up? With a sore back and weak limbs, her body condition could only tell...
This was a ship.
An supposedly empty ship, by the sound of it. It had been docked along a boardwalk. Perhaps other pirates left their ships here to make a rest stop as many boats were left outside next to hers. When peering out the window, Jie watched as men piled into a bar in the shape of a fish's mouth. Her mind still at a disarray, she clamored out of bed to make sense of where she even was. A port in the middle of the sea?
