Serendipity

Chapter 2

(!!TW!!: panic attack)

I slowly peel my eyes open, blinking black spots out of my vision.

I'm in a dark, foul room. An attempt to get up alerts me to the fact that I am chained to the wall, which I now realize as I register the cold metal against my wrists and my arms being elevated above my head.

It takes a minute for me to banish the brain fog before I can remember what happened.

Pirates...

Fear seizes my heart like the cool of the blades I can almost still feel on my neck.

My parents.

What if they didn't flee in time? What if they died because of my actions?

Am I going to die?

I struggle against my restraints, pulling relentlessly to the point that the metal begins to slice into my wrists.

My chest tightens, breath shortens, and tears spill uncontrollably from my eyes. I want to sob, to scream, to make some cry for help, but when I try nothing comes out of my mouth.

I can't breathe.

I'm gasping frantically, trying to fill my lungs with air over and over again but feeling like I'm being suffocated. I keep pulling against the cuffs, desperately hoping against all odds that they'll just break free or my wrists will slide out. But the cuts only get deeper, one millimeter at a time.

"Help," I manage to wheeze.

I can't breathe...

So I pass out again.

When I come to, I'm no longer in the room I was before. It's bigger, but not by a lot. There are several beds in the room, one of which I'm laid upon. It smells very strongly of several different types of herbs and plants, which leads me to the conclusion that I must be in a doctor's office of some sort.

I glance down at my body, which I can now see thanks to the light filtering in from a window and a nearby lamp. My dress is nowhere to be found. Instead, a simple white button up shirt and brown pants have replaced it. On my chest, exposed due to the opening of a few buttons, is a strange paste. Of which effect it has, I do not know. My wrists, no longer bound, have bandages wrapped 'round them and smell of alcohol.

Though covered, they still burn.

Before I can get up to try to escape, the rattle of chains enters my ears once more. I look at my feet, realizing there are chains around my ankles.

"I'm sorry," someone says, making me jump.

A blond man in all white enters the room.

His aura is the polar opposite of the past 4 men I've encountered in...actually I have no idea how much time has passed. Needless to say, he gives off a very gentle, calming aura. Though this does little to comfort me. I know I'm not safe here.

"I requested that you not be chained up, considering what you did to yourself last time, but Captain ordered it."

"Who are you?" I croak. I sound like I've been run over by a wagon.

He smiles, a bit of pity shining in his eyes. "I'm Yeosang. I'm a doctor."

"A pirate doctor," I correct.

"Yes...but a doctor nonetheless. You're lucky I was allowed to visit you. If Captain, Seonghwa, and San had their way, you'd be left in that cellar to die."

"And why wasn't I? Am I really supposed to believe that a pirate is going to keep me alive with no ulterior motives?" I scoff.

The man frowns. "I understand your skepticism, but I was a doctor first. It's my duty to help anyone who needs it."