Pinnacle (ONGOING)

Chapter Seventeen

June 1808

     Letting my head rest on the cool glass of the window I watched as the chickens were scrambling in their pens with the intention of hoarding the downpour of feed being thrown to them. Their erratic clucking was a comfort. It was strange, I had sat there dozens of times wishing I was outside, but ever since I started my schooling, there were times that I wanted nothing more than to sit in the drawing room and sip my tea. I curled up, bare feet tucked under my skirts, and fell into a deep sleep.

     In the dream that met me as I slept, I was in a boat, rolling back and forth with nauseating repetition. I searched for the cabin of the ship and I was met with the cold brisk spray of sea. It was salty on my lips, and I licked at them to ground myself. My vision was weakened by the darkened setting, and just as I moved to grope for the latch on the door, a great crash and swaying of the hull brought me into the air and there following, the water. It was as cold like a sharp slap to the face, and my skin felt as if it were on fire, the temperatures were so cold. There was light beneath the surface, though faint, and as I made to breach, I was met with an icy sheet which inhibited my ascent. I squirmed, expelling the air I had saved for breath in a fit of panic, and that's when I saw it. A movement of dark mass in the distance. My vision began to fade, though it appeared to be the largest shark I had ever seen. I had seen them illustrated in novels, but never before had I beheld one. Its shiny body shimmered with wet as it wove its way to my sinking body. I could do nothing but accept being eaten, until it came so near, that it transformed into the body of a man. I closed my eyes as death took me, and Michael's voice hissed in my consciousness.

     "I will have her."

     I awoke gasping for air and I sputtered and choked on my tears, fighting to still my ragged breath. it was later that I would realize, though Michael was not dead, I was haunted by his ghost.

--

     The trail was my solace that day as I fought for calm. It usually calmed me to take a long walk in the spring air, but the wind fought me from making my way west. The little trail was pleasant looking enough, as little daisies popped their spry forms from the ground to welcome spring, and the trees were fuzzy with immature leaves. Soon the forest would be fattened up with the weight of them, and that thought put a small dance in my stomach. I powered on until I started to hear something strange as I entered the wood. This trail was private and owned by my family, so I stopped for a moment, squinting into the darkness until I could make out a group of people who had already espied me. 

     Panic welled in my chest.

     "Oy!" One of them called from behind me. I continued walking as if I had never heard them in the first place.

     'God preserve me', I repeated in my head, and suddenly, footfall stomped behind me, sending my head into a whirl, and before I could make a move to run, the man grabbed me by the collar. I screamed.

     "That was not very charitable to ignore the pleas of a beggar, missus." He chastened.

     "And it is not very charitable to treat a lady like so," I bit back, struggling to free myself. At this point the rest of his group had caught up with him and hope sank like lead.

     "Oh no, missus, we treat ladies very _VERY_ well! Lil, show them how we treat ladies." The man laughed, and I turned to regard the group in which a woman came forward and proceeded to be held indecently by the man behind her. His head was shaped like an eggplant, and his ears were as big as spoons. Another man with dark skin and long plated hair sat back, regarding the rabble with a dutiful eye.

     "Ooh! Good sir, leave my maidenhead be!" She laughed wickedly, revealing a near-toothless maw. Knowing that reason was futile from the very beginning, my efforts to stall had been successful as I had managed to shimmy my penknife from my reticule and immediately plot my next action. Lightning-fast then, just as Shannon had shown me, I grabbed the man's grubby arm with all of my might and swung him like a pendulum so that his back was to me, his arm braced against it in an uncomfortable position.