The Stormgale Chronicles: To Dream of Drowning

2

"One at a time, please.  ONE AT A TIME!"

The wait to get off was deeply unpleasant, only adding to my growing frustration.

After the same bored voice announced that we were arriving at Deception Island, there had been a rush to the stairs.  Jumbled families and stray groups of people around my age conglomerated together, creating a rather immovable blockage that stayed stationary, even after the ferry had docked. 

Now that I knew what I was looking for, I started noticing more and more just how strange and peculiar the people were around me.  Some looked innocent enough; flushed faces, muted expressions, deep and heavy sighs as the lines jostled forward.  Others, however...well, it was no wonder it took a matter of minutes to figure out just how bizarre the people on the ferry were.

A large man behind me wheezed fetid breath over my shoulder, coughing every now and then.  I had chanced a glance back only to see regular human.  The girl at his side, however, was gazing forward serenely.  If she noticed that I'd looked, she didn't let on.  She had a faraway look about her, as if she were thinking about something a million lightyears away.  I did notice, however, that her hair shimmered ever so slightly in the light, and that one of her ears, visible only after she lazily tucked some of her hair back, was pointed ever so slightly.

The lines were being chaperoned by a couple of middle-aged men and women in vibrant yellow coats.  One of them, a woman with long dreadlocks and chapped lips, glared at everyone who passed by, shouting hoarsely at the top of her lungs.

"Sir, over there in the green...DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CHILD.  And ma'am, the one with the bag and the hat...not you, the woman behind you...MA'AM, YOU CANNOT TAKE THAT CHILD...YES, I SEE YOU!  SET HIM DOWN!"

It took forever to get to the front of the ferry, but that was alright.  I had a lot on my mind, and I needed time to process that beforehand.

Part of me wanted to stay on the ferry, to head back to the mainland and figure it all out from there.  According to the disembodied voice over the loudspeaker, the island was the ferry's only destination.  What good would that do me?  I wouldn't be finding anything out stuck on a rock amidst an emotionless body of water and fog.

Another part of me figured that, well, however I got here, I was on this ferry for a reason.  At some point, I must have made the decision to board, knowing full-well where it was headed.  How else would I have found myself headed to Deception Island.

What surprised me was, as I thought about it more and more, I began to develop had a strong sense about me, about what I was supposed to be doing.  I had no reason to be sure about much of anything.  When I woke up, I hadn't even remembered my own name.  It was the black duffel beside me with the orange tag that read 'August' that reminded me.  I'd read it, and felt a swell of familiarity, the only kind that would come from knowing something as well as one would know their own first name.

Everything else though...it was even less than a blur.  It was shadow and smoke, pulled away too fast for my grasping hands by an errant wind.

My train of thought was interrupted by a gaggle of guys and girls in front of me.  They were all stunningly pretty, with skin that looked smooth and unblemished as porcelain, luminous and healthy hair, and smiles that were nothing short of dazzling.

"...honestly, I'm just surprised he'd have the gall to show his face," a tall guy with luscious soot-black hair said.  "After all that happened, you'd think he and the rest of his family would have the decency to bury their heads in the sands for the next decade or so."

"A decade," a pretty girl with braided black hair and ballerina slippers sniffed. "Try a century."

"My money says he won't make it past the new moon," a slim boy with messy blonde hair and a dangerous grin added.