Classy, Controlled Chaos - The STEAM Team Adventures

⭐️ The Past [3/5] ⭐️

Tia's POV:

After almost a month of being out at sea by myself, I had gotten bored.

Yes, bored. You heard that right.

I had done all my daily checks on my ship.

The sails were still functioning, the main masts were decently maintained, the crow's nest was clean, and everything else was in stable conditions.

I don't remember the specifics, but I knew I would be fine.

Staring up at the stars in the sky, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

This voyage was supposed to last six weeks, or a month and a half.

Six weeks, seven days a week... Forty-two days.

Forty-two days of loneliness.

Forty-two days of isolation.

Forty-two days to progress from perfectly stable to mentally insane.

I felt sick just thinking of it.

I marked off the official one month checkpoint of being out at sea... Twenty-eight days.

I had spent twenty-eight days losing my mind out here on this boat.

Two weeks remain.

I don't think I'll survive to see these last two weeks.

My heart ached.

My heart ached for my friends, to see them smile, to feel their presence around me...

I missed them so dearly, it physically hurt to even think of them.

Norski, my beautiful, loving griffin, had stayed behind in the Horizon Library to keep Addison and Marshall company.

She was there to remind them of me, in a way.

I couldn't take these thoughts anymore.

Forcing myself to focus and squeezing my eyes shut, I reminded myself to remember why I was here.

I had endured years of training to become a captain of a ship.

People before me have quit from the pressure, or died from the intense training and stress.

I was one of the very few who survived, and I had earned my position as a captain.

Only I could survive this.

This was the end of the beginning of my journey.

Soon, I would conquer new horizons...

Not by myself, but with my friends.

Friends who were safe from the war.

Friends who cared for me.

Friends who I could rely on.

But most importantly, friends I could trust.

I let out a scream of frustration, slamming my fist into the wooden deck.

It hurt, but it relieved me of some of my emotional pain.

Staring down at the floorboards, I realized I had made myself bleed, watching scarlet liquid bead up where I had been cut.

I sighed, making my way toward my captain's quarters to fetch myself some bandages.

While I walked along the side of my ship, I dipped my injured hand in the saltwater, washing off the wound.

It simultaneously hurt me and soothed me, just like this voyage I had to take.

The moment I got inside, I closed the wooden sliding door, briskly locking it behind me even though I knew I was a one-man crew.