The Historically Unhistorical Work of Historical Fiction

Chapter 25-December 5th, 1495

Decmeber 5th, 1495

I felt in my bones the moment I woke up. We were here. I went up to the deck in an almost ghostlike trance and looked out the sea. When I looked really hard, I could see it, a landmass trying to hide in the background of a pretty picture. The sun was shining gloriously, welcoming us back with a smile. For some reason, I ended up waking Joel and bringing him up to the deck without saying a word. I pointed out at the land and he was fully awake in seconds.

Striker saw it too, I was sure, you could see him leaning forward over his wheel, as if he were using his body to make the ship go faster. This was very emotional experience and I could feel tears slipping out of my eyes. Joel saw me crying and was surprised.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, concerned.

“I’m just really happy,” I choked out, “I’ll finally get to see my Aunt again.Anyway, I’ve noticed something about you.”

“Really?” Joel sounded nervous and I laughed.

“It’s nothing bad about you.”

“Oh.”

“It’s just that, you’ve become a lot more caring towards me since I… Well, since a gave you a little taste of my power.”

Joel laughed, “I guess so…”

“So what’s up?” I looked up at Joel and he was just staring out at the golden sky of dawn.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Yeah… What about?”

“Do you promise you won’t laugh?” He asked sounding serious.

“Only if it’s not funny.” I chuckled and Joel punched me softly on the shoulder.

“I’ll ask you once we reach the shore then, jeez.”

“Okay…” Now I was all curious about what he had to say. I’d lost my hard feelings towards Joel, I wasn’t feeling so guilty about myself lying since he had told the captain and such about me being a girl.

It seemed like the wind was on our side and once I told Captain Nyle about the land in the distance, he woke up everyone. The whole crew was excited, including me. Everyone had gathered at the bow of the ship and waited anxiously to get there. As we got closer and closer to shore, the more everyone pressed against the side of the ship, probably wishing for it to go faster. When we could actually see the shore, there wasn’t a soul in sight. A kid saw the ship and all of a suddent he took off.

Well, everyone was disappointed by the lack of a welcoming party, but then again, how would they have known what day we would come back. Snowflakes started to drift to the ground the moment the ship reached the harbor and along with that came a weird sound. It sounded like drums off in the distance and they were coming closer. I’m pretty sure everyone heard it and out of the distance was came one of the most amazing sights I had ever seen.

Thousands of people were running towards the harbor, shouting, yelling, and screaming out for people. One by one, sailors started runnning into the crowd of people to meet up with their loved ones. There was so much emotion being conveyed that tears started welling up in my eyes. I stood on the tips of my toes to try and see of my Aunt was in the crowd. There were a lot of people and I wasn’t the tallest, so the search was unbelievably hard.

When the people started thinning out, I was worried that my Aunt Myla wasn’t okay. I started to push through the crowd of people to try and find my Aunt and it wasn’t easy. Falling over wasn’t the bad part, but getting back up was. There were so many people pushing against you, you’d just keep getting pushed back down. I managed to get back up and decided to wait out the crowd. When the last person had past, I felt fear building in my stomach. Where was Aunt Myla?

I spun around in circles, trying to see if I had missed her in all of the commotion. Tears were starting to spill out of my eyes when I didn’t see her. I’d fallen to my knees when a familiar sound came from the road. The sound of someone walking with a cain and a purse that had two silver bells on it. When I looked up, I saw my red-headed Aunt hobbling down the road, smiling at me. I jumped up and ran to her, embracing her tightly.

“I was so worried!” I squeezed her tightly and she returned my hug with just as much strength.

“My, my, girl, have you grown.” Aunt Myla spoke with such kindness in her voice. It was true that during the voyage I must have grown way taller than my aunt.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, Aunt Myla!” I couldn’t stop tears of joy from flowing out of my eyes.

“You’re feelings are returned here, but before we catch up, there’s a young man over there who looks like he’s waiting for you.” I turned around and saw Joel standing some ways away looking awkward.

“I’ll be right back.” I gave my aunt a kiss on the cheek and went over to Joel.

“Hey.” I said and couldn’t help smiling because I was so happy to have seen my aunt again.

“So… I was wondering… if you and I… could… uh…” Joel couldn’t seem to get the right word out of his mouth and I smiled.

“Come on, just spit it out already.”

“Well, I was wondering if I could spend some time with you… As a boy and a girl… Or something like that…”

At first I was stunned, but then I laughed, “You want to go on a date?”

Joel turned bright red and nodded. I couldn’t help but laugh at him but I stuck out my hand for him to shake.

“Then it’s a deal. Come over anytime, you already know where I live.” I’m pretty sure my face was red also, but I was really happy. Joel also looked really happy and I waved goodbye at him, jogging back over to my Aunt Myla. She smiled at me knowingly and patted my shoulder with satisfaction. We walked home and I glanced over my shoulder the same time he glanced over his. We waved at each other and I knew then that my life was taking a turn for a better.

“Aunt Myla, you won’t believe all the things that’ve happened!”

               “Oh won’t I? I have some tales to tell myself.” We laughed and walked down the cobbled road, the sun smiling at our backs.