Come Away

Chapter 5 - Voyagers

After eating and making a desperate agreement plan, Darren and I follow Cináed from the pub. My backpack doesn't feel as heavy as my gut--turning inside out and nearly rejecting the quickly eaten sandwich inside it. Darren takes my hand and it's both reassuring and unnerving, as it reminds me that my decision effects us both.

I hope I didn't just mess this up for good.

Cináed saunters a few steps ahead, his hands tucked into his pockets. Like his strange vocabulary, his clothing style also seems outdated. I'll bet he shops at thrift stores full of old-people clothes. An evening breeze catches his golden hair just as he turns to look at me. Car headlights pass us, creating strange shadows on his face. His green eyes aren't shadowed though. They glow back at me like a cat.

I hold tighter to Darren's hand and focus on walking like a normal person, instead of someone who might have just made the biggest mistake of her life.

The smell of salt and moisture reaches us before the ocean does. Lamps line the docks and ship beacons cast yellow beams on the waves lapping against the metal and wood below. In the eerie silence, that sound of rushing water acts like a constant screeching in my ears. Cináed's shoulders slump down each time the ocean makes that terrible rushing noise, like he's pulled toward it while I cringe away.

"Are we almost there?" Darren says, his voice sounding unnatural in the stillness.

"Yes." Cináed stops and we all stare at the ship in front of us.

I know nothing about sailing, but this ship looks like it might sink before we cross the ocean. Rusty metal that's plastered in barnacles looms above us, and an Irish flag hangs limply from a mast. Do cargo ships even have masts?

"What kind of contraption is this?" I say, peering up at it with a furrowed brow.

Cináed answers me in what can only be termed as sincere endearment. "Meet Branna. She is the noblest, most beautiful vessel of the sea."

I don't have a response to that, so we all stand there until Cináed speaks again. "The crew is away for the night, but I will show you your sleeping quarters as I know you are tired from your journey."

"Wait, you mean we aren't leaving till tomorrow?" I say, my throat seizing up. Darren pats my arm and is about to say something when someone shouts at us.

I turn to see a man nearly running along the dock. "Stop right there, trespassers!"

Before I can react, Cináed's fingers intertwine with my free hand—the one Darren isn't already holding onto—and he faces the man with a smooth expression.

"No need to be concerned. This is my ship, and I am here alone." His voice rushes through the air like the lapping waves and reaches the man as he stops a few feet away, glancing over Darren and I as if we aren't there.

He breathes heavily, blinking beady eyes and wiping at his sweaty, bald head with a coat sleeve. "But, I—I thought I saw some kids here and—"

Cináed's laughter stops the man short. "My apologies sir, as I am often mistaken for someone much younger than I am."

The man is smiling now and his panting breaths are turning into low chuckles. "Must just be all that sea air." He grins and pats his belly. "My wife says it keeps any man youthful."

Darren snickers, and the man blinks again, looking down at Darren beside me.

"Did you hear that?" The man breathes, pointing a dirty finger. Darren takes a small step back as the man's finger hovers inches from his chest.

"Nothing but the sea air joining in our laughter, my friend." Cináed says, shooting Darren a sidelong glance. "But I'll be off now to catch some sleep before my voyage."