Mikah

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Even if I were Phoebe's brother, I don't think I would have given this Hunter Dalton lad my blessing, and I'm sure it does give a quite a lot of people a lot of discomfort that I do so.

"What do you mean, no?" Hunter inquired, giving me a stare.

I shrugged, and gave him a slight smile as he did to me before, and I think I was pushing it quite a bit. I didn't need to be this mean, but then again he wasn't just going to run off with the one lass that I've felt connected to in some sort of way.

"You heard me," I spoke, "I said no."

Hunter looked at me pleadingly,

"C'mon mate, let me marry your sister, please."

I looked up at him, beginning to give him puppy dog eyes as he did to me. Then, I gave Phoebe a shake of my head, and then proceeded towards Hunter.

"I said no."

Hunter began to get frustrated with me, and I could feel it.

"But why won't you let me marry her? That's all I

want to know."

I darted my eyes into his, staring at him with a mischievous little smile spread all over my face.

"I dunno, mate, but I suppose one of the reasons is because I am the lad that has loved her first. She's not my little sister, and nor will you be my brother-in-law. Now go on then, get off your feet and get the hell away from her," I reply, and pulled out a knife from behind my back.

He looked at me, beginning to gasp, and that's when I stabbed him in the back, causing blood of his to gush out, and when the entire world went black.

My eyes jerked open, and that's when I realized I laid in bed in Phoebe and I's room in the Derwent. I was panting, and trembling so much.

I hadn't killed Hunter, had I? That was just a dream, wasn't it?

I turned to the side of me and saw Phoebe's familiar figure, fast asleep and under the covers.

She looked so peace, and it was almost calming, but this all was weird. But what was weirder was my dream, and I suppose these dreams had only gotten weirder and weirder each and every day.

Sitting up and leaning my back against the bed's headboard, I began to think of the most absurd things, as I usually do at times like these.

I bet around this time Olsen Morley has already started on breakfast. That is, if he still feeds the kids there. Lord knows they could all be starved by now. Or, I suppose, he could be trying to find me. Hell, he could be on another ship near me for that matter.

I reached my feet down to the floor, and began to walk where our tea station was. Every day, the maids would refill the teacups will boiling water, and there were tea bags in little compartments on top of the table.

I poured some steaming hot water inside of a teacup, and then placed the tea bag inside the water and began to bounce it up and down, hoping the flavors of the tea would spread throughout the water.

What felt like a couple minutes later, the sun began to rise and before I knew it I heard murmurs from the bed I had just been sleeping in.

Turning around, I saw Phoebe wake up and stretch her arms apart and I smiled, I was lucky to have such an incredible person like her in my life.

"Good morning, Sunshine." I smiled.

She looked at me, and beamed, getting up from her feet and walking towards me.

"What are you working on this early in the morning?" Phoebe murmured.

I picked up my journal,

"Oh, this?" I questioned.

She nodded.

"Well," I started, "Olsen wanted me to make a memoir on my life, as he did when he were my age. I'm trying to contemplate whether or not I should continue. He's a bad guy, and he's done some pretty awful things such as kidnapping me, but I feel as though it's my duty to finish this memoir."

"The question is," Phoebe began, "Do you even want to finish it? If he's such a bad guy, why would you want to finish something that he wanted you to finish? I wouldn't if I were you, but that's just me."

I began to think about what she had just said; was Phoebe right, or am I just losing my mind and overthinking absolutely everything?

"Go back to bed, Phoebe, the sun is barely even up yet," I told her.

She nodded, following my directions and within a couple minutes she was again fast asleep.

I read in the newspaper's once that being aboard a ship for this long causes some men to lose their mind and have absurd dreams that eventually could never let them get out of them.

I wonder if that's true, if I am going mad as some men do.

One of the days I was still in Morley's I read of this particular lad who boarded a ship, was on it for around six months, and once he got to his arrival every single one of his family members all thought that he was a completely different person than he was before.

What if that is happening to me? What if my biological family in Russia won't recognize me for all they recognize is a drunken man who believes he is their child? Will they still accept me, even if I act absolutely nothing like their biological child should act?