The Cursed

Chapter Sixteen

Lilura

I must've fallen asleep after crying because I wake to sunlight streaming onto my face and all my clothes from yesterday still on. I sit up rubbing my eyes. Distant shouts from the crew echo from the deck. A few voices grow closer, and I strain to hear them.

"She cursed the Captain, and now he's in bed, resting," a gruff voice said.

"I hear they're sendin' her away to be with a witch," another says. He says "witch" like it's worse than the grime on the bottom of his boots. I shrink against the bed and curl into a tight ball.

"A witch? What do they think they're playin' at?"

"I suppose a weapon, think they'll be able to use her later."

"Gah, like she'll help 'em . I reckon she'll turn on 'em. Turn out just like-"

"'Ello cap'n," the other says, quickly ending their conversation. The feeling in my stomach growing into a black pus.

"Hello, I should hope you are being constructive, helping on my ship and preparing for Lilura's departure," Everette says. One of them mumbles something so quiet I can't hear, but Everette does. "What was that?" More grumbling. Then a sound of an elbow hitting something and a gruff "oomph".

"I didn' mean anythin'," the man says.

"But you still said it. Luckily for you, we will be stopping in an hours time at a dock in the Red Kingdom. There you can leave us-"

"But Capn'," the first man begins, attempting to help his friend.

"You can join him, if you so wish. I will not tolerate cruel talk towards witches, especially Lilura. Now, please pack your things," Everette says. I hear footsteps retreating down the corridor and past my room.

Part of me wants to leap from my bed and chase after them, but I don't. If the crew already thinks I'm horrible, I should give them a reason. I sigh and curl up tighter.

After several moments, I sit up. There is a heaviness to my limbs, and moving them takes more strength than I have right now. I feel my tears on my tongue as the men's conversation plays over in my head.

"She cursed the Captain."

I did. I hurt him, but that's why I'm studying. I'm going to help people. I can help. I won't be a weapon. I won't. The thought of Everette and Alan using me as a weapon breaks my heart. I know they wouldn't, because if my visions told me anything, Everette and I had something. I'm not sure where we stand now, but we were once in love. He wouldn't turn on me that quickly. He couldn't.

Lost in thought, I don't hear the knock at the door until Alan calls, "Lilura, Everette said I should check on you." I shake my head and stare at the door before getting off the bed and opening it. Alan stands in the doorway, his red hair sticking up every way it shouldn't.

"I was just, I was um, I was-" Alan ends my attempts for words with a nod.

"Finish packing and be on deck in an hour. We are near the witch." I nod. Alan leaves and walks away, his boots clunking on the wood. I shut the door, closing out the light that streamed into my room. I slink back and sit on my bed. Alan said "witch" cruelly too. Why must people be so rude to them? Especially, I might be one. Do I even want to be a witch anymore, to face hatred every day for what I will do?

Staring at the window at the sea, I notice a shadow leaping over the water. There are several shapes all swimming under the surface and leaping happily out of the sea. They dive back into the turquoise with a small splash. They must be dolphins, they enjoy people. And for whatever reason, the dolphins break my sadness.

I get up and skip to my closet, wondering what I will pack. I don't know what to bring to a witch. We might want clothes for hiding in shadows, clothes to blend in, or will my extravagant dresses be perfect? And in spite of why I'm being sent away, excitement bubbles in my chest.

After several minutes of putting dresses in a large trunk just to take them out again, i sit on my bed. My excitement has lessened. I cannot think what to bring. Would it be worse to under pack and buy what i am missing there? But I don't know how far the witch lives away from the kingdom or if she'll even let me go. Besides, I don't have any money. But then I should pack too much. I doubt the witch will mind my large trunk, unless I over pack the wrong thing. I would hate to back a bad impression on her. I groan and begin to grip my palms, opening up the scabs that had healed.

I need to breathe. I close my eyes and release my hands.  Inhale. Exhale. I open my eyes to look again at the water, and I remember the witch Everette took me to, to regain my memory. I walk back tot my closet and look through my various dresses, pulling out things similar to what she wore.

After half an hour, I think I have packed. I have a number of my most revealing dresses to mimic the slits in her dress, only two of my headpieces, but several ribbons to tie into my hair and hang feathers and beads off of. As I piled my dresses into the trunk, my confidence came. Soon I was humming around my room, twirling between the forgotten gowns that lay fallen on my floor like leaves in autumn. My fingers wave above my head, picking up strands of my hair.

I leap and land with grace around my room until a knock shakes me out of my rhythm. My humming falls in the air leaving an echoing silence behind it.

"Lilura, we are here," Everette calls through the door.

"I'm coming," I say, reminding myself of a mouse that cowers away from feathers. I twist in my room and glance over the mess. I itch to clean it, to neatly hang everything in my closet, but I don't. I'm starting over. I won't succumb to a scared girl ready to please. If I want to leave a mess, I will. With a huff, I open the door and walk past Everette. Calling behind me, "My trunk is just over there on the floor."