Sing Me A Lullaby

Familiar Faces in the Dark

Small flickers of orange light shone through floorboards in the ceiling above the brig, disappearing for a second or two sometimes as someone passed by. Shadows cast in every direction from piles of crates and sacks.

Storm's eyes adjusted easily to the darkness, quickly making out the shapes on the other side of the thick metal bars of the cell. Though it was slightly difficult to focus when everything seemed to begin to pulse in her vision and her attention was brought to the awful pounding in her head.

Whilst raising herself up with one arm, she held a hand gently to her head where she had been hit. A sharp pain stabbed at it when she brushed her fingers over it making her inhale sharply through her teeth. Looking back to her fingers as she pulled her hand away from the wound, she was relieved to see that there was no blood. Hopefully that meant it hadn't bled at all.

Shuffling to attempt to assume a more comfortable position, her hand caught on something beside her. Something warm and living. Instantly her hand yanked away and she turned to look and see what it was, but it wasn't a what, it was a who.

A gasp escaped Storm's lips as she realised that the thing she had just touched wasn't actually a thing, but a person, and she would recognise those coal black curls anywhere. Ignoring the protests of her aching head, she scrambled over to her friend and rolled her over from her side and onto her back.

One hand moved towards her face and brushed the hair away whilst the other removed the rope tied tightly around her wrists. Casting the rope aside, she brought both wrists closer to her face to examine them. Just as she thought there were bloodied rope burns that would need tending to.

Storm pressed two fingers against Mollie's neck to assure herself that she was still alive and breathed a small sigh of relief. Knowing that her friend was alive and well enough allowed her to bring back her senses and once again focus on where they were.

It was quiet where they were, but she could still hear the occasional loud thuds and deep voices accompanied by some drunken laughs from above them. Although she didn't have any recollection of being aboard a ship before, Storm knew that that was exactly where they were. When she realised that, a dark feeling came across her.

Her hearing zoned in on the sound of waves lapping against wood and she realised for the first time the swaying and rocking motions as the vessel shifted with the movement of the surrounding sea.

Storm froze where she was and the dark feeling began to swirl into dread and fear in her stomach. She looked down at Mollie as her heart began to pump the blood faster around her body, hoping, wishing, that she would wake up and she could see those familiar pale blue eyes that often held mischief. They stayed closed though, flickering every so often to whatever her dreams held.

Even though fear and dread had her frozen where she was, a strange sense of familiarity came over her as she sat listening to the waves and taking in the gentle rocking of the ship. She had no memories of her past before Rose Harbour, but from the feeling she was getting from being aboard the ship, she guessed that a big part of her life must have been spent at sea. Though that didn't make sense with the fear and paranoia she had of it.

The feelings seemed to mingle and separate from each other continuously, and as she sat awaiting her friend to wake, she began to grow confused, her nose scrunching up slightly. Familiarity was a strong feeling. It seemed to be paired up with a sense of home, freedom and happiness all rolled into one. But at the same time, fear, dread, and a strong sense of death seemed to blend into the mixture. They were separate though, that much she could tell.

It was as if the sea was her home, but at the same time, she was deathly scared of it.

Being aboard the ship was the first time that she had felt any kind of connection with her past, and just her luck, it had to be because she was kidnapped.