Moonlight Bay ━━ 𝘑𝘈𝘊𝘒 𝘋𝘈𝘞𝘚𝘖𝘕.

two

two;

JANIYAH SAT ON A BENCH ON THE POOP DECK OF THE SHIP, THE SUN SHINING DOWN ON HER, THE WIND BLOWING SOFTLY AGAINST HER. She watched as a man next to her drew in his sketchbook, conte crayon in hand, his knees pulled up to support his sketchbook. The drawing was one of a man and his little daughter, who seemed to be about six or seven years old. It was amazingly similar to the actual scenario.

"Where'd you learn to draw like that?" Janiyah asked just as he finished up the sketch.

His light blue eyes flickered to meet her brown ones, his blond hair blowing onto his face. "I'm self-taught."

"You don't expect me to believe that, do you?" She furrowed her brows, "You'd have to have gone to a school or at least been taught by someone."

He chuckled, "No, no. I've been practicing since I was little."

She shook her head, "I don't believe you."

"Well, you're just gonna have to trust me," he said, placing his crayon in his sketch pad as he closed it.

"How about you teach me to draw?"

The man thought about it for a moment. Then, "Sure. You've got to pay me, though."

Janiyah scoffed, "With what? I only brought my bag of clothes and a couple coins."

"Well, first off, you can start by giving me your name," he said. "And you let me keep your first drawing."

She winced, "Ooh, I'm not sure about the name part."

He smirked, raising his hand for her to shake. "Do we have a deal?"

Hesitating for a second, she grasped her hand with his, giving it a light shake. "Deal. I'm Janiyah Conlan. Just call me J."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, J," he said. "I'm Jack Dawson."

"You'll be learning from the best, J," said an Irish accented voice. "Kid has talent."

Janiyah turned her gaze to a man in brown clothing, wearing a tophat the same color, leaning against the bench. She nodded, "So I've seen."

"J, this is Tommy," Jack introduced them, then pointed at a man who'd just arrived. "And this is Fabrizio."

"Nice to meet you all," J said, earning a nod from the other two men.

These were the types of friendships Janiyah had always had, with the boys. All the girls rejected her, save for about two or three that didn't mind being friends with her. It's not like she minded, though. Hanging out with the men was much more fun, they had spitting challenges, races on horseback, while most women just tried on new dresses and drank tea. It was boring to her.

All of a sudden, everyone's attention turned to a woman over on the well deck above. She didn't seem to be very content as she stared out into the ocean. Her hands grabbed onto the hat on her head, then tossed it off the ship, watching as it glided down into the salty water. Her expression remained the same, she looked to be gloomy and desolated.

"Someone's not in a good mood," Janiyah joked, the rest chuckling.

In the distance, Janiyah spotted a familiar red-headed friend, calling for him to come over. "Hey, J," he said, then looked around at the others. "Mind introducing me to your new friends?"

"Yeah, this is Jack, Tommy, and Fabrizio," she spoke as she gestured to the three of them. "Guys, this is my best friend, Ray."

Ray gave them a small smile, a change from his usual serious expression he would carry.

"So, J, a game of shuffleboard just started, wanna come with me and play?" Ray asked.

"Hell yeah." Standing up from the bench, Janiyah dismissed herself to Jack, Fabrizio, and Tommy, then left to play some shuffleboard with Ray.

***

The day flew by, quickly turning into night. The game of shuffleboard lasted hours, both Ray and Janiyah too competitive to give up. At first, J had won the first couple of rounds, but then Ray began winning the next one and the next one and the next one. J thought she'd be able to catch up to him, but that only resulted in more losses. She didn't want to admit it, but Ray was much better at shuffleboard than she was.

So now she lay in bed on her top bunk, weary and pensive. She felt the ship rock back and forth, that was definitely felt more in the lower floors than in the upper ones. It didn't matter, she knew she'd get used to it eventually. Then there was the snoring of the three men sleeping in the room, noisy and obnoxious. Her four brothers would snore like this all the time, she wouldn't even notice it. Now that she'd been away for a while, she forgot how it felt to sleep with people snoring loudly. It was quite annoying now.

Sometimes she wondered how her brothers were now. The last time she'd heard of them was when she left home on her eighteenth birthday. She was so ready to travel she couldn't wait anymore. It'd almost been a year since that, her nineteenth birthday coming up in a couple of months. She did miss them, her brothers. Even though they irritated her every single second of her life, she missed them.

Perhaps she'd be able to see them again when she returns back to New York. She hadn't been in contact with them ever since, so she had no idea if they still lived in the same apartment as before. They were alone in that apartment. Mom was dead, dad left the house when they were little. The good thing is, the oldest, James, was almost twenty-years-old, so Janiyah knew the younger ones would stay in good care. Janiyah was the second child, eighteen-years-old, John sixteen, Joseph fifteen, and the youngest one who was twelve, Jesse.

Janiyah actually couldn't wait to see them, and catch up with all that had happened. They'd tell her stories of what happened in New York, Janiyah would tell them how it felt to travel the world with barely any money. She smiled at the thought, then decided she needed to get some rest. Closing her eyes, she got comfortable in blanket, and went to sleep.

(10.12.20)