Chapter Text
The sea breeze was caressing her hair like a gentle lover would, on a night that was meant to be shared only between two people. The wisps behind her whipped like angry snakes, and it was the only consolation, the only relief from the unrelenting heat of the sun that shone bright and proud with not a single cloud to hindrance its efforts. She had closed her eyes, then, as a particularly strong gust of wind sent droplets of water right into her eyes. With salt crusting her eyelashes, she could do little to prevent the seawater from getting in her eyes and yet in that moment she felt like a woman free. She felt on top of the world, with salty water stinging her eyes, and the occasional gusts of wind disturbing the otherwise deathly sea.
With her closed eyes, she had considered this moment of respite to be the greatest gift of freedom the world had to offer- a last gift in her seemingly never-ending road of suffering about to begin. Even so, with the dark thoughts swirling in her mind’s eye, she was content to watch the ocean. It was always peaceful at times such as these- a calm before a storm, some called it, but to her it felt like the ocean might have been a dear friend and close companion, accompanying her on the last journey. In fact, as she opened her eyes, the most brilliant of vistas had greeted her and she felt a tear prick at her eye; the sky above and beneath, and below again, a mirage of never-ending cosmos reflected all around her. All she needed was a pair of wings to set off and fly. At that moment, all of that was hers and hers alone.
The sun, the wind, and the sea had made her forget what she so dreadfully awaited day in and day out. It had made her forget the taut ropes wrapping all around her wrists- the pain of raw flesh rubbing against the coarse, fried material, digging deeper and soaking the twine in crimson red blood.
It made her forget the shirt imbrued with blood she was wearing, every stain on her back a new reminder of the freedom she would never be able to attain. Each individual stain to represent a lash of anger, an attempt to strip her of her ego. An inhumane attempt at proving she was worth less than a stray dog in a town full of riches.
If she kept her eyes closed for long enough, she could imagine and dream and remember- she was a human, still, and she was free in her mind, at least, with the wind, the sun and the sea all releasing her from her shackles. Raising her nose high into the sky, she breathed in, letting her lungs experience the same freedom she was feeling in the eye of her mind. Her ribs were burning, and the broken flesh on her back was screaming, tying her down to reality, mocking her attempts of dreaming herself into a better place.
There was truly no means to attain freedom, anymore. She was bound to her doom on a ship with no escape other than death, and yet even death seemed loathe to claim her.
She imagined, then, herself standing on a helm, a booted foot propped up on a barrel to look over the oceans as she sailed, all by her lonesome, and lived a life free of all restraints. All but a moment longer and her daydreaming changed; she was a conqueror, the Queen at sea with nothing but a pity excuse of a boat and some trust-ee crew.
As all things do eventually, the dreaming came to an abrupt stop as the tug of twine around her wrists sent her to her knees in agony. Back to work, it seemed the pain had screamed. And so work she did. A mindless puppet among a sea of slaves sent to their eternal servitude.