Ethereal

Stranger on Deck

“Looks like you lucked out.” Grouch-o said, dropping another load of apples at my feet. I had been slicing the skin off them for the past hour and my hands were nearly peeled themselves with the effort. I tried not to groan at the sight of the new, untouched batch.

“Lucked out of what?” I said, heaving the bag closer to my side. I opened the bag and began to pull the lot out. Grouch-o wanted to make apple pies for everyone, but from the state of the oven and Grouch-o’s lack of delicate handling, I think these are going to be made into apple sauce instead.

“Captain’s told me that you don’t have to do your night shift tonight. Apparently, there’s a storm on the horizon, or at least that’s what he says.” Grouch-o said, the displeasure evident in his voice. I was grateful at that moment that Jax was captain and not Grouch-o, as something told me that if Grouch-o had the power to keep me topside during a storm, he would.

“Careful old boy, your bitterness is showing.” I said. Grouch-o shot me a dirty look from over the counter, his hunch back looking much more pronounced than usual. I turned away from him and sat down at one of the tables, a wave of relief flooded over me at the news – I would finally be able to get a full night’s worth of sleep in.

Ignoring the pain lingering in the joints of my fingers, I began to cut the apples with a greater gusto than before. The sooner I get this last job done, the sooner I could go to bed.

Time slipped by, and slowly the beams of sunlight that poured through the cracks in the ceiling above us all but disappeared as the ship began to lurch from side to side. I could hear the wooden paneling around me groaning from the stress as waves crashed up against it, as well as the light pattering of rain hitting the deck above me. I suppose Carlo and Jax had been right all along – a storm had been approaching the Minnow, and now it was here.

Grouch-o tossed one last knife into the sink before he wiped his hands across his shirt, leaving a grimy stain in the fabric. He grabbed a lantern that hung from the ceiling and moved to go below deck where the rest of the crew were already settling in for the night.

“Don’t forget about the dishes, now.” Grouch-o said, passing me one last smile before he disappeared from sight.

I twisted around the bench, my eyes finding the grotesque pile of unwashed dishes waiting for me. Grouch-o must have purposefully left the breakfast, lunch, and the dinner plates for me to clean. It was going to take me half the night to get them cleaned and put away.

Fighting the urge to cry, I bent my head back down and got back to work. There was nothing else I could do at this point, and crying wasn’t going to make the job go any faster.

The pile of apples dwindled as the night drew on, the light droplets of rain above me began to fall faster and heavier than they did before. I made sure to keep the bag of apples tucked securely between my knees as the ship began to rock back and forth more violently than ever before. At some instances the Minnow would hit a wave so vast that it nearly sent me to the floor had I not been clutching a nearby beam for support.

I flicked the last skinned apple back into the bag, tying it off tightly before stowing it below the counter for Grouch-o to spit on tomorrow. Rubbing the sore muscles in my neck, I turned towards the pile of dishes, my fingers already feeling the dirt and grime that surely waited for me beneath all that water.

“Need a hand?”

The voice caught me off guard, making me jump backwards and into the wall, causing several pots and pans to go crashing to the floor. Thank goodness Grouch-o had already gone to bed, or else he probably would have made me clean those too.

“What are you doing here?” I said, heat rising up into my cheeks as Jax watched me from across the room.

He was leaning against a wooden beam, his eyes dark in the lamplight as he took me in. A small smile formed at his lips as his eyes saw the state of my unkept hair that was no doubt a large fuzz ball above my head by now. I made no move to pick up the pots and pans, instead I remained frozen against the wall, unsure of what to do. A small part of me wondered how long he had been standing there, watching me from the shadows. While anybody with a reasonable head on their shoulders would be frightened of such a thought, it filled me with warmness instead. Maybe I really was starting to go crazy.

I stared at him through the greasy tendrils of my hair, biting my tongue as I stared at his immaculate form. Though Jax and I hadn’t spoken for several days, I had planned out all the things I wanted to say to him in my head every night while sitting up in the crow’s nest. There wasn’t much else to do up there.

My speeches where I not only declared my innocence at Grouch-o’s claims that I was stealing food, but to also apologize for what happened with the Valencia and my actions following the ordeal. I still felt guilty for blowing him off the night he tried to talk to me,

But the sight of Jax made every word fly out the window, any preplanned thoughts or words dying in my throat as I watched the muscles in Jax’s arms flex as he pushed off the wooden beam as he slowly made his way towards me.

Panic rose up in me as though I were a cornered animal, my eyes darting wildly around as I looked for any possible means of escape. What was he about to do?

“As captain of this ship, I can go anywhere I please,” Jax said, his voice running over my skin like warm honey. “and I chose to come down here.”

“Why?” I said. The word came out in a low whisper before I could stop it, and Jax’s teeth gleamed in the low light as he made his way closer to me still.

He stopped an arm’s length away, his shoes only inches from mine.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” he said, “ever since the Valencia trade. But you’ve been avoiding me.”

“I haven’t been avoiding you!” I said in a rush. My cheeks reddened at my sudden outburst, my neck and ears heating uncomfortably. I straightened my back, trying to compose myself. “I’ve been busy going from kitchen duty to the crow’s nest, as per your demand. There isn’t much free time for me in between, I’m afraid.” Yes, much better. That’s exactly what I had planned to say to him – how little free time I had now that I was working two jobs instead of one.

Jax suddenly flung his hand out to me, making me flinch back. But instead of striking me, his fingers tugged gently on a piece of my hair. He twisted it back and forth between his thumb and pointer finger, his brows pulled down with such intensity it was as though he had discovered a new animal.

My mind whirled with all sorts of thoughts as I watched him play with my hair. I had been working in a hot kitchen all day, and more than likely smelled and looked something awful. This, however, didn’t seem to bother Jax in the slightest. This was also the first time in a long time someone had touched me not out of fear or anger, but out of kindness.

“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” he said. Finally meeting my eyes again. I felt my stomach flip.

“There’s nothing to apologize for. You were just doing your duty as captain.” I said. I felt a pull at the bottom of my stomach where a strange emotion was collecting itself the longer I breathed in Jax’s intoxicating smell.

“I was.” Jax said. His voice was low as he looked down at me through the strands of his thick hair. “But I also frightened you. And for that, I ask for your forgiveness.”

“My what?” I said, stepping backwards. What game was he trying to play at? Forgiveness? “I already told you there’s nothing to forgive! I’m fine - really!” My voice was quickly returning to its original hysterical state. Was it really so hard for me to stay composed around him?

“Nor, tell me what I can do to make this right.” he said, his breath fanning the hair out of my face. A Camp captain asking me for forgiveness? Was this a dream? I pinched the skin of my palm, shutting my eyes tight and opening them again. Jax’s angular face continued to stare down at me, unyielding. Definitely not a dream. With every moment I spent so close to the captain, the foggier my mind began to feel. It was as though I was walking through a hazy daydream, and I need to wake up.

“You need to stay away from me is what you need to do.” I said, my voice turning hard. I didn’t have time to play games, much less with some idiot boy who was just going to be nothing distract me from finding my family. I looked down at my shoes to avoid seeing his reaction to my words, and instead saw his shoes creep closer to mine until they touched. I looked up at him then, only to see him staring intently down at me, making my throat bob up and down as I swallowed hard. I bit down on my tongue, my heart thumping wildly in my chest as I waited for Jax to say something. The seconds that ticked by felt like hours as he said nothing, his eyes never leaving mine.

Grumbling from under my breath, I took a step away from him and to avoid his heavy stare when my foot caught one of the fallen pans that I had failed to pick up earlier. I stumbled backwards and down towards floor – oh, if only Grouch-o could see me now. This would have probably made his week.

The air flew around me as I fell towards the floor, my breath catching. Just as I felt the tip of my elbow touch the ground, warm hands wrapped around my arms and pulled me back up. Before I knew it, I was in Jax’s arms, wrapped tightly around me. I could feel the heat of his hands as he moved them from my arms to my back, pulling me closer. My hands palmed his chest, digging deeply into the fabric of his sun-soaked shirt. One of his hands dipped down to my side and settled on my hip, giving it a soft squeeze. Shivers erupted up and down my spine as I held back a sigh.

The warmth of him hit me first, soaking into my sea-sprayed clothes. I felt fire dance in the wake of his touch, leaving my skin buzzing beneath all that heat. I could smell the sea-salt and cool ocean breeze hanging off his skin.

I looked down at his lips, now only a breath away from mine, and glanced back up to stare into his golden eyes. With a jolt I realized he was looking at me the same way he looks at the sun as it sets over the water, turning the sea into an array of pinks and oranges. I could see the question hanging in those eyes, the longing, the promise. Did he want me as badly as I wanted him?

We stayed like that, frozen in each other’s arms while slowly suffocating in the heat that built around us. I felt as though I was voluntarily standing in an oven, willing to be burned alive if it meant I would be touched by him for just a few more precious moments. I suppose that’s all we really had – just a few spare moments that dripped into an ocean of memories made over a lifetime. But with Jax, those few drops were droplets of ink instead of water. I knew that he would continue to swirl and cloud my ever-growing ocean until the end of time itself.

A wave crashed over the deck above us, sending several drops of water leaking down on us from above deck. It was the pin that dropped, the excuse to break our moment before it became something more. I blinked as a stray droplet hit my cheek, and before I could move to touch it, Jax slipped one of his arms from around me and brought it to my face. He softly stroked it away, the rough calluses on his palm scrapping against my skin in a strangely pleasant way. Instead of letting his hand fall away, he kept it there resting on my cheek. I watched his eyes trace the outline of my lips, and as his head dipped towards mine, I knew what was about to happen next.

The door above us suddenly slammed open, engulfing the room with frigid air as ocean water poured down the steps and pooled at our feet. A flash of lightning made us jump apart, the bright light was all too blinding and the deafening boom of thunder that followed made the entire ship vibrate from its power.

“I’ll close it,” I said sheepishly, skirting around Jax as I jogged up the steps to shut the door. While a part of me was thankful that the storm had interrupted… whatever was about to happen between Jax and I, the other half wished that the wind hadn’t blown the door open at all. What would have happened if Jax and I hadn’t been stopped? Would he have kissed me like I thought he was going to do?

I shook my head to clear it of such thoughts and leaned through the doorway, grabbing ahold of the door’s handle. The rain and wind pelted me from all sides, making my hair flatten and stick against the back of my neck and head as I struggled to keep my balance against the rough sway of the ship. Several waves were large enough to crash up and over the railing and poured onto the deck, submerging my feet into murky sea water.

I flinched, hating the feeling of the sea water gathering at the soles of my shoes, but before I yanked the door closed, I gave it a quick once over. The only way the door could have opened was if someone had twisted the handle. Jax and I were the only ones below deck, which meant the door had to have been opened from the outside. Unless someone was still on deck, there was no way the door could have opened by itself.

Maybe the storm broke part of the door? My eyes raked over the hinges and the handle, finding no malformation in the metal. The door was in fair condition besides the rough weathering on its wooden surface.

“Nor?” Jax said from the bottom step, his hand on the railing as though he was about to come up after me.

“I’m trying to find what’s wrong with the door,” I said, shouting over the howling of the wind behind me. Another wave crashed over onto the deck, nearly sending me backwards. I regained my footing and looked back down at Jax, who had climbed several steps closer to me, his face etched with concern. “I don’t understand it. The door’s fine, so how did it open?” I said, turning to look back down at Jax.

“We can figure it out later!” Jax said, slipping on one of the steps as more sea water poured below deck, catching himself before he fell. If we didn’t figure out how to close it now, however, it might blow open again throughout the night and fill the lower decks with sea water. I watched as Jax rubbed the side of his jaw, seemingly coming to this realization himself. “Do you think it will stay closed?” he said.

I shook my head no; I had no idea if it would close and remain closed for the rest of the night. I looked over at the hinges again, inspecting their metal framework for unseen cracks that I might have passed over the first time, when a shadow passed through the corner of my eye.

My head twisted as I searched for the shadow in the darkness, squinting as I tried to find it again. Just as I thought it must have been a figment of my imagination, a flash of lightning illuminated the deck, and I could see the rumpled form of a person laying face-down on the floor, unmoving. They were almost on the other side of the ship; their body drifting slightly from side to side from the sea water that pooled in the corners and hadn’t yet drained back into the sea.

“There’s someone still on deck!” I said, but before Jax could reply I had already bolted away from the door and out onto the ship’s deck, making a beeline for whoever I had seen. Was this person responsible for opening the door? Maybe they managed to turn the handle and opened it, but before they could escape down below deck a sudden wave took them by surprise and they lost their balance and hit their head. Whatever the reason, I couldn’t just leave them lying like that. Especially in the middle of a storm.

The wind crashed into me, the rain pelting against my skin like tiny daggers hell-bent on drawing blood as I continued across the deck. Thunder rolled above me, the Minnow rocking back and forth violently as waves crashed into us from all sides. Lightning lit up the sky, casting everything into an eerie glow for only a second before descending back into darkness. Maybe this wasn’t my brightest idea.

I heard Jax call out my name from behind me, but I was almost half away across deck and I couldn’t turn back now. Another flash of lightning lit up the sky, allowing my vision to focus in on the figure as they floated further towards the end of the ship. I tried not to let my frustration grow – if I was going to help them, I needed to stay focused.

A wave crashed over the hull, sending water onto the deck in a feverish frenzy. Leaping to the closest mast I wrapped my arms around its wide wooden beam, letting the water spill around me and over the side of the boat and back into the ocean where it belonged. The current was so strong it nearly took me with it, a detail Jax caught from halfway across the deck and made him start screaming my in an effort to try and make me turn back. I looked over my shoulder and saw him standing by the cabin door, one hand hanging onto the rail and the other reaching out for me. I could see the intense stare of his brown eyes even through the darkness.

I looked from Jax back to the corner where I had last seen the person lying, my mind heavy with indecision. If I left them out here, unconscious and probably hurt, there was no doubt that they would be dead by morning if they weren’t swept overboard first. If I continued to try and reach them, however, I might get myself killed in the process. While dying might terrify me, knowing that I didn’t do everything in my power to help this stranger when they needed it most terrified me more.

I released the mast once the water dropped down to my ankles and began to slush through it as I neared the back corner of deck. I was close – I was so close – just a few more steps and I’d make it. My hand reached out to touch the stranger’s arm, my fingers barely grazing the fabric of their coat before the Minnow crashed into another wave, sending me flat on my back.

Water poured onto the deck just as my hands locked onto the railing, keeping me steady as the freezing water drenched me from head to foot. I looked wildly around for the stranger, but they were no longer in the spot I had last seen them. I waited for another flash of lightning to light up the deck, and sure enough, my suspicions were confirmed. Whoever I had seen was no longer on deck.

With shaky legs I collapsed against the railing of the ship, letting my knees crash against the damp wood as I began to shake from the cold. I looked up at the sky just as a bolt of lightning shot across it, and for a moment I thought I saw the lightning flicker weakly, like the weak florescent lightbulbs that hung over the hallways in the orphanage. I blinked, and the lightning was gone. How odd.

In the distance I thought I could hear Jax calling out for me, searching for me in the rain. I tried to call out to him, but my fatigue was so strong that all I could do was shiver violently as the rain continued to pour down around me.

I felt my body shift forward, and I opened my eyes to see that the boat was tilting downward. My head tilted upwards to see a thick black wall of water rising above me, the ship rising up to meet it. We were headed towards the trough of a thirty-foot wave, and I had a front row seat. I willed my legs to move but they remained unmoving, and a lump formed in my throat as my hands wrapped themselves tighter against the railing. I could only hope that Jax had returned back below deck where he would be safe.

Just as the wave touched down the stern, something latched onto the back of my shirt and dragged me backwards and down the deck where I landed against a mast. A heavy object pressed into me, suffocating me as the wave pounded the deck and submerged me entirely in water.

As I felt the pressure of the water recede, and the heavy object pulled back and I was able to breathe. Jax’s honey eyes glowed down at me through the darkness, the drops of water that hung from his lips whispered secrets of the sea. I nearly fainted I was so relieved to see him.

He pulled me across the deck, our clothes sticking to each other’s as we slugged through water and damp wood, his arm wrapped securely around my waist as he steadied me from the storm that rocked the Minnow violently under our feet. The cabin door slammed open and we rolled down the stairs and into the deck below. In a flash Jax was up again shutting the cabin door closed behind us, engulfing the entire room into an impenetrable darkness. I didn’t hear him return down the steps. He must be waiting on the top step for a few moments to see if the door would swing open again, but as the minutes ticked by and the wind barreled against the door, it did not open again. The frame held strong, keeping the sea water out.

Through the black I heard him trudge back towards me, his footsteps approaching closer until they stopped altogether. I couldn’t see him, but I felt him. I could feel the heat of his breath fan across my face as he stood before me in the darkness. Neither of us moved, the heavy puffs of air mixing between us. A minute passed before I felt him reach for my hands as he pulled me in the direction of the captain’s quarters.