Chapter 1
300 years ago...
“Miriam, you have to leave now!” her husband whispered loudly as he pulled their things from the oak chest that held all of their worldly belongings on the ship that had been there home these last 2 months. They had just reached land and she so desperately wanted a new life with them man she loved.
“Gerald, I don’t understand. Maybe if we just talk to them they will understand! We can’t go without you!”
He walked over and gazed at the beautiful child in her arms. The arms of the only woman he had ever loved or ever will. He knew what was most important to protect. This wasn’t going to be easy but he had to make her understand. They had looked the other way when they thought he was her servant but when their daughter was born early and on the ship there was no doubt who the father was. He would be hanged. If they were lucky she would just be ostracized but it was their daughter he feared the most for. They would either kill her to make an example out of her or she would be sold as a slave. The only thing left to do was by them time to escape.
“You’re getting out of here tonight my love. There are people and places in this new world who will let you live in peace. But that is not here. I will follow you as soon as I can.”
She looked deep into his eyes. Fear and loved looked back at her. She had never seen him afraid in their lives. That more then anything told her the situation they were in. She clung to his lie as she helped him pack. Just as they were about to leave the door crashed open. Angry shouts and swinging lanterns were all she saw for the moment before she was thrown to the side, cracking her head against her hope chest. The cries of their daughter were the sounds that folled her into the darkness.
When she awoke it was dark. The smell of the damp wood and the soft sway of the boat told her she was still where she had fallen. It was eerily quiet. She could feel sticky, warm blood trickling from where she had hit her head but she rose and made her way to the door. No one was on board. From the railing she could a bonefire in the distance and most of the colonists. She crossed the gangplank to the shore and made her way up the beach towards them as quietly as she could. They were drinking and cheering. No one seemed to notice her. She walked around the fire keeping to darkness and stood in the shadows of an old oak, trying figure out where they had taken her family. The wind blew cold off the ocean and she wished she had thought to grab a shawl. From the darkness above her she hear a knocking sound. The bonefire suddenly roared to life as a large log was tossed on. She pulled back from the light but something above her caught her eye. A foot, then a leg, and up on until she was looking at her husbands sweet face, bruised in death as he swung from the old oak. She swallowed her scream and stumbled off to vomit. She lay on the rocky shore weeping quietly to herself for the life she was denied.
After some time had passed she heard people making their way back to the ship for the night. She waited until she saw 2 women who had been friendly to her before walking by themselves and talking to each other. She crept up and touched one of them on the arm. “Please. Please tell me where my daughter is.” She had to know. She could keep on going if only her daughter was alright.
“Forget about that abomination. It’s been dealt with”.
The cold voice and steely eyes told Miriam everything she needed to know. Yanking her dress out of her grasp, the women kept walking back towards the ship as if nothing had happened.
Something died within Miriam in that moment, and later that night as she watched the ship burn and the listened to the screams from within slowley fade out she couldn’t bring herself to feel sorry for any that died within there. It was a hard climb to the cliff above the cove but when she reached the top it felt right. And the cold wind as she plummeted to the rocks below was soothing instead of painful. Her broken body matched her broken heart as the sea swallowed her.
ere…
