Children of Toil ✔

Chapter Four

As the days went by Meggy felt increasingly disturbed by this sailor with his taunting looks and whispered jeers. She didn't feel safe but couldn't confide her fears in her new found friends. She hoped the days would pass quickly and she could soon be able to disembark the ship so her new life could begin.

A sailor with a pleasant round face came to her while she was sitting on the deck with old Mr. Elliot who had been telling her stories of when he was a lad.

The sailor excused himself. "I'm sorry, miss. Your friend Charlotte has asked if you could go to her."

Meggy frowned wondering why Charlotte hadn't asked for Olivia who was walking the deck with Mr. Elliot's wife. "Why has she asked for me and not her cousin?"

"She seemed very distressed, miss." He took Meggy gently by the arm. "Miss Charlotte has asked for you. She says not to tell Miss Olivia. Says it's something to do with the two of you." He shrugged his shoulders and gave her a look of not really understanding what it was all about. "I'm just doin' what she asked me, miss."

Curious, Meggy excused herself from Mr. Elliot and followed the sailor to the stairs. When they reached the bottom, she headed toward Charlotte's bunk but he took her by the elbow.

"This way, miss. She's in the galley."

Meggy frowned. It wasn't mealtime and she couldn't for the life of her think why Charlotte would be in the galley at this time of day. The sailor steered her in front of him. Before they reached the galley, he caught her by the arm and pulled her after him, down the steep steps which led into the bowels of the ship. Meggy tried to take hold of the rail, but she wasn't strong enough.

"What are you doing?" she yelled. He ignored her and gripped tighter. She struggled, clawing and scratching at his hand.

He stopped midway down the stairs, turned and slapped her across the face. The blow stunned Meggy. By the time she had regained some form of sense he was pushing her into the storage room. Meggy fell to the floor.

"Got her, Nick!" He shoved his bleeding hand in front of Nick's face. "Look what the fuckin' bitch has done."

Nick laughed and rubbed his hands together. "It'll all be worth it for what you're gonna get, Clayton." He bent down in front of Meggy and sniggered. She scuttled backwards.

The sailor who had been taunting her laughed. "Now come on, Meggy, that ain't a nice way to treat a fella."

"Leave me alone!" she hissed. "I'll report you to the captain!"

Nick chuckled and turned to Clayton. "You hear that? She's gonna report us to the captain." He stopped laughing and rubbed his chin as if in thought. "I wonder now what all them nice ladies would think if they knew you was really a whore?"

Tears welled in Meggy's eyes. "I'm nae a whore. You got me mixed up with someone else."

Nick laughed again. "Yeah, you bin sayin' but, Meggy..." He reached out, grabbed hold of her ankle and pulled her towards him. "I ain't never forgotten the face of any woman I ever fucked. To see ya prancing around like you're a lady makes me wanna give you what ya really want."

She gasped and kicked out at him with her other foot.

He grabbed it with his free hand. "Fuckin' bitch! Clay! Grab her hands. I want her over there!" He indicated with his head at the bales of hay, which were stacked against the hull.

Meggy fought. Her arms and legs pumped like the steel rods that connect the wheels of a train. One of her wrists slipped from Clayton's grasp. She swung out and tried to claw him.

He jumped back and scoffed, "Jesus, Nick, she ain't half wild." He grabbed at her flailing hand.

"She'll soon change her tune, won't you, Meggy?"

They laid her across one of the bales of hay. Meggy thrashed about, trying to sit up as Nick yanked on her drawers.

"No!" She screamed, kicking him hard with her now freed feet. She heard him groan. Before she lashed out again his half-closed fist slammed her cheek. As if somewhere in the distance, she heard him telling Clayton to turn her over.

Meggy felt her skirts flung up, her drawers ripped from her body. She tried feebly to release her hands from Clayton's grip. She could hear their heavy breathing getting louder. Nick forced her legs apart. He placed his hand on her thighs and pushed her higher onto the bale of hay, so she lay straddled over it. Meggy's helplessness pinched at her heart. Her desperation for a new life tore at her pride. Tears streamed down her face. "Please don't do this, please... I want a new life!"

"You're a whore, Meggy. Always will be as far as I'm concerned." Nick laughed sarcastically as he pushed himself deep inside of her. "Ah... yes...!" The words came with the release of his breath. He took hold of her hips, pulled back, and then drove forward once more.

Meggy screamed and tried to move from his intrusion. She strained to pull her hands free of Clayton's hold and her legs from where they were pinned by the weight of Nick's body.

"Look at that, Clay. She loves it. Wants to move with it don't you, Meggy?" He gasped as he moved faster, backwards and forwards.

Meggy went limp and lay helpless. Against the deafening silence which she felt clouding her mind she heard Clayton urge Nick to get on with it because he wanted his turn.

"You like that don't you, Meggy?"

She heard his breathing change, felt him push harder and knew that he was done. When he withdrew Meggy tried to move, to stand, but she was turned on her back and pushed heartlessly against the hay bale once more.

"You ain't goin anywhere. Not till I'm done with ya." Clayton opened her legs. She didn't fight. When he was inside of her, he leaned forward and grabbed hold of the back of her head and pulled her up. "I want to see ya face."

Bile surge in Meggy's throat. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Let him watch. Let him watch her sorrow and her shame.

*

She tried to pretend it hadn't happened. Strove to hold onto a small fragment of the new life she had grasped. It didn't work. She recognized the change in the women she had befriended. Sensed their distance and guessed they had been told. It was only when one hissed in her ear, "Whore!" That she knew for certain.

She was alone once more, isolated in her destiny. Whore! Whore! Their silent chants stabbed her heart with every glance."

Two days before the Duke of Devonshire docked, a group of women cornered her and held scissors up in front of her.

"We're gonna fix you. Don't want no man to take you for anything but what you really are."

Her fate was sealed. There was no point trying to tell them, to convince them that inside she wasn't really a whore, not in soul. Meggy pushed past them. She had lost everything else, but she would not willingly let them shame her anymore. "You'll no touch me."

They shoved her against the bunk. Meggy saw hatred in their eyes.

"We're not going to let you leave this boat with that hair. It's what's looked at first."

Meggy slid along the bunk. Not her hair! She fought hard, harder than she had ever battled, but they held her down, sat on top of her and hacked. She heard the blades come together. Screamed as they tore chunks from her scalp, then they left her, backed away, like the thieves they were.

She cradled and rocked herself backwards and forwards not knowing what her future held. Meggy gathered her hair and held it to her face, smelt its perfume and sobbed like never before.

Poor Meggy's life isn't working out the way she hoped.

Photo - istock