Treasure of the sea |Lesbian story|

CHAPTER VII

Time is a curse. I had fallen into an abyss. A long, black abyss from which there was no escape. My mind derailed, not thinking rationally, groping in the dark, lost and confused. How long had it been? How long had I been locked in there? At times I thought it had only been a few hours, at others I thought it had been days. I had to keep my wits about me. I had to remind myself why I was there. The only way to keep my mind clear was to think. I had to think in order not to lose myself.

There was a strong smell of urine, my own. Fear had taken control of my body. I closed my eyes. I was running out of air. I could feel my lungs on fire. Would I suffocate to death?

Mr. Phillips would be here soon, that's all I kept telling myself. Maybe... maybe he'd even bring me some water.

What if no one had come? What if Mr. Phillips was dead? But no, no, no.

A tear slipped down my cheek. I kept thinking about my mother. I longed for her presence at that moment. I longed for her comfort, a few sweet words, a caress on my hair...

You promised to always be there for me, but you lied. You're not here. You're far, so far away. And you have no idea what's happening to me. Or do you? Mother, can you feel my fear?

There was a sound of footsteps. Voices. Had they come for me at last? I listened, my ears pricked up and my heart pounding. I tried to distinguish Mr. Phillips' voice among the buzz, but I couldn't seem to hear it. I moved toward the back of my tiny shelter, anxiously. Was it him? I couldn't tell. For a moment the voices quieted and I thought they had probably moved away.

BAM!

I gasped, letting out a startled cry. They were banging on the closed door. There was another loud bang, but the door didn't give way.

I locked it from the inside.

I crouched on the ground and sank my head between my knees.

After another kick the hinges came off the door and it was thrown to the floor. A dazzling light invaded the small room, and my eyes could not distinguish the dark figures before me.

"Dear God..." a voice said, sighing. "It smells awful in here."

"She's here! We found her!"

They were unfamiliar voices, certainly not from any of my crew. I hid my face in my hands, my temples throbbing. I felt a figure approach me and I clutched my shoulders even tighter, shaking visibly. They lifted me off the ground so abruptly it hurt. I had not strength enough to stand; I staggered dangerously, and one of them was compelled to seize me from behind, to prevent my falling to the ground. At the touch of these men, I wriggled as never before. I kicked and shoved them away from me.

"Hold still, hey!" one of them complained, but when he noticed that I had no intention of obeying him, he kicked me in the stomach. The pain was intense and for a moment took my breath away. They grabbed both my hands and brought them behind my back, restraining my futile attempts to escape.

"Don't you dare touch me... No...!"

"Shut up," ordered one of the two men. They dragged me out of the closet. My legs gave out with every step; they were forced to hold me under my armpits so that I would remain upright. My head was dangling and I kept squinting from too much light. Gradually, I began to make out the floorboards again, my shoes, my blue silk dress, wrinkled and with spots of dirt all along the skirt. I didn't have the strength to lift my head and look up at the two men. Suddenly, I don't know how, I found myself on the deck. I felt the warmth of the sun caressing my dry, parched skin. The fresh air made me breathe deeply. I was out of that hovel at last, out of that damned closet that had probably been the only safe place on this ship until a few moments before. The two men dropped me so suddenly that I lost my balance and hit my forehead on the floor.

"Bring water!" someone shouted.

"What do you want to do?"

"That one there smells like a sewer! You don't want to present her in this state to the Captain, do you?"

"Hmm."

I tried to stand up. If they were going to kill me or worse I wanted to look them straight in the eye, so that they would remember me, that they would remember my face filled with disgust. But then someone kicked me and knocked me back onto the ground. I gritted my teeth, trying to hold back the moans. I couldn't give them the satisfaction of hearing me scream. They weren't worthy of hearing the sound of my voice. They wouldn't get anything from me.

Anything.

"Stay down. Don't move, you hear?" ordered a voice, shouting.

I didn't answer, of course. I just wanted it to be over soon, that they would hurry up, because I had no desire to prolong that torment any longer, that terror that gripped my insides and wouldn't let go. I didn't follow what they were saying. I didn't care. I was too scared to connect the words, to associate them with anything. Their chatter was just deaf noise to my ears.

I was flooded with water. They dumped it on me with buckets, like I was an animal. It was freezing. For a moment I thought they were poking me all over with blades, but they weren't. It was the ice water that gave me that feeling. I couldn't breathe, I felt like I was drowning. I tried to move away, but someone would push me back if I tried to escape. I realized that the best position to assume in that situation was supine, with my face to the ground and my knees tight to my chest. A fetal position.

When they finally finished washing me, they left me alone for a while. I could feel the hot sun drying my skin and the ship below me rocking gently. It felt like an infinitely long wait.

"Good, now let's take her to the Captain."

They grabbed me by the arms and dragged me away.