Cursed to the Sea

Escape to the outside

I stared at the wooden boards on the ceiling of the tiny room I had been dragged into.  The soft ping of a leak of water falling into a bucket could be heard across the room.  The walls were blocked by a dozen shelves filled with potions, powders, and medicines in all different colors.  I sat in the center of the room on a small wooden chair with a glass of orange juice and a bowl of cold porridge placed in front of me on a table.  I didn't want to eat, even a hot tea and tarts, my favorite foods, made my stomach twist at the thought.  

The doctor had placed me in the room after carrying me a mile to his office.  Rachael and her husband had followed closely behind, but the doctor had made her way outside.  He made me choke down a sticky powder mixed with water.  He had said it was made with special herbs and would help reduce the pain I was feeling.  There wasn't much pain, just the pounding in my head and my sick stomach.  I couldn't feel the cuts and bruises that lined my skin and whatever bones were broken.  I leaned down and emptied my stomach into a bucket that the doctor had recently cleaned after the previous vomit.  I let a low moan escape my lips and curled up in the chair.

"How are you feeling?" The doctor seemed to appear in the doorway with another steaming bowl of porridge and a cup of steaming cocoa.  He noticed I had thrown up again and calmly placed the foods down on the table and picked up the bucket.  "Please eat, miss.  You're so frail and an empty stomach won't help the healing process," he sighed.  I didn't say a word, just watched as he left the room to empty the bucket and came back in with a new one.  He placed it beside me and leaned against the counter.  I fiddled awkwardly with my thumbs.

"Your parents...they didn't seem to have any of your papers or anything," he spoke up.  His eyes met mine and I had to turn away before the words began to flow from my lips.  "Where are you from, miss?" He asked curiously as he pulled up a chair beside me.  I quickly downed the porridge to try and avoid his question, but it came up just as quickly as it went down and he was forced to fetch another pail.

I needed to escape before anything slipped from my lips.  I could find a boat in the harbor or even jumping into the rough waves wouldn't be such a bad idea.  I stood with all of my strength and wobbled over to the vacant doorway.  Rachael stopped me in my tracks when she appeared in front of me.  Her eyes bloodshot and and small dark wings shadowed her cheeks.  She pulled me into a hug.

"Oh I'm so glad you're alive," she whispered into my ear.  Her warm breath on my cheek made me awkwardly pull away.  "I've been waiting for you for days," she said while dabbing her dark eyes with a handkerchief.  I glanced over to the doorway that let in the golden afternoon light.  I plastered on a smile and nodded grimly.  

"I'm sorry, I'm unsure of what came over me," I said, only to find my voice was raspy and made my throat hurt with every word.  I swalled down hard and stepped aside from her.  She appeared to be the only one in the quiet waiting room other than a small man with a cleanly trimmed beard who read the morning's newspaper.  He folded it and looked up at me in disgust like I was but a street rat in the prescence of a King.  He fixed the golden framed glasses on the bridge of his nose and stood before hurrying into another room.  His prescence was strange, and I found myself staring at the cushioned chair where he had just been sitting.  I then heard footsteps coming from the hallway and turned to find Rachael just beside me.

"Come along dear, the doctor needs to see you," she grabbed my arm and began to drag me towards the room I had woken in.  I pulled away and tried to hurry away, my bare feet nearly slipping on the cold polished floor.  I found the doorway and rushed out into the cool air, bumping into someone and collapsing on top of them.

"I'm so-" I began to apologize when the face of the person I would never expect to see again appear in front of my eyes.

"Syrena.." He said with a twinkle in his dark eyes.

Ah!  Short chapter.  Sorry for the cliff hanger and the extremely long period of time between the last upload.  Enjoy!  Can you guess who the mysterious man is?