Disclaimer: These characters belong to the estate of C.S. Forester and/or Meridian Broadcasting. I am not making any profit from this exercise.
Author's Note: I was originally going to compose a conventional short story about what Archie goes through after Simpson cut him loose in The Duel/The Even Chance, but the end result is much different than what I'd planned. I wrote the first one hundred words in a spurt of writing, and I kind of liked how they sounded together as a section. So, I thought I would portray Archie's emotions in a collection of one hundred word sections. Each section is exactly one hundred words long (according to Word, anyway), which is much harder to accomplish than it sounds. This is totally different from my normal writing style; I'm not sure what I think of it. So, please leave a review and let me know what you think!
Set Adrift
1) Discovery
Archie awakes to find himself in a very unfamiliar situation.
He feels himself floating, drifting. At first he thinks it's just a waking illusion, an exaggeration of what it feels to be on a ship.
Then he remembers where he's supposed to be.
The last thing he recalls is the plan to take the Papillon. And they were getting into boats, then rowing toward the Papillon . . .
But then what happened? For the life of him, he cannot remember.
How did the attack go? Did they win?
Then Archie opens his eyes.
And finds that he is alone.
2) The Deep Blue Sea
Alone in the middle of the ocean.
With the sun beating brightly down upon him.
The sun burns his eyes.
As he struggles to sit up, the boat rocks.
He stands so that he can survey the world around him, so that he can see if there is land or a ship somewhere in the horizon.
But he slips and falls, hitting his head on the wet wood.
He feels dazed, woozy.
What is he doing here, alone?
Simpson.
Nothing stirs more fear in him than that name.
Vile, malicious, sadistic man.
His cruel smile comes to mind, unbidden.
Torturer.
3) A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
His throat clenches; he chokes on his tears.
But where is everyone?
Where is the Papillon? The Indefatigable?
Horatio?
Surely Horatio would not leave him here, alone?
Surely Horatio hadn't left him here purposefully?
Surely Horatio--?
His dearest friend, Horatio.
Why had Horatio consented to leaving him alone, to sending him away?
Was he tired of his friend's constant need for reassurance?
Didn't he need the boat to return to the Indefatigable?
But no one would miss this boat. It's unstable, unreliable.
Like him.
Tears consume him.
A wail rends itself from his being, a voice filling the void.
4) Affliction
How long has he been hovering, suspended on the verge of an abyss?
He's lost count of the days.
He's had nothing to eat, nothing to drink.
He purses his lips, licks them. They are chapped, cracked, cut.
He tastes a dried trickle of blood.
He would give anything for a drop of water, if he had anything to give.
If only it would rain!
But then he might catch sick.
Will he ever see land again?
A fellow human being?
A friend?
Did he really have a friend once?
It all seems so far away, so distant. So unreal.
5) Ferrol
The boat hits something, jolting him.
His eyes flutter open, and what he sees is amazing, incredible.
Glorious, beautiful land!
His legs are hesitant, almost too weak to support him.
There are two men in the distance. Their uniforms . . .
. . . are Spanish.
One turns to the other and says something.
They move toward him.
"Inglés!"
Then they are right in front of him.
He stumbles, and is caught.
They tell him that he is a prisoner, but he does not care. His heart is joyful.
Water begins to fall from the sky, coating his lips.