Lighthouse
Chapter 1
She was running, frightened out of her mind and she had good reason, a very good reason. For one she had a little blood on her though thankfully it was confined to her exposed neck area, not that she was really paying attention to that yet. Second was that it was raining and raining rather heavily. So heavily she'd barely seen the house on the other side of the street.
She was running in her now soaked tennis shoes, with no coat and just the clothes on her back. Everything was soaked as was her nice long brown hair.
She was running down the middle of the street while looking everywhere, especially behind her to see if he was chasing after her. She didn't see him and when she finally stopped she found herself at the side door of the only friend she had in this town. She really didn't know how she had gotten there since she hadn't planned on being there, but she was there now.
She started tapping on the glass of the door, really fast and just kept tapping until the owner came to the door. It was then that she broke down and started crying. "Oh honey, what happened?" Sylvia was really concerned for her friend.
"I killed him," she sobbed. "I think I killed him." She had never believed that she could ever be capable of such a thing but she greatly feared that she had done just that.
"You just come in here and let's get you dry for a start." Sylvia closed the door and brought her farther into her home.
:|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\}:|:
It was only an hour later and she was now running from her car in the pouring rain to reach the bus station. She was going to get a little wet but not soaked to the bone again.
She had the clothes she'd managed to gather in a complete mindless haste. They were bundled into a ball with the contents of his wallet that were worth keeping. The rest was in the trash and would soon end up in a landfill.
"Take care, honey." Sylvia had done all she could for her friend. She had given her some more clothes to wear that barely fit her since she was much smaller and thinner. She had also given her the only hair color that she had and had helped her cut her hair way down to almost a couple inches long. She had even suggested that she carry her spare clothes and her money bundled up at her belly. It would look like she was pregnant.
She got in line and bought a ticket that would take her to the closest town that was on the lake. The plan was to find a boat that she could take across the lake, across the border, and out of this country. However this was going to be the most dangerous and hardest part of this plan. She didn't have any identification since she was on the run. If he was still alive he would have no trouble chasing her down if she used her own name.
She was still frightened and couldn't help but not really watch where she was going that closely since her head was on a swivel as she was looking for him.
That was when she literally ran right into a man and fell. She clutched her soft belly to hold the contents in place.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you." He was at first pissed off that he had been run into. Then he quickly saw her stomach and he reached the conclusion that she was pregnant. He had just run down a pregnant woman.
She scrambled to her feet, got back to moving, and headed toward the doors for her bus.
"Are you all right? MISS! Are you alright, I'm so sorry," he called after her. But she didn't stop so he let her go. He did get a good look at her, though. She was young, early to mid 20s, he was sure. She was maybe pretty but the hood of her sweatshirt partially blocked his view. He could tell that she was blonde. Almost a white blonde. And her skin was white.
She tapped on the side of the bus to make sure the driver knew she was coming. She climbed in, showed him her ticket, then moved back to find an empty seat far away from everyone else. It was there that she pulled her bundle out and placed it on the empty seat next to her. She would look to make sure she still had it all during the ride.
It was still raining heavily and she was looking out her window. That was when she saw him! He wasn't dead; she hadn't killed him. She was thankful for that but it also meant he was here looking for her. She watched as he stopped a bus that was leaving the station by standing in its way and yelling at the driver to halt. He was even holding something in his hand to show he had the authority to force it to stop.
She never saw that bus or him again as her bus pulled away from the station. She still wasn't safe and she knew it. She didn't think she was ever going to be safe. Her only thought was to get as far away as possible. Another country was the only place that she and Sylvia could think of for her to go to for safety.
:|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|:
She was able to calm down and actually got a little sleep while listening to the rain hitting the bus. It was soothing and helped calm her.
She knew she still had everything she had gotten away with and what her friend had given her. It wasn't a lot but it was far more than what she had escaped with.
His identification and literally everything that wasn't cash was thrown away. She'd smiled a little knowing that he would have to get a new identification card. She also knew that if he caught her his anger would only be greater.
:|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|:
She woke to find that the rain had stopped and while the skies didn't look clear since there was no sunshine, it still helped to lighten her mood.
She had finally reached her stop and could see the lake from there. In fact she was at an inlet that was filled with docks. They were filled with private boats, most of which were small though a few looked like they could be used to fish with.
She saw a small market and could feel and hear her stomach growling at her. She had some money but knew she had to be careful, though she also needed to keep up her strength.
She bought a sandwich, some fruit, and a drink that might help her. With her goods in hand and her bundle back under her sweatshirt, she started walking until she saw a dilapidated picnic table down near the water. It was there that she ate her only meal for the day and kept looking around. She was looking for HIM and looking for a way to get away from here. Another bus ride was out. It would use up far too much of her money and she needed what little she had.
While the weather was better she took the risk and let her hood fall behind her. She ran her hand through what little hair she still had as she ate.
She'd seen what she looked like in a mirror before leaving Sylvia's home. She turned her head in the mirror to look herself over. She barely recognized herself. Her beautiful long brown hair was gone. It was replaced with very short hair and it wasn't even truly blonde.
Sylvia had apologized for the color. It was just that the bottle of peroxide she thought she had was almost empty and while her hair was now really short, especially in the back, it wasn't enough. They had blended in a little bleach to make up for it. As a result her hair wasn't blonde, it was stripped of color now.
Still she felt free, at least a little. Her life had been hell and almost anything would be a change for the better.
Her meal was over so she went back to walking along the bank of the lake for as long as her trail would allow her.
:|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|:
The area felt nice. There were seagulls flying all over the place sending out their unique call. There was a buoy in the bay showing where the depth of the water required a warning.
She felt more free and much more calm and was actually thinking and planning. She was even thinking that maybe she could stop here and he wouldn't find her. Shaking her head cleared those thoughts away. The plan was the only thing that had any chance of working. She needed to get out of Canada and there was only one way to do that. She needed to sneak out even if the border wasn't well guarded or even monitored except perhaps for a few of the larger crossings. The problem was that any crossing was just too far and would cost far too much for her to reach.
She saw just the ship that might work for her. It wasn't raining but the sky was still dark and menacing. What she needed was a way to reach that ship then get up to it and find a place to hide.
Suddenly she saw it. It might work and it was nice and small and there were no people near it. She was uncomfortable with being a thief but maybe they would get it back after a little searching for it.
She slowly made her way down the slope, out onto the dock area, and then began walking.
She took out her bundle, dropped it into the tiny boat, then worked her way down nice and slow. The stupid boat suddenly moved when she touched it and she almost fell into the water.
She hung on and used her foot to coax the boat back into place. Then she stepped down and finally took the risk and finished stepping in. The sudden motion tipped it to one side and she almost lost her balance, barely escaping a fall into the water. She knew how to swim even if she wasn't going to make the Olympics. Still she didn't need to be soaked to the bone again.
She carefully stepped to the back and figured out how to get the prop to drop down into the water. With that done she looked it over and saw something marked CHOKE. After adjusting it she grabbed the handle and yanked really hard. It took her six pulls until the engine sputtered to life. Adjusting the choke again got it to settle down. Now she just had to untie it from the dock which meant going forward, not tipping it and being dumped into the water.
She was soon motoring out into the bay and heading directly for her ship of choice.
:|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|:
She found a ladder up the side of the dock the ship was moored to. It was just sitting there but she thought she knew what kind of ship it was. It was certainly big enough to hide in so long as no one found her.
Once on the dock she moved cautiously to the gangway that was still in place. The boom arm that would fill the ship's hold with grain was stored and not filling the ship with anything.
She scrambled across to get onboard. The ship's main housing was on one end and there was a smaller one on the other end. She crouched down really low and tried to use the covered hull access plates as concealment in case anyone was looking.
There were six of them in total and each had a series of panels over the openings in the hull that had a large number of clamps holding them in place. Since the smokestack was on one end and that was the end she was working for, she was hoping it had lots of places for her to hide. It might not be comfortable, like finding a place in the crew quarters on the other end, but she needed to stay hidden.
Getting the door open wasn't all that simple and neither was closing it behind her. It didn't help that once she was inside it was dark. Not dark, dark, just dark. It still had her searching for a place to hide.
Every time she heard a voice she stopped dead in her tracks and looked for a place to hide in case they were headed her way.
Opening a door told her this was a storage room filled with what she took to be a whole lot of useless junk. Most of it looked a little rusty. Still it had a light and with the door closed no one would see her, so she sheltered in place.
:|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|:
Being shut in the storage room was really boring. Sadly she hadn't even thought to bring anything to read or try and keep her mind busy. She heard the engines start up after what felt like a long time. She hoped that meant the ship was moving.
Since she was buried inside the ship behind steel walls, steel floors and ceiling, and steel doors she didn't know if it had started raining again or not.
After what felt like forever she was forced to face a new problem: she needed to pee. She could hold it for a time but she was going to need to eventually relieve herself. So just what should she do about that? Then came the question about what to do when she needed to do more than just pee?
She was finding that her chosen room didn't have a whole lot of heat in it. It was starting to get cooler. She fished out all the clothes she had that she could put on. It meant her sweatpants had to come off and blue jeans on. Then those same sweatpants went over top of the jeans. After that she put on her two t-shirts and her one sweatshirt. The only pieces of clothing that weren't layered on were a pair of socks and a pair of panties.
It still left her with her original problem. Did she find something to pee into in here or did she go searching and risk getting caught. What would they do with her if they did catch her?
She ultimately decided to find something to pee into and worry about what came next when the time came.
:|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|:
Kate blinked her eyes open and found that she must have fallen asleep in a bad position since her neck was killing her. Moving only made things worse.
She also noticed that the engine noise was louder. Like the engine was really working hard. She could feel the ship listing from side to side as well. She had never gotten seasick before and didn't feel sick this time either, so that was counted as a win.
Unfortunately it was time for more than just a pee. She really needed a toilet this time.
She gathered up everything she owned and opened her door that made noise just like last time. It was something she couldn't prevent so she just prayed that no one had heard her.
She found steel hallways, more steel doors, and engine noise. Even the smell of engines was starting to kick up a little stronger. She quickly checked each and every door along the way. So far no toilet.
Her next door opened onto a walkway that was open to below. From this place she could see down to the floor below and she could also see the engines. She also saw a man doing something to one of them since there were two as far as she could tell.
The noise was almost deafening. She covered her ears and wondered how he was managing not to go deaf since he was right next to it. Then she saw another man come from under her and join the other one. They looked to be making hand signals and didn't even attempt to talk.
She saw a set of stairs going down. If they were down there maybe so was the toilet. So down she went one step at a time. One eye was on where she was going and one eye on the two men.
She did everything she could to keep something, anything, between her and them so she could hide if they looked her way. Then she saw a real wood door. It was very out of place so she opened it. What she saw looked something like a toilet but it was a little hard to tell. The only real telling point was the roll of toilet paper.
Now done with her business she cracked the door open to find both men right where she'd last seen them. Stepping out she looked for a third which had her spotting something. Just seeing it had her stomach growling. Like last time she hated the idea of stealing but she was desperate.
It was just two quick steps and she was wrapping it back up in the paper it had been wrapped in and then she grabbed the drink and retreated for the stairs. She went very slowly, not because she was afraid of making noise. She could fall down the stairs screaming and they likely wouldn't hear her. She had to go slow because she kept an eye on the two men.
Back upstairs she went back out into the hallway and closed the door which diminished the noise greatly. However she quickly found that she had no idea how to get back to the room she'd been in. This place was a maze of hallways all filled with doors that lead to things she mostly didn't know anything about.
She chose a door and closed it behind her. This room had another door so she opened it. It turned out to be a tiny closet that was filled to almost overflowing with junk. Leaving the door open allowed a corner to be hidden from the first door. It became her new place to stay so she sat down on the floor and began eating her stolen sandwich and stolen drink.
The sandwich and drink told her there was a kitchen around here somewhere, but she was betting it was on the other end of the boat. She did know they brought these two food and she had found a toilet for next time.
What she didn't know was how long this trip was going to take. She was guessing days if not weeks, depending on just how fast this ship was.
:|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|:
Three days later and she had gone down to that engine room twice now to steal a sandwich and a drink and use the toilet. On one of her trips she saw something that had her stopping which was a risk if the men saw her. "SS Scotidac." It sounded like one of the weirdest names she had ever heard for a ship. It didn't tell her anything else about the ship. Nothing about how big it was, what cargo it usually carried, how many crew it had, not anything.
She retreated to her new room but as she went she heard a door and someone walking. It had her retreating backwards quickly and opening the first door she came across. She closed the door as carefully as she could to avoid making noise.
:|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|: {/|\} :|:
She snapped her head up and tried to focus. She was still in the room she had retreated to in a hurry to avoid being caught. It was just that something was wrong. It took her a moment to work out what it was. "No noise." She had gotten use to hearing the noise of the engines. Granted she hadn't been keep track of just how long she had been on this ship, so was it possible they had arrived.
She got up and stretched her sore muscles. She hadn't been sleeping normally, eating normally, drinking normally, or doing anything normally. She heard her stomach growl so she knew she was hungry again, or still.
That had her moving to her door when suddenly the entire ship lurched violently to one side. It caused her and everything in the room with her to suddenly shift. She hit the wall and groaned from the pain it caused. Then she went crashing to the other side of the room and hit that wall.
"SHIT!" Then it got worse and everything including her was being tossed around like a bouncing ball. "DAMN IT!" There was a sudden lull so she moved to the door only to find that it refused to open. "NO!" She pounded on it followed by trying to get it to open again.
Then the ship lurched violently again which sent her slamming into the wall again, falling and landing on something that caused severe pain in her leg. Reaching down she tested it and found that it hurt even more now. Pulling her hand back she found her hand had blood on it. She was frightened out of her wits. She was trapped, something bad was happening, and now she was hurt.
Getting up only caused more pain and she limped over to her stupid door. This time it actually opened for her. But that presented a new problem. The hallway had water covering the floor. "Water?" Then the ship lurched suddenly and she fell into the water because when she put weight on her injured leg it screamed back at her and she lost her balance.
"Salt water." She could taste it and was starting to smell it. There was also a new smell that she couldn't identify. Oddly enough the water had various colors in it even if they were faded.
Limping down the hallway lasted only a few steps when the ship lurched yet again; this time there was a terrible crunching sound that went with it. Part of it sounded a lot like metal scraping on metal. A whole lot of metal actually.
She was confused as to just what the hell was going on. Then a new crashing sound came to her ears and it sounded a lot closer. Worried, she turned to look that way. What she saw was a whole lot of water headed her way.
"SHIT!" She started limping down the hallway with one hand on her injured leg when the water caught up with her and sent her flying down the hallway. She hit something hard and her world went black.