-Shem-
All I could register was that it was dark. I was wet and cold, but being huddled up against Japheth and Ila was keeping me warm. We could hear Mother calling for Ham on the reptile deck almost as clearly as we could hear the yells of the men that I could assume were fighting father. Japheth was crying and I could hear Ila whispering soothing words while she clung to me.
It was in a fraction of a second that the boat shook. I clung to Ila as she clung to Japheth as we were flung in the air. The three of us fell with a thud and while Japheth screamed for Mother, I held Ila close. We finally felt Mother come up to us, and just as we were huddling close, the hatch door was flung open to the view of Father, on his knees and covered in blood.
As a child, I had always thought the only things that would frighten me the most were the men that Father had told Ham and me about; these were the type of men whom would kill not only beasts, but one another for pleasure. But as I gazed up at my Father, he was the only thing in the world that caused me to feel fear. He got up and with a grunt and stumbled off to where I knew his workshop to be. Mother asked Ila to take Japheth and get him to sleep and wondered off to find her husband.
"You should try and find Ham," Ila said to me, "He might not want to talk to Mother but I see no reason he would not want to speak to you."
"Why is Ham upset?" Japheth asked as innocently as a ten year old boy could.
"I am about to go find out." I told him. "Do not let what has happened today disturb your sleep."
"I won't" He said proudly.
And as he walked off to his tent with Ila, I left to go find Ham.
-Ila-
After the horrific events of the past few hours, I was surprised at how easily Japheth had fallen asleep. I suppose when you are a child it is easy to forget; although something's will never be forgotten. Until I Shem and I had started sharing a tent, I found sleep almost impossible. Every time I would close my eyes, I would see the faces of my family members after they had been slaughtered.
But as I stared at Japheth innocent sleeping form, I allowed a smile to creep upon my face. I had been blessed by Methuselah earlier this day, and he had somehow healed my insides; allowing Shem and I to consummate our marriage. Even though we had been married almost three years, due to the severity of my injuries, we could never lie together, but now I was cured, although bearing children would never be a possibility.
I jumped when I heard Mother speak from behind me, breaking me away from my thoughts.
"Thank you Ila." She said.
"Mother you nearly frightened me to death." I stuttered, a hand trying to calm down my erratically beating heart.
"My apologies Daughter, it has been a long day, why don't you go to sleep yourself." She said.
"I was going to. Good night Mother." I told her, leaving the tent.
When I climbed into my own tent, I noticed Shem was not back yet, so I lied down and somehow managed to drift to sleep.
-Shem-
Finding Ham was not as difficult as I anticipated. He was sitting by the mammals, right next to a pair of beautiful light brown foxes. He must have heard me because he looked up and silently motioned for me to sit next to him.
"What is it like, being married?" He asked.
I looked at him a little bewildered before I answered, "In general, or in my marriage?"
"Why is your marriage different?" He asked. It was always questions when you talked to Ham.
"Well for one, up until earlier today Ila and I had never been more intimate than just kissing. For some reason she felt no pain today. But for another reason we grew up together. I knew everything about her before we were married; Father told me most other people do not get that same benefit." I replied, careful with my choice of words.
"I will never know anyone." Ham said, looking defeated. "I met a girl today, Na'el but as we were getting away her foot got trapped and Father just let her die."
I looked at Ham, horrified by what he had said. The Father I knew would never let an innocent person die.
"Ham, that is not Father." I said.
"Maybe not to you, seeing as he didn't leave Ila to die you would not know how I feel." He spit out before running elsewhere.
I sat in shock for a few moments. As angry as I was at Ham about his last comment regarding Ila, I knew he had not meant it. I could not imagine my Father leaving this girl to die, but I also knew that Father had a conviction like no other, and that Ham had learned what happened when you lied years ago.
When I went back to my tent, I noticed Ila was already there, fast asleep, so I crawled in next to her and I too fell right to sleep.
-Ila-
When I woke the following morning, I felt a pair of strong arms wrapped around me. I knew it was Shem, and as badly as I wanted to stay in his embrace, I knew I had to use the washroom and then help Mother with the breakfast.
"Shem." I said, as I nudged my husband. "Shem I need to get up."
"No." He grunted in response.
"Shem I need to pee." I said, chuckling a little.
"Pee here." Was his response.
"Shem!" I exclaimed.
Finally with what sounded like a mix between a grunt and a moan of pain, Shem released me from his embrace and instantly fell back to sleep. I kissed his forehead, and went to the washroom.
After I relieved myself and changed, I went to the hearth where I found Mother warming some bread.
"Did you sleep well?" She asked, a yawn following.
"As well as could be expected, and you?" I replied.
"I barely slept." She said.
"I had sent Shem to speak with Ham before I left with Japheth, and he did not return until I was asleep." I told her.
"It was your Father I was most worried about. Often times seeing that much death can change a man, especially for the worst." She told me, allowing herself to look momentarily frightened.
"Surely he must have assumed that he was going to witness something horrific, he could not have expected the Creator to make this an easy task Mother." I tried to assure her.
"Tell me Ila, when did you grow up?" She asked me.
"When I saw my parents die." I said without thinking.
Horrified, I went to apologize but Mother stopped me.
"It is better to speak the truth, than to twist it into something that you believe someone wants to hear." She told me.
As I got older, Naameh always seemed wiser than Noah. Maybe it was because she always told me what I wanted to hear, the blunt truth. Noah had always been careful about what he said to me, since he had never had a daughter, or even a sister, but Mother knew that I could hear it. When I became I teenager, I noticed I had not yet begun to bleed once a month, like Mother did. When I asked her about it, she took me into her tent and told me that when I had been cut open, it had damaged me inside, most specifically my woman hood; she told me that most savage men did that to young girls. When I asked her why, she told me that so even if they lived, it meant they could never bear children, which meant I could never carry a child. I was devastated beyond belief, and as I screamed and cried in her arms, she never told me it was going to be alright, because she knew it would not be.
After an hour, the men started trickling in. Ham was first, followed by Japheth, the Father, and finally Shem decided to show up. Mother glared at him as she served him his porridge but all he did was smile in return.
"You are lucky you are so handsome Shem." She told him.
"Well I have you to thank for that Mother." He said in return.
Shem kept talking throughout breakfast, whereas Father stared at the ground and Ham stared at Father. I tried to listen to Shem but all I could think of was Noah.
"Father," I said, "How long to you expect it will be before we find land?"
For the first time all morning Father looked up, and his face had the blankest expression I had ever seen on it.
"I do not know." He said firmly.
"How do you not know?" I asked.
Again, I got a blank stare.
"Because He has not told me." He replied.
"Well can you not ask?" I pressed.
Knowing I had gone too far, I recoiled into Shem's embrace. Father stood up and simply left.
"Ila." Shem said.
"What?" I spat.
"You should not have gone any further." He said stoically.
"Why not? We have a right to know how long we are going to be trapped in this ark." I replied.
"Even so…You shouldn't have pressed him." Shem said.
"That is enough from the both of you!" Mother scolded us. "Do not turn on each other."
Ashamed, both Shem and I turned away and ate the rest of our porridge in silence.