A storm was coming.
Kate could taste it in the air, feel it heavy in her lungs. The chill, whipping winds that preceded all storms gushed across the sea, blowing back her hair. Absently she caught a lock of it as it slapped her face, twisting it behind an ear. She was looking across the uneasy sea towards the horizon.
Waiting for the black dots that would spell her doom.
The raft had been gone for two days. Kate wondered how long it would be before they were picked up, before the planes and helicopters would come. With them would come rescuers, the media, and men with hollow eyes bearing chains.
There would be no freedom for her when the salvation came. There was no happy family waiting with open arms. They were all long dead. There was only a dark jail where she would be trapped like an animal, locked away, lost in her head.
She had only been in a jail for less than a week, back in Australia. Five days there and she had already felt the despair settling in, the shadows before night. Imagine a lifetime in there...
Shifting, something dug into her shin. The toy plane that was nestled in her shoe, carried with her always, was digging into her skin. She pulled it out, running a finger over the metal as familiar as her own hand. She'd lose it when they took her away, the last link she had to her friend. To any joy or love she had. A slight frown crossed her face and she put the plane away, leaning back.
Sullen black clouds growled overhead, heavy with tears. Behind her, she could hear the hurried preparations as people tied down tents, placing rocks on flapping canvas. Jack was shouting advice to someone, always helpful. She hoped she wasn't there when he heard why they wanted her. She couldn't bear to see his look of revulsion, of hate. And fear.
Her own mother had stared at ther with eyes like that, and sighed for help from dying lips, terrified of her own child. With that one look Kate had lost the last member of her family. Wiping her stinging eyes with the back of her hand, she felt tears.
A low rumble echoed across the ocean, a warning call. Curtains of rain fluttered forward, heading for the shoreline. Maybe hidden inside one of the flapping folds her doom waited.
A fitting end, some would say. But they didn't know her.
Kate stood up and headed to her tent to hide from the raging skies, and from what she knew was coming.
The sky began to weep, the drops sliding down her face like tears.