My Name is Elaine Cortez. My life story is a sad one, but I guess I can't complain, I mean, I had a wealthy husband, a huge house, and every dress I had ever wanted. But then again, I never recall that we spent time with each other. On second thought, I hate my life! I was 18 when I was taken away to foreign country, for what, to marry a man I barely knew, to have a son I never met, and to be left alone, all alone in this cruel and hateful world. But I suppose, you would like to hear it….
This story starts when I was 18
It was a bright sunny day in Greece, My friends and I were dancing for extra coins to buy groceries it was certainly a fun business, doing what we loved and loving what we do and best of all, making money for it.
"Hey Elaine, said my friend Amiah," how much money did we make?"
"I don't know, you should ask Martina, she manages the money"
"Wow we made a lot" was her response
"Enough to buy us some Baklava?" mocked Amiah
"Just enough to buy us some bread and water" she said ignoring her comment
"Father will be expecting me home soon, I must go, goodbye!" I said starting down the path home. I stopped in my tracks; my house was filled with cargo boxes of all kinds. This could mean only one thing.
"Father!"I cried" are you going on another trip"
"Yes" was his simple response
I was beginning to get angry, he never told me where he was going, and when he went he was gone months at a time. I finally gathered my courage and said:
"Will you not take me with you?"
"This time I am taking you"
I was thrilled, my wish had come true! Father had let me come with him!
"Go pack your things" he said
"Yes sir!" with that I ran into the house with my golden hair streaming behind me. I still couldn't believe what just happened .I quickly grabbed a big bag and two small ones and started to pack. I had so many questions. Where we going? How long would the journey take? What did they wear there? What should I wear? I chuckled at the last question. I never cared about how I looked as the other girls did, I felt as I was good enough. I have received many compliments about my hair, my blue eyes; most were from a boy named Dimitri.
Dimitri! I almost forgot about him, he was, well, my boyfriend at the time. Then the worst crept into my mind. What if we got into a shipwreck! I would never see him I suddenly felt as if I wanted to stay. No. I would go with my father. But still, I didn't have time to complete my thought because just then I heard foot steps
"We heard the news" said Amiah
"We'll miss you" Martina said
At that I started to cry, which was odd I never, ever cried, not since the death of my mother and two brothers 5 years ago.
"I'm sorry I don't know what got into me" I choked between sobs
"It's ok Elaine we understand you'll miss Dimitri" Amiah said
"That is why we convinced him to go with you" said Martina
"What "I said my face lighting up again
"You heard us" They both said
"You two are the best! I can't believe you two actually did that for me" I exclaimed
"Our Moms wouldn't let us go, but if we could, we would"
We were going to sail at dawn so I had some time to say goodbye to my friends and family. I was tired and happy; I had just finished packing and doing my chores. I put on my nightgown and headed to bed
The next morning I was woken up by my father, I quickly got dressed and headed to the breakfast table.
"Everything is in place; we will leave in half an hour"
"Great, where are we going again?"
"That is for me to know and for you to find out" He said
"Ok, then when are we going to get there?" I asked
"In about two month's time" was his response
In about ten minutes we had gone from our house to the dock, there Amiah and Martina were waiting for said our goodbyes and we where off.
"Farewell friends! I will be back soon!"
I didn't know how wrong I was