Thump… Thump… Thump…
I couldn't get away. The loud thumping of the footsteps sounded ever closer to where I hid, and I cowered deeper into my small hole, the only place to hide. Crates were built up around it, and hid me from view, but could it hide the sound of my ragged breathing? I was almost sure the owner of the footsteps could hear them, if not my heart pounding hard in my chest. "Come out, come out…" The voice whispered around me and I shuddered as I huddled in on myself even more, were it possible. The lighting in the large store room I was in was dim, almost pitch black, the only real light coming from the window in the far back, streaming in the last of the daylight, and a small lantern that the man carried. Slowly, the footsteps started to move away, as did the lantern light but I dared not move. Even when they faded, and vanished from hearing, and the light vanished from sight around a group of crates I couldn't see around that were closer to the door, I still didn't move. I didn't know if the man had really left, or if he was trying to draw me out. If it was the latter, I could play that game. It wasn't the first time I'd hid from someone wanting something that I couldn't, or wouldn't, give.
This time, it was myself I was unwilling to give up. I had stowed away on a ship headed to, what was suppose to be some place called Sunshine Islands. However, someone had seen me in my worn, tattered travel cloak and without a proper room and had told the Captain who had sent some of the crew that had nothing to do to come after me. I had to hide, but how long could I hide for? I didn't know, nor did I care. I would hide until dawn broke or until I starved to death, whichever came first. Hopefully dawn, I thought, grimacing at the thought of starving to death. It wouldn't have been the first time I'd starved, but obviously I had managed to keep from dying from starvation… For now, at any rate.
"Hey, Kyle! Did you find 'er yet?" An obviously masculine voice boomed out from the direction of the doorway.
I knew he had still been in there! Or at least, had a hunch that he had been. I was sure that, when he left, he would have shut the door behind him and I hadn't heard the huge metal door click shut.
"Not yet Randy. I don't think she came in here, whoever said she did was a lying piece of-"
"Watch yer mouth, Kyle!" The man named Randy snapped. Kyle sighed and I could hear him shuffling towards the door. "Anyway, there was a report. A girl with lighter red hair was seen runnin' around down here too. She vanished before any of the men could find her. Kind of a ruby color I think…"
"So we're lookin' for two red heads?"
"No you idiot! The girl we're searching for has darker reddish colored hair. More brown I think, but there's a hint of red too it. I think the fairy guy that found her said it was 'chestnut' colored or somethin' like that. Jeez Kyle how'd you get put on this search? You can't even remember what she looks like!"
Thank god… I thought. Kasumi wasn't found. I could only hope my single friend would stay well hidden, like I was, and not bother looking for me. I knew that if I went out in search for Kasumi that I would get caught. The two of us had been trying to escape the city we had lived in before, but neither of us had any money for the ship. So, instead, thanks to Kasumi's idea, we were hiding in store rooms on a ship that was starting to scare me with its random, violent movements. I had never been one for traveling across the ocean, and just being on a small paddle boat on a little pond freaked me out.
Note to self: Stop listening to Kasumi.
"Oh…" The man, Kyle, was at the door now. "What's a 'fairy guy'?"
"I think they're called 'homosexuals' or somethin' like that."
"Whatever. Come on Randy let's go look at the store room next door," Kyle said as he walked out. Randy started to say something, but his voice was cut off by the sound of the metal hatch closing, cutting off anything either of them said.
I relaxed and slumped back against the box behind me, and stretched my feet out along the length of the hole the boxes piled around me made. I wasn't about to leave, but if I just rested in here for a bit, I could recover whatever strength I'd used up with adrenaline and running so I'd be able to escape the ship without anyone noticing later on. I let my dark red hair float out around my head like a wave, the only splash of color in the slowly darkening room…
I woke up with a jolt. Boxes were being forced over onto the floor, emitting loud crashes and seeds of all kinds spilled out around me. I jumped to my feet, bracing myself against the metal wall that was beside me. I looked around, eyes wide as I tried to find my attacker… Only to realize I was the only one in the store room. I hurried to the small window in the back, moving around fallen crates and jumping out of the way of falling ones as they tried to squish me when I ran past.
As I neared the window, I saw why the crates around me were falling. The sky was almost pitch black, and lightning streaked across the sky, giving the thick, dark storm clouds a faint, purplish tinge to them before the light vanished, leaving an after image imprinted in the back of my eyes. When I looked down, I felt my face drain of blood, loosing all color. A wave… A huge, hundred foot wave headed straight towards the boat, and I could do nothing to stop it, to get away from it.
I turned and ran from the store room, but the door, which had been unlocked before, refused to yield even under my weight. Not that it surprised me, the metal door, or hatch as it was called on a ship such as this one, was at least four inches thick… And very, very locked. I turned, bracing myself against the door as I tried to find somewhere in the store room I could hide, to get away from the soon to be debris packed room.
I found a spot, not far from me. I rushed towards it, all but diving for the small spot that would shield me from any lasting damage…
But I was much too slow… The wave hit the ship, and I was thrown hard against the wall. I screamed with pain as I felt my shoulder connect to the hard, unyielding, unforgiving metal of the walls and I think I heard it crack… Or maybe that was the wooden crates around me, breaking open, splintering against the walls and pelting me with sharp little daggers of wood. I couldn't tell. My head had connected with the wall just after my shoulder, and I slumped there, dazed as I tried desperately to cling to consciousness, hoping, praying that Kasumi was safe, that she wasn't hurt as badly as I was. I tried so hard to keep my eyes open, to keep the blackness that surrounded my vision from swallowing me…
I failed…
