1.

I opened my eyes to a dimly lit room. The air filled my lungs almost instantly, I sucking in the air, as if I had been deprived of it for a long time. I could feel the heaviness of the inner room I was in and I could see that there was a small light by the bedside. My hands were stiff from shoulders down and I could barely remember what I was doing there in the first place. I recalled nothing of how I had come to pass through this room at all.

I startled heavily when I sat up and there was a lightning crashing through the dark night clouds, a thunder rolling desperately between the blackness of the sky. I was wearing a sweat-drenched worn-out shirt and a pair of worn out pants, broken at places underneath an equally sweat-soaked blanket.

The windows by my right were large and pointing towards an agitated sea, and a darkened sky of storm and night. As a second thunder broke out and rolled in between the heavy clouds, the windows suddenly shook with weight and they were pushed wide open for the gush of strong wind to make flow through. It was so cold from the agitated sea, for the winds and the storm itself that I shivered visibly, breathing in the clean moist air and at the same time, one hand of mine tightened the grip around the collar, in an attempt to reduce the chilliness eating at my throat.

Lightning broke out again, followed by heavy blowing of the wind and I felt compelled to bring up the blanket, but I found myself unable to move out from the bed. Just then, I heard a banging noise coming from my left and as I turned around, I saw someone's figure by the entrance to the room. The hall from where this person came was lit up by candles, so I could see its shape perfectly well, a tall figure, with one hand against the door it pushed aside in order to commence through the room. it took one glance towards the widely open window, when it came running through towards them and grabbed them with both hands to push shut.

As both hands rejoined together, the door was shut and suddenly the room fell into quietness. I was breathing uneven and shaking slightly from the cold, while this person pushed further on so that the windows would be properly shut, even after the closing handle had been set well. The person stood quiet for a few seconds, during which I leaned on my back breathing hand.

There was a dim candle lit across the other side of the room, which gave it a golden-like colour and I could barely meet ends with the shape of things decorating the room. I saw this person moving slowly away from the window towards the other end of the bed, where the small candle stood. It was a surprise that under the heavy blowing of the wind, it did not die out.

The person moved with its back against me, but I could feel it moved quietly, like a feline. As it moved closer to the candle, it finally turned around, facing it and the candle lit up half of this person's face. I could see a light pale cheek, and one light brown eye pulping above the candle light. There was a mass of black hair following it.

This woman – as I saw it – looked at me quickly, before she blew in the candle putting it off. After this, she walked up to the entry door and did not shut it, but slipped outside without speaking.

I dropped over the bed gently and pulled the blanket over, tired from the sleep and the heaviness of everything.

2.

I opened my eyes to look around. It may have been mid-afternoon or some such timing, for there was light coming from the outer world through the shutoff large windows. They showed the picture of a serene ocean sea with the waves crashing against the cliffs to the north, harboring a tall functional lighthouse to guide any ships sailing astray.

I looked around the room. it was large and fairly decorated tastefully. There were wallpapers with drawings of large cranes either setting flight towards a hugely round orange circle signifying the sun, plastered onto the wall to the window side. There were strips and bamboo drawings accompanying the cranes, as if they embodied the margins of some classical painting and to the other side of the room, there was a large wallpaper with mythical creatures painted oddly. I'd seen this style before, during a very rare auction in England, long before I had turned into a man, and the masterpieces I'd seen then were of Asian style. They came from Japan and their style was very much similar to the style of wallpapers to this room. the walls were decorated to the fullest and only a large widely spread thick-paper made fan was hung opposite of the bedside. The furniture pieces looked old and well-built, decorated with motifs of Chinese dragons and Japanese peacock feathers.

There was a small Japanese paravan to the corner of the room, from which a few silk-like materials hung and it smelled of something close to cinnamon in the room.

The chandelier had been replaced with an ancient wooden-and-paper lantern which spread an eerie look about the room, as if I'd stepped into an old traditional Japanese house.

The bedroom was decorated with Western sheets and a few large pillows which I was resting my head on.

I tried imagining myself sitting up, but I could not feel my lower side of the body, from my waist down, and so I moved my head about a few times, before I suddenly heard a swing of sound coming from beyond the shut door. The sound reverberated slowly, gently, as if someone were playing on a mandolin, to a low, sacadated tone. Three tones were heard, two of which lower than the third, before the music began once more, slowly, dragging on until the fourth sound was brought on wrongly and it was left so that the string producing it was permitted to calm itself down. Someone seemed to practice, yet the sound had been placed wrongly under the context and now the person let the sound die out of its own.

And then I heard another sound. It was human and it took the shape of a word, a harsh one at that, unspoken in English. It sounded like a scolding, followed by a slow clap of skin and palm. After this, all drew in silence, until I heard a loud stumbling beyond the door. Finally, someone seemed to be stumbling around aimlessly until the door opened widely and a little girl came in through. As soon as she noticed me, she gasped and startled visibly, petrifying in sight.

'Oh!' she said.

She had long wavy blonde hair and she wore a light pink long dress. Her left cheek was a little more flushed than the other, but she looked tall and slim, and no younger than ten or so years of age.

I smiled gently. 'E-excuse me', she said and made a curtsy at me. 'H-hello.'

'Hello!'

She looked around confused, before she took a step forward and straightened herself calmly. 'Uh, uhm, I am Liesl.'

I nodded slowly. 'It is a pleasure to meet you, Liesl, I am called Christopher Chase, but friends would call me Chase.'

She brought forth both her hands and began rubbing them one against the other smiling childishly and then gradually, she came closer to the bedside. 'Miss says we should not call people by their nicknames unless we get to know them very well.'

'Is that so?' I smiled.

'Are you sick, Mr. Chase? May I call you Christopher? Are you a friend of Miss's?'

'You may call me by my given name, Liesl', I smiled gently to her. 'And as to who this…'

'Liesl!'

The voice came from out into the hall and as I startled and frowned, gazing in the direction of the half opened door, I could only see someone's shadow falling through the Asian rug settled in the room, as the person stood in the doorway, hidden from sight. The voice sounded female and low, as if angered or annoyed at best. Liesl turned her head towards the door and pressed both her lips together.

'Uhm, yes, Miss?'

'Come here, young lady!'

The voice had not been raised, but the tone was harsh and demanding, so the child took a few steps away from the bed guiltily. I frowned and spoke on her defense.

'It's perfectly alright. She was not disturbing me.'

Liesl looked at me confused and then at the woman behind the door. 'I'm sorry, Miss. I really didn't mean to disturb Mr. Chase, I really didn't.'

'Come from inside the room. Go downstairs now.'

'Who is there anyway?' I asked harshly, annoyed that someone would pick on a child for no apparent reason, as Liesl slipped through the gap at the door and ran off into the other chamber.

'It matters not who it is', the woman spoke. When she pulled the door to shut it, I said:

'Leave it open! You are not going to lock me in like a prisoner, are you?'

'Very well.'

'What is your name?'

But as she left the door open, the woman's steps walked away from the room. after a while, I heard the sounds of the strings once more, performing the same slow tone of voice, which to me felt sad, melancholic and remembering the time of sorrow and of pain. The instrument was strange and never heard before, yet I could assume that it would come from Asia, as so many of the things decorating this room.

I tried to move my hands through the blankets, setting them aside, yet I could see that I had been stripped of my lower side of the undergarments, from the knees down because of a large cut I had along the leg, now bandaged and well taken care of. I had not much knowledge of what had happened, but I do remember I had gone out to sea, farther and farther from the continent, in search for more sperm whale, and our ship had been attacked by misfortune of storm and then of pirates which had plundered it greatly. I probably must have drifted off to the course of the sea and must have ended up in this place, in this house, belonging to a woman – or so I believed. If only this child could have been permitted to spend some more time with me, then I would have easily questioned her and found out the source of my coming here.

My other leg suffered a great deal, bandaged as well, but I could still feel the muscle in it. Nevertheless, it was out of the question to move or even try to make a few steps out from the bed, so I realized I would be caught in between a period of time during which I would be idle.

Gradually, left alone in the room and listening to the music of the strings, which sounded professional and strange at the same time, I grew impatient and wanting or human company, as well as for food and something to drink.

I was not certain whether to call out or to stay in silence, so I waited until it would be too late to realize that I was thirsty, hungry and wanting for conversation. The weather gradually changed as well. It grew darker, colder and stranger. Soon enough, I could hear the footsteps of Liesl before, climbing up the stairs and appearing in the doorway. She looked shy, but smiled when I smiled to her.

'Hello again!' she said shyly.

'Hello.'

'I will need to leave now, but I asked Miss if I can say Goodbye to you, Christopher.'

'Yes. And I think you should also add to your Miss or whoever this lady is that I am terribly hungry and thirsty and that she should do well to feed her guests and check upon them once in a while.'

I was only joking with her, but as she came closer, Liesl changed her glance towards me. 'Oh, it's terrible if you're hungry, I know just how sick I get if I haven't had my supper! Goodbye to you, Christopher. May I kiss you on the cheek?'

'Yes, you can. Goodbye, Liesl.'

I was amused by the sweetness of the child, especially when she tip-toed to press her soft lips over my cheek and then she sprinted out from the room. I breathed in watched the room grow colder and lonelier than before.

I rubbed my hands against my legs and as soon as I heard a few footsteps in the hallway, I raised my voice: 'Will someone come in this room to speak to me?!'

The person stopped in the hallway and a few seconds passed before I heard the same female voice from before. 'I will send for someone.'

'You will do fine! Come inside.'

And then she took a step inside and I could see the swing of a long black dress coming through, but she remained hidden behind the door. 'I said that I will send for someone.'

'And I have said that you will do finely. Come inside, woman, I need to see who you are! I assume this is your place.'

'It is and you will do well not to order me around, Sir!'

And then she shut the door behind her. I opened my mouth to speak or to shout, whichever worked, but no words followed and within half an hour, the door opened once more slowly.

'Oh, finally, you have decided! You are a strange woman!'

'Uh, excuse me, sir', a man's voice was heard, rugged and old-aged, and soon enough, a man in his forties came in through the door, wearing old filthy clothes and a trait of silver, filled with a plate of warm food and a glass of water. 'Begon you pardon, sir, it's only me. Miss sent me up with your supper, sir.'

'Oh', I frowned confused. 'I… Come in, sir.'

He smiled and nodded, before he came up to the bedside humble. His hair was black and greasy, but I made no difference between him and myself, since I too must have been in a terrible state since the ship wreckage. This man looked handsome, but worked off and a farmer by the looks of it.

When he left the tray over by the bedside, and tried leaving, I asked him t stay and told him my name. 'Oh, I know your name, Mr. Chase, and I will daresay mine. It's Horace. Horace Connors, but Miss calls me Connors.'

'Tell me, Mr. Connors, where I am and who is this Miss you speak of. She will not present herself to me and I think I am in her house as guest. I should be thanking her properly.'

'Oh, you don't thank Miss Dunn properly, you just stay out of her way, Mr. Chase, that's the way I see it.'

'When have I been brought here and how?'

'Oh, I think you've been since a fortnight, sir, but you were unconscious and there would be no one to the near area to fetch you, sir, so we had to place you in Miss Dunn's care.'

'Would I be the sole survivor? There was another man with me in the wrecked boat that brought us here…'

'Yes, there is, sir, I think. Yes… uh, oh yes! The man is resting at the priest's house, down town, sir. He was in much better condition than yourself, Mr. Chase, and the Miss would not accept two of your lordship's kind. It's her custom, one at a time. But best if you not force to meet her in private, she is a stubborn young woman, sir.'

'Yes, I think so. I have tried thrice to ask her to make her acquaintance, yet she refused.'

To this, Connors smiled. 'As I said, Mr. Chase, best if you keep out of Miss Dunn's way than in her footsteps.'

'What is this town called, Mr. Connors?'

'Well, it's called Dove's Cottage, sir, there used to be filled with cottages in the old days, but since they built the lighthouse by the coast, it's been thriving. A good thousand soles live around here, but the houses are spread across the coastline. Miss Dunn's house is the farthest.'

'I see. So I am located to the farthest of the earth, so to speak.'

'Something of it, Mr. Chase, yes. I reckon you'll do fine in no time, though, the place it quiet and the location is well suited for a fine breath of air. And Miss Dunn may appear harsh and imposing, sir, but I doubt she would not attend to her guests properly.'

'Mr. Connors!' I heard the same female voice once more from behind the door, and to this, the man beside me startled.

'Yes, Miss?'

'When you are finished, please come to see me in the study, I have another task for you.'

I breathed in and watched him look at me, before he walked out from the room. I haven't seen him after this and I ate and drank by myself. Soon, when the clock struck the evening time of late, and the night sky settled in, the door to my room slowly pulled in to shut.

'Wait!' I spoke and the door stopped moving. 'Please. I will do no harm to you. I am confined to this bedside and will not move for the better part of the following week, I can assure you. We have not spoken for merely a few minutes and I feel compelled to thank you properly. As I heard, you have taken me in and for that, I owe you my life.'

I waited for her to move. 'Please. Come in so that I can thank you properly.'

There was movement from the other side suddenly. From the tone of her voice, I could imagine she would be a woman in her forties, strong-willed and harsh at temper, especially from the manner of her addressing those she seemed to deem lower in rank than herself.

'You owe me nothing, Mr. Chase. You should not feel compelled to thank me, I have not saved anyone's life.'

'I don't even know your name!'

'I believe Mr. Connors has given you enough information. You will be well taken care of, rest assured. And when you are fit to roam on your feet, you will be able to leave. During this time, it is not necessary that we become any further acquainted.'

I frowned. 'You sound very strong-willed, Miss Dunn.'

There was a pause, during which she spoke nothing. After this, she said: 'I wish you a pleasant night, Mr. Chase.'

'At least, do me the favour of not shutting the door to this room.'

As a result, I heard her footsteps through down the stairs.