Ability is of little account without opportunity.
~Napoleon Bonaparte
Minette watched as the ship made it into port by sunrise and was fully situated by early morning. None of the cannibal pirates came to this side of the island in fear they would ruin their ship on the serrated rocky cliffs and shallow water, but these pirates were fortunate enough to find the hidden loading docs. This also means that if they were also terribly murderous pirates like the ones that overthrown the area, then Minette was not going to make it out of here alive and there was sure to be a deadly battle between the two ships for territory. Saddly, she knew that her home was going to become a battlefield soon.
If she wanted to live then she needed to leave immediately, but first, she was going to need a ship…
She waited in her tree, watching the ship with growing curiosity. The more she studied it the more she grew to question if it was actually a pirate ship. It certainly didn't look like a pirate ship, most definitely not with a smiling ram head in the very forefront of the ship. But there was no mistaking the main sail as it sat all black with their pirate seal for everyone to see. What was even stranger was that no one dared come off of the boat until early noon and when they finally did, only four people stepped off, leaving a blond man behind. What type of captain only has five crewmen including him?
Nothing was adding up, what were they doing here? Was it supplies? A need of a simple break from the sea? Did they come to pick a fight with the cannibals? Or was it just dumb luck and the current carried them here during the night?
Whatever the reasoning, they were her only ticket out of here and the only ship to be seen since the raid happened. It was time to make a life changing move that hopefully didn't kill her in the long run.
Watching as the four shipmen stepped off the doc, Minette couldn't help but wonder who their captain was; for, who would hire a young women and two boys in their late teens? The fourth character looked more like a pirate than all of them combined. Green hair, baggy black pants tucked into black boots and three swords on his right hip. He could be the captain, but the group was following the boy wearing the red shirt, rolled up blue jeans, sandals, and a straw hat matching their ship's sail.
Whatever. They don't matter. She was going to take their ship and if that was impossible then she was going to rob them blind.
With that thought in mind, Minette waited for them to disappear into the forest before she made her move down the tree, careful not to step on any crunchy leaves or weak twigs in fear of alarming anything or anyone close enough to hear. Upon her landing, she lifted the hood to her light grey hoodie over her head and put the dagger in the front pocket incase of future use. Her first step was shaky. She was so dizzy from no food or water in nine days she could barely keep herself standing; which made her question if she was really physically capable of overtaking a ship or fighting if she got caught by the one who stayed behind. But this made her question what would happen to her if she didn't try. The cannibals would make sure her death was as painful as it could get because she stole from them.
Using that as inspiration enough, she made one shaky foot step in front of the other, used the surrounding trees to hold her up, and walked along the nonexistent path towards the hidden dock. Towards her only salvation. Her eyes half lidded and the overwhelming sense of everything around her spinning, had brought her to her knees, making her pant, but only for a moment before she got right back up and struggled forwards again.
She could hear how much noise she was making, her heart hammering with in her chest in fear that the cannibals would find her before she could reach her destination, but that pushed her further. She wasn't ready to die and she sure as hell was not going to die on this Godforsaken island with everyone else. She was going to live. She had to live. For Shi.
Minette's foot caught on a tree rout, sending her tumbling forwards down the rest of the hill. Her cloths were snagged and ripped as sharp sticks cut her soft flesh and leaves collected in her brown locks. She couldn't stop herself even if she wanted and had the energy to, the hill was at a steep slope and she only came to a halt when she came in contact with the trunk of a tree just barely out of the tree line before the dock.
As soon as she made contact with the tree, a loud crashing noise sounded right before the cries of birds and their flapping wings. She wouldn't be surprised if the whole island heard it but right now, just laying there with the comforting warmth of the sun kissing her pale face she wanted to sleep. But she knew she shouldn't. Not if she wanted to continue living. Not if she wanted to die on her own terms somewhere far away from this land.
As she stared up at the afternoon sky, she couldn't help but realize that the sky held no clouds, but instead was the bluest blue she has ever seen. She wanted more than anything to reach up and touch it. Oh how she begged her body to use its remaining strength to touch that beautiful blue only the Gods could mix together with a handful of happiness and a pinch of tranquility. But her body would not comply and it did not agree with her mind, with her mental will to fight any longer. She was tired and with every passing second breathing became harder and each heartbeat became heavy as it sang a song of woe one last time.
"Shi, do you ever feel impossibly small?"
"Are you calling me short, Minette?"
"No. Like… it wouldn't make a difference if you weren't in the equation to begin with because the answer would be the same?"
"I always feel small."
"I'm not talking about height, Shi."
"And neither am I, Minette. I know I will never be big enough for everyone to see. I will always be impossibly small in this world."
"In this world?"
"Yeah. You know that feeling when you're laying in a meadow with the sun hitting your skin just right? The feeling is so surreal, right? Then it must be unearthly because in those moments I feel like the most important being in the whole universe."
"I don't think I understand your logic, Shi."
"You will when the time is right Minette. I promise."
And now, as she lay there with no other choice but to let the sun kiss her skin, she finally understood what Shi was talking about. All at once Minette felt utterly alone, impossibly small, but the most important being in the world. There was no discomfort in these moments of absolute bliss. No hunger, no dizziness, no pain. Without her consent, her eyes closed for good but the image of the sky never went away behind her heavy lids, and she decided, then and there that it was her time. The fight was over. She tried her best to win the game of Life but everyone had to loose at one point, it was just how the game was. With her last role of the dice, she hoped for Snake Eyes.
Can I never wake up again?
She suddenly felt like she was being lifted off of the ground and into an angel's warm embrace. She felt its warm hand rub against her cheek and she wanted more than anything to look into his eyes, but they were still heavy with the weight of eternal sleep on them.
Can I stop trying?
The angel tapped her face gently to wake her. "No. No. Come on. Wake up." He tapped her face, shook her shoulders and despite her best attempts to open her eyes, she was unable to. Even in Death's embrace her body still refused to move.
"Come on... Come on! You can make it. I'm right here. The remedy to your pain is right here."
No. Something was wrong. The angel should not be sad, anger should not be lacing its tone. Had the dice not landed on double ones? Was she given an "Another Chance" card instead? Has she been robbed of her serenity? Were the dice fowl? This wasn't right!
At the mention of pain, hunger flared up again but worse than before. It felt like getting stabbed in the stomach over and over again without an end in sight. Pain in all of her tired limbs made itself know as well as she broke through the surface of death and finally opened her eyes. But her eyes were not met with the same Godly blue like before, no, it was grey and water splashed her face, running into her nose making her choke slightly before she could breath properly again.
It was raining. The sky was crying from her sudden near death experience, and coming to this conclusion - knowing that she was entirely willing to give in without a second thought just then - she started crying too.
"You're okay. You're okay now. Stop crying, you're okay." Having come back to her senses, she could hear the voice was male and feel him rocking her back and forth as she sat comfortably on his lap. In her hazy vision she could see pure blond hair as he pulled away from her and a soft smile painted on his face.
He wiped away her tears as she hiccuped before tilting her chin up. "There's food here. Just relax. Nothing can hurt you any longer." His voice was soft, reassuring as she continued to hiccup and sniffle even as he started feeding her a food so delicious it made her cry further.
