"Elsie. ELSIE!"
"Wha?" Elsie Kirk jumped as she was jolted awake by the sound of her teacher, Mrs. Davenworth.
"Oh, um, hysterosalpingo-oophorectomy." Rattling off the answer to the medical terminology question, Elsie felt all the eyes of her fellow classmates burn into the back of her head as she perked up in her seat.
"Very good, and Miss Kirk, please try to stay awake during my lecture. Now everyone please break out your Medical terminology textbooks. I think now would be a great time to listen to the audio cd before we go on break." Elsie rolled her eyes as she went back to her former position of her head in her hands exhausted from another night of sleeplessness. Being so driven on getting her medical degree completed, Elsie was sacrificing everything to get the top grade; even sleep. Now she was paying for it.
As the teacher prepped the computer for the audio cd, Elsie could feel the entire class groan. She looked down at her name badge and scowled at the terrible picture that she had taken. Why do hospital ID badges end up looking like mug shots? Not wanting to get yelled at again for not paying attention, Elsie reluctantly pulled out her med term book and flipped through the pages. This chapter was going to take forever! Within the next few minutes, Mrs. Davenworth had started the cd.
After an excruciating 20 minutes of medical terms, Elsie got bored trying to follow along. At least Mrs. Davenworth had the courtesy to keep the projector going with the media player on the screen. In order to keep their attention, she always had this cool background that morphs into another one. It has almost a kaleidoscope feeling to it. Today was not Elsie's day and she found herself staring at the blend of colors on the screen. Everything began to fade from there. Wait! Everything is fading! Elsie jumped up to try to wake up out of this trance, but when she did, no one looked at her. Time felt like it was slowing down or stopping. All of a sudden, the screen seemed to be rushing towards her. The blend of colors swirled around Elsie and she felt a strange sensation. Ummmmm Aslan? She thought of her favorite book series and their talk about magic. The pulling/tugging sensation increased until it felt as though she was about to get ripped from limb to limb. And then Elsie was gone.
Her classroom in the basement of the hospital was nowhere to be found, and Elsie had no clue as to where she was now. Then she felt it. Elsie opened her eyes, but it stung to have them open for more than a few seconds. It was cold, dark and wet. Oh crap! I am underwater! Don't panic Elsie, don't panic... She tried to swim up to the surface, but she couldn't seem to get her bearings as to what was up and what was down. I need air now! After a few moments of struggling, fate began to set in. I am going to die a horrible death. God, take me now. And then an idea hit her. She opened her eyes, no matter the pain, and looked around. There were a few rays of light that seemed to glitter and dance across her vision, and Elsie struggled to swim towards it. As she gazed on the beautiful rays, she practically forgot the urgency of her situation. She was calm and felt strangely at peace. And then it happened! She broke the surface of the water.
"Great, I am in the middle of the ocean!" She ventured to swim in a circle to see if there was something that she could float on, but there was nothing. It was just open sea. Treading water for a while, Elsie began to grow tired. The only way she could stay afloat was if she lay on her back. Time seemed to pass at an incredibly slow rate. She watched the sun move slowly across the sky until the last rays of light dipped into the ocean. Being alone in the dark, Elise shivered as she looked up at the stars. It was funny; she had never seen the stars like this before. Living in Manhattan, the stars that she saw were on Broadway or real stars at a planetarium. But being in the water, Elsie saw for the first time in years the wonderful constellations that she had learned about when she was a child.
When the sun peeked over the horizon, tendrils of light fell on Elsie's sleeping form. She tried to turn over as if she was in her bed sound asleep, but she was taken by the fact that she was submerged under water. Shaking her head out of its morning fog, she realized that it wasn't a dream. This had all happened. But before her eyes, she saw the most beautiful thing. In her entire life, she had never seen a sunrise like this. The sky was still dark, but on the horizon, there was promise of light. Then the sky turned orange and then quickly morphed into a lighter shade. The sun on the horizon was a deep orange, but after a few minutes, it was a brilliant yellow that took Elise's breath away. She was in a trance, but quickly looked away for the pain was too great. After she looked away, great black spots filled her vision, but when she was able to see again, she saw a ship on the horizon. "I am saved!"
The ship that she saw slowly made its way towards her. But Elsie grew confused. The ship that was moving towards her had masts! She searched her memory as she recalled a lovely trip to Royal Navy Museum in England just a few years ago. She had seen ships like this before. But those ships didn't sail open waters anymore. Elsie grew very confused as the ship came up even closer. The sails were bleached white and caught the morning breeze filling them like clouds. A great flag flew British colors and flapped in the wind. It wasn't a large vessel, but from her point of view, it was huge. Despite everything that she saw, her one priority was getting rescued. Being a small person in a large ocean, Elsie began waving her arms and shouting trying to get the attention of the crew. It wasn't long before she heard a voice shout, "Man overboard!" Smiling at the prospect of being saved, Elsie breathed a sigh of relief. The ship was now very close and she could see men peering at her and pointing. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she knew what was happening when a boat was lowered into the water with a few sailors. They rowed towards her and Elise swam to come alongside. A very good looking sailor reached his arm out to her and smiled.
"Need a hand, Miss?" He asked while his blue eyes gazed into her's as she took his outstretched hand. Before Elsie could reply, the sailor's eyes grew wide with anxiety and concern.
"What is it?" Elsie asked when she saw his face pale and his eyes widen. She almost yelped when he pushed her back in the water when thunder rolled in the distance. "Wait! What are you doing?"
"Miss, look! That sound you heard was no thunder. That is a pirate ship. Trust me, you do not wish to be caught with them around. Please, just go! Hide." After he quickly explained what was so terrifying, the first wave of shots made their mark on the ship. Splinters of wood exploded as men in the boat began shouting orders to return to the ship. Afraid for her life now, Elsie turned to see another ship emerging from the mist that still hung over the ocean. It was a ship with many guns and terrible looking sails with a great, black flag. On the flag was the skull and crossbones and an hourglass, as if telling the poor souls that they preyed on that their time had run out to live. Elsie knew there would be no survivors. The merchant ship that she closest to had only a few guns, and Elsie knew they would not win this fight. The sailor that had pushed her back into the water mouthed for her to go to the back of the ship where she couldn't be seen. Then the boat rowed back to the ship and quickly was pulled up so that the others could help make their last stand.
Elsie swam as fast as she could to the other end of the ship to try to not be seen by the other vessel. Torn between her curiosity and her fear of the whole situation, she cocked her ear to hear what was happening. Shouts from the men on deck carried across the water as the fighting heated. And then all seemed to stop. Everything seemed calm until a voice rang out breaking the silence.
"We seem to have come to an impasse as it were. Would any of you like to come out and tell me what I wish to know, I be in a good mood."
"Never, you lying-"The man that Elsie heard call out was suddenly silenced and she soon knew why. The man was killed and then pushed into the water. Elsie covered her mouth to try to hold back a startled scream. The sailor's dead body slowly sunk and at that moment, she was determined to save the rest of the crew. But she knew she was but one person, and from her father's military background, she knew a little about strategy. She needed a plan. While all this had occurred, the pirate captain called out again.
"Perhaps you misunderstood my intentions. You will tell me what I want to know. I am Captain Bowman and you will fear me. TELL ME where Jack Sparrow is. He has to be around here somewhere!" Bowman growled at the crew. "For if you do not tell me, you will all die!"
"Captain Bowman! We know not of Jack Sparrow or what you seek from him. We are but merchants who sail these waters." A brave soul spoke out. It sounded to Elsie like the sailor who had reached out to her.
"Then you will die. Tie 'em up." Elsie heard the shuffle of feet on deck as the pirates presumably gathered the crew. It was going to be a massacre. The pirate ship cast off from the merchant and began firing. Elsie swam as fast as she could to get away from the ship, tears blinding her eyes. She watched in horror as the pirate ship sailed away looking for that Jack Sparrow. Then an idea hit her. Perhaps there was some chance that they could have jumped ship! Elsie swam as quickly as she could to try to get to the wreckage. Smoke flew into her eyes and caused them to water so that she couldn't see. It also entered her lungs causing Elsie to cough violently. She was most defiantly out of breath, but kept looking in the wreckage for survivors. And then she found a poor sailor that had helped her. He was badly hurt with deep cuts all across his back and was floating face down in the water. Elsie pushed aside her feelings of fear as she turned him over in the water and began monitoring his vitals. She was glad that her training had kicked in because under any normal circumstances, she may have passed out. But Elsie quickly turned her attention to that poor sailor. Besides his pulse, the only thing that would have indicated that he was still alive was the small moan that escaped his lips and the shallow rise and fall of his chest. Hope kindled inside of her.
"My name is Elsie, can you hear me? Come on, come on, you have to make it. Please, please, I promise you I will stay by you. Just please wake up!" Tears again welled up in Elsie's eyes threatening to spill over, but she was not going to let her emotions get in the way of helping him. Elsie urged him to stay alive hoping her will power alone would save him. He was very young, early 20's she would have guessed, with a pleasant face and fair colored hair. The sailor reminded her of someone, but Elsie didn't want to think about it. She soon found a piece of wreckage that was able to support us both and she gently transferred him to it as carefully as she could. After he was situated, Elsie collapsed next to him. Exhaustion overcame her muscles and body. Treading water for so long had taken its toll. Keeping an eye on the sailor, Elsie thought of all of those men who died without a fight and she had to sit by and watch. All of her training was for nothing. She just floated dumbstruck as she looked at the smoke. "Well, my chances of my surviving this have greatly decreased." Hours seemed to pass as Elsie floated with this sailor. His vitals were week and they felt as if they were dropping, but there wasn't anything she could do. To try to pass time and not think about how much he looked like Stephen, Elsie counted clouds through the smoke, but that soon grew tiresome.
"Cantate Domino…" She softly sang as the sun began to make its way over her head. After everything that had happened, her moral began to sink. Her thoughts did stray to what will become of them. Will I die here on a piece wood with an unconscious sailor by me? Or will I be rescued? Despair fell over her as she sighed. And who will come? With that thought, Elsie felt her world spinning and then fading into black.
