Chapter One: Page

"William! William!" Page awoke in a cold sweat. Night after night he had the same nightmare. A woman shrieking the name William while he stumbled around in darkness.

Page brushed his hair out of his eyes. He looked around at all of the other children. They all slept peacefully in their beds. He slipped out of bed and tiptoed to the window. As silently as he could muster, Page crawled out of the window and onto the slanted roof.

The crashing of the waves against the shore brought him peace as it always did. He had felt a connection to the ocean all his life. Often, after his nightmares he would come to this spot. The cold night air cut through his thin shirt. Page peeled the material off his sweaty chest. He placed the shirt inside on the floor. His hand brushed against the ring. He rubbed it in between his fingers. He had, owned this since he was very young. It had been found around his neck on a peice of string when he was given to the orphanage. Page looked at the familiar message inside, Forever and Always Love. For,

E. S. T. This one ring was the only thing Page owned. Everything else was borrowed or rented for a time. Even the clothes he had on right now...

As one of the smaller boys in the orphanage he got all the hand me downs. Even though he was thirteen, he had never in his life had clothes that were new.

But Page was not ungrateful. He knew that the ladies who cared for the Orphanage tried. But it was expensive to get nice clothes in the Caribbean. Page sighed and climbed back inside. The wind was cold tonight, a storm was brewing.

--

"Oatmeal, again?"one of the boys whined from across the hall. Page looked down at his own meager portion. It was better than nothing. Amy, a little girl of five looked down at her bowl. Page noticed it was licked clean. He saw her holding her stomach as if she were still hungry. He did it quickly. He swapped bowls with the young girl. She looked up in confusion. And then shyly smiled. She inhaled the food and all too soon it was gone. She seemed hesitant, but she quickly gave Page a hug and scampered away.

Page smiled. He knew all too well the clawing if hunger. The children of the orphanage were too numerous for the tiny budget. He wished he could give food to all of the kids that would suffer this winter. But he wouldn't have the chance.

On his birthday next week he would be sent off. The orphanage believed that at the age of fourteen it was time for you to be a man. Go out on your own journey in life. Then again, Page didn't know his actual birthday, he knew nothing of his parents, or if they were dead or alive. He had always felt a empty spot in his chest. He had always thought maybe that was because of his lack of family. But he tried not to dwell on it. He was here now, not with his family, wherever they were...

Page didn't know where he would go after the orphanage. This was his life, this was all that he knew. He sighed and stood up from the table.

He wandered out of the kitchen and into the front hall. He had such good memories of thus place... He would really miss this place. He walked out of the large doors. And into the busy marketplace. The smell of fish was in the air and Page wrinkled his nose. Even though he had lived here all his life the smell of dead fish still put his stomach rolling.

He wandered down the beach. His bare feet slipped on the fine sand. The waves splashed on the shore. The sound was comforting. The ocean had always been a source if intrigue for Page. When he stared out into the boiling surf he felt a peace. And that peace seemed to fill up the hole in his chest for awhile.

Page felt the warm sun on his back. He turned to go back to the orphanage. Suddenly he noticed something. A large black gallion was parked in the harbor. Page stared at the massive sails with awe. Something inside him awoke. A primal instinct deep in his bones that he knew this ship.

This sense of deja vu sent his mind reeling. He had never had any sense of where he was from or who he was. This small instinct told him, this is where you belong.

Page registered all of these emotions in a second. Before he could process it, he was running toward the ship. Toward the only thing connecting him to his past.