Author's Note:
Just moving along here, thanks so much for your support (especially the lovely review from Phyllipa, which totally made my day!)...
"Was it really that obvious?" Simon looked down at the floor in shame.
Rebecca blinked, still absorbing the information. The black-haired woman sighed. "Would you mind telling me the entire story?" She enquired politely.
"Well, my real name's Sylvie Campbell." The young girl began. She cleared her throat. "I needed to get a job on the Siren's Sonnet, because my family lives on a planet close to Los Terrano. If I got a job, I'd not only have a free ferry to Los Terrano, but I'd be able to earn some money to help keep my family's antique shop opened." Sylvie continued. "I couldn't get the job as a girl, so I disguised myself as a boy, and got the job as cabin boy." She sighed. "It's not much of a story…"
Rebecca furrowed her brow in thought. "How old are you, Sylvie?" She asked.
"Fourteen." Sylvie replied.
Rebecca smiled warmly. "You're quite the brave young girl, Sylvie." She remarked. "I couldn't have ever imagined doing what you've done when I was younger." The lady stood from where she sat on her bed and removed the pack of ice from her cheek.
"You won't tell anyone, right?" Sylvie's chocolate-brown eyes widened.
Rebecca smiled reassuringly. "You just saved me, Sylvie." She stated. "I wouldn't dare tell anyone." The young woman smoothed her hand gently over her injured cheek. She remarked that the wound had stopped bleeding and the swelling had gone down.
Sylvie sighed with relief. Rebecca silently grabbed the key to her cabin and tossed it to the young girl, who swiftly caught it.
"What's this for?" Sylvie enquired with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't want you to get caught, Sylvie." Rebecca stated. "Feel free to use my bathroom… to change in it, whatever you see fit."
Sylvie looked up at Rebecca gratefully, speechless on how to express her thanks. All that the young girl could manage was, "Won't the crew…you know…talk?"
Rebecca shrugged. "Let them think what they want." She stated. "Now, you'd better go earn your keep." She nudged Sylvie towards the door.
The young girl smiled. "Thank you." She cleared her voice and pitched her voice lower to fit the alias of Simon. "Miss Clarke…" The cabin boy safely tucked the key in a pocket and exited Rebecca's cabin.
Rebecca shook her head and sighed. 'And this is only the first voyage…'
Rebecca wrote down what had happened to her in her pocketbook, trying to keep it as light as she could for her mother's sake and used Simon's method of saving her as a hopeful distraction from the fact that she had nearly been raped.
It had been a few hours since she had spoken with Simon, a.k.a. Sylvie, once she had finished writing. Rebecca could hear her stomach loudly protesting. She'd never gotten breakfast after all.
The young lady cleaned the tip of her fountain pen and put away her writing materials just as there was a knock at her cabin's door.
"Yes?" Rebecca asked.
"It's me." John's voice replied from behind the wooden door.
Rebecca stood from her writing desk and opened the door. "Come in…" She nodded into her room.
John nodded, stepping past Rebecca and entering her room. He held a plate of hot food in his hands. The aroma coming off of the food was delicious and Rebecca felt her stomach silently growl at the thought of eating.
The young man cleared his throat. "I just wanted teh know if yeh were alright…"
"You mean after…" Rebecca couldn't finish her sentence. It had been hard enough to write down the basis of what had happened in her pocketbook, and now it was much harder to talk about it, even to John.
John nodded, knowing what Rebecca meant.
Rebecca sighed, losing her appetite at the mere thought of what had happened. She sat down atop the covers of her bed while John sat down on the stool at her writing desk, facing her.
"I don't know, John…" Rebecca stated, falling back against the covers. "I'm alright, I suppose." She murmured the last part more to herself.
John raised an eyebrow, unconvinced, but didn't dwell further into the matter. "Well, 'ere's yer lunch, Rebecca." He cleared his throat and stood from the stool. "Yeh'd better eat it while it's still hot, it'll taste horrible cold." John turned towards the door and twisted the doorknob.
"Thank you, John…" Rebecca thanked the young man.
The young man glanced at the young woman lying on top of the covers of her bed before leaving the cabin and shutting the door behind him.
Rebecca groaned, unable to rise from the comforting covers of her bed to eat. She rolled onto her side, ignoring the glaring starlight, and fell asleep.
Author's Note:
Much thanks goes out to Whisperwings, my awesome beta!
MG#6