sanctuary

The unbearable saltiness of the ramshackle wooden boards obliterated her dreams and caused the young girl to haplessly wake up to the hideous ensemble of perspiring, paunchy men that surrounded her like vultures obsessed with flaunted flesh. To her misfortune, the pulsating beast inside her chest exponentially provoked their hunger for her as they gawked over her motionless, paralyzed body. She managed to slowly open her eyes to the scorching morning light but the ocean breeze smothered her skin as she tried to lift herself up. Her shaking eyelashes were unable to soak in the luminescent sunrise, which instead of alleviating made her breath all the more unpalatable. The men were far from hospitable and seemed less than likely to provide any kind of assistance, so she renounced the attempt and decided to instead remain perfectly still, as if somehow that would make the men abandon their craving for her. She shut her optical windows and desperately tried to remember cheerful moments, as if they would somehow make the present one unreal. She remembered how she had emotionally embraced her mother, how she had filled her nurse’s apron pockets with kisses and affection, how she had bid farewell to her flower infested garden. Now aboard, the strength to maintain these memories warm was as transient as a fleeting whistle. She was unable to retain them. Instead, her mind was clogged with the oozing oceanic sensation emanating from her pores. She was tired, not only from the painful act of silence but from the exhausting vertigo. But regardless of how tired she felt, her heart was nonetheless bound to the horizon, altogether hoping for the deliverance from the hellacious ship she now had to call her home.