PART SEVEN

Annie's Diary

I guess it couldn’t be him, really. He is dead. They’d put him in a coffin, lowered him into the ground, and then buried him... Way down below his Kingdom. I shivered. Instead of reigning over his Kingdom, he reigned beneath it. Not a pleasant thought at all. I continued to stare ahead into the darkness. The night before it had rained. Whoever said that rain made the air smell clean, a new beginning, has never been on a boat before. On the ocean I’ve experienced not only the fear of the rocking ship and the angry waves rolling in torrents, but the horrid smells of the sea. A pungent smell reached my nose as the wind shifted. I grimaced. Such putrid water! Such distasteful air!

"Nasty," I whispered to myself and a passing sailor stared at me. They all wear blue shirts with white pantaloons. All except captain and water boy. The water boy wore a shirt of shirt of a rich red and the captain wore a night-sky black shirt.

Passengers were customarily told to stay off deck, but I couldn’t resist. I would brave the smells and dangers just for the chance to be the first to see land. Moreover, I wanted to be the first to set foot onto it. I did return below decks when the air became too bad to stand any longer. I had fallen in love with the look of the ocean, just the sight of it was enough to send your heart pounding. I looked up at the sky. Nightfall coming. The sky was darkening, the sun falling slowly down. I smiled. Soon, the sun would peek behind the water’s edge and its golden rays would light up the waves of low tide. It did. I was nearly blinded by its phosphorescent light. I squinted but smiled as well. I couldn’t help it.

Finally, I sighed, "Oh Patrick, I wish you were here. I wish you could see this." Suddenly a familiar voice filled my head: "I will always love you... Annie." I smirked. Too bad that that had only been my imagination working its wonders upon the boat, playing tricks on me and not Patrick.

"I will always love you... Patrick." I said to the night sky. Then I descended the stairs into the bowels of the ship and crawled into bed.

Author's Note

I promise, it does eventually get better. However, the mushiness gets mushier.