Pain shoots through her skull, a quick cry emits her lips as the deck rises to meet her knees.  Head still ringing between her ears, she turns her eyes skyward and catches sight of the picking hook sailing back through the air above her head. Putting a hand up out of reflex more than anything, she grabs hold of it and uses it to pull herself back off the deckboards, blinking to clear her vision.

Big Bear shouts above the wind and hydraulics “Hey, ya fucking idiot,…

The wind seems lonely as it streams over the ridge, searching. Always searching. She wishes it didn't find her bare arms so inviting. Her fingers do nothing to protect them from the chill. She tries to rub her arms to make up for her finger's lack of size. But as she stumbles each foot forward, it is becoming clearer to her that this is pointless. 

The light gray sky throws spats of cold water at her. The sparse branches of the low pine trees do not spell shelter so she keeps moving,…

They are both thousands of miles from me. But I can picture exactly where they are.

The one with my heart will be waking soon, stretching in the dark interior, and reaching for his phone to call me.  He’ll tell me what delicious dream woke him and I’ll smile, wishing I was there so we could complete it.

The other will wake in a few hours, roll onto his back let loose wind from yesterday’s eggs and sausage, coffee and cigarette routine, and fall back asleep for a few more hours…

The darkness of the stateroom suited her. The warmth, a comfort. Only a slit of light came from under the door from the galley. It was enough that even though she was wide awake, she kept her eyes shut - waiting. Her stomach heaved in time with the boat, with a half second delay. Darcy carefully moved her arm to push her dirty clothes bag a little tighter against her mid-section.  Measuring her breathing, she listened to the sound of the boat as it…