4 3. Denial

The cold does an odd thing to the human body, in order for it preserve warmth the body starts to slow down activity. The first step, in order to preserve energy, is to put the body to sleep. Katelyn was no exception. Between the draftiness of her cabin and thin material of her dress she was in a state of constant cold.

Her fragile body lay on her mattress in fetal position, legs pulled tight to her chest and hands tucked into her extremities trying to pool what little body heat she had. The effect was that the constant source of her heat would cause her to sweat and then cause her to tremble a new from the cold.

Between the shock and the cold her body began to slow down, drawing her into an uneasy slumber her teeth clamped down firmly on her bottom lip to prevent them from chattering. In her dreams she relived her first night, there on ship, her body lifting sporadically from her mattress each time she would flinch away from the leering hungry inhumane eyes of her dream.

It was until she felt the blanket placed over her that tension slowly lifted from her limbs. Shortly there after was the smell of food drifting toward her nose, her senses coming awake at the smell of fish and rice she opened her eyes gradually in a state of confusion when she was confronted by reality once more.

Before her stood a man, a little world worn and gnarled looking, a look of pity in his eyes as he watched while she shrank back against the wall of her narrow room.

"It's ok! It's ok" he coaxed her "I'll not hurt yea. I jes thought yea might be a touch hungry?"

The second seemed to crawl as he waited and finally gave up. With a soft sigh he walked away. The captain had wanted her scared, well it looks like he had succeeded. Eddy shook his head as he walked away. He couldn't help but pity her, not that it mattered. It's not like the girl was accepting of his pity anyway.

Once he was out of sight Katelyn slowly moved toward the bowl, her own stomach loud and full of complaints at having had to work so hard to maintain warmth on so little fuel. She looked at the dish skeptically poking it with her fork afraid it was a trick. That they would lure her with kindness and torture her more.

In the end her hunger overruled her suspicions and she began to eat. Her anxiety made the food tasteless but at least it was food. As she ate her mind began to work at her surroundings, there was no immediate escape as yet being out at sea but she would bide her time, taking note of her surroundings and plan her escape.

Having eaten and been warmed she found herself drowsy again, the shock and trauma was still weighing heavily on her body. Holding onto her fork as though it was a weapon of great self defense she pulled the blanket around her and shut her eyes tightly.

"Let it be a dream" she whimpered "Please god, whichever one is listening, let this all be a dream" and as the last bit of her consciousness faded she couldn't stop the tears which spilled from her eyes.

...

The Next Morning.

The sight that greeted Egil's eyes as he came to inspect his newly acquired possession would have been enough to break any mans heart. Any man, that is, who wasn't Egil. While he couldn't deny he felt a small bit of sympathy for the creature in front of him, he knew all too well that sympathy in this life could get you killed.

Still, he let her sleep a few more moments.

Closing his eyes he cleared his throat a moment before he threw a new 'gown' on the bed. "You'll be wearing this today Pet. Put it on, I expect you in the mess hall in no more than 5 minutes"

There was a stirring under the blankets as a sleepy eyed, fair skinned girl roused herself from the bed rubbing her eyes while pouting, a look of momentary confusion befalling her features.

Reality once again intruded upon her serenity.

It started with thin sweat soaked dress that rested just about her knees, then slowly expanded to the coarse mattress beneath her and the terrifying sway of the ship. It was real. All of it was real. She bit her lip hard to hold back her tears before lunging at the man in front of her with her mighty fork. Anger and hatred filling her red rimmed sapphire eyes.