Elizabeth

Elizabeth could not remember much of her past but she did know that she had to run. She'd woken up surrounded by sleeping sailors. Eliza got up as quickly and quietly as she could only to be thwarted by none other than the captain. "Where ya goin' dearie?" he drunkenly asked. She looked around and saw only one exit, but she had to get past the captain. The man took her hand, bowed, and kissed it. Eliza was disgusted. His breath reeked of alcohol and his beady eyes sparkled maliciously as he said, "Captain Petra, at yer service."

A young man - a sailor - walked up to them.

"Cap, your drunk, leave the lady alone."

Petra grumbled, and stumbled away. Eliza was left alone with the boy and was now nervous, not knowing what his intentions were. She was so deep in thought that she hardly realized his stunning amber eyes studying her worried face.

"Miss I'm not going to hurt you. You might wanna be careful 'round the other sailors though, especially when they're drunk."

"What about you, sir? Do you not drink, how old are you, and more importantly what's your name?"

The boy chuckled. "Name's Ethan. Ethan Matia. I'm twenty two if you must know, and no I prefer not to drink as I don't like the taste of beer, and personally I don't want to end up like them. Also, you read my mind, I have the same questions for you."

Eliza was stunned at the fact that he'd answered all those questions clearly with no hesitation at all. "My - my name is Elizabeth Valentine. I'm twenty one and no I don't drink. Although, -"

She hesitated. Why was she telling him all this? He had nothing to do with her nor did he need to. Unfortunately, Ethan could be her best shot at getting home wherever that was.

"You good? Elizabeth?" His tan face was 2 1/2 inches away from hers now and she felt like she'd been hit with a jolt of electricity. "Manners!"

"Sorry, but ya never finished your sentence. Although -" He stopped and grinned. Eliza realized he had a white scar from the middle of his nose, reaching diagonally down to about 1 centimeter under his lips.

"Stop it you idiot! I meant that I don't know what I'm doing here nor where I came from."

"Fine." She stared again, taken aback at the fact that he didn't push it.

Eliza could feel her heart beating faster with every step he took. She wanted to back away but her legs seemed to be glued to the floor. Ethan was standing about 2 meters away from her but within 2 steps he closed the gap and towered over her.

In a second he lowered his head to her ear and whispered, "you're staring again." Her heart was racing now but she finally got the courage to move her hands and push him away.

"Look I'm not looking for any sort of relationship right now. I need to get home, if I can figure out where that is though."

She realized that she'd been standing on the ship's deck for too long. She turned towards the exit to find it being closed by another crew member. "I need to get out of here," she mumbled, pushing Ethan farther away. Eliza ran as fast as her little legs would take her. She'd almost made it off before a sailor caught her. "Ma'am the ship's leaving now, yer not getting off anytime soon."

Elizabeth clawed at the man's thick arms in a futile attempt to escape. She'd not thought about how strong sailors were. She thought about Ethan and how he could've prevented her from leaving with just his arms.

The sailor set her down and she saw how tall the man truly was. He must've been a foot taller than Ethan.

Now truly worried about her safety Eliza trembled in the man's iron grip. The man started to lead her to a door that seemed to go below deck. He was walking extremely fast, or so it seemed to Elizabeth - to other sailors he must've seemed to be taking a stroll on deck - but each of his steps were about 5 of hers. Tired, scared, and confused, Eliza would've struggled but she felt sick. With every step the world seemed to darken, until the man stopped. She was so lightheaded that she could barely hear or see what was happening though she recognized Ethan who'd approached them. He looked worried.

A moment later she felt weaker than ever. 'I cannot collapse, not here. Not in front of them, not now.' she thought. As Eliza fought to stay awake, she made out as few words and discovered the man's name was Carter. Then she missed a few parts but she figured that Ethan probably ran his mouth off again because Carter punched him in the face and Ethan fell to his knees.

When he got up he had a nasty cut on his forehead. Ethan stood straight but Elizabeth knew his pride was hurt.

Now she felt weaker than before, her knees gave out from under her. She faintly saw Ethan diving to catch her and his worried amber eyes burned in her memory before she went cold.