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Blood Rock - draft prologue
Prologue
Yesterday is a memory long since forgotten. Today is a blank canvass.
I ask myself what is a memory? Is it the great novel that tells us who we are? Or is it the story behind the faded scars, the idiots guide to being you? Whether my past is a tale of romance, adventure or murder it is of no importance to this story. What you are about to read is my present, future and all the details in between.
This story begins face down in a mud filled puddle. I can hear the gargling noise of myself choking as I come to in the darkness. I assume I have fallen. Before I have the chance to think my instincts kick in as I force myself to use what little strength I have, rising to a stance, stumbling on what appears to be a bizarre rock structure.
I picked up a pair of glasses that sat cracked by my feet. Perhaps they are mine. As I jolted upwards my spine creaked and sent my ears ringing. As I collapsed to my hands and knees, the ringing began to fade and I am able to think again. It's a huge release. I am out of breath, choking once again only this time there is no puddle to roll out of.
I tried to remember a time before the gargling but time after time I find myself drawing a blank. Surely there is more to me than this. I have on a shirt and a tie with patterns I fail to recognise. My trousers are smart and yet somehow they are torn.
Suddenly a blinding noise sounded that came as an icebreaker to the world. It's as though the rock itself is screaming and as it shrieks I can feel its vibrations from under me. The noise was somewhat unfamiliar but I new immediately the sounds that followed. They are screams. Screams of the men and woman around me.
I put on the glasses only to discover they make my sight worse and so I tossed them. I followed the rocky terrain down, stumbling like a drunk until I came to the water. I was on a beach of solid rock, like a iceberg only black.
When I looked to my left I saw what had first appeared to me as a cliff. It is the source for all the unanswered questions. At first I looked at it in fear, but only at first. It is the reason to why my clothes are soaked and why my feet are shoeless but still I have no memories. I'm looking at a ship.
“Barbara?” Shouted the voice of a fat Englishman. “Where are you?” he howled across the rock. Like me, the Englishman is soaked through. He is one of many that were pulling themselves out of the water and on to the rock. It is obvious to me now that I had been thrown from the ship. Perhaps I swam ashore.
I looked at the shore where bodies lay littered for miles. Some are wriggling, crying in their hands as they lay in the moonlight. Others are quite obviously dead.
Chapter One
The next morning it didn't just rain, it poured. I still haven't slept and yet my body is telling me I am wide awake. I guess it is the adrenaline.
My night had been spent dragging bodies out of the water. Some alive, others not so much. Some were to week to swim and had given up hope. The shock in their eyes as I pulled them ashore was enough to satisfy anyone. It was the shock of realising that this wasn't the end. One women even called me her angel.
An angel. Maybe that is what I am. I have no memory of before the crash. Hell, I don't even remember that. As much as I loved the compliment I couldn't take the credit. Everyone is doing their part. Their are woman nursing the ill back to health. Men like me continue to swim out in search of survivors. Even the children are helping out. Everyone on this rock is an angel today. Lost angels.
What had happened? It was the big question on everyone's mind. It didn't take a genius to realise we had crashed but all the bodies were now ashore and all I can think of is getting aboard that ship. I need answers.
Chapter Two
“You've got no memories at all?” asked Amanda.
Amanda is the woman I saved from the sea. Unfortunately she hasn't met me before so I'm still without a name.
“Nope, none,” I replied.
“Don't worry. The rescue boats will come.” Somehow I don't share her confidence. “Do you think your family are aboard the ship?” she asked. I replied with a simple smile and shrugged my shoulders. For all I know they are already dead. “I mean surely you wouldn't come on a cruise alone,” she continued.
As we got closer to the ship I noticed something that left me speechless.
“How could this have happened?” asked Amanda. Her eyes welled up with tears and in that brief second her i saw her confidence die. “The ship...” she paused. “Its... its...” She couldn't say it.
“...Torn in half,” I finished. I cant help but think my jaw just hit the ground.
Where's the back of the ship? There's no debris, nothing to show it was ever a full ship. What's going on here? It's almost as though the ship was placed.
Herds of men and women waited to climb aboard. They're climbing over each other like savages, pulling themselves up the bow and into the shredded opening leeding into the flooded cabins. Our walking came to a dramatic stop as we paused, looking into the crowd. Amanda gave me a look as though to say 'I'm ready' before we started off again, approaching the crowd with caution.
The lost angels I saw earlier are gone. Behind me are the dead and the wounded. In front I am blinded by the inconsiderate and the selfish. It's like looking into the belly of a monster. Arms waving in all directions. Fists are swung at those who attempt to squeeze by.
“We cant get in this way!” I shouted over the noise of the crowd.
Last edited by scottm72 : 11-12-2007 at 08:11 AM.
Reason: updating
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