The Curse of the Sojourn ((closed))

The morning was crisp and held a chill in the air. The smell of saltwater and seagulls was thicker than it usually was. The sun had yet to peek out from the thick clouds that had covered the sky the day before. It was the sort of day you wanted to spend locked inside your home with a roaring fire. The day felt unreal and strange. It seemed that something great, or not so great, was going to happen that day.

Jane had lived in the port town her whole life. She knew the kind of day it was and was happy for it. It meant that her employers would send her out to do the errands without them. When Jane was only thirteen her father had disappeared out in a storm and her mother died from a broken heart. They left Jane all alone and penniless as her father had been a gambler and had left plenty of debts behind. Jane had had to learn how to work for her own meal and bed. For the first while she stole her bread onl to be caught. Since she was still young enough to be considered innocent she was sent to the Debois family to work for them.

The Debois were one of the wealthiest families on the island. They gave Jane work and a bed, but they hardly gave her much else. The Debois had two daughters about the same age as Jane and they despised Jane becauseof her circumstance. Jane grew up with the two girls watching them being courted by the elligible men of the island while she stayed in the corner quietly.

On that particular day Jane grabbed a basket and headed out to do the shopping for that day. She was nineteen with no ambitions or hopes. No man wanted to court her since she had no money, and if they didn't want to court her than she would never be married. It was a fact she had grown up with the past six years and she had resolved to her lot in life.

Jane made her way from the large estate down into the port town. She greeted everyone along her way before she came to the market. She begato purchase the items on her list before she glanced to the dock. She wished she could go to the dock and get on a ship that would take her far away from the little island. Jane wanted adventure, but adventure didn't secure you a meal and a bed as the Debois family did for her.

A soft sigh escaped her mouth as she returned to her shopping list and headed for the baker. Just once she wished her life was different. Just once she wanted something crazy and impossible to happen.