Her head bobs in a slow nod. “I will tell him that was your response.”
I groan loudly. “Being forced to sleep in his room isn’t punishment enough?”
“There are probably a lot of women out there who would not consider that a punishment.”
“Well, I’m not ‘a lot of women,’” I say. I let the bucket dangle at my side and look out over the water, the waves rolling in, giving me a small sense of calm. It isn’t Sig’s fault. She’s just the messenger for the cowardly captain who apparently only wants to deal with me behind closed doors.
“Does every new Castaway need to besupervised, or am I just the lucky one?”
“Nope. Just you.” She smiles sweetly, but gives no further explanation.
I roll my eyes and fish the brush from the bottom of the bucket. “Well then, I better get started.”
Spinning on my heel, I head toward the stairs. Something moves in the corner of my eye, and I glance up toward thequarterdeck to find Weston, elbows resting on the railing and hands clasped out in front of it, watching me. A ghost of a smile sits on his lips, and I glare back at him, before picking up the bucket and disappearing into the ship below.
My knees dig into the hard wooden deck as I sit back on my heels. My lower back feels like it is on fire, and pain shoots up my spine as I dig my fingers into the muscle at the base. I have been scrubbing the deck all morning, dodging the feet of the Castaways coming and going, and as I look around I loose a ragged sigh.
I am barely halfway done. My body aches and my back is screaming. I don’t even want to look at the skin on my palm. My hair is a sweaty mess, the moisture in the air doing nothing but making my waves knot as I fling them out of my way while I work. I would kill to have something to tie it back out of my face.
But I don’t want Weston to see the pain I’m in. I won’t let him think this is breaking me. Instead, I will take a few breaths, then get back to work.
Relief washes over me when I hear a cheerful voice call out behind me. I drop my head back and smile at the sky, before turning to find a joyous face smiling back at me.
“Hi Lennox!” Fin says as he skips across the deck, straight toward me.
Shifting my body, I slide my feet out from under me and lower myself onto the deck. The muscles in my legs pull and my knees ache as I stretch them out in front of me.
That’s it. Time for a break.
“Hey Fin,” I say. “How’s your day going?”
“Great! I’ve been hiding from mister Weston, and he has to come find me. I get to see all kinds of things on the ship. He found me real fast last time, though.”
Fin is playing with Weston? The thought of him doing anything for fun, let alone playing with a child, doesn’t line up with everything I know about him. Maybe Fin is mistaken and there’s another reason he’s sending him off into the ship.
“That’s alright,” I say. “I’m sure you can find a really good hiding place next time.”
“Can you play with me soon?” he says, excitement and hope etched across his face.
“I don’t think I can today. I still have a lot of work to do.”
He looks at the bucket beside me, then around at the deck.
“Yeah. Ryum is real happy he doesn’t have to scrub the deck anymore now that it’s your job. He used to use a mop, though. How come you’re doing it with your hands?” Fin cocks his head to the side as he waits for my answer.
I clench my teeth, my jaw popping with the pressure.
I was right. That asshole is doing this on purpose, humiliating me in front of the rest of the crew, and trying to literally keep me down and bend me to his will.
I clear my throat so Fin doesn’t detect the hatred in my voice. “The captain didn’t give me a mop, he only gave me this.” I raise the brush so he can see it.
“Oh, okay. Wanna see me do my job?”
His rapid change in conversation helps soothe my anger in the moment, although I will not forget it. I’ll need to hold on to it, and use it as fuel to get me through my time here and keep moving me forward to my goal.
Fin doesn’t need to see it.
“Sure,” I say, and he smiles a toothy grin.
