The Right Question

Rain thundered on the deck of the boat as the waves slapped threateningly on it's creaking hull. The sky was covered in dark clouds and the air thick with electricity. All around her, Yana could hear the shouts of sailors as they scrambled to battle the storm. She was soaked to the bone, cold and shivering, the salt water arching up into the air and spraying into her face. She would be much safer going below deck, she even thought she had heard someone shout at her to do so. But none of that mattered, because she had seen a ghost. It had to be a ghost, if it wasn’t it meant Yana was going mad. A girl from her dreams, dressed in a white nightgown, golden hair flowing in the wind. She was pretty, with soft elegant features and kind eyes that Sophie couldn’t not make out the colour of. A moment of staring, locked in place, felt like an eternity.

She couldn’t be here. 

She wasn’t real. 

All of a sudden she was gone and Yana ripped herself from where she stood to make chase. Dodging around sailors she scrambled up the metal steps in desperate pursuit, nearly slipping on the slick rail. She couldn’t see the woman anymore but still Yana battled wind and rain towards the stern of the ship, somehow knowing that was where she had gone. She didn’t make it very far when someone grabbed onto her arm and yanked her back. 

“What are you doing?”

Yana turned to see a young man with brown hair darkened by the rain and plastered to her tan forehead. He looked annoyed, and worried and before Yana could reply he spoke again. 

“You need to go below deck, it's not safe.” 

Yana stared at him for a moment, then with a strength that clearly surprised him she ripped herself out of his grip.

“I’m sorry!” 

As she scrambled further down the desk, trying not to fall over in the rain, she could almost hear the man running after her but if he spoke his words were stolen by the wind. She didn’t know why she was so desperate, she had to see that woman again. The woman from her dreams. That only existed in her dreams. 

The sky was bright with stars yet somehow the moon was nowhere to be seen. Yana stood in a field filled with flowers of every colour that she knew and more. It was warm, and a gentle breeze blew her hair in front of her face and as she moved to brush it away someone appeared in front of her. A woman in a long white nightgown who had golden hair. 

“Hello?” Yana said, taking a small step forward, “who are you?” 

The woman did not reply, but turned and started walking through the field. Yana moved to follow, quickly, but as she sped up so did the woman, matching her pace perfectly. Faster and faster they ran until the stars were just a blur in the sky. Yana did not feel herself grow tired, did not feet a burning in her chest. She knew she needed to catch up with the woman, she knew that she would tell her something important, if only she asked the right question. 

“Who are you!?”

Yana was standing at the stern of the ship, blinking in the rain. Her hands gripped the banister and she leaned over the edge trying to get closer to the woman. She was standing on the air, completely untouched by the rain. She was not smiling, nor was she frowning. She was simply waiting. 

Suddenly someone grabbed Yana again pulling her away from the edge.

“Are you crazy? Get away from there you could-” 

The man broke off suddenly, staring out at the woman and Yana took the moment to break free once again. She took a step forward, back to the railing and leaned out once again. The sea was getting rougher not, the boat lurching from side to side. It was all she could do to stand on her own two feet. 

“I came all this way, because of you!” Yana shouted, “Tell me, what do you want!?” 

The woman turned her head, the only acknowledgement that she was even listening at all. Then, without warning, she dropped into the churning ocean below. Yana did not even think twice about diving in after her.

The water was colder than ice and even though the raging ocean should have torn her to pieces something was keeping her in place. The water which surrounded her body was still. It was dark and her eyes stung to be kept open but she could see the glowing light of the woman floating before her. She smiled, and opened up her arms and the light only glowed brighter. Too bright for Yana, she winced, closing her eyes and turned away and when she forced herself to open them again the woman was gone. Yana felt her heart sink, then grip with terror as she realised she had jumped into the ocean for nothing at all. But then, she saw it. It floated in the water before her a dim object, she could barely make it out. It almost looked like a necklace. Yana quickly realised that it wasn’t floating, but sinking through the waves and she lurched forward to grab it before it did. Her lungs had started to ache and so she quickly looped it over her neck and swam back to the surface.

As soon as Yana’s head broke she heard the frantic shouts of the people on board. 

“There she is! Someone get a ladder! Help her, quick.” 

Even now, with the woman gone, Yana found that the water was still kind to her, it even seemed to push her towards the boat. Up the ladder she climbed, fingers numb with the cold. She barely paid attention as she was bustling around towards safety and warmth. Her fingers were clenched around the necklace and she felt like a weight she had been carrying for weeks had finally been lifted. Then she raised her head and caught the eyes of the man that had been with her at the stern, and she felt her blood run cold once again.