Antitled

Shipwrecked

         Samantha felt like a princess in her gown of fine lace. She was being escorted by a handsome young man in a tuxedo she had just met. Her hair was curled and pinned up, adorned with pearls and fine jewels.
         Her mother and father, the owners of an expansive estate had purchased tickets on an expensive ocean liner for her nineteenth birthday and now she and they were embarking on a glorious holiday.
         At the banquet on the third night at sea, Samantha danced with strange, gorgeous men, tasted wine and champagne and had the most amazing night of her life.
         With her parents having already retired, Samantha made the walk back to her room alone. The section of the ship their quarter were in was unusually chilly, having a general quality of warmth and friendliness. No one was in the corridor which was odd for the time of night and Samantha could feel the air giving her gooseflesh and making her hair stand on end, making her regret not bringing a shawl.
         As she passed the last hall before her room, a big, burly man with greasy, jet black hair stepped in front of her. He had dark sailors tattoos and the remains of a half smoked cigar rested between his lips.
         “Good evening, miss,” he said, his voice gruff and frightening. “May I escort you somewhere?”
         “No thank you,” said Samantha, her voice was barely more than a squeak as the man had startled her. “My room is right ahead.”
         “It was a rhetorical question,” said the man, snatching Samantha's wrist in his large hand and dragging her down the hall he had emerged from.
         Samantha tried to prevent him from moving her, digging in her heels and thinking of a way to escape this situation. After being pulled for about twenty feet, she leaned down and took a bite of the man's filthy hand.
         The man wailed and released her hand and Samantha quickly ran down the hallway, turned the corner and was into her cabin in a matter of seconds. She spit the chunk of flesh from her mouth, which now tasted of blood and grease, then went to the toilet to vomit.
         Once she had finished in the bathroom, gargling and brushing her teeth, Samantha examines her wrist, which was now badly bruised, even from only being held in the man's strong grip for a moment. She was glad her parents were across the hall, because if they had shared a room, her vomiting would surely have woken them.
         Samantha undressed quickly in the dark of the room, then crawled into bed and stared at the door, crying herself to sleep.

         The next morning at breakfast, Samantha didn't tell her parents about what had happened. She ate in silence and the three of them went about their day.
         The family played board games for a few hours and were on their way to enjoy lunch when a sudden blast made the ship rock side to side, sending them to the floor in a heap. Most of those on board didn't know, but a torpedo from a German U-boat had hit the starboard side, just behind the engines and the ship was taking water quickly.
         Samantha's father jumped to his feet and pulled hit two ladies to their before leading them toward the deck of the ship. The three of them were running toward the launching point when the second and third torpedoes hit the ship, splitting it in two. Samantha, her father and her other were thrown from the ship into the icy water and separated. It was the last time Samantha would see either of them.

         As she floated in the water, watching the ship tear to shreds, Samantha saw the few lifeboats that had made it to the water before the ship was destroyed. The fine dress she was wearing was tattered, which made it harder for her to swim towards the boats, and with every stroke, she felt it wrapping tighter around her legs.
         After what seemed like hours of paddling in the water, Samantha was suddenly rising from the water and soon fell onto a flat surface. Coughing and spitting, Samantha turned her head, pushing her soggy hair aside and looked at who had saved her. To her amazement, Samantha was staring at the man from the night before. He smiled down at her.
         “It seems like you have time to come with me now,” he said, taking soggy, half cigar from his mouth and tossing it overboard.
         Samantha looked around at what she was on and saw that it was a makeshift raft formed from two doors tied together very haphazardly.
         “Where are my parents? We must save my parents.”
         “I saw them, over there, but when the three of you fell in, they didn't come back to the surface.” His gruff voice didn't even have a hint of sympathy. “Take your dress off. I need it to secure the raft.”
         “What? No. Find something else.”
         The burly man stepped across the raft and grabbed her, tearing the dress from her and pushing Samantha to the wooden deck before shredding her lavish gown into strands to tie the wood. Samantha covered her bare breasts and curled up as far away from the man as she could safely go.
         He took about twenty minutes to tie the final planks together, making sure it would hold tight for awhile. He sat down on the raft and pulled a pouch from his pocket. He began to roll a cigar from loose tobacco and a wrapper, then popped it in his mouth before replacing the pouch in his home. He struck a match on the wood and lit the cigar, taking a few puffs to make sure it was burning as it should.
         Samantha was crying, thinking about her parents and her current situation, trapped on a raft with a man who had tried to assault her only a day before.
         “What's your name,” asked Samantha.
         “None of your goddamn business.”
         “Well, I'm Samantha. My mother's name was Lucial and my father was-”
         “Shut up! I don't want to head about it.”
         “I bet you were a cook on the ship, weren't you? You did a good job, the food was delicious.”
         The burly man took a few puffs off his cigar, then spit into the ocean. By this point, they were alone at sea. The ship had dipped completely below the water, and the few life rafts that had made it were gone.
         “Yes I was a cook. How did you know?”
         “Your hands were greasy. When I bit you, my mouth was flooded with the taste. I figured you worked in the kitchen, and you weren't dressed like a waiter.”
         The cook didn't reply. His hand was bandaged where she took a bite from it. He took another puff from the cigar and snubbed it out on the makeshift deck. He replaced the snuffed tobacco into his mouth and began removing his shirt.
         Samantha watched him carefully as he laid down on the wood, turning his back to her. She wanted to do away with him, to push him into the icy water to his death. He knew that would only hurt her in the long run, as this man had much more experience at sea than she had and it would leave her floating all alone on the sea.

         Samantha awoke to pain. She opened her eyes but could not see. There was no moon out, and the dark was all encompassing. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized something was on top of her.
         Then she could see him. It was the burly cook, thrusting into her. The pain he felt was coming from her privates, telling her she was being raped.
         “Stop!” Samantha screamed, pushing with all her might on the man. “Let me go!”the man had one of her legs up on his shoulder, holding her back flat on the raft and taking away her leverage.
         “Quit struggling, bitch,” the burly man said, slapping her across the face. “Lay still.”
         Samantha continued to push, moving with all her energy, every ounce of strength was called upon to force the man from her. No matter what she did, the man continued to thrust, fondling her breasts and slapping her around all the while.
         Her fists were pounding the chest, neck and face of the man, but he didn't flinch. His grip remained tight, holding her shoulders firmly against the cold, wet wood that made up the deck of their water craft.
         In her frantic movements, Samantha grabbed one of the remaining pieces of her dress and pulled it loose. The craft rocked as the doors came about six inches apart and the side they were on sipped into the water.
         Samantha held her breath as her head was plunged into the frigid water. The burly man was moved forward and seeing her opportunity, Samantha pushed and the man flew off of her to the other side of the board they were on. Her head popped out of the water and the board sank on the other side, like a see-saw, sending the burly man into the water.
         After catching her breath, Samantha ran to the side where the man had fallen. As he resurfaced and attempted to climb back onto the raft, she kicked him in the face, sending him back into the water. Another attempt by the man to board the raft came and again her foot connected with his face, knocking him out and sending him to the ocean floor.
         With the man out of the way, Samantha set her mind to repairing her sea-faring craft. She soon realized that with the way the plank on the left had rocked back and forth, the raft was unrepairable, and over the next hour, the two halves separated completely and Samantha was left on one door, alone.
         With every movement, the door would take water on and she tried as hard as she could to keep still. Alas, even with limited movement, soon the entire board was under water and Samantha was left floating with no support.
         She closed her eyes, said a prayer to the god she had never taken the time to care about and took a big breath as she slipped below the surface.