Between Tomorrow and Forever

~~ Between Tomorrow and Forever ~~

Late 1890’s

Stars sparkled in the dark night sky as the warm summer breezes blew quietly around the house. The breeze caught and fluttered through Kalaila’s long black hair. She took a deep breath of air, catching its salty smell. Her hands gripped the rail of the widows-walk, in which she stood and watched the ever-changing moods of the ocean.

Her eyes skimmed over the waves lapping against the beach. The ocean had a tranquil and soothing presence here, but Kalaila knew that it was not so further out. She gazed at the clear sky over her head, but she saw the clouds lingering on the horizon.

“What shall this night bring?” she wondered as she could sense an extra charge in the air.

A sharp, loud cry of pain broke through her thoughts. She sighed and glanced once more over the bird's eye view of the ocean before turning and going into the house.

Kalaila walked silently down the stairs and hall until she reached her young mistress Mary’s room. Whimpers of pain could be heard through the thick, wooden closed door.

Kalaila tapped the door softly to warn that she was entering. The sight before her tore at her heart. Mary was lying on the bed in great amounts of pain; her hair was plastered to her face and neck. Trish, Mary’s mother, and Kalaila’s best friend, looked on anxiously.

The doctor gave Mary a reassuring pat on the knee as the contraction eased as he rose from his chair to talk to Kalaila.

“’Tis a long labor, and shall be a hard birth. The babe is large, but her body can handle it. It will still be awhile,” he said quietly to her.

Kalaila walked to the bedside and stroked Mary’s stressed brow with a cool, damp cloth.

“You and your babe shall be fine,” she told the girl as she gave her a reassuring peck on the cheek. She turned and gave Trish a reassuring smile and gripped her hand reassuringly.

“Thomas, where’s Thomas?” Mary asked frantically, her eyes wide and wild. “I want my husband. Thomas, where are you?” she sobbed.

Trish gripped Kalaila’s hand and looked pleadingly into her eyes. “Please,” she whispered.

Kalaila sighed and nodded, acknowledging and agreeing to her friend’s quiet plea, even though she knew it would not be pleasant. Walking from the room, the request weighing heavily on her mind, she walked down the stairs to the front door, where she slipped off her shoes and exited into the night. The night seemed to wrap around her like a familiar friend, leaning support and it’s own powers to her. The sound of the sea greeted her also as she stepped outside onto the sand of the beach. The stars in the sky twinkled down with the moon lighting the way. She walked across the beach entranced by the ocean’s soft song.

Kalaila was a woman with a special gift, the gift to be able to see what was happening in the present or in the past of the person she sought out, no matter how far they were from her. She could not see into the future, but it was fine with her because the future was always changing. Her powers were strongest when she was around the water; it was why she was going towards it on this eventful night with this quest.

She inhaled the salty air as the edge of the gentle waves kissed her bare toes. Closing her eyes, Kalaila stepped into the waves until it lapped at her ankles. The hem of her long nightgown got wet from the waves but the dampness released her further, calming her and twining her into the water that conducted her sights. Standing calf deep in the water, she opened her mind’s eye to search. Her breathing began to match the rolling waves, inhaling as the wave lapped the shore and exhaling with the out going tide.

Soon she seemed to be part of the ocean, swaying softly with the rhythm of the waves. Kalaila’s thoughts were turned forward, focusing on Thomas. The current took her thought and traveled. She could see the wide breath of the ocean passing and its rich life. The further her thoughts and focus were taken, the rougher and stormier the sea became. Soon the ocean showed her the Starfire in the midst of a storm…

* * *

Captain Thomas Shafer braced his legs against the roll of the ship. Lightening zapped around the ship and the thunder boomed loud enough to shake the deck. His mouth was set in a grim frown as he looked over the ship and the sea.

“Cap’n, they still be there, following us,” one of the crewmen told him, relaying the message from the sailor in the crows nest.

Thomas nodded and lightning cracked and lit his worried face.

“Follow course,” he told the helmsman. “We shall not let the Starfire get taken by these pirates,” he told the nearby crew.

“Open the sails some more,” he ordered, wiping some of the rain off of his face, only to be soaked again seconds later.

“But Captain, it’s already too rough, this storm will shred the sails,” a young sailor yelled over the howling wind.

“We must try and be careful, if it gets too hard on the sails we will take them down. Now back to work,” the captain barked as he began to climb the riggings of the Starfire to help unfurl the mainsail. The wind gusted and gave the ship more speed as the sails opened, but the tall rolling waves made the task of moving faster more difficult. Thomas was thankful that they had little cargo, already having taken the haul to its destination, but a good ship was a prize by itself to a pirate. The lanterns were being extinguished, as ordered, so there would be no extra light to guide the enemies to them, or to accidentally get knocked over and start a fire.

Thomas lowered himself to the deck after opening the sails and proceeded to check the ship and her crew over to make sure all was well and ready for any challenge that might be thrown at them. Heavy on his mind was the thought of the pirates, who had been spotted earlier the evening before, following at a distance. Since the spotting, the ship had been on alert, and her captain had not slept.

For a long time the ship battled the raging sea and sky. The storm grew more fierce, lashing its fury at the Starfire. The winds howled their eerie song as the waves pounded the bow, lifting it into the air while the rain never stopped, pouring over them making things slippery. The crew worked hard to control the Starfire in the rough conditions, using muscle and brawn to keep her from turning into a victim of storm.

“Cap’ she’s a tearin’. Gotta get those sails down,” Mitch, the first mate of the ship called over the howl of the winds. Horror and danger laced his voice as he watched the sails being ripped, then shredded by the gale force winds. Thomas nodded grimly as the men started to climb up the riggings and use the ropes to close the sails. Calls, shouts, and curses added to the noise around them as the crew did the Captain’s bidding.

The risk of losing speed to the risk of losing the sails was a worry for Thomas. He began to wonder where the pirates were now. Pushing his rain-soaked hair back, he began to climb the ropes up to the crow's nest. Winds battered him and caused the ropes to sway, but Thomas refused to be stopped. After the longest climb he had ever seemed to venture upon, he hopped into the nest.

“Where are they?” he demanded from the watchman.

“They be there,” the sailor answered crisply as he pointed off the starboard stern.

Thomas followed the man’s pointed finger and spied the ship, closer than he was comfortable with. Lightening struck through the sky and illuminated the red flag that the pirates flew from its mast.

His eyes shifted down toward his own ship and crew. No one remained on the mast pole or ladders; all were on the relative safety of the deck.

“Come, follow me down, you will be needed on deck,” Thomas ordered the watchman. The two men climbed slowly down, careful of the winds pushing them and slick ropes from the pouring rain.

Thomas shook the water from his eyes as he stepped off the rope ladder to the deck and prepared what he was going to tell his crew. “Men, the enemy approaches. We have tried to outrun and elude them, but they continue to come, so we must fight to protect ourselves and try to arrive home safely. ‘Tis going to be difficult in this storm, but we can do it. Let us rid ourselves of this pirate scum.”

A cheer rose up all around the deck, and word quickly was relayed to the hands below deck. As the men began prepping the cannons, their flintlocks and blades, excitement and anxiety of the upcoming fight filled the air.

Thomas fingered his cutlass’s hilt knowing that the battle was coming in just minutes. As he waited, he reflected on home, his house overlooking the ocean, and his wife, Mary who had told him just before he had left that she was expecting his child. That had been seven months ago. Knowing that the child was due any day, Thomas tried to rush home; he was now only a week away from there. If only it could be quicker, he thought. How he missed Mary and watching their child grow within her. It was this that made him even more determined to arrive safely.

A blast severed his thoughts from his family. His gaze swung starboard where he saw the pirate ship and its smoking cannon moving through the pouring rain. The crew fired back on command.

The ship shook as the cannon was fired, but the cannon ball missed its mark, splashing into the storm angered waves. Shots were exchanged from both ships, trying to make the other succumb. Smoke and rain filled the air, making it hard to see, but the ship’s shudder was felt all over when a cannon ball hit the side of the Starfire firmly, disabling her.

“Hold them off,” Thomas called over the din of noise. The air was thick with the tension of battle, but determination, laced with some fear, shone in the crew’s eyes as the pirates sidled up next to their ship and began to board. Soon the ringing of blades clashing, pistols being fired, cries of pain and the smell of blood filled the air adding to the mess that already was there.

Lightening crashed closer to the ship as the pirates attacked. Thomas parried a blade that had been swung at him, but he quickly dispensed that foe, then turned to find another. The hand-to-hand battle was vicious; the deck was slick from rain and blood, not all of it being washed fully away by the storm.

Sparks filled the air as a deafening crash boomed nearby. Thomas swung around to see what had happened and saw his mast on fire from the lightening strike. He gasped in horror as he watched the fire; and in the few seconds that he was distracted, the man opposing him struck. Pain flared hot from the fresh wound gashed across Thomas’s stomach. Now filled with rage, Thomas struck with a new vengeance quickly killing the pirate. As he turned to see who needed help, an awful cracking noise warned the crew of up coming doom: the flaming mast was falling.

“All men abandon ship,” he called out. As he watched the remainder of his crew dive, he gathered the last bit of his strength and followed the men into the waves.

Water engulfed him, strangely warm and comforting despite the furious storm raging on the surface. Thomas slowly turned in the sea’s embrace; too tired and mortally wounded he lacked the energy to kick to the surface. He could hear a voice calling his name through the water and haze; strangely it sounded like his wife, calling him. His heart was heavy as he thought about never seeing her or his unborn child.

He continued to drift, slowly drowning and sinking. In that eerie place between tomorrow and forever, just before he died, something brushed past him, and a life passed before his eyes. ‘Twas not his own, but of a wee babe, red, mad and squalling. Thomas saw the babe grow into a mischievous boy, then to a charming lad, then grow into a man who resembled Thomas himself. He saw some of the joys, sorrows, pains and triumphs that would occur to his son. Peace flowed through out him as forever welcomed him…


* * *

A shrill wail broke through the air. Kalaila’s eyes snapped open, breaking the contact. She had witnessed everything that had happened out at the sea. Just as Thomas had exited into forever, the babe had entered this world. Her heart was heavy knowing that such a good man had died for no reason. As she stood in the now waist-deep waves, she looked out to the dark ocean and mourned.

Her heart lightened a little knowing that father and son had passed and Thomas had gotten to see his child, even if it were in that shadowy, untouchable place.

She turned and waded out of the water and walked back towards the house, her wet gown tugged heavily at her legs, mirroring her heart and mood. As she looked past the house, she saw the sun’s first rays awakening the horizon. She sighed; the night was gone and as eventful and periled as she had felt, she silently walked into the house and up the stairs to see the new life and to relay the sad news.


For a look at Kalaila check out
"Invalid Item"