Lost At Sea
Dear Diary,
November 9th, 1802. Today, today was going to be better. I knew it would be, we were halfway done with our trip, halfway to America. Halfway away from Britain, the hell-hole I actually called home. Not anymore, it was a fresh start; America would be my home from now on. I guess being born into a rich family wasn't so bad after all. Before I always hated being rich, you never had any true friends. Everyone was always in it for the money. Not anymore, no one had to know I was rich in America, it was going to be different.
Sincerely, Emma Elizabeth Bailey
I closed my diary, and laid it on my night stand. I rolled from my stomach onto my back in bed. I took in a deep breathe and enjoyed the ocean breeze before my mother was to call me for breakfast. Ah, it was nice to have a couple minutes to myself before my day was officially going to start. 'Emma! Emma breakfast is ready.' My mother's crackling voice called from the kitchen, crashing down on all of my serenity. 'Emma, hurry up. Your breakfast is going to get cold.'
'I'm coming, Mother. I'm coming.' I sighed to know that I had to leave this place, this was the only time that I actually had to myself. I swung my legs over the side of my bed, laced up my shoes, and picked up the bottom of my dress. I strolled over to the big mirror above my dresser. My long brown hair was curly from the long nights sleep, I pulled it back and put it in a ribbon. I leaned a little closer over the front of my dresser, my eyes were looking extra blue today. I sighed and wiped away the sleep from my face with my hands. I leaned back, smiled, and then continued towards the door. *Click* *Click* *Click* the heels of my shoes clicked down the corridor. I walked into the kitchen where I took in the smell of fresh bacon and eggs. My mother had that very predictable huge morning grin on her face, ready and waiting to hand me my breakfast.

'Good morning Emma, how was your night?'

'It was great, I never woke up once. And I felt so refreshed when I woke up this morning.'


'Really? Maybe I should have a bed like yours, your father was snoring all '

*DING* *DING* *DING* 'Pirates! Pirates!' Somebody was screaming from the stern of the boat. My mother started to scurry around, and grabbing random objects. I was in a state of shock. This has never happened before, nor did I ever think it was going to happen. 'Well, Emma what are you doing? Go, do what we have told you to do when this happens. GO HIDE!' I ran to my bed, as fast as my legs would go. The corridor seemed extra long going down it this time, in this situation. When I got to my door I threw it open, skidded to a halt, turned around and locked it. I let my body hit the floor and I slid under my bed. I blocked out the sound and I waited.

It felt like I must have waited for hours, when in reality it was only a couple minutes. My mother told me to never leave until someone came and got me. But I heard nothing going on outside my room; the horror must have been over. I slid out from underneath my bed. I cautiously opened my door, walked out, still I heard nothing, I tip-toed to the deck of the boat. It was terrible, the boat was caught in flames, and no one was to be seen. I walked to the very front of the boat, leaned over the edge to see half the cargo lying in the water. 'Who is she? I thought we cleared the boat!' I turned to see a crowd of pirates running at me. I didn't know what to do, I had no where to go. I started to back up, forgetting I was so close to the edge, causing me to fall backwards off the side of the boat. I fell crashing my head on something hard.

Later on I woke up in a dark room. I don't remember what happened before then. I was coming to and started to sit up, when my head started to pound. A shadowy figure started to step out of the corner. I fell back onto my back, and closed my eyes. Something cold and wet was laid across my forehead, I had no strength to brush it away. I opened my eyes to see a rugged boy standing above me, he had to be no older than 18. He was a frightening looking boy with shaggy brown hair that fell just above his eyes, they were deep brown almost black that I could almost see my own reflection in, the kind that made you stare longer than appropriate. I could see the dirt on his face, and could tell he hasn't washed up in quite a bit. Although as frightening as he looked, he somewhat comforted me. After the long observation I began to doze off again.

I woke up later on. It was morning; the sun was rising through the side window. I was extremely hungry, realizing that one whole day had passed since I last ate. My stomach was growling, which seemed extremely loud to me. Obviously it was not just me, that's when the familiar boy came to me with a plate of hot food. The smell made my taste buds water. It seemed as though he couldn't have walked any slower towards me. At the time, I couldn't have been happier to see anyone else but him. He sat the tray on the grungy wooden table next to me. 'Smoked marlin, it's not much of a breakfast but it should hold you off till lunch,' his voice was very deep. 'My name's, Neil.'

'Thanks Neil, this will work, well anything would work right now. I'm Emma.' I responded. 'How long have I been here?'

'Just over a day, I've been trying to feed you something as often as possible. But you've been rejecting everything, and you're scared most of the time.'

'I don't remember anything; do you know where my parents are?'

'I'm sorry, we don't. You are the only one that we found. You were floating on a door.'

'Oh. I was floating? Wasn't I by a boat or anything?' I was very confused; I thought he must have been one of the pirates that ambushed our boat.

'No, you were all by yourself, no where near a boat. My father came to the conclusion that you and your family must have been attacked. There are other pirates out here you know? And we have no desire to hurt anyone that hasn't done a thing to us.'

'Did you end up finding anyone else later on, or any thing that might have belonged to my family?'

'No, we never found anyone else, you seemed to be the only one who survived.' The thought of my parents being gone crashed down on me. They were the only thing that I had; I had left everything else back in Britain. 'But we did find something.' He reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out my diary. A warm spot grew inside of me. My whole life wrote down in paper. I took it from him and held it close to my chest. I saw that he noticed that it must have meant a lot to me, because he suddenly changed the subject. 'Do you want to go do something?'

'Like what?' I looked up to say.

'You will have to see,' he said with a smirk on his face. I had no idea what he was up to but at the time I didn't care. I would do anything to get out of this dark room. I smiled, and he offered me his hand; I grabbed it and slowly got off the bed. My head hurt at first, but it went away after a couple seconds. We started our way to the old raggedy door; it felt good to actually move my legs. I had no idea where we were going or anything, but I liked the thought of that. He opened the door and the light shined in blinding me. The fresh air was nice; it was cool against my face. He led us to the side of the boat, and dropped a rope ladder over the side. He climbed down. 'Well, are you coming or not?' He asked. I swung my leg over the side and started to climb down. 'Now, when we get to the bottom just get in the water and don't let go of the rope.' I thought he was crazy, why would I want to risk getting left behind in the water. He jumped in, and held onto the rope, the water just slid past him. I guess the least I could do was to trust him after saving my life, I jumped in the water and held onto the rope. It was so refreshing to have the water all over me. I turned onto my back to just relax. It felt like hours had past by the time Neil said something.
'Emma, do you want us to take you back home?'

'Neil, I have no home now. I was supposed to be going to America to start a new life with my parents. Then all of this happened. I have no where to go now.' Coldness rushed through my body and I got chills, all the thoughts I have been blocking out, now came crashing in. I could tell he noticed I had become mortified at that moment, because he said the one thing that made everything better.

'This can be your home now, if you'd like. It's not so bad once you get use to it. We're all just one big family.' I turned and smiled at him.

'I would like that, more than anything.'

Later that night, when I was lying in my new room, my new bed, in some new clothes I pulled out my diary to finish my daily routine, and write down my nightly entry.

Dear Diary,
November 10th, 1802. Although the past day has been very rough for me, I like to think as though it has all happened for a reason. Maybe it was a purpose to teach me that I am able to walk on my own two feet without the help of anyone.
Sincerely, Emma Elizabeth Bailey