Southern Beauty - By Julie Lucia Page 0,44

talk about,” she replied.

“I see. Love is a crazy thing, don’t you think? You never can believe what you’re capable of until you’re faced with heartache,” said Reilly.

“Pardon me?” Johanna extremely confused by his words.

“You have a very famous uncle in the Union army. What will he do if Virginia decides to secede? Fight against his family? His friends?” he asked.

“Why does everyone believe that a conflict will arise?” she asked and then continued, “I am not sure. I haven’t really thought of it.

“Well, what would you do?” he asked.

“I guess wherever my family goes I will go,” she answered shrugging her shoulders slightly.

“Sometimes we have to make hard decisions. Only God knows what is best for us. Anyway, I have a telegram for you,” Captain Reilly handed it to her.

“For me?” asked Johanna surprised.

She took the envelope and watched Reilly walk away. Johanna noticed a deckhand near her who seemed to look familiar, but she couldn’t place him. Her fingers trembled as she opened it the parcel. She held her breath;

You’re in great danger.

All shall reveal itself in dew time.

Johanna looked around, slightly confused and slightly scared. Dew time? Whoever sent this could not spell. She looked back at the sunset it had changed to a menacing blood red. She went back into her cabin and locked the door behind her.

Johanna did not sleep well. She continued to have disturbing dreams filled with telegrams written in blood and an evil man chasing her into dark alleys all which ended before his hands were upon her, each time waking in sweat only to close her eyes again to began down another dark dead end alley. The last dream she realized her pursuer had no hands and a hooded cloak that shaded his face, she had awakened only by a disturbance outside her cabin. With sweat already on her brow and a heart that beat madly in her chest she quietly got out of her bed and tiptoed toward the door. She listened intently. All seemed quiet except a shuffling down the hall that seemed to be getting further from her. She held her breath a little longer and than relaxed.

“Must have been my imagination,” she headed for the bed and quickly decided against trying to enter into another bad dream. She didn’t need to be scared any more than she was. The sun had not awakened yet but she was ready for the day. She grabbed her locket and hid it again around her neck under her dress. She decided to explore the ship while everyone was asleep and when her hand grabbed the door handle she noticed it seemed wet.

She quickly lifted her hand a bit disturbed by it, “dew?” The note ran through her mind, ‘all will reveal itself in dew time.’ Johanna brushed it off and continued out her door. It was still dark, “maybe this is a bad idea,” she said to herself under her breath.

Johanna heard the shuffling again to her right and began to follow the noise down the ship’s deck. The noise careened around the bow and then halted. She was about to question her sanity, when she stumbled over something in the dark and grabbed the railing for support. It was wet again, but this time it felt sticky. She could barely see her feet or her hands in the thick darkness.

She tried to look at her hand and held it up in the fading moonlight. Johanna jumped from the fear of her realization that blood was on her hand and she fell over coming face to face with one of the young deckhand’s dead staring eyes. Johanna tried to scream, but nothing came out. She headed toward her cabin not knowing where to go. She opened it and found it was ransacked, her trunk was emptied and its contents spilled on the floor.

She was glad she was still wearing her mother’s locket. Johanna exited her cabin without thinking and headed to Captain Reilly’s room. A light shown below his door and it stood slightly ajar. Johanna pushed the door open and stepped in. She was horrified to see Captain Reilly gagged and bound in the corner of his room. The Captain was dead. Johanna whipped around to exit as quickly as possible not knowing if she should hide or try to escape the steamer.

The sun refused to rise and the sea air was cold, dark and unforgiving. She stood still it felt to her like an eternity. She couldn’t make her