Wrecked (6 page)

Not that it was ever far from her thoughts, but Bess’s mind
drifted to her dwindling savings. She hadn’t spent much money since she’d left
her apartment that crazy day, but she hadn’t had much to begin with. If she got
the job at the hospital, she’d have to spend some cash on a few new items of
clothing. Her wardrobe did not include much that could be considered
professional dress.

She sighed out loud and swung around to sit on the sofa. The
movement of a man off to her right caught her eye. She screamed as he walked
away from her and through the doorway from the kitchen to the dining room.

“Hey!” she yelled, and jumped onto her feet. “HEY!!” Without
thinking she ran through the family room, through the kitchen and into the
dining room. “Who the hell are you?” she screamed… to nothing.

Bess looked right and left. No one was there. She hurried
into the front room and then into the foyer. There was nobody there. Her
bedroom was also void of anyone, and she searched thoroughly.

“What the…” She knew she’d seen a man walking through the
house. It was not a hallucination. He was real, and she’d seen him. Yet, there
was not another soul in the house.

Bess stood by the front door, the locks still turned and the
dead bolt still in place. As she turned, she faced the stairs. She had to go up
and search the second floor.

His feet were planted firmly on the wooden planks of the
deck even though the ship was swaying wildly in the storm. Every strike of
lightning lit up the sky enough for Captain Wentworth to see he was getting
closer and closer to the jagged rocks that would more than likely claim what
was left of his ship. Most of his men had already plunged into the icy cold
water, gambling that they could get to shore before they froze or drowned. He,
however, would remain with The Mighty Elizabeth.

Dotted along the coast, high on the cliffs, he could see
light coming from the windows of the town. In one of those houses was his
Elizabeth, and Andrew clung to the hope that it wouldn’t be much longer until
he would see her once more. The waves beat against the sides of the ship with
unending determination to batter it to pieces, yet he stood firm on the bow
waiting to reach land.

The thunder boomed loudly overhead and another flash of
lightning arced across the dark sky. And then the mast cracked and fell,
bringing ropes and the remains of the tattered sails with it. The end had come.
Within just a minute or two the bow connected with the first of the rocks and
the impact flung Andrew from his feet and across the deck. Grabbing a flailing
rope, he kept himself aboard what was now half a ship. He could hear the
screams of the rest of his men as they were hurled into the cold, angry ocean
and he knew it would be a miracle if he survived. But Captain Wentworth believed
in miracles. All he had seen in his years in the Royal Navy proved to him that
miracles were commonplace… happening all around him, all over the world. He
prayed for one more. He prayed with all the faith he had that he would be with
his Elizabeth. They had waited so long to be together and this is not how he
wanted their story to end. Pleading with God, he begged for mercy and as he
said Amen, the lower half of the mast fell. He felt the sharp pain on the back
of his head and then all went black.

*****

Elizabeth Sherton stood at the window and peered through the
fogged glass at the rain pelting down outside. It was one of those storms that
had her praying their roof would remain overhead and the wood stacked under the
overhang would remain dry enough to burn in the fireplace and keep them warm
and cozy.

Her father, William Sherton, sat in a wingback chair next to
the fire and read from the Bible, as Andrea sat on the rug at his feet, playing
with some wooden blocks of various sizes. She liked to stack them as high as
she could and then kick it over, her glorious laugh filling every corner of the
house and making Elizabeth smile every time she heard it. The family dog,
Rufty, a homeless mutt that had adopted them several months ago, lay beside
Andrea, content to be a back rest for his young charge. Elizabeth glanced over
at her family, happy they were together but sad that one vital member was still
not with them. Andrew had written a few months earlier telling her of his plan
to arrive in America in the fall when they would finally be able to be married
and begin their life together. What he didn’t know was that in the eyes of the
town, they were already married.

Bess knew she was being silly, but still she turned on every
light she could find on the upper floor, expelling all darkness from every
corner. As she walked from room to room, opening doors and peering around
furniture, there was no one to be found.

“I know I saw you,” she muttered to herself. “I’m
not
crazy.” She sat on the four poster bed in the last bedroom at the end of the
hall and sighed. She’d read the pamphlet that came with her medication
thoroughly. There were many side effects she was to watch for: nausea,
headaches, tingling in the extremities, and loose stools were just a few. Nowhere
did she read she might experience hallucinations or visions. “Maybe I’m tired.”

“I’m tired.”

“What the…” She jumped onto the bed, standing and looking
all around the room in a panic. “Who are you?” she yelled, pretending to be
tough. “
Where
are you?”

He stood in the doorway, his eyes fixed on her. On one hand
Bess was relieved she saw him, that he was not just a figment of her
imagination, but on the other hand, there was a strange man in the house and
her knees shook in fear.

“I won’t hurt you,” he spoke softly.

“I might just hurt you!” Bess spoke sharply. “Who the hell
are you and what are you doing here?” Ethan had said he didn’t want any
vagrants getting any ideas about taking up residence in his empty house. Maybe
he’d had a point.

He smiled slightly. “You’re feisty.”

“I’m angry!” Bess spat. “Who the hell are you? Answer me!”
she demanded.

“My name is Andrew. Captain Andrew Wentworth.”

“You’re English.” Bess noted his accent.

“Yes.”

“Why are you here?”

“I’ve been here for a long time.”

“I live here and I can tell you that you have not been here
for a long time,” Bess snapped.

He took a step forward and Bess screamed.

“I told you I won’t hurt you,” he frowned.

“No… it’s… you’re… how? Who are you?”

Captain Andrew Wentworth walked further into the room, his
black boots clicking on the wooden floor with each step he took. But Bess,
still standing on the bed watched him with her mouth gaping open, her eyes wide
with shock. As he moved through the room she could see the wall behind him…
through
him. He was… translucent. He looked like a man. He walked like a man. He
sounded like an Englishman. But she could see through him!

“What are you?” she asked, the trepidation in her voice
front and center.

Andrew continued walking to the window and stood looking
outside, his feet apart, his hands clasped behind his back.

“I am Captain Andrew Wentworth of His Highness’s Royal Navy.
I arrived in America during the war and stayed since I am unable to return
home.”

Bess had watched a movie on Netflix - one of those
historical romances set in England. She swore this guy could have come right
from filming!

“
His
Highness?” she asked.

“King George.”

History had not been one of her strong subjects in school.
She’d found it monumentally boring. She did know, however, that Queen Elizabeth
had been the monarch of England for quite some time. “King George?”

“His Royal Highness, King George III.”

He was serious. While Bess couldn’t see his face – he was
still staring out of the window – she heard his voice.

“What year did you come here?” she asked, almost afraid of
the answer.

“The year of our Lord, one thousand, seven hundred and
eighty-one.”

Her legs gave out and Bess fell onto the mattress. The man
standing in the room with her was transparent and arrived in the good ol’ USA
in 1781. Maybe she was having hallucinations.

“I understand this may come as a shock to you,” he said as
he swung around and looked at her. “But on my honor, I speak the truth.”

“I’m sure you do,” Bess muttered.

“So now that I have introduced myself to you, I think it
would only be polite for you to do the same.” He raised his eyebrows and waited
for her to speak.

“Bess.”

“Bess? Is that short for something?”

“Elizabeth. Williams.”

“Elizabeth,” he whispered, a pained expression on his face.

“Yes. Elizabeth.” Bess wondered why her name caused him such
apparent anguish. “Are you okay?”

“Elizabeth was my love’s name.”

“Oh.” What could she say? “And what happened to her? Did she
also live in… in 1781?”

“I assure you,” Andrew stated emphatically, “I am not crazy nor
am I telling untruths.”

“Somehow, I think I believe you,” Bess admitted.

“Really?”

She nodded.

“I have not allowed many to see me,” he replied. “But there
is something about you. I don’t know what it is but I feel you are trustworthy.”

“I’d like to think so,” Bess said. “Huh? You
allowed
me to see you?” realizing the meaning of his statement.

“Yes. Over time…
your
time… I have learned how to…
appear
,
although when I really needed to… when it meant more to me than anything else
to speak to her… to tell her how much I loved her… to be able to have her know
the feelings of my heart, I couldn’t.”

“So… you are… a ghost, then.” Bess accepted the
ridiculousness of her sentence as she looked up at the Captain, noting again
that she could see right through him, yet she was carrying on a full
conversation with him.

“I… I died when my ship wrecked below the cliff.”

“In 1781?” Bess asked.

He nodded and began pacing back and forth. “I was coming for
my Elizabeth when a great storm arose and killed my crew and destroyed my ship.
That was when I died, I suppose, but I don’t know
how
I died.”

“How can you not know?” she asked incredulously. “I mean, if
you’re dead…”

“I don’t know if I drowned or was struck on the head with
part of the ship. Maybe the waves bashed me against the rocks,” he shrugged. “The
last thing I knew, I was standing on my ship as it broke to pieces and the next
minute I was lying on the beach, just a short way down there,” he nodded in the
direction of the cliffs. “I stood and brushed the sand from my clothes, emptied
my boot of water and began searching for Elizabeth.” He paused for a moment.
“But no one seemed to see or hear me. I would stand directly in front of
someone and scream at them, just inches from their face, and they would just
walk right through me.”

“That must have been… confusing,” Bess sympathized.

“Hmm. And then…” He paused again, as if remembering
something painful.

“Did you ever find her?” Bess asked, eager to hear his
story.

“I did,” he said softly. “But by then I knew that she would
never see or hear me again.”

“Oh.” Bess was overcome with sadness for him. That would
have been horrible to finally be united with the love of your life only to be…
like him. Dead.

He was obviously deeply affected by the memory of finally
finding her. Bess felt like she was somehow intruding on a very private moment.
She sat quietly and looked down at her hands as Andrew stood before her, his
body trembling with grief and loss. Without thought, she crawled off the bed
and went to him.

“You can’t touch me. I am not of this world, nor am I of the
next. I am in limbo, neither here nor there, neither body or spirit. I am
nothing.”

“You are
not
nothing,” Bess responded quickly and
with compassion.

“What am I?”

“Well, I’m not really sure,” she confessed with a smile.
“But you’re something, alright.”

“What is it about you, Miss Elizabeth?”

“Please call me Bess.”

“Bess? I prefer Elizabeth.”

He smiled and Bess gazed at his face, his strong jaw and
chiseled nose. He had long, dark eyelashes that framed his most exquisite blue
eyes that looked like the ocean. And although his lips curled upward, she could
see the sadness in his expression… the yearning for the love of his life.

“You are tired,” Andrew finally said after several minutes
of silence. “I will let you retire. Goodnight Bess.”

He stepped into the hallway, Bess following him, but he
disappeared, leaving her to wonder if she was already asleep and dreaming this kooky
interaction with a ghost from 1781.

Bess lumbered back down the stairs, her mind overwhelmed
with the events of the night. Yet once she fell into bed, she promptly fell
asleep.

*****

All was quiet in the house for the next couple of days, with
the exception of Bess pounding on the keyboard of her laptop. Her need to find
a job took a backseat to scouring the internet for any information on a Navy
Captain named Andrew Wentworth. What she discovered had her reeling in shock
and amazement.

He was real! There
was
a Captain in the Royal Navy
with the name of Andrew Wentworth, and he
did
in fact die in 1781 after
his ship, The Mighty Elizabeth, was wrecked in a storm off the New England
coast. Most of those onboard were military men, arriving in America to fight in
the Revolutionary War. There was even a sketch of the captain that honest-to-goodness
looked very much like the ghost she’d been conversing with in the middle of the
night.

Seeing him… reading about him… explained his attire, too. In
his knee-high boots and ruffled shirt, he looked every bit like he belonged in
the 18
^th
century. The long hair, that was tied back in a ribbon in
the sketch, was typical of the time. Everything he’d said was confirmed on the
internet. There was no other explanation than he was really a ghost… and she
had really seen him. Bess was both excited that he’d revealed himself to her
and alarmed that he may require something of her. What, she couldn’t fathom,
but the anxiety persisted that he had allowed her to see him for a reason.
Eventually, she figured, he would enlighten her as to his purpose.

Bess hadn’t seen Ethan in a couple of days and realized,
with reluctance, that she missed him. That was not a good feeling, one she
attempted to banish quickly. It would be unwise for her to wallow in feelings
of longing for a man she neither deserved, nor could satisfy. Instead, she
turned her attention to the online local newspaper and scoured for possible
employment.

The town of Port Lincoln was small, no manufacturing or
industrial companies, mainly
mom and pop
stores and small businesses.
There was a primary school and a middle/high school. There was one large
grocery store, part of a chain, and the hospital that employed the largest
number of residents. Bess ruled out the railyard and a lumber mill as potential
employers. And since she’d already applied at the hospital, the supermarket was
the only other option.

Bess showered and dressed, pulled her long hair into a
ponytail and dusted her lips and cheeks in pale pink. She grabbed her keys,
wallet, and phone and drove to the Stop and Shop. Just as she was parking her
car, her phone rang. The hospital wanted her to come in for an interview.