Scene 20: Into The Crate

By: DropDeadThenDance

The sky was dotted with early morning stars, the black ocean separated from it only by a thin veil of fiery shades of orange and pink. I stood amongst no one but my own thoughts, and the silence of the morning. It was weird… I'd never woken up so early, never actually looked at the sky as the sun rose and the moon fell…

The moon was a torn fingernail above me, thin like a sliver, and I shuddered as a breeze from the ocean shot through my body. This isn't going to be easy, my thoughts warned as my feet started down an icy back street.

Even the street lights were dim at this hour, and the businesses and homes were black. I kept glancing back and forth, paranoid; I felt like I was being watched, eyes peering at me from blackened windows. It took me a moment to realize I was starting to hyperventilate.

What the hell is wrong with me? I ran my fingers through my hair slowly, forcing an air of calm into my system. Nobody had jumped out at me yet, I wasn't flat on my back bleeding from the throat. Time was still on my side…

I walked a little faster though, despite my deluded sense of safety.

Buildings seemed to shrink down to single story homes and shops, the ocean getting closer. I could see the ships docked along the coast, quiet in the morning. Still, I didn't jog downhill towards the docks, wary of security or ninjas or… Stuff in general, really. If anyone was watching me from a darkened vantage point, I at least didn't look like I was trying to escape.

By the time I finally made it onto the heavily salted peer, the sun was finally starting to come up. I didn't have long to get on board, but I had a plan, sort of. I stayed close to the looming shadows of the ships, heading towards where I'd seen crates being loaded up the day before.

My plan was to climb into a crate, hide inside until I was loaded onto the ship, and then maybe just ride most of the cruise out until we got to anywhere but here. At least if I ended up somewhere warmer, I wouldn't have such a hard time hiding out.

I rounded a ship, finally, hoping to find the stack of crates from the day before; instead, I found only ice, snow, and what looked like hay. I swore under my breath, jogging back out and around another ship. In the distance, I could hear stirring, people moving around the docks now beside myself. Gotta hurry, before someone spots me, I bit my lip, pushing that image from my mind before it overtook me.

Some crates popped into my view and I slid, the sheet of ice beneath my feet throwing off my gravity when I tried to pivot. I slipped and fell, coming down hard on my shoulder; my head was spinning, anxiety kicking at my frontal lobe again, and the irony tang of blood flowed against my teeth. I must have busted my lip open, or bitten into it or something. With a quiet groan of pain, I rolled onto my hands and knees and managed to get my feet beneath me again.

There was no way of knowing if someone had heard me, so I didn't bother to wait and see if a squad of ninja swooped in on me. Instead, I grabbed a crowbar from one of the half opened crates and moved the lid aside, as soundlessly as I possibly could. So far, so good, I set the crowbar inside, about to jump into the box myself...

Normally, at this moment, someone would have spotted me or called out, asked what I was doing. However, despite my fears, no one was standing there waiting to arrest me. Cool.

The label on top of the box was written in Japanese, of course, so I couldn't read it. I did recognize the symbol for fire, however, and crossed my fingers as I crawled into a pile of hay. In less than ten seconds, I had hay inside my jacket, in my hair, and nestled into my socks; god, I regretted this already! But I didn't have a lot of other options so, carefully, I tugged the top of the crate mostly back into place.

Inside there was nothing but smaller boxes of what looked like fabric; the heavy duty stuff my coat was made out of. I figured the Land of Snow must be selling the stuff to other nations, helping them winterize, although it was obviously of a lower grade than what I was wearing. Cheap bastards.

To be honest, at some point I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes again it was pitch black and the top of the crate was fasted down. I inhaled slowly, my fingers wrapping around the crowbar I'd tossed in, and listened to distant voices and what sounded like the ocean. Good job, Hannah, you're dumb ass passed out, I scolded myself silently, pushing the crowbar blindly into where I hoped the seam of the box was.

I know. A smart person would have stayed in the box…

Scene End