Roslyn and the Shipwreck

This is a finish the story prompt. “She clung to a piece of driftwood, praying for daylight.” starting the story was mostly easy. Names of places and characters where hard to come by but kept them blank until inspiration hit. Then I got to the middle of the story and wasn’t sure how to continue. Happy ending. sad ending or somewhere in between. I’m happy with the way the story turned out.

The storm had been wild, lightning and thunder at the same time. The rain was one relentless sheet of water; the waves crested over the top of the ship every few seconds. Kall the sudden one of the men throws a life jacket on her and shoves her into a lifeboat. Just as she hit the water another wave smashed into the ship and the entire thing capsized in seconds. This caused the lifeboat to smash into pieces at the same time. She fought with all her strength to keep her head above water. In a short time, that felt like a week, the rain stopped, the waves calmed, and the moon came out from behind the clouds. She clung to a piece of driftwood, praying for daylight.

Just twenty-four hours ago Roslyn stood in her father’s study as he explained to her that he was sending her to Ashland to be married to a rich businessman, named Weston. She tried to argue. She hadn’t even been introduced to society yet. And she had always thought that Kyle would ask for her hand once she was available. Her father rationale his decision by saying that Weston was going to invest in his business interest if he was able to find Weston a bride. Her father decided she would be the perfect option. She was to depart the next night. All objections fell on deft ears, and with her mother away at her aunts, she had no one to back her up. So, by the next evening she had three trunks and herself at the pine wood harbor ready to cross Canterbury Sea. The captain promised a smooth overnight sail and they would land in Ashland just past sunrise. From there it was a couple hours’ ride to her new home.

Looking around at her situation Roslyn could see that there were two other men clinging to driftwood as well and looking very exhausted. The rest of the crew and captain had clearly not survived and were floating around in the water, she had not been keeping track of how long they had been sailing got before the storm hit. She was not familiar with reading the havens, so she did not have any sense of direction or time. She only had her prayers that they would somehow drift close enough to land to be seen. In about what she thinks is an hour she can see one of the men swimming towards her. She reaches for him as he gets closer and helps him hold on to her driftwood. She learns his name is Officer Martin. Just a few minutes later the second sailor comes swimming to join them, but much slower. This man’s name is officer Jospeh. It’s a miracle that the three of them survived without being harmed but now is the time to come up with a plan.

Roslyn decides to ask some basic questions of the men to help assess what can be done. Officer Jospeh tells her that they are smack in the middle of the two lands, so swimming in either direction would take at least a day, longer due to exhaustion. Officer Martin lets her know they had been on a busy trade route when the storm hit, but everything was so chaotic that neither man is sure if they went off course and by how much.

“So basically,” Roslyn summarizes “swimming will just wear us out fast and be a long journey we might not survive. And if we sit here and wait there is a chance we are to far away from where anyone would see us. Do I have that right?”

“Yes, that is correct miss” Officer Martin replies.

“We wish we has better news for you” adds Officer Jospeh. Roslyn doesn’t want to give up though.

Roslyn looked at the two men and made up her mind. She decided they would swim to Ashland. If they were off course, staying here they were unlikely to be rescued by a ship. But by swimming to either shore there would be a chance, however small, they could be seen by a passing ship then they can find help as soon as they find shore. Both officers argue for going back to Pinewood instead, but Roslyn reminds them that the shoreline for Pinewood is smaller compared to Ashland and they don’t want to wind up in Mapleton by mistake because of the political tension between the two countries.

The officers finally agreed, but Officer Martin says they should stay with the driftwood and just kick so that if one person needs a rest the other two can keep going. Roslyn reminds them that she can not navigate so Officer Jospeh points them in the correct direction, and they take off.

After a couple of hours and a short break for each of them, Officer Jospeh tells them they have made progress but not more then 5 miles. His breath is shallow and the other two can tell his exhaustion is greater than theirs. Officer Martin keeps up a steady stream of encouragement but it’s doing no good. Within another hour Officer Jospeh has passed away. Officer Martin’s grief is evident, so Roslyn says they will keep him with them so that he is not alone. She knows this will slow them down, but all the other crew are at least together and have a greater chance of being found. If they leave Officer Jospeh, it is unlikely anyone will find him and that is no way for a man to be remembered. Now it’s Roslyn’s turn to keep up the encouragement. Officer martin is silent yet determined. He is kicking harder and taking shorter breaks. He seems like all he wants is to get to shore to make his men proud.

Just as the sun begins to break the horizon, the two see a ship in the distance. Roslyn begins to yell at the top of her lungs, but Officer Martin stops her. The ship is too far away still for them to hear anything. He says they need to push as hard and as fast as they can. He thinks they weren’t as far off as initially feared. The ship is almost directly in front of them off to the left. Roslyn does as she is told and pushes her muscles to their braking point. After a half hour hard swimming officer martin starts yelling. Roslyn follows suit and a couple minutes later there is a flurry of activity on deck. The two have been spotted and a lifeboat is being launched to come get them.

When they are on board the ship fifteen minutes later Roslyn is greeted by none other than Weston. Apparently, he had shown up to the dock a short time before she was to arrive. That’s when he heard the news that a large storm had been spotted out at sea earlier in the night. When Weston explained that he was expecting Roslyn on a ship traveling there that night the captain of this vessel agreed to allow Weston aboard to search for signs of Roslyn’s ship.

Roslyn and officer martin refused to go to sleep until they found the rest of the crew. As soon as the last man was pulled aboard, Roslyn finally gave in to the heavy weight of sleep. She wakes up the next day with her mother by her side. Weston is still there worried ab9out her wellbeing. When she asks about Officer Martin, she learns that he is okay as well. Just needing to recover from the excretion as she is. Weston being a kind and generous man stays with Roslyn to get to know her. By the time she is better Weston chooses to let her out of her obligation to marry him if she chooses. She does because she never thought she had been ready.

For the next year Roslyn works on recovering her mental state from the shock of her night on the water. The thing that helps her the most is the letters her and office martin share. At first it was just him wanting to check in on her, then it quickly blossomed int them sharing their lives and dreams with each other. When the day comes that Roslyn debuts, officer martin is the first one at her door. He professes that during their correspondence he fell more in love with her compassion and determination. All the fight that she had the night of the ship wrack is still in her and he wants to help flourish. Before her parents can say anything. Roslyn says yes. She confesses that she has thought of no one else for the last year. That his guidance and straight not only got her out of the water but through the stress of the after math. Her parents knew that they would never find another husband that could love and protect her like this. They agreed to the match and set a date for six months later. On the day of the wedding, at the chapel on the harbor the bride and groom take time to honor the fallen crew by placing roses into the sea. One for each member of the crew.