Wrecked

by Harmon, AJ

  “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 18th 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.

  9.

  Andrew stood on the beach and looked out at the rolling ocean. There was blue sky far off on the horizon and the wind had calmed significantly. The storm had exhausted itself, although not before destroying his entire world. There were wood planks and barrels riding the waves ashore, and his ship was no longer visible, now sitting on the ocean floor not far from the rocks that had battered it to pieces.

  As he made his way along the sand toward the small port that harbored fishing boats and two other recently arrived naval ships, Andrew hurried to find Elizabeth. Although looking like he had just survived a shipwreck, the desire to see her again outweighed any social requirement to tidy himself up. The first man he saw was a fisherman mending a net and as Andrew approached him, asking him the way to the Sherton residence, he realized there was something quite amiss.

  “Are you deaf, man?” he screamed, demanding attention.

  But no response came, not even a glimmer of respect for the captain. With anger boiling, Andrew stomped away and came upon a young man hauling sacks down a gangplank and off a ship.

  “Boy!” Andrew yelled. But again, there was no response. It was as if he wasn’t even there.

  Andrew stopped and turned to look back the way he’d come. There on the sand, just a quarter of a mile down the shore was his body lying lifeless as the surf tickled his feet. With horror, he looked down at his hands, all ten fingers accounted for, his father’s ring on his right pinky. He reached out to clutch the wooden railing and his hand went right through it, as if it wasn’t even there. Again he grasped at the rail, and again his hand penetrated the solid object and came through the other side. Andrew found a barrel and tried to touch it, with the same result. He couldn’t feel it, and looking back at his body slowly being covered by the surf, the realization of what had happened washed over him with horror and heartache.

  With urgency, Andrew ran up the dock and to the town, searching the faces for Elizabeth. He looked in the modest store windows and in the town square where women had gathered to gossip and children played tag. But there was no Elizabeth.

  He continued to wander through the small town hoping to spot the face he had memorized in great detail. And when darkness began to fall and he still hadn’t found her, hopelessness settled around him and he fell to the ground and sobbed.

  Time no longer meant anything to Captain Wentworth. It was irrelevant. Day meant nothing. Night meant nothing. Tuesday was the same as Friday. April or November, he didn’t care. As the nothingness of his existence sank in, he heard a commotion and watched as the men of the town congregated an
d ran in the direction of the port. He followed, only slightly interested in what was taking place.

  He watched with sorrow as two of his men were pulled from the water, bobbing next to one of the fishing boats. And then, as if in a state of sleepy dreaming, he saw two men carry his physical body up the beach and place it on one of the docks, women crying as the realization of the shipwreck took hold of the town.

  Andrew felt strangely detached as he stood back and regarded the scene as it unfolded before him. Boats were released from their moorings with men aboard holding large hooks to pull aboard bodies and supplies. There was a mixture of grief and relief as they searched the waves for barrels of food and drink, but finding the bodies of navy men sent to serve their King and country. Children continued to play, fortunately oblivious to the dead bodies being retrieved just a short distance away. The sight may well have been one that the townsfolk were used to, dealing with the fickle ocean regularly. Even so, it was odd for Andrew to watch.

  As boats began to return to port, the Captain heard a sweet laugh behind him and turned to see a beautiful little girl picking wild flowers and holding them in her chubby little hands. She had golden curls that framed her round face, and a smile that made her eyes sparkle brilliantly in the sunshine. Andrew was mesmerized by her laugh and took a step in her direction when he heard the voice.

  “Andrea! Andie! Please stay close to me.”

  Elizabeth!

  10.

  Ethan had spent the last forty-eight hours at the hospital. The night shift doc had the flu and Ethan had thought it was easier for him to stay than mess around with calling in someone else. The nights were usually quiet and he was able to sleep in one of the exam rooms for several hours both nights. He’d missed his bed, but more than that, he’d missed seeing Bess. He liked finding excuses to see her. It was getting more difficult to come up with reasons to drop by and invite her to dinner, but he was willing to keep it up just to spend time with her.

  Regina was his ally and often clued him in on any perceptions she had, as she wanted to see them both happy and she was sure that together they would enjoy total bliss. She just had to help make it happen. And she told him so.

  “She is perfect for you,” she informed Ethan while they sat and ate lunch during her break. “There is not one thing about her that I don’t like.”

  “Except that she doesn’t seem to like me!” Ethan chuckled.

  “She likes you,” Regina argued. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “As a friend, yes, I think she does. But I don’t think it is anything more than that.”

  “You have to give her time, Ethan. And besides, you can’t expect her to rush into anything. Just think about all she’d been through since she got here, and that doesn’t include everything she experienced before she arrived in Port Lincoln!”

  “I know. I know. It’s just that…”

  “What?”

  “Why am I even talking to you about this?” he chuckled. “I sound pathetic!”

  “You’re a man and men need help when it comes to capturing the heart of a woman,” Regina grinned.

  “We do, do we?”

  “Yes! And I can help you. But you’re gonna have to listen to me and do as I say. Can you do that?”

  “Maybe,” Ethan smiled cheekily.

  “And this is the Emergency Department,” Taylor, the HR Manager, said as she walked through the double doors and towards the nurse’s station where Regina and Ethan sat. “Oh, and Dr. James is here.” She turned and motioned for Bess to hurry up.

  Ethan smiled brightly as Bess stood before him. “Well, hello Bess!”

  “Oh! You already know each other?” Taylor asked.

  “We do,” he replied happily. “And we’re neighbors.”

  “Oh, okay then,” Taylor nodded. “Well, let me introduce you to Regina. Regina? Why are you in the ER?”

  “I’m having lunch with my favorite doc,” she replied. “And Bess and I already know each other, too.”

  “It seems as though you already fit in here,” Taylor laughed. “Let me show you the radiology department and then we can head back to my office.”

  Bess smiled at her friends and Regina gave her the thumbs up as they walked away.

  “Well, that’s going to help us out tremendously,” Regina happily declared.

  “What?” a confused Ethan asked.

  “If Bess is working here every day, getting her to warm up to you should be no problem at all!”

  *****

  Bess stood in front of the bathroom mirror brushing her hair and pulling it back into a ponytail. Not only was she offered the job at the hospital, but they provided her with five pairs of blue scrubs to wear to work – the hospital administration was tired of having to pay the ER registration employees for their ruined articles of clothing – so scrubs were the perfect solution… and free! And even better than that, Bess could wear whatever closed-toe shoes she wanted, so tennis shoes it would be, the most comfortable shoes she owned.

  Her first couple of days would be spent in training and becoming familiar with hospital systems, software, and policies. Then she would shadow for two days so she could learn the ropes and be ready for running solo the following week. Although she was nervous, there was nothing in the job description that Bess couldn’t handle. She was thrilled that she’d been given the opportunity to earn her way and get back on her feet.

  Andrew had not shown himself again, to both Bess’s relief and disappointment. His story was fascinating and she told herself that if she saw him again, there was a list of questions a mile long that she wanted to ask him. Her research on him and his ship had only sparked more curiosity. But alas, the good captain would have to wait because she had a job to get to, and she most definitely did not want to be late on her first day.

  One of the benefits of wearing scrubs to work was immediately fitting in… looking like she belonged - working in a hospital with everyone else. Another benefit was that she was incredibly comfortable. She had room to move and breathe, and her shoes would enable her to work all day without her feet getting sore. She was given a locker in the bathroom of the ER where she was advised to keep a pair of clean scrubs, just in case, and any personal items she brought to work each day. Amazingly enough, she was allowed to keep her cell phone with her, but was asked to keep it for emergencies only. Bess didn’t know anybody who didn’t work in the hospital, so needing her phone was unnecessary.

  It was weird to think that she’d be near Ethan all day. What was even weirder was that she’d been given the day shift - the most sought after shift, she imagined – when she was the newest employee. Apparently, the idea of having no patients in the evenings and at night appealed to most of the other employees in the department, so she was given the day shift because nobody else wanted it. Just another reason Port Lincoln was odd to her, but she wouldn’t complain.

  At lunch, on her very first day of work, Bess sat with Regina in the cafeteria and ate a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato bisque soup. With being ill for so long before she arrived in town, and then the surgery and subsequent drug trial she was still participating in, she’d lost some weight… too much in fact, and everyone she knew, well, Regina and Ethan, along with Dr. Ryder, continually encouraged her to eat. It felt good to be hungry. It felt good to taste food and feel satisfied after a meal, rather than nauseated. Despite the fact that they’d become good friends, Regina teased her incessantly.

  “Do they have clothes smaller than a size zero?” she asked.

  “Hardy har ha,” Bess chuckled. “I am not, nor have I ever been, a size zero!”

  “You know, I’d be happy to give you some of my extra padding,” offered Regina.

  “You know, I think this sandwich is doing the trick,” Bess grinned.

  “So how’s it going so far?”

  “Fine,” Bess nodded as she chewed. “This morning was just filling in all the paperwork. Who knew I would have to sign so many pieces of paper!?”
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br />   “Yeah, there’s a bit,” Regina agreed, trying to remember her first day on the job. “But I’m guessing this afternoon will be better?”

  “I doubt it! I have to read the employee manual.”

  “Oh, Lord!” Regina exclaimed. “That should put you right to sleep!”

  And it almost did. Pages and pages of the most boring stuff on the planet and Bess had to read it all and then sign a form that said she had read it all. At least half, if not more, pertained specifically to the nursing department, yet she was still required to read it. After three hours, she closed the binder and stretched, knowing that, more than likely, she would retain little of what she’d read.

  Taylor dismissed her for the day, telling her to arrive at eight the next morning and the I.T. guy would be getting her passwords and log-ins all set up for the computer system so she could learn the policies and regulations of the software specific to patient records and care. Goody, she thought. That sounds almost as fun as the employee manual!

  After she’d collected her things from her locker, Ethan called after her as she was ready to leave.

  “Should we celebrate your first day with dinner?” he excitedly asked.

  “You know, you don’t have to help me celebrate all the time. I’m sure you have things you’d rather be doing?” Bess replied.

  “Nope. I don’t have anything I’d rather do than take you out.”

  How could she respond to that? “Well, that’s very kind of you, but…”

  “Please don’t make me celebrate alone,” Ethan pretended to pout.

  She laughed at his exaggerated expression. “Do you think we could maybe just order in? I’d kind of like to stay home. Actually, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”

  “Sure we can order in. Or I could grab takeout on my way home? Chinese?”

  “That sounds really good,” Bess agreed. “Thank you, Ethan.”

  And it was better than she had remembered. Ethan had brought her Chinese food right after she’d been discharged from the hospital. It tasted even better now that she was well. And Ethan noted, with pleasure, how much she had eaten.