by Travis Smith
A hand fell upon his own.
The Stranger’s eyes snapped open to reveal the strangest looking man he’d ever beheld.
“Careful there,” the man spoke, his voice softly feminine and oddly comforting. He wrapped The Stranger’s wrist in both his fists and hoisted him out of the sinking tar and back onto dry stone.
The Stranger looked to the pit from whence he’d been retrieved to find naught but damp, stony cave. He looked down at his body. It was completely dry and unscathed. At last he looked back up at the strange man.
“Welcome to Hell,” the man said.
Epilogue
Early in the morning, The Stranger’s stolen slave ship made landfall in a fiery, soggy heap on the small, nearly uninhabited island south of Fordar.
Eugene hobbled across the shore to retrieve the man’s bleeding, unconscious body and survey the damage.
Maria Vilsen hugged Robert Forlo close as they watched the stunning Barony ship sail away to the east.
Patrick Oliphant awoke to find himself still alone in a hellish nightmare on the morning after he was forced to kill his own parents.
John Tompkins made his way morosely and aimlessly to the top of the rocky seaside cliffs, embracing the notion of death more and more with each step.
The long-fingered hands of fate intertwined the lives of each of these individuals. Her vigilant eyes looked on as She patiently awaited the collision of their destinies.
But the eyes of another looked on as well …
About The Author
Travis Smith is a current medical student at the University of New England in Biddeford, Maine. While pursuing a career in medicine, Travis writes novels and poetry part-time. The Stranger: Adrift is Travis’s third publication.