India Rose & The Eternals - The Fountain Of Youth Chronicles Vol. 1

Chapter 15 - The Icy Cold Waters Below

Just Under The Third Class Compartment, In The Waters Of The Atlantic Below The HMS Majestic, 9:38 P.M, 81st Day Of Spring

As Finn fell into the darkness below the Third Class compartment he was suddenly aware of the strong smell of the ocean (which must be below him somewhere), and of the echoing effect that his, and Olaf's, screaming voices had on whatever was around them as they pitched downward into the blackness. They must be in some sort of round chamber, Finn thought to himself, just as he brushed hands with the falling figure of the boy beside him. Instinctively he pulled Olaf into himself and wrapped his arms tightly around him just as he hit the icy water hard.

Despite his best effort, the impact knocked the air out of Finn's lungs as he sunk below the surface. Instinctively, he sucked in and felt the terrible, burning sensation of water rushing into his air pipes in the space created by the exhale. He fought to expel the water and stay conscious as he rocketed downward through the water. He had released Olaf when they hit, and in his last seconds before blacking out, he wondered if the boy could even swim.

In those few seconds, Finn saw his entire life rush by his memory. It was like the moving picture shows that The Station Master had entertained the neighborhood children with back in Spain. He saw his village burning when he was a small child. He saw the long line of refugees moving out through the snowy hills with their meager belongings on their backs as they fled along the mountain trails. He remembered calling out his parents' names in vain as he pulled against the hand of the old woman who was dragging him along. She was his family's neighbor, and he remembered that she always smelled of cabbage and sausage. He remembered the coarse fabric of her gloves as she held onto his hand with a vice-like grip as he struggled to go back. Back to the only home he had ever known, back to his mother and father and the happy times he had always known. They were strange memories to linger on, here at the end of his travels; here in the icy, black waters of the ocean.

As he sunk down, the darkness around him seemed to turn to bright, warm light, and he saw his mother and father's faces clearly for the first time in ages. He saw them looking down at him as a baby in his bed, his mother smiling and singing softly to him as he drifted off to sleep. His father, whose face was kind, yet strong, joined in singing with his mother on the chorus of the song. The beautiful harmony of their two voices in sync flooded Finn with an inner warmth that stood in contrast to the cold blackness around him. The images shifted in his mind and he saw himself as a small, dying child huddled in a doorway. He was just one more stray orphan in a city full of them. He saw his breaths come in ragged gasps as he struggled to breathe that winter afternoon. He had been so sick and delirious with fever, that he hadn't even felt the cold of the snow he was lying in, slowly freezing to death. His old woman caretaker, the neighbor woman who had held his hand firmly on the day his parents died, had passed away on the road some months ago, and young Finn had watched as others from his village had tried to dig a grave in the frozen ground. Now they, too, were gone. Finn had wandered the alleys and lanes of this strange city, where no one spoke his language, living off the refuse he found from time to time; and the kindly (but few and far between) scraps of food that had been tossed his way by passers-by as Finn pitifully sang in the streets for his supper. And now, he was too sick to even beg or sing a note as he lay there in the doorway of some nameless gray building, dying.

And then he came; the kind face of the man who Finn would come to call Master Leo.

The old man stooped over the shivering, miserable form of the child who lay there in the snow, and Finn remembered the kind face, the first kind face he had seen since his parents had passed away that awful day.

"I've found you, young Finnegan," said the kind man in a language that Finn could understand. Though some words were strange to Finn, he could understand almost everything The Station Master was saying.