The Maiden of Castle Rufus

Chapter 0: Beginning to the End

The smell of new land. The breeze of the cold air. The touch of hardwood planks. The sounds of a new language. The sight of a new world. But the fear of old cruelties. However much I try not to think about it, the more it pressures itself into my mind. Not only am I a foreigner to these people, but I'm also cursed. An atrocity. At least so have I been called back in my former land. It's made me loathe everyone quite a lot, which resulted in me finding the littlest comfort I could get only in my imagination, my mind. But when I get back to the reality of it all, I start resenting myself as well. I can't do anything but pray for a better future.

My first thoughts that I can remember shortly before my arrival in London. 18th of May, 1715. A date I could never forget. The date that set me up for my doom. This is my story, told through my mind's voice, writing. 

I can hear families chatting, laughing and playing around. I couldn't have trusted myself to go up to anyone during the full week we had been sailing over to the unknown land to most, including myself.  I had just been strolling around the ship by myself. Taking in all the peace and inner quiet I could while it was still possible. Feeling every wave of the water crashing into the creaking ship. It's the cheapest man could get. " Little Maria " is what they call it. I've unintentionally heard many rumours about the origins of the name. Some had been saying the wicked owner named it that after the passing of his unfortunate daughter. Others whisper around that it might've been named after a girl he had fallen in love with at a younger age, yet never got over her. Not that it's important anyway. It's just a name. A name of a ship carrying the souls of many through the rough challenges of the sea. A name, that in case the ship would crash or disappear, to be remembered. Unlike the living walking on it. They'd all be forgotten. But is it that bad? To have your name erased. For people to not get the possibility to know you. For people to not get the possibility to judge you, to ridicule you. All they'd know you as would be one of the poor humans that happened to have been on " Little Maria ". Not as an abomination. Not as a disgrace. They'd actually pay their respects towards you, even with your name unknown to them.

I've always had a way of turning negative things around. I guess it comes as a coping mechanism. But not even I had expected any of what would happen once I arrived. The very first night. An unusually dark one for what it matters too. Get ready to learn about the mysteries I had uncovered, which led me to my own demise. And remember me as Gabriela. Not the names that I have already mentioned, or the ones that have to come, but as myself, for this is my story.
This is the last time I will speak to you so directly. So if you find these letters, please, give them a read and spread them around, so no one will think of me as a disgrace anymore, but as the hero. But be watchful of who gets their hands on these. I've made many enemies, even for the short time I've been around here. And remember. Do not. Trust. Rufus. You'll soon learn why.