Out of Black Came White
an excerpt

Before Cale opened her eyes, she felt harsh rain pelting against her face. Then she opened them. And wished she hadn’t.

Her hands had been clinging onto something, and they now began to slide as she loosened her grip. Realizing there was nothing below her, and the only thing keeping her up was that tight hold on the rope, Cale immediately clung for dear life.

Quickly she looked below her, and her heart pounded against her chest. She was in the air. She could make out a huge body of water below her, waves crashing into each other. The wind was rough, causing her long blonde hair to dance around and the rain to sting her eyes.

Cale dared to look up, squinting against the pummel of water on her face. The rope she clung to draped over a wooden panel and she recognized the structure to be…a ship. Momentarily she forgot about her predicament, so fascinated with the fact a ship was in the air.

But the danger she was facing came clear once more as a few people aboard the ship overlooked the edge and hollered down to her.

“Hold on tight!” A younger woman yelled against the storm raging. “We’re going to pull you up!”

Cale’s arms were beginning to feel pressure and weak, her fingers stinging with blisters and burns. Her legs weren’t in a much more comfortable position either as she dug her heels deeper into the wooden structure for support.

As she hung there terrified, she slowly began to feel the rope move. They were pulling.

A man’s head popped over the side. “Push!”

Push? Cale continued to hang there in fright.

“Push!” The man said again. “With your legs! Push up!”

Finally understanding what he meant, Cale began to walk up the side, pushing herself up as the people above continued to pull on the rope. She refused to look down though the temptation came on once or twice, and before long she was at the edge of the ship.

Three of the people held onto the rope while the man rushed to greet her. Cale managed to let go of the rope and hold onto the edge as the man took hold of her arms and helped her into safety.

By this time Cale was shaking; both out of fear and the cold. She practically threw herself at the man, and both of them landed on the ship’s surface, Cale on top of him.

She didn’t bother to move except to push herself up on her knees, and the man wiggled free then continued to kneel beside her. She had almost plunged to her death! That was the closest thing Cale had ever come to-

“Oh thank the stars, you’re alive!” The man suddenly took Cale into his arms, running a hand through her tattered hair.

He pressed her face to his chest, and it was the first time it occurred to her that this was an extremely odd situation for her to be in. Not just in the arms of a strange man, but having been hanging over the side of a ship in the sky.

And now that she thought about it, she couldn’t remember how she had gotten there in the first place.

The stranger continued to console himself that Cale was safe, including rocking her back and forth in his arms, and even grabbed her cheeks to pull her up and give her a kiss. Shocked, Cale did nothing but allow him to press his lips into her own, the rain still washing over them.

Then she grew angry. She was more than grateful that this man had saved her life, but to be so forward as to give her a kiss…She was married after all!

Furious, Cale pushed the man away. He looked sincerely shocked as she stood to her feet, her knees still weak and wobbly.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Cale asked.

By this time, the others had gathered around them, all of them now looking as shocked as the man.

The man began to rise to his feet. “Wha-“

“Look, I really appreciate you helping me and all, but that’s a bit too far!”

Among the rescuers were two women, one older and one younger, and a teenage boy. All three of them now turned to look at each other as though one held the answer.

The man on the other hand was more persistent, and attempted to reach out a hand to Cale as he moved closer. Cale immediately batted it away.

“What has gotten into you?” The man asked.

“Me? What has gotten into you! You can’t just go around kissing women! Did you ever think that I might be married and my-“

“Yes,” The man said.

“What?”

“Yes, I know you’re married! Do you take me to be a fool?”

This time Cale hesitated. “But how do you-“

“I’m your husband!”

The air around them immediately changed. A chill swept down Cale’s spine that wasn’t from the cold, and she took a good look at the man before her.

This wasn’t her husband. Not only was he taller, but older. In fact, she could see the start of gray hairs peeping from his hairline. No…this wasn’t her husband.

This wasn’t Daniel. It wasn’t the man she had shared her bed with for four years. It wasn’t the man who annoyed her to no end with snoring, and leaving his dirty dishes on the end tables, and ignored her for days. It just wasn’t him.

“No,” Cale said. Slowly she shook her head in denial. “No, you’re not my husband.”

“Have you gone insane?”

“If anyone has, I think you have!”

He looked hurt as though she had just killed the very wife he claimed her to be.

“I don’t even know you!” Cale said, backing away from the group of people and looking now at all of them. “I don’t even know any of you! Where am I?”

The younger woman stepped forward. “Stop it, Eve! You know he’s your-“

“Eve?” Cale turned to the woman. “My name isn’t Eve.”

None of them moved or spoke. They all just stared at her; four pairs of eyes boring into her from all directions, making her feel as though she really had gone crazy.

The boy was the first to speak as he leaned over to the older woman. “Maybe we should just throw her over.”

Cale’s body tensed. She suddenly wanted Daniel there to hold and protect her. Such an odd feeling; all those times she celebrated when he wasn’t home, and now she only yearned for him to be near her.

The man made a move again to get closer. “Eve…”

“I’m not Eve!” Cale quickly backed up.

The others decided to watch from a distance as the man continued to step closer. But each time he moved forward, Cale moved back.

“My darling, please, just listen to me.”

“No! Stop! Don’t come any closer!”

But he did. And this time he moved quickly; too quickly for Cale to react in time. He enveloped her in his arms. Cale pushed against him, using as much force as she could with her arms still weak and tired from holding her body up.

It did no good. He was stronger. Much stronger, and before long Cale was completely trapped in his arms and could only scream.

Her head was beginning to feel light and the scenes around her started to spin. She could feel herself blacking out, but she still continued to struggle and fight.

The man knelt and he took Cale with him as her shoving eventually turned to gentle pats. She felt herself growing limp as her head rolled back. The last thing she heard was him whispering a name. But it wasn’t her name. It was Eve’s.