The Hourglass by Casey Donaldson Read Free Book Online Page B

the youngest person on the boat. “How about you,
pipsqueak?” It was the small girl Marland had sat next to on the bus.
    “What’s it to
you?”
    “Who the hell do
you think you’re talking to?” bristled Heather. She stood up. Sarah assumed she
did it to appear more menacing.
    “I don’t know.
Nobody, probably.” There was a slight pause as Heather processed this and then
she advanced on the girl.
    “Leave her
alone,” said Finn.
    Heather gave him
an ugly look. “No need to ask why you’re here, freak. I bet they made any
excuse to get you locked away.” She looked pointedly at his hair. Finn flushed.
He went to retort back but the girl interrupted him.
    “I can fight my
own battles,” she said, staring at Finn with dislike. Finn just threw up his
hands.
    “Fine,
whatever.”
    The girl looked
at Heather evenly. “I sold black-market fruit, and before you ask, my name’s
April.”
    “Good girl,”
said Heather, giving her a cold smile and sitting back down.
    There was an
awkward pause after that, their early story-sharing having been poisoned by the
antagonism now radiating around the room. Nobody spoke for the rest of the
journey. A combination of fear of the approaching prison ship and nausea started
to permeate the space. Sarah had enjoyed the boat’s rocking at first, but after
ten minutes the roiling motion had gotten to her. She didn’t have it as bad as
some, however. Toddy looked like he was going to be sick at any moment. Sarah
hoped that he could keep it in. There was nothing for him to be sick into and
she knew that if he vomited, she wouldn’t be that far behind. Finn was sitting
very still with his eyes closed, apparently going through the same thing. At
some point the boy on the floor, Justin, woke up. He cried a little and sat up,
but he didn’t move to sit on the bench. Sarah had never felt more hopeless in
her life. She looked at the burn on her arm. She hated it. It was a cruel thing
to do. It meant that everyone would know, for all eternity that she was a
convict. Eventually the motions of the boat slowed down. Sarah leaned over so
that she could see out of one of the grimy portholes. All she saw was a wall of
grey metal. They had arrived then. There was shouting above them and the sound
of movement. Ten minutes later the hatch door swung open, bringing sunlight and
fresh air down into the room. A guard stuck his head in, smiled, and then
leaned back out again.
    “Hey Mathers!”
He yelled gleefully, “nobody vomited! You owe me a drink!”
There was an indistinct reply and then the guard stuck his head back into the
hull.
    “Well c’mon you
lot, we don’t have all day.”
    They all got up.
They were stiff from sitting and their legs were wobbly, not used to the rocking
motion. After a few awkward tumbles they made it up the ladder and onto the
main deck.
    The grey ship in
front of them was huge and depressing. It looked like a retired navy ship. The
name ‘Prison Ship 374A, The Anoscosa was stencilled on the side. A metal
ladder fell from the deck of the prison ship, reaching the deck of the
transport vessel. Someone in a grey mechanics uniform was climbing up it. He
had a clipboard in his right hand. A middle aged woman on the prison ship deck,
wearing tailored clothes, peered down at them distastefully. She nodded once
and one of the guards motioned with his gun for them to climb up the ladder.
They did so slowly, warily. Sarah looked around while she waited for her turn
to ascend. She couldn’t see any sign of land. She was trapped. A gun poked into
the side of her ribs and she looked back around to see that they were waiting
for her to ascend. She took a big breath. What happened next was important.
First impressions were everything. She felt about as important and confident as
the slime on the bottom of a pair of boots. With a mammoth effort, she
straightened her shoulders and climbed the ladder.

Chapter
Eight
    The Anoscosa
     
    Sarah reached
the top of the ladder and