in the days she waits
but she moonlights rock'n'roll
but she moonlights rock'n'roll
The last sound Lieve’tel ever heard was her father praying for the first time since her mother’s passing.
Before that, it had been peaceful. The ship undulated gently across the midnight water, lulling her to unfit, sporadic rest where she lay against her father’s broad side. She’d noticed in the days prior how he rarely left, seldom taking the time to care for himself and pushing his rations to her. Her stomach hadn’t rumbled with the demand of food for some time, though, and so it often was left to sit abandoned somewhere within her reach. She drank every now and then, the cool liquid the only reprieve to her aching, raw throat.
Worse than the ache of her throat, however, was the ache for her mother’s tender voice and affectionate touch, stripped away just a few short weeks before. Her daddy’s sorrow was palpable, and although she hurt plenty herself, Lieve took it upon herself to bring him what comfort she was able during her waking hours. She nuzzled up against him, told him how much she loved him, reiterated the stories she’d been told countless times and even managed to create a few of her own, told him how she couldn’t wait until they made it to wherever they were going – even if she would miss the briny stench of the sea and the dolphins that sometimes swam alongside the ship.
---
It must have been the following morning when she drew her next breath.
Weak though it may be, Lieve’tel drew a breath, the silken sheet draped across her small form crinkling as it was disturbed. Another long moment passed in stillness before yet another inhale was taken, this one akin to a whip cracking through the everlasting silence. An ear twitched, a leg shifted, her sides heaved as she willed her head to rise – every minuscule movement a grueling task for the young body depleted of life years ago. Beneath the silk, her eyes grew wide with confusion, fear tinging the edges as she tried to make sense of everything.
A musky scent filled her nostrils, not too far off from how the ship had been. She recalled a dream where she had been with her parents, running joyously across the field just outside their home when a storm had struck, and they were separated. She had called out to them, never to receive an answer, and searched endlessly for them to no avail. Her mind assured her it had been nothing more than a simple nightmare, not the first she had ever had and certainly not the last, but the realization did nothing to quell her childish fears.
“… D-Daddy?” Her quivering voice stammered from beneath the veil.
