Sadie stumbled. Tripped over a lone piece of drift wood on the deserted beach. She had been walking for an hour, maybe more. She had no idea how far she was from the bungalow she had rented on the isolated Northern Welsh coast. It would be easy enough of course to simply re-trace her steps. But that would take time. Time she might not have if the dark clouds rolling off the sea and the increasingly boisterous winds were any indication.
As if Mother Nature herself were listening to her thoughts, the heavens opened up and a barrage of icy cold rainy began to fall. She stood for a long moment, staring first back the way that she had come and then ahead. She knew what lay behind her...safety, warmth, home. But it was so far away now. She had no idea what lay ahead of her. She had not seen any sign of another human for at least the last half an hour. It could just as easily be another half an hour or longer before she did.
Isolation was what she wanted most. She needed to be alone. Away from everyone who knew her. Everyone that cared about her. Away from the constant phone calls, texts and emails. She knew everyone was worried about her. Hell, she was worried about her. The past six month had been the worst imaginable. The miscarriage, then she was made redundant at the job she had had since she left uni, if that was not enough her fiancée had broken off their engagement...two weeks before the wedding.
This was supposed to be their honeymoon. They had thought that an isolated beach bungalow was the perfect place to spend it. No tourist distractions, no sickeningly sweet tropical drinks to cloud their senses...just the two of them. Alone together. Instead Sadie was alone. Alone by herself. Perhaps for the first time really in her twenty-eight years upon this earth.
She shook her head. Sometimes it seemed that there were simply no right answers in life. Even if she ran it would take her close to half an hour to get back to the bungalow. So instead she took the risk and walked ahead at a brisk pace. She had to lean into the wind that seemed to have shifted direction. Now it was blowing from that direction. She dropped her head and leaned her shoulder into it. Each step felt as uncertain, unsure as the future itself now.
She only managed to go a few steps. The battle just seemed too much. Each step got harder. Each stride took more energy than she had. She felt the chill of the pounding rain seeping through her jumper and jeans, through her skin and muscles to the very core of her bones. She was so cold. So cold and alone now.
Her clothes seemed heavier. Like they were weighing her down. She laughed at the sheer madness of it as she striped the jumper over her head. She tossed it into the raging surf. She kicked off her trainers that were squishy with sea water. They too landed in the sea. Her jeans soon followed. She stood in just her bra and knickers as she looked out at the sea and sky. But even those seemed too restrictive. She unsnapped her bra and allowed it to slide down her arms, flinging it too into the waves. She wiggled out of the matching knickers and kicked them into the ocean.
She flung out her arms and began to dance about in the waves. She felt free. Truly free for the first time in her life perhaps. She was cold and alone, yes, but she was free. It felt surprisingly good.
Then from nowhere a rough woolen blanket was wrapped about her. Strong arms held it in place. Captured her. She screamed but the wind and sea absorbed her pleas. For the first time she realized how vulnerable she was. Alone and naked on a deserted beach, miles from a village or perhaps any other human being. She truly had lost her mind...and now she might lose her life as well. What was left of it any way.
Yet in that moment, she knew...knew that no matter what came she wanted to live. To truly live. Not just go through the motions. No do what everyone expected of her. Not be their good girl as she always had been. She wanted it back. She wanted that freedom she had felt for only those brief moments.
And she fought to keep it. She struggled within the blanket. Fought and shoved against the stranger that seemed so much larger and stronger than she was.
"Cease your silliness, woman," his deep and hypnotic voice boomed louder than the thunder. "I will not permit you to catch your death of cold dancing naked in the rain."
Sadie calmed just a bit. She was still on edge, ready to renew her struggles at any moment. But she quieted enough to get a real look at her assailant. As she had guessed from size and strength it was a man. A large one at that. But she could tell little else about him. His whole upper body, head and face were covered in a dark woolen cape. She laughed hysterically at the sight. He appeared straight out of the phantom.
He shook his head, "Pitifully weak vessels."
She knew she was being insulted but not why. Did this strange man think that she would just go with him? Just do whatever he said?
"It would be prudent to get in out of this storm, my lady." He looked up at the skies. They seemed to be getting darker by the moment. "Accepting shelter when offered would be the sensible choice, would it not?"
She studied the man once more, trying to magically see beneath the hood. To catch some glimpse of her savior...or her captor. Either way it was futile. The wind itself seemed to aid the man as it wiped the dark, damp material about his face crafting new shadows to swallow the old ones.
In the end, she looked back towards her rented bungalow and then out to sea. As the man said, what choice did she have really? Prudence seemed against her this day. She nodded her head and whispered, "Lead the way."
"Common sense at last," it was odd but somehow she knew he was smiling, chuckling almost beneath the safety of those folds. He held out his left hand for her. She gave one final look about the beach, hoping that perhaps the sea had some mercy, perhaps had returned some of her offerings to the shore. But it was futile.
She took a deep breath. She could only hope that she was making the right choice. But then again she had thought she was making the right ones before and look how that turned out. Sometimes the safest of choices were nothing more than an illusion. So perhaps then ludicrous ones like following strangers into the unknown were not as risky as she had been taught? As with all things only time would tell.
He bowed at the waist with an old world grace and just a bit of hesitancy. It was an action that should have reassured Sadie, but only confused her more. She shook her head as he tugged her by the hand, leading her across the few remaining feet of sandy beaches and towards the rocky cliffs. How had she not noticed the thin trail that led up the side of their steep face?
It took them several long minutes to make their way slowly up the path. Sadie had no opportunity to study the man further as her eyes were glued to her feet. She watched each step closely to keep from stubbing a toe upon a root or burying a rock or glass deep into her bare feet. Suddenly the freedom she had felt as she fool hardly tossed her clothes into the surf did not seem so free.
When they reached the top of cliff, Sadie finally looked up. Before her stood the ruins of what must have once been a magnificent medieval castle. Three of its four turrets were half destroyed as were two of its walls. But its grey stone seemed to sing an ancient song of welcome to weary travelers. It was another odd sensation: eerie and like coming home at the same time.
