All employees must maintain a professional distance from the vacationers and guests on Serenity Springs. No sexual or dating relationship will be tolerated; if any employee is found in a compromising relationship they will be terminated.
Silver Springs Employee Manual
Trina watched the Blues show. She'd been impressed by the entertainment here on Serenity Springs surpassing the outstanding spa facilities she had been avoiding but hearing good things about. The singer's voice had that sultry mix of husky and range that proved spectacular, the band amazing, and Trina felt good - really good.
She'd been mildly depressed since she quit her job six weeks ago and decided to go back to school even though she hadn't really decided what she wanted to do. Never a fan of birthdays, she was about to celebrate her thirtieth year. There seemed to be more uncertainty in her future that she had ever been used to dealing with, exhilarating and terrifying.
Trina's husband Gabe had over her decision to leave her job and their once serene marriage had become a battle ground. Gabe never dealt well with change and losing her pay check had been an enormous change. Added to that the pregnancy scare immediately following her life change had escalated their skirmishes into all-out war. While Gabe's reaction had been worse than she had anticipated, nothing had prepared her for her father's. The Senator, she always called him Senator, had reminded her once again how much she had disappointed him. As his only child, she should be a shining example of his success, yet she had married beneath her, she had resisted the idea of law school though she had the grades and the acceptance letter, and lastly she had not produced a suitable heir - meaning a male child. This trip with friends which had seemed a great idea a month ago now seemed like an effort to save her faltering marriage.
Gabe had promised a truce during their trip, Trina agreed to the vacation promising in her head to be the wife he always wanted her to be even though she had doubts about what that was and if she was even capable of it. Gabe, for his part, acted almost giddy being more affectionate then he had been in years, the thought made her smile hoping that this time they wouldn't end up fighting again.
Their friends, Maggie and Nathan, joined them at Serenity Springs, the vacation destination for the rich and powerful. A little off-planet fun would do both couples a world of good!
Maggie, Trina's best friend since high school, tried to get her to go to the spa for some beauty treatment every day while Gabe and Nathan. Trina would agree then duck out when Maggie would go in for her massage, or seaweed wrap or whatever New Age treatment they thought up. Trina then would go back to her room and spent several hours on the computer doing homework, or reading a book by the pool, or a walk by the ocean or into the hills. In the evening, all four would go to the club of the moment or out gambling until Nathan would drink himself into a stupor and Trina would beg off due to exhaustion. Surprisingly, Gabe hadn't protested overly much over her absences.
Nathan saluted Trina with his whiskey glass from across the table. She smiled back at him and then focused her attention back on the singer. She thought about Gabe's affection lately and suddenly she wanted to dance with him but when she looked around for Gabe he wasn't in the bar. Maggie had gone missing as well. Those two had been thick as thieves for the past few days. Trina blamed her upcoming birthday. Gabe liked surprises and Trina believed he was in the midst of planning a party with Maggie and though Trina was not a fan of surprise parties it seemed almost mean to deny him this. Her gaze found them both walking out the back door, Gabe had a cigarette in his hand.
Trina followed the two in the hopes of eavesdropping on the party plans. Being from a political family she learned very young that to get information she needed to be sneaky. The two walked outside onto the deck moving to the shadowed area near the water. Trina followed quietly thanking the interior designer for the strategically placed screens which made discrete alcoves for couples to sit. She slid into the shadows listening to their conversation.
In the bar she hadn't been able to hear anything over the band but in the quiet of the deck she heard every word clearly. It quickly became evident that following them had not been a good idea when Gage stepped closer to Maggie dragging her into a passionate embrace and kissing her roughly. When the finally pulled apart, both were breathing hard staring into each other's eyes. Their cigarettes forgotten in their hasty intimacy. Trina's stomach heaved from shock and bile rose in her throat.
"Are you going to leave her?" Maggie asked pointedly head nodding toward the bar door.
"No, poppet, you know I can't." Gabe answered in that condescending voice that drove Trina crazy but Maggie didn't seem to mind. "I work for the Senator and I need his support for any nomination to city council. Are you looking to divorce Nathan?"
"Nathan is a good husband, he pays for everything and doesn't ask any questions. I do miss our afternoons in your bed, will she be going back to work soon?" Maggie complained in a baby girl voice picking at Gabe's silk shirt in pretend petulance.
Trina's nose crinkled, her muscles tightened and eyes narrowed in anger.
"You're such a bitch, Mags!" Gabe shot back with a laugh.
"Oh yes, Lover, I am. Why should she have all the beautiful things?" Maggie leaned in kissing Gabe hard, before they both stepped back walking side by side back into the bar.
Trina watched them go holding her emotions tight until the door closed behind them. She bit back the sob or scream, dropping her head into her hands and cursing herself ten thousand times a fool. How could she not have known, her husband and her best friend?
Trina escaped the deck running down the dock to the shipping yards. Trina kept the pace until she was too tired to go any further then she sunk down on a pallet sobbing. Her world had gone upside down. She wanted to scream, rage, punch walls but she swallowed it all. Was this her fault? Had she done something that led Gabe away from their shared goals? Could she go on without him and probably her father with no career and an unfinished education? Definitely sure that she could not stay with him, now that she knew what he'd been doing with her friend. Her friend. How could they?! The emotion raged behind her tense muscles, her faced squeezed into a mask of frustration.
Trina had to do something, doing nothing had never been her way. She couldn't leave the vacation planet until the following day but she could start getting her life under control. Fishing her cell phone out of her pocket she dialed the Senator's number. Because of the time delay he wouldn't receive it for a day but he would get the message that something had gone terribly wrong.
After she finished the message she wondered if calling him had been a good idea, her father rarely made rash decisions. She might ask for help but the Senator would weigh all the options, family or not, before making any decisions. Still, it made her feel slightly better but exhaustion had replaced the anger and her headlong run into the unknown had been stupid. Closing her eyes for one minute seemed prudent while she thought about what she would do now. But a few heartbeats later she had fallen into a deep sleep.
Trina woke to the sound of water and the heavy smell of brine. Darkness seemed heavy around her, the feel of cold water on her hand which dangled in what she hoped was a puddle. She sat up quickly looking around, putting her hands out to steady her when the room seemed to heavy sideways. The room wasn't completely dark there were small circles of sunlight streaming through the portals on both sides of the ship.
The pallet she slept on must have been loaded on a boat. Her stomach dropped sharply. Where was she? She rolled herself standing and gently jumped pallet to pallet to avoid the water in the hold. She moved toward the stairs leading topside. She climbed up quietly pushing the doors open stepping out on a very large but pristinely clean wooden deck of a huge ship.
An old style tall ship, decked out like a privateer complete with the skull and crossbones flag. There was minimal activity as it was early in the day. There were a few crew about dressed in turn of the century ship crews attire, she supposed, but no one paid her much attention or so she thought until she found herself grabbed from behind.
"What do we have here?" a deep voice asked. She struggled but was clenched tightly and without ceremony picked up, thrown over a leather-clad shoulder moving swiftly toward the stern of the boat. The pirate climbed the stairs to the poop deck without a grunt moving toward the helm and the tall pirate gazing intently at the horizon in a very business-like manner.
"Captain, we have a stowaway." Her captor growled dropping Trina to her feet when the tall pirate turned toward them.
"So, we do." He turned ice blue eyes on Trina. He looked her up and down and grimaced.
"To the brig, Mr. Evans." Captain Daniel Weston told his first mate, the turned his gaze back to the clouds brewing on the horizon.
Mr. Evans threw Trina back over his shoulder, unconcerned with her struggles to what must have been the brig. A sturdy jail cell in the corner of one of the holds which housed the food stores. It had rudimentary facilities, a bunk bolted to the wall with a thin straw-stuffed mattress, and a bucket of water but that was all. Mr. Evans dumped her on the bunk, threw her a wool blanket from a chest then left the brig in a hurry not answering any of her hastily shouted questions. Trina didn't panic, which she thought strange, she just felt numb. It was surreal to be on a pirate ship in the middle of nowhere and worse to be in the brig. Her idyllic vacation had taken a very sudden, and unwelcome, downturn.
No one visited her or if they did she was unaware as she slept with the gentle movement of the ship and the soothing sound of the waves. No matter how much sleep she'd already had her sleep now deep and untroubled kept her blissfully unaware of her surroundings for almost an entire day.
A clanking sound very close at hand woke her. She sat up quickly on the bunk squinting into the gathering dusk startled but not really frightened. The lamps around the store room hadn't been lit yet but there a watery light still filtered through portholes from the obviously setting sun.
"Well, Lass, what are you doing aboard the Mermaid?" The captain asked. Her head swung in his direction taking in his relaxed position on top of a barrel watching her.
"My apologies, I didn't sneak on board, I assure you. I fell asleep on the docks and woke up in your hold."
