Chapter XVII:

We finally landed in America. That’s right all of us did. The captain and crew didn’t die like I had envisioned. Still, I wasn’t allowed to put myself at ease. If those three could follow me from England, they were already here. I didn’t see the old man ever again. His words still haunted me.

“They will never stop chasing you.”

I tried to push that thought out of my head. I was in another country after all. I was supposed to start over. We came here looking for work. Some of the men were going to work out on the sea. I don’t know if I want to do that. I might have to. I could do some hunting. Maybe learn some trading.

My stomach began to growl. When was the last time I’ve eaten? Last night? Days? We were running low on food before we got to America. But I don’t have money to use.

“Hey!” I heard someone yell. I turned to see the captain standing in the crowd. A small group of men stood around him. I made my way over to him. We were going to stay in a settlement for the time being. I don’t have anywhere else to go. It’s just going to be the captain, twelve other men, and me. The captain counted us before heading on.

Food would have to come later.

The settlement was by the sea. I didn’t mind it. I found that I didn’t see them when there were many people around. The sounds block them out. This gave me the chance to plan out what to do next. First, I needed to get set up.

I ended up in the fishing village. I lived alone. My cottage was close to the sea. They just stuffed us here near the coast of Massachusetts. I don’t think we’re meant to stay here. I will have to work around it when the time comes. It doesn’t take me long to learn how to adapt to my new life. Turns out, that I was good at fishing. I guess my motive was that I was trying to get away from them. Oh yeah, them. They were still around.

I still haven’t seen her around but I know that she’s there. I could hear her voice in my head.

“Ladybird, ladybird. Fly away home. You house is on fire and your children all gone. All except one. And that’s little Ann. And she has crept under the warming pan.”

I jerked around when I heard those words. Nobody was in sight. This puts me in a difficult position. I don’t want people to die because me but I don’t want to see or hear them. If I am with people, I know I am safe. I can ignore them. I tried to find that old man again in vain. Was he even real in the first place? To this day, I have been going back and forth about it in my head. But that wasn’t going to be the last incarnation of that old man I would see.

For now, I will talk more about my first new life.

We started out as just a village of men. We were more focused on getting settled first. We had the skills to do so. The hard work relaxed me. I didn’t have to see them. I didn’t have to hear her. Sure, I talked to my neighbors but I never tried to be friends with them. I couldn’t have them getting close to me. Too risky. There was one fellow fisherman that wouldn’t give up on trying to be my friend. I didn’t actively push him away. But I didn’t try to be friends with him either. None of them knew my past. Despite this, David still tried to talk to me. By summer, I gave up and let him hang around me.

However, there was still a problem. Something was missing. Some of the men were complaining that there weren’t any women in the village. This was going to create a problem for me.