Ralph

Peering out into the boundless void of the night as the water churned beneath his feet, Ralph noticed a breeze of solace washing over his being. He felt a sense of serenity he has not sensed in a long time. A sense he has never felt in his entire life, actually.

Never thought that I would find peace while sailing on some godforsaken ship in a godforsaken land. Quite stupendous, really. One side of Ralph's mouth arched slightly upward. Another sporadic occurrence.

As the glittering stars embedded in the dark sky shone down upon him, Ralph's mind started contemplating about his family. Will he ever see them again? How are they faring? Hopefully better than he is.

Ralph wasn't sure how long it had been since the last time he had seen them. If someone asked him to take a wild guess, he would probably say something like three years, although he knew darn well that an answer like that was a long shot away from the truth. Still, though, three years was how long it felt while being in the clutches of that blasted human wench. A cold shiver crackled along his spine as images of her floated up in his consciousness. The things she had done to him were way beyond the ability of words to describe. Good thing Tysha─the younger sister─was there to save him before his demise.

He ended up roaming about in the land of the humans for weeks as he was plunged into a meager existence, scavenging scraps and cowering in dark corners before gigantic footfalls. Ralph nearly gave up on it all until he stumbled upon Stan─a rough and solitary survivor who had lived among the humans for more than five years. Stan was a quite eccentric individual who seemed to have a little too much appreciation for the intricacies of surviving among giants. Either way, Stan was Ralph's saving grace, for without him, he would never know about this sanctuary people kept gossiping about, let alone survive this hard ordeal.

And here he was, bobbing away in Brobdingnagian territory on some jerry-rigged cargo ship─with hundreds of others─as they journeyed their way toward some unknown destination. Unlike many others of his companions on this ship, who hoped to start a new life somewhere safe, Ralph merely consents to come along on this trip for the core reason of finding his family─however slim the odds.

"Kill me and be cursed," Ralph looked to the side as Stan's crackly voice rudely interrupted his stream of thoughts. It vexed Ralph to see that this guy managed to sneak up on him without him even noticing it. He stood there, keeled over the ship's railing as his narrow eyes peered out over the water, which glittered brightly under the intense glare of a full moon.

"A guy told me that once, right before I was about to cut his throat," Stan said.

"What did you do?" Ralph asked.

Stan shrugged, "I killed him either way. Am I cursed now?" he looked at him.

Ralph frowned, "How should I know?"

"I met you, didn't I? Are you a curse?"

Ralph opened his mouth to reply to Stan's queer question when he saw him tossing back a full bottle, suckling on it greedily like a famished infant.

"Where did you get that?" Ralph asked with curiosity.

After an unhealthy sounding salvo of loud coughs, Stan wept his bearded mouth clean with the back of his hand and gave a thumb up as to point in the direction of some gloomy corner behind them where a couple of men were talking and laughing boisterously with each other, "From those shady-looking sailors over there," he said.

"And you drink it anyway?"

Stan nodded eagerly, "It's good! It's good! Want some?"

"Please, no." Ralph held his hand up.

Both gentlemen just looked out into the nothingness of the night, silently for a moment, with only the soothing rippling of the water beneath them.

"Tell me about them," Stan said and took another long sip of the bottle.

"Huh?..."

"Your family. Tell me about them."

Ralph sighed, peering out into the sky, "There's not much to tell, actually. My dad's a nagger, my mom keeps worrying about everyone but herself, my brother and sister though… well… let's just say I mostly felt like the fifth wheel on the wagon when they were joshing about with each other."

“You have only one sister, right?”

Ralph nodded.

"Is that the one named firecracker?" Stan asked before taking another sip. He grumbled when he noticed that the bottle was empty and threw it into the water.

"Firecracker? Ah, yes, Ashley." Ralph chuckled, "Yeah, she's a firecracker, alright.

"Say, Stan, you ever done this before?"

"What? Sailing on a raggedy ship among a crew of unsavory characters?"

"No, I mean… this?" Ralph moved his hands around his own axis to showcase his surroundings.

Stan sniggered, "Traveling through Brobdingnagian territory? Nah, first-timer for me." He cursed softly when he rose his arm to take another sip and realized once more that his bottle of liquor was already empty and drifting in the water.

"You've ever seen one in real life?" Ralph asked. “a Brobdingnagian I mean.”

For the first time since he had met Stan, Ralph could see his usual indifferent expression churn into a look of apprehension─for just a barely perceptible moment─before he sauntered off to score another bottle of rotgut.

Ralph's eyes surveyed the other passengers on the ship. It was a pretty mixed company. Next to a fair number of families with small children, Ralph could also see many individuals scattered on deck─old, young, healthy or sick─who clearly came here by themselves.

Do all of these people have lost their loved ones? Or are they in search of them, just like I am? Ralph pondered.

He heard singing in the distance, near the prow of the ship. Huddled together, hand in hand, stood a group of children accompanied by two women. They were chanting some uplifting song.

Orphanages.

Ralph's gaze fell on a tattered man who sat on the floor with an empty stare in his eyes. He has heard of this man through gossips picked up by Stan.

The story goes that he was forced to strangle his own son to death after the latter managed to strike a knife in his mother's heart. Seems like they─and thousands of others with them─had suffered for years under the strict regime of their owner, a young Brobdingnagian woman who got thrilled in the act of glorifying herself into the image of some sacrosanct deity. The boy saw it as a form of betrayal─as blasphemy even─when his own parents saw a chance to escape from this self-proclaimed Goddess. And therefore, he chose to act according to his belief.

Ralph sighed, Only religion can push a man beyond such moral lines.

Ralph jerked up when he heard a long and low tone buzzing through the air, like a foghorn. It came from another ship sailing in front of them. Consecutively, their ship responded with the same horn, then the ship bobbing behind them and the ship bobbing after that. All lights went out, and everyone lowered their voices to a hushed whisper. He heard the two women soothing the orphanages as their singing faded out in the dark night.

"We're entering the waters of Long Stream, the final and most dangerous part of our journey." Stan's voice spoke. Ralph's head shot to the side as his eyes found Stan, who, once more, had managed to sneak up on him.

"Long Stream?" Ralph said.

"Mmm," Stan took a long sip from another bottle he was able to score and leaned his elbows on the ship's railing.

Ralph had heard of that name before. The sailors who risked their lives by transporting people and cargo to this so-called sanctuary spoke of this water with shivering awe. Many ships─an entire fleet even once─had simply disappeared during their trip through these waters. It was an unfortunate coincidence that this place was frequented a lot by Brobdingnagian youngsters lately, especially during nighttime. They used to travel here also during the daytime when things were calmer. However, things took a catastrophic turn one day, when a fleet of roughly twenty-five ships was discovered by a ‘little' Brobdingnagian girl paddling in the water. After she destroyed about a third of the fleet by casually hurling lively-huge pebbles at them, her mother showed up and reprimanded her. Then, the mother lowered on her haunches and collected the remaining ships with a greedy glare on her beautiful face. Only one ship─who was both lucky and smart enough to hide among reed─survived the carnage and was able to tell the tale. After this catastrophe, the decision was made to travel only during nighttime and only in small groups with not more than 4 or 5 ships. The risk was still great, though. Unfortunately, it was extremely common for ships to just disappear as they were simply snatched up by godlike hands emerging from the sky out of a sudden.