Writing Exercise 099

Hey there!
Are you going on a Halloween party tonight or wakling the streets in a spooky costume haunting people? Are you preparing for NaNoWriMo and counting the hours and minutes until you can do your first writing sprint in November? :D

Anyway, here is another writing exercise. This week I picked four books from my reading stack, chose a page each, read the first sentence on those pages and wrote a little story containing these sentences.
The sentences are taken from 'The Blood of Nerys' by S. K. Balk, 'The Woman Who Dies a Lot' by J. Fforde, 'The Loneliest Girl in the Universe' by L. James and 'Malevolence' by F. R. Donaldson -- in that order. Check these books out if you're interested; I gobbled them whole. ;)
In the meantime enjoy my story:

2017/10/31 – pick four books from your night stand/reading nook, choose randomly a page each and write a story containing the first sentence you read on every page you chose. (p.66 of The Blood of Nerys by S. K. Balk, p.153 of The Woman Who Died a Lot by J. Fforde, p.212 of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by L. James, p.288 of Malevolence by F. R. Donaldson)

It was just at daybreak when there was a dull thud and the ship shuddered against the waves. The mast cracked and moaned under the pressure of the wind in the sails, tilting the prow slightly as she wouldn't move anymore. One after the other the crew stumbled out of their cots and hurried on deck.

“What in the name of Nemo's beard happened?” captain Kai bellowed and stemmed his fists on his hip. His crew looked anywhere but at their captain.

“Apparently we ran aground on a shoal,” Daisy piped up and lifted a brow.

“A shoal! Who of you keelsons was in charge of the crow's nest?” Kai wanted to know. For a good while none said anything until a timid hand was raised. “Well? Why didn't you notice?” the captain asked impatiently.

The man hummed and hawed, but under Kai's stern stare he confessed: “I fell asleep.”

Kai cursed vividly. “You had this one task to stay awake and make sure we don't crash, but you fell asleep!” The captain made a gruff gesture. “Tie him to the mast and don't take him down before I say so.”

“Please,” the man begged.

But none dared to defy captain's orders, though they pitied the poor guy for his punishment.

“Drop the sails, or the ship will capsize,” Daisy demanded as Kai stomped under deck. She sighed and watched the pirates get to work. Then she set about walking from stern to prow and back thinking about what to do, while the ship rocked against the shoal and ran further aground with every wave splashing against the planks. It was way past noon and almost ebb tide when captain Kai stopped her. “What are you doing? You've skipped both breakfast and lunch,” he asked much calmer, actually concerned.

'Isn't he just the perfect husband?' murmured Daisy sarcastically. 'Only now he comes looking for me.' She sighed and answered: “I spend the day pacing the ship, buried waist-deep in hopeless solutions.”

“And?” Kai tilted his head until his fancy hat was about to fall off.

“Well, we can only hope flood tide will be high enough to carry us off the shoal,” she scrutinized him and winked an eye open before she added, “or else you have to empty the hold and throw all those boxes crammed with silly souvenirs from all the towns we raided over board.”

“Who told you about that?” Kai asked angrily. But he was more embarrassed, really. But Daisy only chuckled and patted his shoulder as she walked past him. “Think about it, Captain Kai. What is more important? Your ship or the bric-a-brac you like to collect?” She strutted off, leaving him to ponder, already knowing what he would choose.