She could feel the warm wetness lapping gently against the backs of her legs, swelling about her and lifting her dress.

Slowly she sat up and wiped away the sand residue from where it clung to her face, then she stood up, shook out her sea curled hair and began walking.

Her name was Mary, but you would not have guessed it to look upon her; her mother was a devout catholic and the silver cross about her neck, sparkling brightly in the sun was a firm reminder of this as much as her name.

Finally when she had transgressed from one end of the beech to the other Mary knelt upon the soft, hot sand and began to pray.

“Hoy! You down there!”

Mary stood up abruptly and looked towards where the voice had called from.

Another girl was walking down the beech, her smile almost splitting her face; when Mary waved to her she broke into a sprint, running the last yard or so then collapsed grinning at Mary’s feet.

“Hoy, I’m Evelyn, what’s your name?”

Mary extended a hand and helped her to her feet silently and waited till Evelyn had dusted the sand from her white smock to speak.

“I am Mary, were you on the ship?”

“Yes! You too? Shipped off by your Ma and Pa, hu?”

“No” Mary said, sounding scandalized “I chose to be here in both the convent and the ship”

Evelyn caught between laughter and embarrassment; blushed red, giggled slightly and stuck her hands in her pockets.

“Ah….well…you found anybody else?”

Mary shook her head “No”

“Then their all drowned then”

“I suppose so”

“Good” Evelyn said decidedly and pushed past Mary to continue down the beech, Mary fallowed her puzzled.

“Good? How can that be good?”

“No more order or vows, no more telling me to do this or do that, no more whippings that how its good!”

Mary stopped “You where whipped?”

“Yes, now stop asking silly questions aright I have to get back to Adah” Evelyn stuck her tongue out in frustration and furrowed her brow angrily.

Mary felt very foolish as she asked “Who’s Adah?”

“The girl who jumped with me, she was sick so I brought her up for air and then we hit the rocks”

Mary sucked in her breath horrified “You weren’t supposed to go up top for anything!”

Evelyn fixed her with a cold, calculated glare “You went up”

Mary flushed red and lowered her eyes to the ground, slowly she nodded “Yes I did, I...I just couldn’t stand it down there with all the others, I felt like I was going to suffocate” she flinched when Evelyn brought out a hand to touch her cheek.

“It’s alright” Evelyn murmured kindly “not gonna hit you, if you hadn’t gone up you’d be dead so I can’t really see any problem with it”

“All the others are dead aren’t they, really dead I mean?

”

“Yes, they are” Evelyn’s voice had gained a heavy quality and was laced with tears; Mary closed her eyes and felt her own leaving salty tracks down her face; she reached out a hand for Evelyn who took it and held it tightly as both girls cried for the loss of something neither could put into words.