Lydia was going through the letters in her husbands box that he kept under their bed. The kids were playing outside with the dogs in the fields. There were letters from Axel’s mother, cousins, and from myself that I wrote when I went away to sell our crop and livestock. 

After quite a while, one letter came about to be from the years that we had left far behind us. 

“My Dear Axel,

How’s our inside man? It is nearly time for us to strike Drapple Cove’s Harbor. There’ll be a bloody mess of it, so I hope you’re well prepared. With this letter, as you can see, is a parcel. You have a d§$# good eye, I may observe, so I’m gifting you with one f$£# of a riffle and three magazines. Have a h¥&$ of a time my friend!

— Ombré ”

Lydia looked at the letter with disgust and horror. She remembered that night vividly, though she hated it deeply. It had been years since either she or Axel had willingly discussed their time as part of Cadell’s crew. 

As Cadell had predicted, that night was bloody. Women and men and children were running and fighting and bleeding. Dying. Not just dying, being killed. At their hands, Lydia’s hands. She wanted to erase it, but she couldn’t. 

She used to have nightmares for nights on end after the plunder. She had come to terms that this was a part of her at some point, and then didn’t think about for a while, until it was forgotten. But she supposed nothing was truly forgotten forever. She knew those nightmares of the woman who looked like her dearest friend who had been shot by their Captain, and the little boy who looked like one of her children today, would come back now. She hated it she hated it she hated it she hated it she hated it all. 

She joined in the life of piracy for riches and adventure. Sure, she was rich then, but Lydia wished nothing but meeting Axel had come of it. 

As Lydia put the letters back in the box how she found them, she wished there was a spell that could wipe all of her horrible memories from her mind.

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@monthlywritingchallenges

Still getting a feel for the characters! This is super short for what I usually write, hahaaaa