Ilona had spent her entire life surrounded by pirates and sailors. The subject of death and what came after had come up more times than she could count. None claimed to know for certain what would come, but they all seemed to agree on what they hoped it might be like.
Men and women who sailed the sea hoped that it wouldn't be taken from them after they drew their last breath. They hoped when they reached whatever was to come, they would find themselves aboard a good vessel in the middle of a bright blue ocean. To always feel the sun on their faces and the wind in their hair was the dream.
Ilona was no different from those who came before her. If she had to leave their world, she hoped to find herself sailing in the next as well.
It was because of this that when she first began to wake, Ilona believed she was no longer alive.
