The exiles’ settlement clung like a barnacle to the narrow cliff ledge. For those fleeing the tyrant, it was their only chance. A place called Hope.
Some of the Wrayn family had made it down before the rockslide. Not all of their kin had been so lucky. The seagulls overhead cried as if they were in mourning too.
Sallie Wrayn watched the gulls. She cut wood from the hunched cliff trees. She stitched together scraps of plastic bags. She stretched the patchwork over the frame. She stretched her arms.
She stood facing the wide open sea.
Hannah Fogwell lives in Oxford, England.
A Quiet Courage 