Kingwood, Texas
Congratulations, Marina!
Marina’s Bio:
Marina Sabatini has always been a writer, but her parents told her she needed a back-up plan while she pursued her dreams. As a result, Miss Sabatini is an itinerant teacher for children with hearing loss in Houston, Texas. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the Robert E. Cook Honors College at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and went on to complete her master’s in multicultural urban special education at The University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. Currently, she is a student in the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program at Rice University. When she’s not teaching, she can be found sitting at home on her computer, delving into her imagination, writing her fiction.
The Remedy
The heavy knocking on the door woke her from her sleep. The one-room abode was dark, save for a lit wax candle. She feebly reached up from the floor to the straw-filled bed beside her, feeling for her child, but her fingertips were met with the sensation of cold, lifeless skin. In that instant, she knew her little Nina was gone.
The knocking became louder. Shouts and demands from the men outside did not register. What sin had she committed to be worthy of such punishment as this? How much heavier could her penance be?
She half-heartedly looked at the black lesions covering her and observed how they latched onto her swollen legs. Bringing her filthy fingertips up to her bruised neck, she scratched at a rather large blotch and felt the skin break, pus and blood oozing from the open wound. She noted how her blasé kirtle was decorated with dried vomit and pondered how she had not choked in her slumber.
The door was thrown open, and torches appeared in the doorway as the stark, menacing silhouette of the plague doctor came into view. The black leather hat engulfed the top of his head, his face covered by what looked like a horrific bird skull, the beak stuffed with herbs. His waxed gown came down to his boots and slid across the floor as he moved his long stick in rhythm with his steps.
He poked at her with the tip of his stick a few times, numb to her mournful cries for mercy. He mumbled a few words to the two men accompanying him, and in the next moment, her wrists were bound. The two men yanked her up, and she steadied herself as the rope burned her flesh, tears running along her pale cheeks. They pulled her out of her shack and hauled her onto the cart outside. Within moments, the would-be thugs had gone back inside, snatched Nina’s body, and thrown the collection of dead limbs on top of her.
As the cart pulled away from their home and headed for the docks, Nina in her arms, her thoughts turned to happier moments: her daughter, on the shores of the Venetian lagoon, frolicking in the gentle waves. Looking down at her little girl’s still face, she could almost believe Nina was merely sleeping.
Upon reaching the docks, the men snatched the two of them and shoved them onto the boat. It was common knowledge that to board it meant no return. She positioned Nina on her lap, wrapping her arms around her, one last moment of intimacy before what was to come.
Even though she could barely see the outline of Poveglia Island in the distance, the smell of burning flesh that hung in the air overcame her, forcing her to turn her head to the side and vomit. She gripped Nina closer to her, listening to the men take their places inside the vessel. With a rough push off the wooden bank, they were off.
Traveling across the lagoon to the docks of Poveglia, she could make out the tortured cries of citizens already doomed to their fate. Her mouth felt dry, and her skin held an insatiable burning itch, but she held onto the sensations, suddenly wanting to feel everything. Billows of smoke that had been mere thin lines grew into thick and voluminous columns as the boat drew closer to its destination. Her ashes would scatter across the island, forever lost to eternity.
She unleashed an irrepressible wail. The plague doctor in front of her offered only his prayers. Turning her eyes towards the heavens, she searched the stars for some sign that she would be forgiven. Purgatory held no hope for one such as her as no one was left behind to pray for her wretched soul.
“Per favore, Signore,” she whispered.
The boat pulled up to the docks of Poveglia, and the men disembarked to tie the lines. They would remove her from the boat, make her walk to the ditches they had dug, and light her aflame. Still, she focused on the night sky. How countless they were, those stars above her, unaware of the plight that they watched below. As she gazed at them in wonder, her eyes caught a shooting star falling from the heavens, its bright tail leaving a thin stream of dust behind it.
She released a sigh, closed her eyes, and in a soft voice, uttered, “Grazie, Signore.”
***