I wake up. The daylight blinds me, which makes it a little difficult to open my eyes. I don't know where I am, this doesn't look like my room. I search my pockets without success. I sit up and see that I’m in what seems to be a cabin.

The room is not very big, it only consists of a window that illuminates it, asmall bed with a bedside table, and a mirror that I approach to check myself.

“My old long dark hair, unkempt beard, no scratches...everything is in order,” I whisper.

I see my worn deck of cards on the table, at least I have my most precious object. I've always been very good at sleight of hand. In recent times I had been practising for many hours for fun, perfecting several illusionistic tricks, including one in particular where I would make the card of my choice disappear between my fingers. With that number people were always amazed, to the point where it became my way of getting a few pounds to survive.

I continue to explore my surroundings, looking for more things that might be familiar, but I find nothing. There is no clutter, everything is in good condition. At least it looks like a fairly well-kept place.

I look through the porthole, trying to get some information. The only thing you can appreciate is the vastness of the sea, there doesn't seem to be much swell. I deduce that I must be reaching the mainland because of a flock of seagulls I can see on the horizon.

Suddenly the knock of knuckles on the door sounds. It opens a little, showing a tray that drags along the floor of the cabin and then closes again. I quickly approach the door to try to open it, but it is impossible. Pushing from the inside doesn’t seem to give way and it doesn’t have any lock to put a key in, it’s like a cell, it can only be opened from the outside.

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Disgruntled, I decide to take the tray. It is contained by a small plate of pulses, a piece of bread and a glass of water. For a moment I ponder whether it's a good idea to do what I'm thinking. I feel a little suspicious, but hunger overcomes me and I find myself in a situation where I don't know when I’ll opt for a similar lunch again, so without thinking about it any longer, I start gobbling down the food.

Once the desire to put something in my mouth has calmed down a bit, and after taking the last sip from the glass of water, with my gaze lost, I notice a Gregorian calendar hanging on the wall. It is a current calendar in which a cross crosses out the 14th on the page for the month of June 1657.

“How weird!,” I say to myself as nervousness begins to take over, “I don't remember anything from the last two days”.

I take a seat on the bed to rest and calm down. I take a deep breath in and out. I repeat this process several times until I manage to lower my heart rate slowly. I search through my memories, but the fatigue and headache prevent me from concentrating. I have a black blur of a couple of days, the last thing I remember is going about my normal life, in my village, not suspecting anything.

At that precise moment the door opens again. This time it opens completely and remains that way without anyone on the other side. Without a second thought, I get up, put away my deck and approach the door.

I stick my head out into the hallway looking both ways but I don't see anyone. I decide to go out and walk cautiously in search of ship’s exit. The corridors are long and the walls are full of candles. You can barely hear any noise, which makes it a bit gloomy despite the good lighting.

After crossing several corridors, at the end of the hallway, a door to another cabin opens and a young man with a very fair complexion and a slim build rushes out.

“Hey!,” I shout, “where am I? who are you?”.

Alarmed, he turns around and looks at me. I appreciate his teary eyes. He appears to be quite afraid.

When the boy sees me, he runs away in the opposite direction as if he had seen a ghost. I run after him, but he is faster. In a matter of seconds he slinks away and disappears from my sight. This was my chance to make contact with someone.

Puzzled by the situation, I continue to wander around the ship in the hope of meeting some more travelers. It takes me several minutes to walk around the entire bow without encountering anyone. It seems as if I were the last passenger left on board.

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