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Kale lazily cracked open one eye and basked in the warmth of the beautiful song, still half asleep. He wasn't fully aware  of what was going on, but he knew he liked that song. The soothing melody came to a gradual end and Kale fell back asleep.

When he woke up the house was an eerie silent. Kale didn't think much of it; his wife probably went for a jog on the beach. As he headed downstairs to prepare his coffee, the only notable sound was the glass panes shuttering. It was a windy day today. A quick glance at the microwave clock confirmed the time was a few minutes passed eight. He hoped Liz would come home before he had to leave for work.

 Kale waited as long as he could to leave; he hated not getting his morning kiss. After a few more minutes passed, Kale took a long, deep breath of the surrounding salty air and hesitantly got into his car. With one last look towards the water, he drove off. He had a feeling that today wasn't going to go his way.

 By lunchtime, Kale's suspicion had been confirmed. Today was not a good day. Less than fifteen minutes after he arrived at work his boss informed him that there was a business trip to be made. Fuller said that there was no one that was able to go, but Kale knew no one else was willing to go on such a pointless trip. The worst part was that the trip fell on Kale and Liz's second anniversary. On top of all that, there was still no sign of Liz. In the back of his mind he was worried, but he felt that would be overreacting. Kale had a nag for jumping the gun, and all too often it resulted in embarrassment; he decided to drop it for now. After all, she had a life too. Kale pushed the rising sense of dread into the back of his mind and returned early back to his office. He had mounds of paperwork to do before he left for the trip in two days.

 Kale did his best to concentrate on the task at hand, but the afternoon ended up blending into four hours of blur.He was glad to leave when it came to quitting time. As he shifted the folder he was holding, he took out his keys and started to walk through the empty parking lot. He started to think about Liz again. He took out his phone to try calling her, but a sharp wind blew and picked up the papers he was carrying before he could dial. Kale cursed the day and ran off after his papers; of all the days the wind would decide to take his important paperwork, it was today.

The papers somehow managed to blow to the end of the parking lot before Kale could grab them. He bent down to pick up the papers that were scattered across the grass. He put the paper back into the folder and muttered colorful language as he got up. Kale stopped dead in his tracks and his eyes were drawn to the ocean. A soft wind blew and as Kale stood gazing at the water a soft melody was carried on the wind. It seemed to wash away all the worry and tension he felt. Kale was at perfect peace.

"Kale" A soft and unknown voice whispered so gently Kale wasn't sure he heard right.

"Forget about her..." The full meaning of the words took a few moments to fully comprehend; the hypnotic song was clouding his thoughts. Before he could ask what the voice meant, Kale was interrupted.

"Kale!" Kale turned around to see his new secretary, Candice, running toward him waving her arms. He sighed and accepted the fact that he wasn't going to get the opportunity to ask the voice what it meant. For now he set his undivided attention to Candice. When Candice finally caught up to him she straightened her jacket and smoothed out her hair before she started talking.

"It's your wife." She started, catching her breath. " She got hurt somehow. Mercy Hospital called and told me she was hurt but wouldn't say how."

Kale was hit with a wall of emotion as he ran around Candice and to his car.

The ten-minute drive to Mercy Hospital felt like an eternity to Kale. All he thought about was the many ugly possibilities that could have happened to Liz. When he finally arrived he rushed through everyone in his way until he spotted someone with a white lab coat. He figured if the incident was enormously serious the doctor would know about it.

"You will have to check with the desk in front of the main doors." He replied after listening to Kale's story, which was a tad confusing because he was tripping through the words to save time. Kale nodded and backtracked, a little relieved that the doctor didn't know everything about the accident; he'd imagine that it wasn't too extreme. Once Kale asked the secretary, he learned that his wife was staying in room one-thirteen, he headed there. If it were any other circumstance, Kale would have noticed the thirteen and would've thought twice about the situation. However, he was on a mission to get to his wife's room, so there was no time for superstition.

"Liz!" Kale said relieved, after seeing her for the first time in what felt like forever. He momentarily stood in the doorway to assess how she was. She looked fully awake and aware; she was battered up a bit, but Kale could see she was okay. After he convinced himself that everything was all right, Kale approached his wife and gave her a hug, making sure not to squeeze too hard; she had a lot of bandages on.

"What happened?" He finally asked.

"I had a lunch date today..." She started slowly."After that I decided to go for a walk. I was just walking down the street and out of nowhere an enormous gust of wind blew me into the street; it felt like a hand shoved me, into the path of a car. I was lucky. He tried to slow down so I wasn't hit as hard."

Kale took a moment to soak that in. When he spoke, he tried to mask the disbelief in his voice.

"You got blown into the street?" He asked. Liz nodded. "You're sure there wasn't anyone behind you?" Liz began to look offended at what Kale was implying.

"No one was beside me, in front of me or behind me." She replied defiantly. Kale wasn't sure he wanted to keep on this path of conversation, but he could think of some things that didn't add up. After a second of wrestling his thoughts, Kale decided that it was a subject best left alone. He decided that he would just be thankful that the accident wasn't more serious. Kale decided at that moment that he wasn't going to leave Liz alone for the three days he was expected to go on his business trip. Fuller  was going to have to accommodate two.

*     *     *

 Three days had passed without incident, and the trip was going well. Despite the odd circumstances, Liz and Kale were having a good time. They were in Hawaii, in a beautiful resort all expenses paid. Kale had meetings and seminars to go to for the first three days, which was the original length of the trip.He decided that they would stay for another day to relax and forget all the things that he couldn't quite understand. Kale was looking foreword to tomorrow; it was the relaxation day. He was standing on the balcony and looking at the ocean. He was content with the fact that he could simply look at the ocean's beauty, without fear of hearing that voice and music; the words of the voice were faded and irrelevant in his mind. Kale was beginning to think that it was all in his imagination. He smiled and returned into the room to get to bed. He felt like a child on Christmas Eve; he couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Kale awoke in good spirits. Today was going to be good. He knew that Liz would feel uncomfortable in a bathing suit because of her bruises, so he though they would go sailing for the day. After briefly discussing the days plans they agreed to a nice day sailing; they'd hire a guide so they wouldn't need to worry about being sail-savvy.

A short time later they were set: they found a man who owned a sailboat, and was willing to show them how to use it.

"You chose a wonderful day to sail." Said Komali, in his deep accent. "The weather is perfect; sun all day!"         

Kale smiled and he put his arm around his wife's shoulders. He looked at the twinkling diamond necklace he'd bought her for their second anniversary. She treated it like a treasure.

 So far, the day was going lovely; they had a picnic lunch in the boat, heard many interesting tales from Komali, and now were laying in the sun comfortably, while their much-loved guide led the boat and gazed out into the deep blue water.

Kale opened one eye as he noticed the sun was no longer shining on him. He closed it again.

"Komali, is there a cloud covering the sun?"

Komali didn't answer. After awhile Kale got up and approached him. When he got closer he realized Komali's face was twisted with worry. Kale frowned and looked at the sky, which was now a mass of swirling clouds.

"You said there was going to be sun all day." He replied, puzzled.

"I know.There should be. This is the making of a hurricane, not a large one, but enough to scare me. I find this odd because we don't get hurricanes here very often, and rarely at this time of year."

Kale ignored the rising lump in his throat and looked at Liz, who was sleeping peacefully. He tried to take comfort in the look of pure relaxation on her face.

"Well then let's just go back to shore, right now." He suggested uncertainly.

Komali shook his head.

"The wind stopped completely, we can't."

Kale was doing his best to keep a cool head.

"B-b-but you said that a hurricane is coming... A hurricane means wind."

Komali nodded gravely.

"I don't know how this is possible or what's going on."

Kale took a few steps back. They were sitting ducks. As he tried to gather his thoughts, it started to rain. The rain steadily increased in mere minutes, which caused Liz to wake in a huff.

"What's going on?" She asked, her voice full of alarm. Komali solemnly educated her on their situation. Liz's breathing turned shallow and her face turned a ghastly white.

"I knew we shouldn't have come here, now it's happening." She said half to herself.

"What's happening?!" Kale asked horrified. Did it have to do with the voice? The wind? The ballad?

Liz looked at Kale with big eyes and was about to speak, but Komali interrupted.

"We have to go below deck. That's the only place we have a chance." Kale grabbed Liz and followed Komali below deck hastily. The boat rocked like a crazy rollercoaster, one without an end. Everyone knew that the boat could and would tip at any moment. Liz sat in the corner and blankly stared at Kale, her eyes never leaving him. She refused to be comforted by him. Liz absently reached to touch her neck, only to realize that her prized diamond necklace was gone. She suddenly regained clarity, and she sprung up and toward the stairs that led to the upper deck. Kale saw what she was doing and instantly ran after her, ignoring the shouts of warning that came from Komali.

"Liz," He yelled over the roar of the storm, barely able to keep his footing on the rocking boat. She briefly looked at him with a half smile.

"My diamond necklace!" She yelled back.

"I'll buy you ten more!" He shouted, "Just come back here!"

Liz ignored him as she caught sight of her necklace. She shielded her face with her arm and began the difficult steps toward her precious gift. She finally got the necklace in her grasp and stood towards Kale with a smile on her face. At a horribly poetic moment, a large wave slammed into the boat, causing Liz to go soaring off the boat and disappear beneath the waves. Kale was rushing to the edge where Liz disappeared to jump in, when a familiar sound was heard.

Throughout all the wind and waves, the mysterious melody began to play. The mesmerizing song was more commanding than ever. Kale suddenly forgot his intentions and his surroundings. Before he drifted off into a peaceful sleep, he heard the soft, authoritative voice once more, "Forget about her; for she could not be trusted."

 When Kale awoke he was dreadfully confused. He lay still in his hospital bed and waited for someone to come and tell him what was going on. A few minutes later, a man who explained that he was Kale's doctor appeared.

"What happened?" Kale asked.

"There was a sailing accident. The boat somehow tipped."

Key words in what the doctor said sparked the truth in Kale's mind. He suddenly remembered all. He held back his tears as he pictured Liz; one instant she was there, the next she was gone. Forever. The voice had to be wrong. Liz truly loved him, or so he thought. But what if the voice was trying to protect him? It did after all, save him.

The doctor frowned at the lingered silence.

"Is there a problem?" He asked, searching Kale's face.

"There was a hurricane that tipped us." Kale replied. The doctor shook his head.

"No, there wasn't. If there was a hurricane, more people would have seen it, not just you. You've been through a lot, so it's normal to..."

"The guide!" exclaimed Kale, images of Komali's tanned face flashed through his mind. "Ask him."

The doctor shook his head once more.

"Unfortunately he has amnesia..."

Kale didn't even want to know how or why. He concluded that this was something he would never understand. He just wanted to go back home, so that he could grieve the loss of his beloved wife. One day, when he was strong again, he would set out for the answers of the voice and the ballad of the gales.

The night was dark. Liz couldn't believe what she had done. Nothing could fill the deep regret and sorrow she felt for having to end someone's life. It was a cruel reality, but it had to be done. There was no way someone could tell Kale of the plan she had against him; for it was too far in the plot. Kale had already asked for her hand in marriage and nothing could stop her from gaining his wealth. Lani was the only threat, and naturally, threats had to be taken care of. It would take at least two years for the whole plan to come to an end but it was well worth the wait. Liz had to be conscience of the plan, but she tried to think about it little as possible. There were still some positive morals at the back of her mind; accusing a good man of the things she was planning to pin on him was difficult to be at ease with. Liz was broken out of her thoughts and she looked at the still black garbage bag that would be Lani's new residence. She thought a moment, and then tossed the black garbage bag into the ocean with one brisk motion. As the bag disappeared, a sudden wind blew, and on it's breath was an oddly calming melody. A wave of sheer chill swept down Liz's spine and she halted for a brief moment, but quickly recovered. Liz got as far away from the spot as could as fast as she could. Despite her promptness, the song had its last words. "You will pay."

K.

Keyword: Ballad Of the Gales

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