A/N: I know some of you are waiting for me to finish the Don Juan DeMarco story. It will be finished. I promise. I just got fed up with it and needed to concentrate on something else for a while, which resulted in these two first chapters of my newest story.
Hope you like it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean. Walt Disney Pictures does. However, I do own all of the characters in this chapter, except for the pirate, who's a mixture of Jack Sparrow and my own character. Separate disclaimer for each chapter.
More characters to come, both of Walt Disney Pictures' property and of my own.
~ Miss Sofie.
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Chapter One – Nonsense in the Night
Julia Kelly groaned in her sleep and turned over to lie on her side. The cold air that came in under the blanket through the gap that the turn-over had caused, woke her and made her pull the blanket closer. Her eyes were still closed, but she opened them holding her breath as she heard something or someone tap on the window in the bed chamber. She lay still, listening intensely to the tapping, but she relaxed when she realized it was only a branch from the big poplar outside the window. The wind was pretty strong now, and it howled around the corners of the manor house.
Please don't let Father cancel the trip tomorrow! She prayed and closed her eyes again. She needed all the sleep she could get, and so she tried to fall asleep again.
She listened to the slight snoring of her sister, Harriet, in the other end of the room, and she felt comfortable knowing that she was sound asleep.
Harriet was only four years old, fourteen years younger than Julia, but the two of them shared a room anyway, as there were two brothers in between, with whom they couldn't share rooms. Not now, when they were growing up. Matthew was sixteen and Daniel was eight, and so they were too old to share rooms with their sisters.
Harriet's snoring reminded Julia of the gentle rocking of a ship on the waves in the sea. The sea, which she had never seen, living so far into the country that the only water she had seen was the water that the servants brought to the room warmed up for washing, the water in the well, the rain, and the many lakes that were around their estate. Tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, she would see the real sea with waves and ships and everything, if only the trip would not be cancelled because the autumn weather was changeable and, at the moment, not very good.
She had heard tales of the sea from her father, who had traveled a lot because of his political connection to London. It was also because of this connection the whole family would be going to Port Rewland tomorrow morning, all four children excited to the utmost, as none of them had ever traveled anywhere before. Especially Daniel was excited about the trip, as he was convinced he was going to see pirates at sea.
Julia had tried to tell him that pirates didn't just walk around in the street of a town like Port Rewland, and if they did, they were sure to be hanged. Pirates were lawless criminals, and there was no reason for him to admire them. He did all the same, and Julia couldn't help smiling when she remembered his face when their father had told them about the trip.
"Then I'm going to get a pirate's hat!" He had exclaimed with shining eyes, and everybody had laughed at it.
Soon the pleasant thoughts of her family combined with the snoring of her little sister, lulled Julia to sleep again.
~
The tapping on the window continued, and Julia thought it grew stronger. She looked at it, but all she could see was the blackness outside. It made her shiver a little. She was being ridiculous, she knew that. It was only a branch, for Heaven's sake!
Then, like all of a sudden, the small pane in the right corner at the bottom of the window fell down and broke on the floor with a tinkle.
Julia sat straight up in her bed with her blanket pulled up to almost cover her eyes. A hand came in through the hole in the window, searching for the hinge. It found it, and soon the window was opened.
Julia jumped to her feet to wake Harriet and run to their parents' bedroom with her, but all she reached to do was stand between Harriet and the man who came in through the window.
In the dim light from the candle next to her bed, she could see a male figure with long, dark hair and a tri-cornered hat.
Oh my God! It's a pirate! She thought and was unable to move. She couldn't see his face clearly, but he had dreadlocks in his hair and in the dreadlocks there were beads and trinkets. His beard was braided, and he looked dangerous.
"Stay away from us!" Julia screamed and hoped it would've woken her parents or Matthew.
The pirate didn't reply. He just walked towards Julia, and though she still couldn't make out his face, she was positive he was smiling nastily.
"I mean it! Don't come any closer!" She said trying to sound scary. She knew she failed.
"You really think I'm scared of you, little girl?" The pirate finally hissed still coming closer.
Julia reached out for the candle on Harriet's bed table and threw the stearin at the pirate's face. He winced, and then he raised his hand.
The slap was too strong for Julia to stand up to, and within seconds everything went black.
Another couple of seconds, maybe a minute, later she woke up from her unconsciousness and looked to Harriet. Her sister was not in her bed, and so she got to her feet and ran to the window.
Oh no! The pirate was running through the garden with her baby sister over his shoulder! The latter was screaming and fighting to get loose, but soon they had both gone behind the willow hedge edging the gravel road leading from the manor house.
"Harriet!" Julia screamed, though she knew it had no effect. "Harrieeet!"
~
"Julia?" a young voice said. Julia didn't reply. She shook off the small hand that tried to shake her awake.
"Julia?" Harriet said again, and this time the older sister lay still, slowly opening her eyes.
Her heart was pounding wildly from the thought of loosing her sister, and she tugged Harriet in.
"It was only a dream, Julia." The little girl tried to comfort her, not quite comforted herself.
"I know." Julia said and tried to control her breathing. She couldn't help but shooting a look at the window. All the panes were in their right places, and there was no sign of the window having been opened since yesterday. The poplar was still tapping on the pane, but no hand came in through the window.
"Can I sleep in your bed?" Harriet asked. She seemed to be a bit frightened because of Julia's screaming. She, too, did not like the storm outside.
"Sure." Julia said and let her in under the blanket. She felt quite comforted by it herself.
"What did you dream about?" Harriet asked when Julia had packed them both closely in the blanket.
"Nothing special." Julia said trying not to think of it.
"Julia, you know it always feels better when you talk about your bad dreams!" Harriet's small voice said and made Julia smile. She was the one who was supposed to say that, whenever her little sister had had a nightmare. Not the other way around.
"You're right." She replied and kept smiling. "I dreamt about pirates." There was no need to tell Harriet more.
"Were they good ones?"
"No."
"Do you think we're going to see pirates tomorrow?"
"No."
"Do you think they're dangerous?"
"If we don't see any, how can they be dangerous?"
"But if we do see them?"
"Harriet, pirates don't just walk around in the town of Port Rewland. You've been listening too much to Daniel."
"They don't? Then where are they?"
"On the sea. Sailing. They won't even come near Port Rewland."
"Daniel told me that maybe
they would attack the town and take me with them when they left."
"Don't listen to him. He's only trying to scare you."
"You don't think they'll take me with them?"
"No, they won't, Harriet. It's nonsense!" Julia replied feeling slightly worried because of her recent dream. "Now, go back to sleep."
"But if we do meet pirates, do you think they're dangerous?" Harriet continued ignoring Julia's request.
The latter sighed.
"No, if we meet pirates in Port Rewland, they'll be locked up in prison and therefore not dangerous."
"Oh." Harriet replied. She sounded rather disappointed. Julia promised herself that she'd talk to Daniel the next morning. There was no need for him to tell his baby sister such stories to frighten her. Or anyone else.
After a while Julia could hear her sister breathing deeply, and she knew she was asleep. She thought about getting up to write the dream into her diary, but she didn't. She didn't want to frighten herself by thinking more about it. In the morning, when the sun would come in through the windows, everything would seem nice and right again, and she would laugh at her own ridiculousness.
A few minutes later she fell asleep again, no more nightmares disturbing her sleep.
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A/N: Please let me know what you think by reviewing. I have no idea of what people think of this story, so it'll be a great help if you'll take the time to write a few lines. Thank you!
