Jack lay in his bed staring at the wooden planks of his ship. He thought of what happened these past days. It was almost too much to fit into that little time. First, there was this navy ship. Nothing special, really, just a regular sized ship. Still, the heavily guarded entrances to below deck had made him curious. Whatever was in there it had to be of some kind of value, and they could really use something of value, if it was gold, they could refill their stocks of food and rum, if it was some other kind of treasure, he'd surely find something useful to trade it for.

They approached the ship quickly and the navy soldiers barely had time to realize what was happening before they were already in the midst of a fight. Luring the guards away from the entrances wasn't all too hard, and soon, Jack and his crew entered the decks below. Jack quickly registered the scene before him. There weren't any chests or bags of anything, the purpose of this ship was a completely different one. There were cells. Cell after cell. A prison transport. Jack decided to have a look at the prisoners. From what he could hear, the navy soldiers had already surrendered upstairs, as there was no fighting noise anymore. So there was enough time for him to check out the whole ship to see if there was anything useful somewhere. Most of the cells were empty. He already decided to go back and have a look at the rest of the ship, when he noticed a small light in the very last cell. He slowly approached the cell, not sure what to expect there. He expected to hear screaming or some kind of surprised reaction when he saw who was in the cell. It were two girls. No, more like two young women. In their early twenties, Jack guessed. However, no reaction followed as Jack gazed into the cell that had a little light on one wall. One of the girls was laying on the floor, probably unconscious, and the other one was sitting in one corner, head between her knees and arms flung around them. "Hey! Who are you?", Jack whispered. He wasn't sure why he was whispering but he had the feeling that he might scare the girl even more as he realized she was shivering. "Hey, lass!", Jack hushed again, "who are you two?"
The girl slowly raised her head from her knees and looked at him slowly. Despite the darkness, Jack could see the fear in her eyes. "I'm Charlotte", she said with a thin voice, "who are you?". Jack was startled by the look on her face. It was fearful, of course, but there was something else. "Why're you in here?", Jack asked. "We… are messed up…", the girl said quietly, "they want to lock us away". Jack frowned. He gave it a short thought, and hushed "hold on, I'll be right back". He quickly walked back to where they knocked out the guards and soon found a small iron key in one of the guards' pockets.
Back at the cell, he put the key into its place, and the door sprang open. The girl looked at him, her eyes confused and still full of fear. "C'mon, lets get out", Jack said and held a hand out towards the girl. "Please, I can't just leave her here", the girl said quietly, pointing at the unconscious one on the floor. "Don't worry, we'll get her", Jack said and still held his hand out. Hesitantly, the girl grabbed it, and Jack felt her cold, shivering fingers in his hand. He carefully lead the girl out of the cell, but not many seconds later, he felt the girl break down behind him. "I'm… sorry", she mumbled as she struggled to get up again. Jack quickly bent down and heaved her up to carry her in his arms. The girl blinked and breathed irregularly, but didn't do anything to object, she seemed to be incredibly tired. Jack carried her up on the deck, where he saw his crew guarding the navy officers who surrendered. "Turner", Jack called "there's another one in the last cell below deck. Get her and bring her onto the Pearl". The man nodded and started off, together with two more men to get below deck. "Look if there's anything useful on the ship and collect it, then leave the ship and set these men free", Jack told his crew. "But, Captain…", a weathered man, older than most on the ship, objected, "If we let them go, they'll tell the navy about your little rescue trip"
"You heard me", Jack said without turning around. "Aye…", the other man said, clearly annoyed, "Everyone, get your asses back to the Black Pearl!", he yelled at the rest of the crew.

Jack sat by his bed where both of the two young women lay, Charlotte sleeping and the other one still unconscious. He silently looked at the two, wondering what had happened to them. Charlotte had brown hair that shimmered slightly reddish in the subtle light of Jack's cabin. She seemed to be not much over 20, her arms and legs frighteningly skinny. Her hair was messy and about shoulder-length, although it might have been longer, since it seemed to be rather curly. Her cheeks were sunken in and she had black shadows under her eyes, but she was still beautiful. The other girl seemed to be about the same age, almost as skinny, and light brown hair, that was probably straight when taken care of. She was still unconscious, but she was breathing. Jack noticed that Charlotte was shivering again, so he fetched another blanket from a chest and covered her. When he took her arm to also cover it with the blanket, he noticed something else. Not only was her arm terribly light and her bones showed at her wrists, he also noticed scars. Lots of scars. Her whole arm was covered in them. Jack shuddered at the thought of the things that had probably caused these scars. He had seen it on people before, mostly women he had observed in taverns in Tortuga. Long and short, thin and thick little white lines on their arms, inflicted by razors and shards of glass. He once observed a woman with these scars hiding behind a tavern, as she secretly pulled out what seemed to be a piece of a razor as it was used to shave men's beards, and slowly began dragging it over the skin on her arm, blood starting to pour, as she sat there silently, tears starting to roll down her face. Jack was scared back then, he was still in his teens, and had never seen anything like this before. He was confused as to what may cause this woman to inflict this kind of pain on herself.
Jack suddenly realized that he was still holding her arm and quickly tugged it under the blanket. He then blew out the candle in his cabin and closely left the two in his bed. "Jack", one of his men called Gibbs called out to him, "how are they?"
"Alright", Jack grunted, "but one is still unconscious". "Who do you think they are? Pirates?", Gibbs asked. "No idea, I guess we'll find out when they're awake". Jack was frowning again. "What is your plan with them?", Gibbs continued asking. "Well I'll try to find out who they are, but for now, they'll stay here. I'll let them sleep in my cabin, just so none of the crew gets any bad ideas" Jack said, still thinking hard.

A few hours later, as the light began to fade and the sun slowly started to set, Jack reentered is cabin and was surprised to find Charlotte awake, sitting on her side of the bed, again, arms flung around her knees, staring at Jack's maps that were lying everywhere in the cabin. "Hello, love", Jack said, slowly approaching her. Charlotte looked at him, pain still in her eyes, though it seemed a little less intense to Jack than back in the cell. "Hello… th.. thank you… who are you… why did you save us… where are we…", she stammered. Jack smiled a little. "Yer on the most beautiful ship in the whole seven seas, love, me Black Pearl", he said, "and I'm Captain Jack Sparrow". A slow flicker of interest flared up in the girl's eyes. "J…Jack Sparrow? You're a pirate… I've heard about you". Jack smiled a little wider. "How do you feel now, love? What happened?" Charlotte looked at her hands. "They wanted to bring us to… another prison" she said. "Why? What did you do?" Jack asked.
Charlotte looked down again. She was obviously ashamed. "Because… we're messed up…", she said again.
"What kind of reason is that?" Jack frowned.
"A good enough one for them" She was fighting against tears now.
"It's ok, love, don't worry, they can't get you here" Jack carefully moved closer to her, as tears started rolling down her face again.
She looked at him with her reddened eyes. "Thank you.", she said, "…for saving us"
Something inside Jack hurt a little when she said this with such sincerity. She looked at him as if he was an angel.
"Well", Jack cleared his voice, "no problem, love"
They were silent for a minute.
"Who's the other lass?", Jack asked.
"Her name's Sam" Charlotte whispered, "She was put on the ship with me… she was in the same… prison as l was" Every time she said the word prison she looked down. Jack frowned. It probably wasn't a prison, he thought. At least not a usual one.
He decided not to inquire her any more for now.
"Are you hungry or something?" he asked instead.
Charlotte shook her head. She had stopped crying. "No? You must be. I'll get you something. Stay here." Jack rushed out and ordered one of his men to get some bread, cheese and water. When he came back, Charlotte was trying to stand up. Her legs were shaking. It was only now that Jack noticed the bruises on her calves and ankles. "Careful", he said. She was now standing up, holding on to a chair. She was wearing the same dirty gown he found her in. Carefully, she placed one foot before the other. Suddenly her legs gave in, but Jack caught her in time. "Damnit", she cursed, as Jack helped her back onto his bed. "Haven't been walking much lately, eh?", he said. Charlotte shook her head. "They shackled me", she answered.
That's where the bruises on the ankles came from.
Jack gave her the food and water and looked at the other girl that was still laying on his bed. Still unconscious. It's not a good sign if she doesn't wake soon, Jack thought. He then left her again for a minute and came back with a long white cloth in his hands. "I still have this from our last visit to Tortuga", he said, "thought I could use it for bandaging or something, but you need it more now. Just cut some of the fabric off if it's too long". Charlotte curiously took the cloth and realized it was a dress. She looked at him again and a flicker of a smile appeared on her face. "Ok, I'll leave you alone now. Take the knife in the drawer of the desk if you need to shorten it"
Quickly, he exited the cabin and walked over to the railing. He took a deep breath, still wondering what exactly happened to the two young women in his cabin. They clearly didn't come from an ordinary prison. The kinds of gowns they were wearing... it reminded him more of hospital gowns. He remembered what Charlotte had said to him… "We're messed up"… Jack was pretty sure they came from one of the asylums. Poor darlings. He had heard stories about these institutions where they locked up those that didn't fit into the "normal" society. Jack grunted, disgusted. How they always thought they could just decide who was "normal", who was "rightful", who was allowed to be free and who wasn't.
Suddenly he heard stumbling footsteps behind him. Charlotte came towards him, slowly, but a little more securely than before. She was wearing the white dress he had given her. It suited her thin body perfectly. Jack looked at her as she slowly walked towards him. She was definitely beautiful. In that dress she also looked older now, more like a woman. She finally reached the railing and grabbed it for support.
Then something very bizarre happened. Charlotte suddenly turned around abruptly and walked back a few steps. Then, she froze. It seemed like she was concentrating extremely hard, yet not moving.
"What's the matter?", Jack asked, suddenly alarmed. The young woman didn't answer, but started moving a little towards the front, then turned around again and returned to the railing, where she immediately grabbed it. Her face looked very tense and pained. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry…", she mumbled. Jack still looked at her, confused. "You ok?", he asked. "Yeah, don't worry, I'm sorry… It's nothing" she said again looking at her hands. Jack waited another second, but when Charlotte didn't say anything else, he just decided to believe her, and let it be.
They looked out at the sea. It was completely dark now. The stars were glistening up at the night sky. Charlotte took another breath. "I haven't breathed this air in forever", she said with melancholy in her voice.
They were standing there, for a few minutes, in complete silence. Charlotte closed her eyes and let the wind tug at her hair. Then she turned to Jack and smiled a little. "Thank you", she said again.
"Nothing to thank me for… Charlotte right?", Jack said.
"Charlie.", the girl smiled a little more, again looking out into the darkness, at something only she could see in her mind. "Alright… Charlie", Jack said quietly.

The next day Charlotte again seemed to be doing a little better. Sam, the other girl, however, still lay in Jack's bed, unconscious but breathing. "We need to try to wake her somehow", Jack decided, "It's not good if we don't even know if she's hurt or anything, or what caused her unconsciousness". He carried the girl out and laid her on some blankets in the sun. He started shaking her. "Sam? Yeah, Sam! Wake up! C'mon! C'mon lass". Nothing. "Get us some sea water", Jack ordered and 30 seconds later, one of his men returned with a wooden bucket full of it. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this now", Jack said. With one swing he splashed the cold sea water into Sam's motionless face. First it seemed like also this attempt failed, when suddenly, Sam began coughing and spitting out the sea water that had entered her nose and mouth. She blinked into the sun, obviously still dazed by whatever caused her to be in the coma. "Where am I?", she mumbled, slowly trying to get into an upright position. "You're save!", Charlie knelt down next to her, "He saved us! Captain Jack Sparrow saved us!", she said calmly. "J… Jack Sparrow? The pirate?", she asked, confused. "Yes", Charlie whispered, "we're out of there!". Though now awake, Sam still couldn't walk on her own, so Jack carried her back into his cabin and sat her down on his bed. He couldn't help but notice that also she had bruises on her ankles. Sam's gaze fell on the still untouched bread and cheese on Jack's table, and her eyes got shiny. "Do you want it?", Charlie asked. Sam nodded. Jack handed her over the plate and Sam began stuffing the food into her mouth. "Can I get you something too, now? You must be hungry as well by now", Jack turned to Charlie. She shook her head, a little too long. Jack frowned. She really should eat something soon, he thought, or we'll have another unconscious one aboard soon.
"Now, tell us what happened", Charlie said as Sam had finished the food in less than a minute, "Why were you unconscious? You were still awake when we departed in Kingston…"
"I don't know". Sam helplessly looked at the other girl. "I honestly don't know". Charlie frowned. "Did you feel something unusual?"
"No, I was tired, and freezing, but other than that, nothing I remember".
"Well if there's anything me crew and I can do for you, just let me know", Jack said. Sam looked at him, suspiciously. "Can… can I talk to Charlie for a second?", she asked.
"Sure", Jack replied, and left the cabin.
"What is he doing?", Sam inquired, as soon as the door was closed.
"What do you mean?" Charlie looked at her, frowning.
"Why has he saved us? Why is he helping us?"
"Well… I don't know, but he is, so that's all what's important for now! We're free! We won't be going to Black Hill!" Charlie smiled a little.
"But… what will he do with us? What if that's not much better?", Sam looked down. "Maybe he's gonna sell us to some brothel or whatever…"
"No, I don't think so…"
"He's a pirate. Don't forget that"
"I just… don't think so… he doesn't seem like that kind of person… it really seemed like… he cared"
"Charlie. He's a pirate. All he cares about is money and treasure. He probably even killed people"
Charlie shook her head. "I trust him for now. And that's really all we can do. What other choice do we have? Do you want to go back to the asylum? Do you want to be sent to Black Hill? You know what they're doing there, you know it."
"I know" Sam sighed, "but we have to be careful…"
"You know what? To be honest I don't care what he's gonna do. It can't really be worse than Black Hill anyway, and if it is, I'll just end it all like I should have done a long time ago…" Charlie's eyes filled with tears once again.
"Don't say that…" Sam said with pain in her voice.
"It's the truth. I don't like it either but it's the plain, cruel, truth. I'm a fucked up being and my death will not hurt anyone in this world. I see this as my last chance at this life. And if it ends sooner rather than later, then so be it. It doesn't matter. I don't matter. Nothing matters. So I truly don't care what his plan is." Charlie was really worked up now, shivering with anger and despair, hot tears on her cheeks.
"Ok, ok, calm down. It'll be ok!" Sam said.
"No, it won't". Charlie sank into the bed, buried her head into her knees and started rocking softly, forward and backward, as if she wanted to rock herself to sleep.
Sam exited the cabin, still a little shaky, but at least able to walk now.
A few seconds later, Jack stuck his head back in and carefully approached Charlie, who was still in the same position, rocking back and forth.
"You sure you are ok?", Jack asked silently.
Charlie didn't answer, but continued her steady pace of rocking.
Jack sat down beside her. "Hey", he said, "hey, what's the matter"
Charlie stopped the rocking and looked at him, her eyes red from crying. "I'm sorry", she said again. "I'm sorry… I'm messed up"
"Nothing to be sorry about, love" Jack smiled reassuringly. Tears started rolling down Charlie's face again as she looked down and stared at her hands. "Hey", Jack said again, and reached out to her, hovering above her for a second before he laid his hand on her shoulder and started stroking her carefully.
Charlie started crying even harder because of this and Jack was just about to draw back his hand when she suddenly turned to him and laid her head against his chest.
Surprised, he didn't move for a second, then started stroking her back again, whispering quietly.
"It's ok, love. Whatever they did to you, you're ok, you're save now. I promise I won't let them get to you". Charlie quietly continued crying into his shirt, only slowly starting to relax a little under his soft stroking.

Jack didn't know for how long they were sitting there, her silently crying into his chest and him stroking her back ever so lightly. At some point, Jack realized she wasn't crying anymore. She had fallen asleep. Carefully he lifted her head and laid it down onto the pillow of his bed. He looked at her once again. Her skin was pale and she still had black shadows under her eyes. She looked strained, even in her sleep. Her brown hair, however, shone reddish in the weak light the candle in the room provided. It was beautiful. She was beautiful. Jack couldn't take his gaze off her. Something about that girl captivated him but he couldn't quite grasp what it was. Silently he left the room. Charlie slept for the rest of the day and Jack, not wanting to wake her, decided now was a good time to think about their further plans. After contemplating whether or not to set course to Tortuga to refill their stocks already, he grabbed a fresh bottle of rum and pulled out his compass. The needle was spinning. "Damnit", Jack cursed and put the compass back in its place on his belt. He sat down on the railing in silence taking a sip of rum every now and then and looking out at the sea. Today was not going to get any more productive. It must have been the day, because Jack suddenly realized that he was alone on deck. Where in the bloody world…, he thought, where are all these lazy…. Suddenly he heard the door to his cabin open with a quiet creak. A head full of brown locks appeared and Charlie stumbled out, legs still heavy from sleep. She approached Jack. When he looked at her, she blushed. "I'm sorry", she said. "For what?", Jack frowned. She was really apologizing a lot. "Well… for… er… bothering you with my stupid crying". She looked down at her feet. "Oh, stop worrying about that. You don't have to constantly apologize to me". "I'm sorry…" she began but then blushed again, "I mean, thank you. For taking care of me. And Sam of course… by the way, where is she?"