Disappear

Chapter 1.

Although I wasn't drunk, nowhere near it after only ten tankards of booze, I felt unusually sleepy. Normally in a situation like this, I would sit on the sidelines until the urge to sleep drowned out all the noise of the party. But tonight there was a heavy sensation in my chest and I went to bed early, despite the annoyingly loud protests of the idiot trio and the insults of the stupid cook.

However, to my frustration, I found myself unable to sleep. While the men's chambers were relatively quiet, especially in comparison to the deck where the rest of the crew were still celebrating our arrival into the New World, my eyes remain wide open.

In the darkness I lay in my hammock, hoping that the sea would gently rock me to sleep as it did on calm nights like this one. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Just as I was on the verge of slumber, the calm sway of the hammock stopped suddenly and the room started to quiver and tremble.

I jolted upwards, suspecting an approaching storm and listened intently for the sound of Nami's voice shouting orders at the crew. But it never came. Instead I was greeted by cold droplets of water that fell thickly onto my face.

"What the—rain?" I said aloud, in surprise. "How can it rain?" My voice was surprisingly quiet, as if I hadn't used it in a long time. Still dazed, I rubbed my face and indeed it was rain water in my hand. Except it wasn't my hand. It was a long, thin slender hand; the hand of a woman. I looked down to see my legs folded on an ice cold cement floor and my white dress soaked into the ground by the rain.

I wondered then if I was perhaps still asleep in my bed, and this scene was a strange vision conjured up by my tired brain and ten tankards of booze. In front of me was a high stone statue, carved into the shape of a weeping angel. I soon realized that I was in the body of a girl who was placing flowers at its feet.

It was a memorial stone.

Eventually I stood up and made my way down the stone steps slowly and carefully. My feet were cold as if I was walking barefoot, and the rain had soaked deep into my skin and had frozen my bones. The wind howled through hollow trees and a heavy sensation returned in my heart, as if I was apprehensive of something. My legs began to pick up a desperate pace. I couldn't see much of anything, but the need to run, to escape was getting stronger with each step.

There were voices now, calling me, coming closer…until…until…until…

I woke up in my room.

This time it was my room. It was still dark and the room was still empty. I hadn't been asleep for a long time. Yet, I couldn't shake the dreadful feeling. There was a knock and the door swung open to reveal the scowling face of the cook.

"Is there a problem, sleeping beauty?" he said.

I look down at my hands and one last time around the room. Everything was back to normal. "No. Piss off." I replied with equal politeness.

"Then keep it down." The cook said angrily. "If you can't handle your damn drink, I'll be sure to give you water next time."

"Can't handle my drink?" I said with increasing irritation. I got up and pulled out one of my swords and stepped forward but for some reason I lacked my usual fighting spirit. The stupid cook must have noticed because he stared at me strangely for a few moments, then walked out of the room calling out "Go get some sleep and keep your mouth shut while you do it" over his shoulder.

I went back to my hammock but I did not fall back to sleep, even when the others had come in one by one in a drunken stupor after the party. When the first light of dawn came through the cabin window I dressed myself and went out onto the deck. The grass lawn on the Sunny's main deck was damp with morning dew. Water droplets gathered on the tips and glistened as they dropped, like the wet flower petals on the memorial stone.

I shook my head, trying in vain to erase the dream from my head, but it was useless. I could remember every single detail as if I had been physically present. I must have been more tired than I originally thought, dreaming so deeply and vividly of something non-existent. Maybe I really was turning into a fantasist like Nami said.

I needed to get my mind off things. The light from the crow's nest was still on. Whoever was on night watch would have to put up with my company for a while; I had weights to lift and things to forget.