Chapter One

Jim

"Look Jim," Sarah spoke softly as the train began to slow "I know you're not happy about having to finish school here at the Academy, but with the Benbow gone and me working full time at Dunwoody house until we have enough money to rebuild, finding you a place where you can have a roof over your head, three meals a day and a great education is such a blessing…" Sarah looked at Jim for a reaction, but he seemed to be taking no notice at all. He was just staring out the window, watching the world go by. Sarah decided to finish her thought, in the hope that her son might be taking it in.
"… and for free, no less. Make sure you thank Delbert from me when you see him." She finished.
Jim grunted his affirmative, and then stood up to collect his bag from the luggage rack above their heads.

Jim did not want to go to Montressor Bay Academy. It was a private boarding school in a shitty fishing town in the middle of nowhere. To be sure, Jim wanted to leave the Benbow (although he was devastated when it burned to the ground), but his dream was to travel the world, not to sit on a train for two hours in order to become a private school arsehole, trapped in a dead-end town with no access to an open road, sea or sky.

Jim Hawkins was 17 years old, and he was what so called 'adults' would describe as 'troubled'. He had lived at his family's inn, the Benbow, his whole life with his mother, Sarah. His father had abandoned them, seemingly without reason, when he was 12, and it was the most devastating moment of his life. He remembered waking up on the morning of his twelfth birthday to see his father walking out the front door, getting in a cab and disappearing forever. His mum had never told him why the bastard had left. Jim was convinced that the man had just decided that his family wasn't worth his time anymore. He had been angry ever since; unendingly furious to the point where he no longer saw a point in an education anymore.

Make no mistake, Jim Hawkins was a smart guy. He had this incredible knack for building things, and since the day his father left, he'd put all his energy into building things that would take him away, far away. To start with, it had been about trying to follow his dad to wherever he had gone, so he could beg him to come back. After a while however, it had become more about a deep longing to get away from it all. He wanted to escape the misery of a home where he was loved, but not seen. Sarah had been on auto-pilot for the last five years. Sure, she cared for Jim deeply, as a mother should, but she no longer had any drive or enthusiasm for anything. She worked, and she talked to customers and she tried to make sure that Jim was doing okay in school (although he had not made that easy for her), but there was no feeling in anything she did anymore. It was like his son of a bitch father had taken her soul with him when he left.

After the Benbow had burned down in an arson attack three weeks ago, Jim thought his mother might finally let him drop out of school and start building his way to some far-off place where he could start anew and figure out his own place in the world, but before he could convince her to let him go, an old family friend, Dr Delbert Doppler had offered to accept Jim into the boarding school he taught at in Montressor Bay for free.

Now, Jim was stepping off a train at Spaceport Station on the outskirts of the town, a faded brown satchel hanging over his shoulder, containing the last few possessions of his that hadn't been consumed by the fire. It was a depressing scene. The sky was a dark grey colour, with clouds so thick and widespread that they blocked the sun. Jim could smell rain in the air, and he was not happy about it. Rain had never really bothered him before, but since the fire, he no longer had a coat to keep him dry. He was wearing the only clothes he owned: a tatty, light brown collarless shirt with the top two buttons missing, baggy grey trousers with a brown leather belt with a faded silver buckle, a pair of heavy, steel toed black boots and his thick leather jacket that had long since lost its shine. These were his work clothes that he wore when he was working on one of his bikes or his solar surfer. They were tatty and dirty, but they were comfortable and he loved them. The prospect of wearing them into a fancy private school however, made him feel out of place even before he had set foot in the fucking building.

The platform was deserted, save for a sharply dressed, stern looking woman with pointed features, yet strangely kind eyes. She stood perfectly straight, with her feet shoulder-width apart and her arms crossed behind her back. Jim suspected she must have been in the military. They used to get quite a few navy types coming through the Benbow for a night before going off to the docks to resume their service, and they always stood with the same posture as this woman. As Jim was sizing up the military woman, Sarah stepped off the train, with the usual expressionless look on her face. Jim sighed and walked over towards the sharply dressed woman.

"You are Mr Hawkins, yes." the woman said, matter-of-factly. This was not a question, but a statement. Jim nodded in response and held out a hand for her to shake.

"I'm Captain Amelia, the deputy headmistress at the Academy," she said as she firmly grasped Jim's hand and shook it briefly "You may address me as Captain or ma'am. Is that clear?" Jim merely rolled his eyes in response. He was already done with this place.

"Mr Hawkins…" the Captain said pointedly.

"Yes ma'am," Jim responded quickly and quietly.

"That'll do," she quipped, with a soft smile on her face which left Jim a little puzzled. "You must be this young man's mother," this was directed at Sarah, who seemed to barely register the remark. "Don't worry Mrs Hawkins, we'll take excellent care of your boy, and have him back to you a fine sailor."

Sarah smiled weakly at this before turning to Jim.

"I think this is where I leave you," she spoke softly, and Jim was shocked to see tears in her eyes "I love you more than you'll ever know, certainly more than I've been able to show you these past few years," her voice quivered as she spoke, and now Jim was starting to feel tears in the corners of his own eyes "I really think that this place will be good for you, Jim, so make the most of it, and when you're done, come home to me. I'm determined to have the Benbow rebuilt and ready for you when you get back."

Sarah Hawkins then hugged her son tight, tighter than she had ever hugged him since his father left. Jim was full of emotion. He couldn't decipher quite how he felt, but he knew for certain that he would melt under the strain of it all if he didn't stop feeling soon.

Suddenly, Captain Amelia cleared her throat and brought Jim back to reality. His mother finally released him from her embrace. The right shoulder of both their jackets had wet patches from the tears. Sarah nodded her gratitude to the Captain and gave Jim one last sad smile, before turning around and making her way back onto the train. Seconds later, the doors had slammed shut and the train had shuddered into life, slowly making its way out of this station, towards the next.

"Quickly now Mr Hawkins," Captain Amelia ordered "If we don't get a move on now, we won't make it back to the Academy before dinner."

Jim nodded and followed Amelia down a short flight of cobbled stairs, out of the station. A cab was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs to take Jim to his new prison.