I Do Not Own Any of the Pirates of the Caribbean Movies


"Hurry up!" The slave master bellowed.

The crack of a whip sounded somewhere on the deck which made everyone speed up. My friend Aggie collapsed out of exhaustion beside me. We were hoisting up the white sails of the slave ship. I grabbed her shoulder, gathering my strength to pull her up on her feet. Already, I was weak and grimy.

"No. Get up! The master is coming," I urgently warned her.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

The slave master stomped towards us. Panic began to set in.

"Get up."

"Please sir. She just fell."

He roughly grabbed Aggie by her shoulders and yanked her to her feet, receiving a yelp.

"I'm sorry. Please don't!" Aggie begged.

"You'll have to be punished. You're coming with me."

I cried out, "No! Aggie!"

The smell of sweat and bodies intensified as I attempted to snatch Aggie away from the slave master. A hand slapped mine away and I watched Aggie's blonde curly hair disappear through the wooden threshold of the slave master's quarters. My stomach dropped. The only slaves who visited the slave master's quarters were women and girls. Aggie has more than once been there.

I could feel my day coming soon. One day I was going to visit that wretched room. It was only a matter of time. I knew that Aggie didn't have much longer to live. Between us, she had a cut on her leg that was turning into a big nasty infection.

No one cared about treating us. If one of us died, we were sent overboard without so much as a funeral ceremony. Only the strong survive in this business. Even if you live through the voyage, it doesn't get any better. Today, I snapped.

I was close to the rail. It's been reported that a few slaves had jumped overboard on other slave ships. Only one slave on our ship jumped ship and died. I was going to become number two. When the overseers were farthest away from me I climbed onto the railing.

I felt all the attention of the slaves on me. For half a second I stared at the churning water below. There wasn't any reason to live if my whole life was in slavery. So I jumped.

It hurt. I smacked against the water and sunk down. As soon as I came up for air I started swimming the opposite direction of the ship. Frigid. I never expected the water to be cold. It felt good compared to the heat up on the deck I was enduring.

"Hey! We've got a runaway." Someone yelled.

"Aw, let 'er go. She's as good as dead."

Quickly the ship faded into a little speck. In the distant I heard the faint sound of a whip cracking against the wood of the ship. The cold didn't feel good anymore. My hands were starting to feel numb, and my already aching muscles were starting to become useless to me. I couldn't paddle anymore.

Back before I was taken as a slave I swam a lot where I came from. I turned and floated on my back. The sky was a bleak grey color. Slowly, my eyes began to blink shut. The idea of sleeping was so inviting. I'm free...