Escape

by An Elf and a Space Pirate

Two original characters, both running from their pasts. Along the way they meet on a pirate ship called the Black Pearl, fall in and out of love, and face plenty of danger and adventure before they finally have to face what they are trying to escape.

1. Chapter 1

4 years ago

Dear future reader,

You do not know me, and I do not know you. I do not even know why I am writing, except that I must tell somebody, and to say these things out loud would mean certain exile, imprisonment, and death.

My name is Wesley Silverthorn. I come from a wealthy, yet disreputable family. My father is lazy and does no work, living off the fortune he inherited from his father, as did his father before him. He cares nothing for anybody, only for himself and the fortune, and he trains his children to be the same way. My older brother was always the favorite, following in my father's footsteps, a greedy miser, having no ambitions but to inherit the fortune when my father dies. And so my family has earned a reputation for being cruel, greedy, and uncaring, and as I have the misfortune of bearing the family name, the reputation falls onto me as well.

So I have lived for seventeen years, caring nothing for the fortune, wanting only to escape the bad reputation the family name places on me. I have watched my father laugh at poor beggars who ask him for just a shilling. I have seen my brother torment young starving children who ask for just a loaf of bread, knowing that I can never escape the hostility of the townspeople.

Yesterday began as any other day. The sun rose. I went out early to take a walk before anyone else was awake to throw rotten fruit at me. I had barely reached the first corner past our house, when I heard angry shouting that sounded suspiciously like my brother's voice. I went to go see what was going on, and I found my brother in the act of beating an old man and shouting about constantly being bothered by the old and stupid who cannot fend for themselves. I intervened, throwing my brother off the old man and into the wall of a nearby building. I heard a crack and saw blood coming from his head as he slumped to the ground at my feet.

I panicked, not taking the time to find out whether he was dead. I ran and hid just outside the city and waited. It didn't take long for me to hear the news that the oldest Silverthorn boy was found dead, and his brother had gone missing. I was suspected to have murdered my brother in order to become heir to the fortune.

Now I am on the run, a wanted man. My father has money, enough money to fund a full-out search for me. I am no longer safe in England. Everyone knows my name, and it does not help that my features are so distinguishing. My right eye is blue, the other is green. I cannot stay here. My only hope is to sail across the Atlantic under a false name and pray that I will not be arrested the moment I reach the Caribbean.