I remember the day I finally became a man; the day I took responsibility for those around me. It was the day my parents died.
I pull Isabel's coat off the coat stand. I call on her and after a pause she comes running. My parents stand by the door, waiting for us. My mother smiles at my sister and I. We leave our house for what was to be the last time and make our way to the Swann's house. We reach the top of a steep hill. Isabel takes my hand. I look down at her and she smiles.
"Come on, James!" she laughs and we both start to run down the hill in the pouring rain. Our father runs after us and our mother shouts to us to be careful, but there's laughter in her voice too. We're running towards huge iron gates. They open and a small, blonde haired girl steps out. Isabel gives a squeal of delight and we start to run faster. We reach the gates and Izzy lets go of my hand. "Elizabeth!" she shouts and I watch my sister hug her friend.
I turn and look back up the hill. My breath comes out in clouds in the cool air. Mother and father and walking together now, hand in hand. Mum looks properly happy. Her blue eyes are sparkling and the faint lines around the corners of her eyes appear when she smiles. Father ducks his head quickly to plant a kiss on her cheek. She laughs and the dark shadow of the miscarriage she had had years before Isabel was born seems to have faded.
That's how I always want to remember them. I never want to remember them as unhappy as the day they lost their second child. I was only three, but I can remember the ordeal well. The house was sombre and serious and my mother became dangerously thin. The torment lasted for years. I don't think mum ever really recovered, not even when Isabel was born five years later. That means there is a difference of eight years between Isabel and I. She had to attend the funeral of her parents when she was just ten years old. How is that fair?
I grab Izzy around the waist and tickle her. She squeals in my arms and both she and Elizabeth try to fight me off her. We're all laughing happily. Governor Swann appears at the door and beckons us all in. Isabel and Elizabeth run ahead and I follow. Mother and father arrive shortly after and start a conversation with Governor Swann. I'm eighteen, old enough to be included in the adult's conversation, but I keep an eye on Elizabeth and Izzy. I find it strange that they still have things to talk about. They see each other almost every day, but there they are, whispering in a corner like they've been apart for years. I talk to the adults for about an hour. Governor Swann asks me how I'm getting on in the Navy. My dad listens closely. I'm the latest in a long line of Norringtons and I have to carry on the family legacy. The pressure to follow in my father's footsteps is immense, but other than that I have no drive to succeed.
At some point during the conversation Isabel and Elizabeth disappear. The call comes that dinner is ready and I volunteer to find the girls. I can hear them laughing upstairs. I follow the sound into Elizabeth's room. They're sitting with paper and ink. Isabel shows me the drawings they've both done and I get caught up admiring them. I can't have been away for longer than fifteen minutes, but the next thing I know is frantic shouts from Governor Swann for us all to get out of the house. The sound of crackling reaches our ears as we run from the house, blinded by smoke and choking from the smell of it.
Isabel clings to me on the rain soaked lawn as flames lap at the doors and windows of the house. I wrap my arms around her as she tearfully whispers, "Where's mum and dad?"
Two coffins draped in black entered the church and everyone rose. As the coffins containing the charred remains of Lawrence and Emile Norrington were carried to the front, I heard a sob from next to me. It cut through the sea of self-pity that I had been drowning under. I looked down at my little sister. Tears fell from her blue eyes. They were just like mum's eyes. I pulled Isabel close and swear to always protect her. Because now, she's all I have left.
Thank you for reading :) This is just a oneshot, but if you're interested in reading about what happened to Isabel during the course of the films then please feel free to check out the series on my profile page.
Reviews are both loved and appreciated. Thanks again,
LVXX