"Elizabeth…"
Elizabeth jolted awake. She glanced around her, but all that was heard was the gentle snores of Will in the neighboring hammock. Elizabeth pushed back her hair and slipped out of her hammock, her feet touching the slightly swaying floor. In a few minutes she was on deck. The brew blew through her hair and the comforting smell of the sea filled her senses.
"Jack?" Her voice sounded small.
"Elizabeth…" She could feel his voice embraced her.
Ever since she had tied Jack to the ship's mast, she couldn't get him out of her head…or their kiss. In that kiss, she knew she loved him, and he loved her. Unconsciously, Elizabeth touched her lips with her fingertips. Every night the dreams grew more vivid.
"Oh, Jack, where are you?" she sighed. She braced herself against the rail and a sob escaped her lips. In her heart, she knew that he was still alive; the question was 'where?' Elizabeth pulled her shawl tighter around her small body. She slowly sank to the deck as cries of anguish and misery issued from the depths of her heart.
"It's all my fault!" she cried. "If I had listened to my heart, this would not have happened. The compass was right when it pointed to him as my heart's desire. Oh, it's too late now! I love you, Jack!"
Only the breeze was her answer.
"I long for your arms around me," she continued. "To feel you kiss me again like you did on the ships those five months ago." She held up her arms as if to feel his invisible embrace.
"Elizabeth?" Will's voice broke the silent memories. "What are you doing out here?" His black hair was mused and falling out of his hair tie and his dark brown eyes were bleary with sleep. "Have you been crying?"
Elizabeth wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. She shook her head. "No. I just couldn't sleep."
Will nodded at her weak excuse and slipped his arm around her waist. Elizabeth knew what was coming next and dutifully raised her lips to his. The kiss was empty of passion and it ended quickly.
Will searched her eyes. "Ever since Jack died, you haven't been the same."
It's because I don't love you anymore. She closed her eyes as his hands traced the outline of her face. His fingers touched the one earring that hung in her ear. It was the one gift that Jack had ever given her before she betrayed him. She swallowed back the guilt that rose in her throat like bile. She always wore the earring now.
Will started to stroke her cheek. "You loved him, didn't you?"
Elizabeth felt tears begin to trickle down her cheeks again. She couldn't look at him, so she fixed her eyes on the open sea behind him. "Yes. I did."
Will's hand fell to his side. "Do you love me, Elizabeth?"
She turned pained eyes on him. Tears glistened in her eyes and the moonlight cast silver on her cheeks where previous tears had been. "No, Will," she painfully whispered. "I don't love you any more. I can't. Not after I found out that my heart is with Jack. I can't love two men, Will. I had to choose. I'm sorry." She reached out to touch his cheek, but he drew back.
He bowed to her. "As you wish, Miss Swann." He disappeared below deck.
For a long time afterward, Elizabeth stared out at sea. Just as the first golden rays of dawn were peeping over the horizon, Elizabeth slipped into the ships galley. She found one Jack's old rum bottles that still hadn't been touched. Clutching the bottle to her heart, she walked back to the railing. She sat down and raised the bottle to the rising sun. She toasted it saying, "Here's to broken hearts!"
She drank the entire bottle. As she was slipping into oblivion, she felt Jack's arms around her.
"Elizabeth…"
