Ocean Eyes – Chapter 2

Davy didn't exactly treat me all that well, considering he had been somewhat mesmerized by my eyes the first time we met.

He stayed cold to me most of the time, ordering me to stay in his quarters while he thumped around his ship and other shipwrecks, slaughtering terrified sailors and commanding his vile crew.

The sunlight filtered through the condensed, hazy windows of Davy's quarters, so it was obviously day time.

I was so bored! I had nothing to look forward to, nothing to discover, my curiosity was driving me absolutely wild … so much so that I paced up and down his room in total agitation. I knew I wasn't supposed to be on the Dutchman, that there was somewhere else I really needed to be, I just couldn't remember what… it was so irritating!

I know it didn't seem like a very pressing matter on top of all the others, but my clothes felt horrible; they were so raggedy and salty, all ripped up too. My white shirt was filthy, almost not white anymore. It was so frustrating not knowing where I'd come from… all I remembered was being found on a shipwreck in the middle of the night by Davy Jones.

Even though I didn't know his name at the time, I had a strange realization that he wasn't a complete stranger to me… I just couldn't remember.

I sat down on the bare floor, ruffling my clothes in frustration with my forehead furrowed. As I attempted to stretch my trousers, I felt a lump inside one the loose pockets I never even knew was there this whole time. It wasn't big, but it wasn't small. I rammed my hand inside it and rummaged around until I found this strange, smooth object. I pulled it out of my pocket to find some sort of… instrument?

"Go on, Captain, play us a tune!"

"God, stop begging me!"

"Oh go on, you play it so beautifully! It makes our days at sea a lot brighter."

It had about six holes in it, and it seemed to be made out of clay… but the clay was dark sapphire blue with tiny particles to sea shell embedded in it. It was beautiful; and just holding it made me feel a lot safer.

I just couldn't remember what it was! Just like everything in my life right now.

The ship suddenly hurled to the side; maybe it was a harsh wave, but it sent me jerking forward. The instrument rolled out of my hand and bumped into the oyster-encrusted wall.

"DAMMIT!" I hissed worriedly, scrambling over to it. I was so worried that it would crack – it seemed quite fragile considering it was made of clay.

I checked it gingerly, in case it had been chipped. Of course I didn't want anything to happen to the only valuable possession I had at the moment, the only object that gave me any clue of remembering.

I stared straight at it; as if I was trying to morph it into a montage of my past before my very eyes.

"Captain, where's your ocarina?" A voice in the back of my mind said to me. I squinted and tensed up in a stupid desperate attempt to draw the memory out…

…Ocarina?

The door flew open right then. Davy strode in, eyeing me in a concerned manner, wondering why I was sitting cross-legged on his permanently-flooded floor, huddled over an object.

"…What are ye doing-ah?" He enquired, walking over to me. I shivered as the thump of his crab-leg approached - yet it wasn't out of fear.

"What is this?!" I said desperately, clutching the instrument and practically shoving it in Davy's face, as if he could make it all clear to me. Despite his absence and coldness, he'd done rather a lot for me at this point.

Davy peered at it. His crab arm reached out and grasped it, rather recklessly I thought.

"Hey, be careful!" I said irritably, almost forgetting how strong and forceful he was.

"I am-ah! What, ya think I'm gonna crush it or something-ah?" He said in a raised voice with a knitted brow. He looked tetchy, but rather comical. I couldn't help smiling at him. He was a squid-faced intimidating sort of sea-lord, but when you're in such close company to him, it's hard to take him seriously.

"Calm it, will you. It's just hard to imagine that you can handle anything gently with that… um…" I glanced to his crab hand.

This was the wrong thing to say. I realized I'd been rather harsh. His face tensed and his eyes looked almost… hurt. "Just because it's completely out of the ordinary to you-ah, you expect me to be totally out of control?" He said angrily, his tentacles writhing in frustration. "A normal, healthy woman like yourself will never know exactly what a tormented soul like me has been through!"

By this point, he had me almost pinned up against the wall with his crustacean limb. It was clamped around my neck, not with its full force, luckily. I started gasping, and realized I had grabbed hold of his arm in a desperate panic to stop him from squashing my neck.

A tense moment passed; his eyes loosened from their rage, and he blinked in disbelief and guilt. He released me, turning round immediately. I dropped to the floor, clutching my throat area.

Davy still had his back turned. He didn't say sorry – he obviously completely lacked the compassion to do so – but he wasn't angry; just silent. It sort of worried me.

"I…I'm sorry." I stammered. Part of me almost found it hard to believe I was actually apologizing, but it was my fault I had aggravated him in the first place.

"No need-ah…" He mumbled. He stomped over to his organ, looked at it for a moment, then sat down heavily on the chair. I stayed sitting where I was for a short bit of time, then I noticed the instrument still lying on the floor from where he'd dropped it in his anger.

I was annoyed at him for being so careless. I checked it again; luckily it was stronger than I thought. I picked it up again and ran my hand over its precious smoothness.

In my nostalgic trance, I found myself walking over to where Davy was. He was slouching over his organ sadly, and when I looked at his face, his eyes looked completely doused. I couldn't tell whether he was wallowing in guilt, pity or sadness… he just looked totally absorbed in some sort of negative emotion.

"…Are you ok?" I asked plaintively. I found it hard to believe I was being so casual with someone of such high authority on the seas.

He didn't answer me. Instead he reached out a few tentacles and started solemnly playing a haunting melody on his vast organ. They reached out, one by one, and flourished a flurry of different notes… all seemed to have their own sadness to them as they worked together under Davy's writhing "beard".

For some reason, the sound of it ripped right into me even though I'd never heard it before. It was if he was playing the very theme tune of the ocean itself – harsh, strong and beautiful…

I looked at my instrument that I was clutching. It had an extended bit with a little square hole; I realized it was to blow into. I brought it to my mouth, took a subtle breath and blew into it softly. The feathery toots that it produced as I played threw even more memories into my head.

"You play your ocarina so well…!" A cheery and familiar voice said in the corner of my mind.

Exactly… it was my ocarina! I'd completely forgotten the name of it, but I knew I used to play it and that it was mine. An image flashed in my mind of me perched on the front of a ship, playing my ocarina with my eyes closed; absorbing the beautiful melodies it gave out as I played it to the sea.

After my flashback, I realized that Davy and I were playing music together. The dominant notes of his organ merging with the haunting vibes of my ocarina…

But suddenly he stopped dead and stomped round to face me. I stopped playing the ocarina abruptly and took a step backwards.

"What is that-ah?" He asked, glaring at my ocarina.

"I…It's my ocarina." I said stupidly. All of a sudden, a petite little wind instrument seemed pathetic compared to his amazing organ.

He looked down at it with discontent. "Ya never told me ya name-ah." He said, changing the subject rather quickly.

I was shocked at myself; I didn't really know. I bit my lip.

"Ya don't even know your own name-ah?!" Davy asked, bewildered.

"I guess not…" I said softly, not making eye contact.

"Ye best figure it out soon-ah… ya wouldn't want me to keep referring to you as 'woman'" He said pointedly. He presumed I'd get fed up with being addressed to in such a manner.

I guess he wasn't such a harsh man after all if he'd just considered my feelings like that. Although he didn't say he was concerned about my feelings on the matter, I could just tell.

I was getting fed up with being cooped in here. I wanted to go out on deck and explore; plus I wanted to see the ocean.

"Can I go out on deck?" I asked Davy, as I headed towards the door. Part of me couldn't be bothered to wait for an answer.

"No! You cannot-ah!" Davy reached forward and grabbed my arm with his crab-hand, clasping it so I really couldn't move unless I wanted my arm torn off. He really wasn't aware of his own strength, sometimes.

"Ow! Why not??" I whined, struggling.

"'Cause-ah …" Davy stopped, and looked me in the eyes. "The crew will hassle ye for sure." He mumbled.

I stared at him. Was he really that concerned about my safety?

"Oh please, I can handle myself! They can't be all that bad!" I said confidently; but my mind faltered as I remembered their sheer strength and vileness on the night I was found. I was just a woman, after all…

"So ya see." Davy said triumphantly. He let go on my arm. "And I'll be a damned man more if I let ya go up there to be hassled-ah." He stomped over to the door. "You wait-ah." With that, he went out, and that was the final word on the subject. I was furious.

To be hassled? A few minutes ago, he had me pinned up against the wall, harming me himself. Why did it make a difference if the crew gave me hassle? I may just be a woman… but I'm not that pathetic.

God, men made no sense; especially squid-faced pirate ones.

I was so annoyed that I paraded around the room in a huff. I dropped to my knees, and then slid forward, falling to the floor. As I did so, I felt another lump in my other pocket.

I reached inside to find a little dark-scarlet book, no bigger than my hand. I was disappointed to see that when I looked inside, the black ink had all smudged, and the miniature pages were crinkled from being waterlogged. I squinted, desperate to see what it said on the first page, where the writing was a lot clearer and bigger.

"Oh for God's sake…!" I hissed angrily at the book, as if I was trying to force it to make the writing clearer. My temper was crappy and rather uncontrollable at times – like Davy's.

I put the book so close to my face it was almost touching my nose in a desperate attempt to read.

What I saw was:

"This booklet belongs to Captain Meryl Snatcher"

To Be Continued.

Aaagh, I'm so new at this… darn it! Hope that was all right.