The first bit is basically telling how it came too be, and it will get more interesting further in the chapter.
6 months later, after the Antonia Graza... Maureen and Dodge married. A big party was held in their honour, at the very bar the crew met in. And after the massive reception, the blushing bride and the groom were thrown off the pier together. They then swam in a fit of giggles to their boat, which they had bought during their courting months, and they had named it the Arctic Warrior 2. They sailed many hundreds of miles, including to the honeymoon destination on an uninhabited island not far off the coast.
After a year of adventurous sea voyages, and various ocean battles on stormy waters. Maureen and Dodge decided to settle down somewhere in the city. So they moved into a nice Victorian style house in Boston. A month after their arrival, Maureen discovered she was 6 weeks pregnant. So she spent most of her time off her feet. Dodge apart from working at the docks and running a market, he would have to rush around doing errands for his wife, mostly to satisfy her midnight cravings, such as; chocolate éclairs, pickled onions, and pop tarts.
Maureen wasn't keen on being pregnant, it made her feel week and vulnerable, she felt incapable of doing things, especially when her dad (Murphy) or her husband were about they would always sit her down and tell her 'take it easy' or 'you shouldn't be on your feet, Maureen', when they could just say 'you mires well just sit down, because you can't do anything anyway'.
All those years of being a secondary captain to a rough sea vessel were coming to an end. But it was worth it...when she first looked into the emerald eyes of her baby girl.
4 years later...
" Daddy!" Catrina's eyes lit up as she smiled, she used her little legs to run to her daddy, who enveloped her, lifted her into the air, and put her over his shoulder.
"How's my little girl then?" He said as he carried her to the car.
"Okay, I guess." Catrina replied, her voice dropping.
Dodge put his daughter down, and opened the car door. "You seem a little unsure about that."
"Well...I've been thinking lately...and...when are you going to take me out to sea?" She exclaimed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear before climbing into the back.
Dodge got into the car and closed the door, turning around to Catrina. "What's brought this up?"
"Well in class today we were told to write about our favourite holidays, one boy wrote about him and his family camping, and one girl wrote about her journey to France on a Concorde, and everybody else talked about their trip to Disney world." She said in a childish perplexed way.
"We've been to Disney world, why not write about that?"
"Dad...I don't wanna write about where everybody else has been, that would be boring, I want to have an original holiday...why can't we go on yours and mummy's boat?"
"We will someday, but not anytime soon, your mum and I promised to give it a rest for a while." Dodge started the car and pulled out onto the main road. Catrina, feeling defeated, folded her arms and looked out the window. Then after awhile she got out her sketch pad and began drawing things outside.
Dodge glanced at his daughter through the rear view mirror. She had grown fast in a short space in time. Her head which once only held a few gingering hairs, was now a full head of wavy brown hair, which reached the base of her back, and had flecks of blonde at the tips. Her eyes had been manufactured from Dodge's blue and Maureen's brown eyes, and had transformed into emerald orbs of colour, which were partly covered by a light fringe. Dodge smiled.
They pulled into the drive way of their home. Catrina jumped out, and ran into the house, dragging her school bag behind her. Maureen was ready and waiting by the door. As soon as Catrina had stepped into the doorway she was swept off her feet, and carried to the couch. She squealed as she was tickled by her mum. "Grrrrrrrr...tickle tickle...grrrrrrr...tickle tickle!" Dodge came around the back of the sofa and kissed his wife.
"I believe it's somebody's birthday in a couple of days." Dodge said leaning on the couch, and side glancing at Maureen, who smiled.
Catrina sat up, her eyes glinting. "Am I having a party!"
"You might be." Maureen and Dodge said in unison.
Catrina grinned as her mum and dad strolled into the kitchen.
Two days later...
Catrina stood blind-folded, clutching a bat in the middle of 10 giggling children, who were all sticking a hand in to spin her around, the group scattered. Catrina ran forward swinging her bat around. She smiled as her bat made contact with card and tissue paper , a-ha she was in swing range.
After she had made one hit, sweets began cascading down upon her, her friends cheered as they crawled across the grass towards the many chocolate éclairs, rainbow lollipops, and fruit pastilles scattered across the floor. Catrina removed her blind-fold, and began grabbing all the sweets she could get her hands on.
She stood and glanced at her friends. Well only 3 of them were her friends, the rest of them were random class mates who she got on with. Emma her best friend came up behind her as she was day-dreaming. "Did you like my gift!"
"Oh yes, it's beautiful." Catrina said, raising her arm to look at the thread woven, beaded bracelet. "Did you make it yourself?"
"Yes, I spent a week on it."
Catrina smiled warmly and hugged Emma. Emma then departed to join some boys who were trying to sit on some balloons.
Amidst the music and the sound of children playing, Catrina just stood there in her lilac party dress, which was fanning out around her ankles, the sun shining down on her brown hair, and reflecting off her purple ribbon. She scratched her arm feeling overcome with boredom. Catrina decided to get some punch. She walked over to the refreshment table, and reached across for a plastic cup.
A big gush of wind blew and ruffled through her hair. She felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, she felt an unsettling feeling she was being watched by someone that didn't want to be seen. Catrina looked about her, her mates were rolling across the grass, wrestling over balloons, her dad was fiddling with the barbeque, and her mum was icing her birthday cake. No one was taking much notice of her anyway. She turned back to the punch bowl...her eyes widened, reflected in the red liquid was a man staring at her, he had short mousy hair, thin lips, and intriguing eyes. His lips curled into a smile, and he mouthed something at her, but she couldn't make it out. Catrina leaned towards the punch bowl in curiosity-
"Honey, what are you doing?" Maureen asked, putting down the tray of cocktail weenies.
"Oh...I was just checking the punch." She stood up straight, folding her arms behind her back innocently. Catrina watched her mother walk away, she looked back at the red liquid, the man had disappeared.
Two weeks later...
It was Autumn, the leaves on the trees had now turned crisp and were floating down to the floor. Maureen stared out the window into the back garden, her face hitched with concern. Catrina sat alone on the bench staring at the ground.
Dodge came up to Maureen from behind, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "What's wrong?" He said quietly in her ear.
"I don't know, I'm just getting a little worried about Catrina, that's all." Maureen placed both her hands on Dodge's.
"In what way?"
"Well she's been a little quiet lately, she normally has so much to say, but nowadays it's just...like...she's not bothered...or...she's hiding something?"
"-Or she could be maturing?"
"She's five, Dodge!"
Dodge thought for a moment "Maybe she's being bullied at school."
"No she's not, I've asked her, and I've had the school closely monitoring her."
"And what did the school find out?" Dodge questioned.
"They said she was normally off in a world of her own, sometimes they found her talking to herself."
"You don't think she'll need to visit a shrink do you?" Dodge asked starting to look concerned.
"No...no, I just think we should keep a close eye on her." Maureen , made her way to the back door, and opened it. "Catrina, it's getting cold now...don't you wanna come inside?"
Catrina slid off the bench, and trotted inside. She took off her coat, and then slumped onto a chair at the table. Maureen for a moment couldn't blink, her daughter's resemblance to the meek little girl on the ship was almost uncanny.
"Say Catrina, why do you watch 'snow white and the seven dwarfs' ?" Dodge inquired.
"I just want to go to my room." She said quietly. Then she slowly got up and made her way to the stairs.
Maureen and Dodge watched her go. "Maybe I should go and check on her?" She said, and quickly followed.
When she got to her daughter's bedroom door which was covered in flowers, she heard her daughter's mumbling from the other side. She pushed open the door. The room was terribly dark, and she was surprised to be greeted with an intense cold air. "Jeeze Catrina, it's freezing in here." She rounded the door to see Catrina standing in the corner of the room, with a nervous look on her face.
"What's wrong?" Maureen asked concerned.
Catrina slowly approached her mum. "He must have followed me in the house? He won't leave me alone!"
Maureen was both puzzled, and on edge with what her daughter had just said. She lowered herself to her child's eye level, and held her at the shoulders. "Who Catrina...who!" Her voice getting panicky.
Catrina stepped away, and rummaged through her bedside table draw, and she pulled out a folded up piece of paper. Catrina gave it to her mum. Maureen looked at the paper, and hesitated before she opened it. She then unfolded it, half by half, until she came to the last fold, she flipped the paper over and stared wide eyed at the page. ...There looking up at her was a sketch of Jack Ferriman.
Her whole world turned upside down in anger, panic and absolute fear, she could do nothing more than grab her daughters hand and drag her out of that room. She ran down the corridor and into her and Dodge's room.
"Mummy, who is that man?" Catrina whispered, with a hint of fear.
"Nobody honey." Maureen whispered, placing a hand on her own head, trying to pace herself, and trying to think.
"How come you're so scared?" Her daughter questioned.
Her mother looked down at her, thinking of the right thing to say. "Well, he is an old friend who turned into a bit of a nasty friend."
"Can he hurt any of us?" Catrina said, in a squeaky voice.
Maureen looked at her and guided her to the wooden chest at the foot of her bed. "No sweetie... he can't, at least not when I'm around." She tucked a strand of her daughters hair behind her ear. Catrina's eyes darted to the side, and she stiffened-
"MUMMY HE'S HERE!"
-Maureen whirled around, she came face to face with Jack, the smell of peppermint, cologne and salt came rushing back to her, and she felt like she was being dragged back to the catwalk. She pulled her daughter behind her protectively. "Now you stay away from her! Do you hear me...STAY AWAY FROM HER!"
Jack stood there with a serious look upon his face, he hadn't aged since the last time she had met him. He was still 24. His pale blue eyes still contained their unearthy brightness and sharpness. Jack smiled, showing his pearly whites. "Come come Maureen, we had a deal...you wouldn't want you friends and family to suddenly disappear would you?" His voice was deep and calm.
"I won't let you take her...I would kill you before you do!" Her hands remained wrapped tightly around her daughters small wrist behind her back. Catrina peered around the side of her mum, with a questioning look on her fearful face.
Jacks eyes met Catrina's, she saw a great flash, followed by a few vivid flickery images. She saw the Artic Warrior sailing through a rough sea -'flash'- Her mum, dad, granddad, and a few of their friends she knew, walking down a dark corridor -'flash'- Her mum and the scary man talking at the front of a boat -'flash'- Her mum and the scary man tackling each other to the ground -'flash'- Her mum hugging her dad, and nodding to the scary man. The room came back into focus, Catrina placed a hand on her head as a head ache raked through her skull. "Mummy...what is he trying to show me!" She yelled in pain, rubbing her head.
Maureen dropped to her knees and held her daughter's head. "JACK...WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER?...LEAVE HER ALONE!"
"I'm showing her something you should of told her...about the bargain... and she belongs to me!" Jack exclaimed, he then made a grab for her. Maureen jumped up and darted away bringing her child with her.
Suddenly she heard someone running up the stairs, 'maybe there is still hope?' She thought, as she gripped Catrina tightly. Dodge came bursting into the room. "What the hell is going-" he caught sight of Jack, and before he could do anything - Jack quickly raised his open hand, and an incredible force hit Dodge squarely in the chest, and it threw him through the bedroom door and down the stairs.
Catrina screamed. "Daddy!" She was about to run past Jack, and run down the stairs after him, but her mum remained clutching her, tighter than ever.
"This isn't over...that was just a warning...I will come back in years time and claim her, and I won't tell you when...it'll be a big surprise." Jack dematerialised with a sneer on his face.
Maureen never felt so scared in her entire life, she squeezed her daughter, as they both began to sob. The smell of Jack had now gone, and a pleasant warmth returned to the room. The sun blared across them from the window. Maureen pulled away looking into her daughters face, her eyes were puffy and her nose was bleeding.
"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." She guided Catrina out of the room, the door had been blown off it's hinges and lay on the floor. They peered from the top of the stairs at Dodge who was slowly getting up at the foot. "Aaa...will someone please explain what the hell just happened?" He groaned as rubbed his back.