Ch.2 Out of Breath

(Present day (1728), Early Morning, Port Royal)

"Time to get up Miss Elizabeth, you have a busy day ahead of you." Said Natiley, who was one of Elizabeth`s maids and a very close friend. Natiley had been a part of Elizabeth's life since she was a young girl. Elizabeth never treated her like she was just a maid, she treated her more like a good friend who she told everything too.

Natiley had walked over, opened the curtains and the balcony doors, inhaling the salty air. She then turned around, sat down next too Elizabeth and proceeded to wake her up. With a long yawn and stretching out like a cat, Elizabeth opened her eyes to see a smiling face. "Oh, my goodness." She said in groggy voice.

Footsteps echoing in the hallway grew louder as they approached the bedroom door. And quickly opened it. Natiley stood up quickly, flattening her apron and bowing her head. This reaction caused Elizabeth to then sit up just in time see her father walk in. "Still in bed at this hour?" He smiled. "Sorry father, I just could not get myself out of bed today." Governor Sawnn shook his head and then nodded for a maid to come into the bedroom. The maid had a long rectangular box with a red bow on top of it, she then sat the box on the chest that sat at the end of Elizabeth's bed. She then did a small curtsied and walked back to the left side of the governor.

With her eyes focused on the beautifully wrapped box, Elizabeth finally got herself out of bed and Natiley swiftly wrapped a robe around her, grabbed the box and followed her to the vanity. "I have a present for you." Said the Governor as he smiled brightly looking at his daughter. Elizabeth began tearing the box apart but stopped and looked at curiously at her father. "Oh? What's the occasion?" Her father broke his gaze and walked over to the balcony.

"Well, today James is going to be ranked as Commodore. The whole town will be there, and I thought you like something nice to wear. So, what I got you was something I heard was the latest fashion in London." Governor Swann heard no reply and looked over to see Elizabeth holding up a corset. She held it up and stared at, almost confused. She put it on top of the box, got up and went behind her privacy curtain. Natiley and the other maid grabbed the corset and a gorgeous gown for Elizabeth to wear for the day. "What do you think?" Governor Swann cleared his throat as he broke the silence.

Elizabeth took a deep breath as the ladies began to pull the strings to tighten the corset, she almost screamed out as she felt her ribs being crushed. "Oh my gosh, women in London must have learned not to breath!" She tried to bend over doing only small breaths as the ladies tighten the straps. Goodness, my father is trying to kill me!

Elizabeth had finally gotten fully dressed but was having some difficulties breathing as she attempted to walk. She was ready to rip off the corset as every minute passed, she could feel her life slipping from her. She did all she could to simply ignore the pains, the corset was causing because she did not want to upset her father.

With ease and learning to speak in small sentences she thanked her maids and asked for some privacy. The maids left her room and she slowly paced her room seeing how much she could move in the corset. Looking in her mirror she did like how it made her upper chest look. She shook her head at her thoughts and then walked over to the balcony, overlooking the busy town and sparkling ocean. She leaned slowly on to the warm railing, closed her eyes and began to remember all the stories her mother told of pirates and their grand adventures. She especially remembered the stories of the women pirates and how she wished she was one right now. Knowing they would never put themselves through this kind of torture willingly.

Elizabeth tried to sigh but winced at the pain as her ribs continued to be crushed by the beauty contraption that held her torso captive. She slightly shook her head, tried to catch her breath as she felt a tear slid down her cheek. She wiped it off and couldn't tell if she trying to cry or if this was from the pain she was enduring. Either way, she felt like she could not do this anymore. All she wanted was to be free from this life right at this moment. She was no longer satisfied with the life she was living. She had grown tired of the balls, the rules she had to follow and being a proper. It was becoming too predictable and she was ready for change.

With her eyes still closed, the sun warming her porcelain skin and the salty breeze drying her tears, the memory of her mother slipped into her mind. All she could see was the medallion her mother gave her in her mind and before she knew she woke to being pulled back violently.

"Elizabeth!" Nataly's high-pitched voice squealed out as she pulled her back from leaning to far forward over the railing. Elizabeth looked at her shocked, regrouping her thoughts and then looked back to town. Before coming back to reality something caught her eye. She looked down to the harbor and saw a figure of a man come in from the sea on the top of a crow's nest. She rubbed her eyes and then glanced at him trying to figure out what the hell was going on. What in god`s name is this stranger doing? "Elizabeth, are you okay? Your father has been waiting for you." She looked to Natiley and spoke no words, then looked back to the sea and he was gone.

After regrouping what just happened, she gathered up some things to put in purse and went to walk out the door. But something stopped her, she walked over to her nightstand and opened the top draw. She quickly removed everything that was contained in there.

Then she reached her hand to the back to pull on a small lever that caused a small compartment to pop open. She smiled, as the light hit for the first time in years she finally saw it. The golden medallion her mother gave her years ago, it had a tribal looking skull in the middle and weird symbols all over it. She picked it up and brushed off the dust that had been collected over the years.

"I can`t tell you what this is now, but one day I will. Please protect this, tell no one you have it." Her mother's words rang in head as she stared at it. "I wish you could have told me what this is..." She whispered to herself.

She put the necklace on and hid the medallion down into her the crease of her breasts. She heard another voice and her father talking loudly, so she tried to breathe and stood up carefully then went out her bedroom door.

"Will!" Elizabeth slowly made her way down the stairs and greeted him. "Hello, Miss Swann." He stared at her with awe. "How many times must I ask you to call me Elizabeth?" She tried to not blush as they caught each other's gaze.

William`s smile never left his face as he stared into her amber eyes, feeling smitten. He finally shook his head breaking their lovers gaze and then handed over the sword case to Governor Swann. "Let's go Elizabeth. Thank you so much Will, you did a wonderful job on the sword. James will be so pleased with your work." William nodded his head and grabbed the front door for the both. Governor Swann thanked him, walked out first and climbed into the carriage. Elizabeth`s smile faded as she nodded. "Good day, Mr. Turner." Will looked confused as he watched her walk away.

(Midafternoon, Port Royal, the streets)

Jack stood gallantly on the crow's nest as the ship sunk beneath his wake. He looked down and held his foot out till he could feel the dick beneath his boot. With the ease he finally planted his boots on to the dock and looked around to see where he was. Mostly he just wanted to find himself a ship that wasn't littered with soldiers. Which he finally pointed out one that was fit to his liking at the other side of the docks. A wicked smile grew on his face, bearing all his miscellany colored teeth with some gold and possibly brass ones. One will never really know because who would want to ask a pirate about his teeth. He made sure he his hat was fit to his liking, fixed himself up and continued in his path.

He came around the bend of the cove and stood at the edge of the small of the jungle terrain and looked over at the docks. As he was about to make his way towards the ship he wanted, he could hear a carriage approach quickly. He looked around, running in a circle and ducked behind a couple of palm trees.

Some royal navy officers marched ahead with a carriage in tow. He tried to peer around the palm tree and into the carriage to see who was of an importance.

That's when he saw her, the carriage seemed to have slowed down for his pleasure to see the young beautiful woman. Her brunette hair curled perfectly, her mysterious eyes drew him in and her smile made his heart skip a beat. Jack tried to break his stare from the beautiful goddess, but he was drawn to her, she was capturing him without her knowing even it.

The carriage disappeared into town and he stood starstruck. Finally coming too, he slapped himself in the face and slipped deeper into the shade of the brush. "Who was that?" he whispered to himself. He pulled a little canteen out of his trench coat and took a big swig. He pierced his lips for a second and took a deep breath as he could feel the rum take over.

Jack finally worked his way to the ship he liked, avoiding every redcoat possible. He made his way onto the ship, he was happy to see that it looked as if it was ready to set sail at the opportune moment. He walked around and thought to himself, then went to the wheel grabbing it tightly and pictured himself taking command.

It was truly not the same as the Black Pearl, but it would do for now. "Eh! Get off this ship! This is property of the Royal Navy!" One man began to yell as him and another officer stumbled onto the mainmast and held their guns at the ready.

Jack shook his head from his daydream to see the men shaking with the rifle in grip, he tried not to laugh. "Well, hello officers." Jack tried to sound formal, while holding back a chuckle. "You should not be on here! Who are you?!" They both continued to stumble up to where Jack stood.

Jack held his breath for a moment, grew his wicked smile and picked his hands up to then push their guns down slowly. "Smith, John Smith." The men looked at each other and back to Jack they didn't say anything. Jack smirked, pulled up a barrel and asked the young lads to join. "You see, it was a very long drunken night in Tortuga…"