While stars shone brightly in a dark, endless sky, William Turner came closer to spilling his blood, closer to meeting his own end. James Norrington came closer to finding his dear Elizabeth, and Captain Jack Sparrow came closer to losing his mind – Compelled by the voices in his head to take action soon: One of them urging him to end this, the other one begging him to begin it. He knew they were both wrong. There was no way out of this dilemma – Not even for Captain Jack Sparrow.
"Just do it. It'll soon be over. She won't know a thing."
"But you have feelings for her! Now be a good man and show it."
"Who are you kidding, you don't have feelings for her! Sure, you can't stop thinking about her, your heart is beating faster when she's around, she's an incredible woman and it pains you that you might never know what..."
Jack stopped listening. The voices where now just muffled fragments inside his head, a buzzing that would soon fade out. The crackling noise from the fire logs against the silence of the night, muffled by the voices in his head seemed almost eerie to his ears. He found himself completely lost, confused, and positively crazier than ever.
Suddenly the muffled voices in his head faded out and disappeared... Yet Jack was not happy. And another voice soon replaced the muffled voices. This voice would hear of no compromise, it would not leave him in peace before he had made his decision. It rang the louder inside his head, made him get flashbacks and made the real world around him on the beach swirl around in circles in the sky.
Jack sat on the beach, where the real noises were those of a roaring fire, waves rolling in from the ocean and the voice of the fair Elizabeth, who was desperately trying to reach him. But Jack Sparrow was out of reach - elsewhere. He could feel the very familiar wooden planks of the Pearl below his feet, and he saw the light of day chase the starry sky away. He was back on the Pearl, and he knew why. His mind wanted him to be here. Somebody in there, as he liked to think, had dragged his thoughts back into the past. But why? What good would come of it? Jack soon understood that his mind - "Whichever one of them that is," as he thought to himself - was trying to tell him something.
He was back on the Pearl. Blood rushed through his veins; he could feel his heart beat, singing happily. Freedom! He had it.
In a split second things went out of hand. He did not know who he was, and where he was at. He found himself questioning whether he was dead or alive. The cold breeze blew on his face, and he felt and urge to take this all in while he could. He would probably die soon.
He knew this because he could see himself. He pondered at this, figuring that he must have either completely lost his mind or left his body, the latter being more likely. She had probably killed him. Oh, the irony.
He watched himself converse with Barbossa.
Seeing as there's two of us, a gentleman would give us a pair of pistols.
Jack felt his heart violently beat against his chest . He remembered this. All to clearly. He was missing something.
A dizziness came over him, he felt as though someone was pulling him down into the ship's cargo hold by the navel, and as he felt himself sink deeper and deeper, all he could think of was Elizabeth... in her white gown, shining brightly beneath a starlit sky. All Jack could do was feel the scent of the wooden planks of The Pearl fading into naught but a hazy memory.
"Jack? Jack!"
He recognized her voice immediately, and it was the only thing that could get him to open his eyes ever again in this moment. He felt enormously depressed, and his head was aching. He was still dizzy.
"Oh, thank God you're back! I thought... I was afraid..."
Jack looked up, curiously, and saw the grave concern in her face – and the joy that he was back. She looked at him, mouth opening and closing, trying to say something, but then decided not to.
"Well, you're back now. You shouldn't drink so much, really."
But Jack knew that he hadn't been drinking enough to be feeling and seeing what he had just seen and felt. It was within him, and his own words were playing on repeat inside his mind.
"Seeing as there's two of us, a gentleman would give us a pair of pistols."
He was missing something. But he had no idea what it was. He looked at Elizabeth. God, she really was beautiful. He felt himself drawn to him in a way he had never felt drawn to any other woman. It was unusual for him, but the sensation was burning hot inside him, like the roaring fire they had danced around. He was missing something. But he had no idea what it was.
"Oh, I think you know."
The little voice in his head had completely surprised him, and he found himself jumping.
Elizabeth looked at him, shocked: "What? What is it, Jack?" Concern was in her voice. Jack stared straight into the cold air. "Nothing. Just the wind." But the voice came back:
"Sorry Jack, but you have to admit it to yourself. You knowwhat's missing. Think about it."
Jack saw the sky swirl around above him and then beneath him, the many white stars creating bright, glowing spots that would not go away when he closed his eyes. He found himself talking out loud.
No, I do not know what you are talking about. He carefully pronounced the words.
Jack, you're missing something.
I don't know...
You're missing something...
I don't...
Missing...
But suddenly he knew, and knew he had known it all along. He heard a hoarse voice in his head, as the stars kept spinning beneath his feet...
It'll be one pistol as before and you can be the gentleman and shoot the lady and starve to death yourself.
And another voice inside his head answered to the horrified feelings he was discovering in the last bit of his mind that was left:
You were missing something.