With the sun burning down from the sky, and there hardly being anything to hide under in this open field, the work on the farm was harder than ever. He longed to be back in the stable, to spend the whole day with his horse and enjoy the quiet that the heat inevitably brought.
But what he had never told anyone, was that the reason he enjoyed being at the stable so much wasn't his enjoyment of the company of horses and cows. Rather, it was a convenient place to meet up secretly… What he had never told his parents nor siblings, was that he would spend his free time, whenever possible, with Jake, who was the baker's son.
Jake, just as himself, had to get up very early each day to do hard work. But unlike Jake, who was always covered by coatings of white flour, he got tanned from work out at the field. They were almost like a black and white sheep, as Jake liked to joke sometimes.
His hours with Jake were the best of the whole day. Jake was like the sunray shining through the dullness of his life and made everything worth it. The only thing he regretted, was that Jake would inevitably have to part with him someday, when they would both get married and go through their lives separately, their wives now being the best friend to rely on.
Now he was almost going to be finished with work, but as he packed up, he saw a ship on the horizon. This was quite unusual for an island so far out, and he wondered what it might be doing here. He considered several options but decided to go to the light tower and observe, for now. As they were landing, he saw strange figures rummaging around on the deck. Their business seemed quite interesting to him, though most of what the sailors were doing seemed foreign to the boy, who had never been on a ship as big as this one was.
Ah, now they are done! Men started to file out onto land, where others were already waiting, curious about these strangers. What they did not expect was for them to simultaneously start threatening the villagers with a variety of weapons, guns, swords, machetes, knifes, whatever your heart desires, they held it in their hands. The villagers, in shock, surrendered to the sudden attack.
Meanwhile he up on the tower had to hold back so as not to run down and start… well, that is where his imagination stopped, and so he decided to instead sneak out to find a better hiding place. But this plan, too, was interrupted when he saw Jake running down from the mill. He, too, must have seen the ship, and was now excitedly running towards the pier. However, Jake only spotted the bandits way later than they spotted him. Excited by the prospect of more workforce (and a pretty face, which Jake evidently had), they hauled him onto the boat, where he was brought under deck.
He up on the tower could barely fight anymore to hold back. However, he decided to take the earliest chance to sneak onto the ship and try to find Jake. He waited until everyone had swarmed out, presumably in search of things to plunder, before exiting the tower and make his way towards the ship. There were no faces in sight, so he quickly ran to Aunt Tia's house, who lived closest to the pier.
The way to the boat would be the most difficult. As he did not spot a ladder hanging down conveniently, he had to rule out the water way. The only way left would be to run towards the boat. He prayed to all six gods and started sprinting. Just before walking onto the boat he stopped, to make sure his actions had not been seen. He sighed of relief at the sight of an empty village, and walked onto the plank. The boat, too, was almost eerily quiet. As there was no sign of any human in sight, he ventured into the area that he had seen Jake being brought to, and entered the hull of the ship.
The inside was surprisingly cool, yet it smelled like mold. He went on. The silence was starting to creep him out, did everyone just happen to make siesta at the same time? As he entered deeper levels of the ship whose layouts were truly maze-like to him, the atmosphere got ever damper and darker. It started to feel like he was actually under water.
As he got to what seemed like the deepest level, he saw Jake. He was sitting opposite a man with dark blonde hair who seemed like someone not to mess with. Jake himself was bound to a chair, seemingly quite calm. Just as he moved a bit closer to hear better what they were talking about, his thoughts stop. His memories past that, are not there, or maybe never happened. He wakes up in a cramped cell.