Chapter Two
The ship took off, setting fourth on our journey through a star-covered sky. I loved watching ships launch. Space whales glided by, singing out their songs. I wanted to stay and watch everything slowly pass, but I had work to do. The boy I saw earlier was already busy moping, but he didn't look too pleased about it though. A crew member walked by, shoving him aside.
"Watch it, twerp," it threatened. A couple people of the crew were talking in the corner, but when they were spotted by the boy, they stopped.
"What are you looking at, weirdo?" it asked. Then its head popped off, and walked to a box next to him by using his hair as legs "Yeah, weirdo."
"That was one of the strangest things I'd ever seen," I thought. Mr. Scroop walked up to the boy.
"Cabin boys should learn to mind their own business," he spat.
"So that's why he's here. He's the cabin boy," I thought.
"Why, you got something to hide, bright eyes?" said the boy. He had clearly never been with a crew like this. Even I knew that you should never mouth off, or you'd end up with a broken nose, or even dead.
"Maybe your ears don't work so well," said Scroop in an angry voice.
"Too bad my nose works just fine," the boy answered.
"Definitely a wrong move," I thought as Scroop pinned the boy against the pole holding the sails. A crowd gathered around them screaming "fight!" and "kill him!"
"Any last words then, cabin boy?" asked Scroop, ready to cut his head off. Suddenly, John Silver walked up. I had no idea he was on this trip, but don't get me wrong….I was not pleased to see him.
"Mr. Scroop," he began, grabbing Scroop's claw with his cyborg hand "ever see what happens to a fresh purp when you squeeze real hard?" Silver squeezed Scroop's hand so hard that it forced him to drop the boy to the ground. Mr. Arrow walked out just then.
"What's all this then?" he asked "you know the rules. There will be no brawling on this ship, and any further offenders will be confined to the brig for the rest of the voyage. Am I clear Mr. Scroop?"
"Transparently," he answered, but I could tell he didn't mean it and was trying his best not to explode and hit Mr. Arrow right then and there. Mr. Arrow walked back, and the crowd eventually cleared up. Silver began to talk to the boy, but I didn't bother to try to listen in. Silver walked away leaving Morph (a small, pink shape shifter) to keep an eye on the cabin boy. He continued on to mop the deck, looking up occasionally to glance at the sky and the planets that we passed. One of the times he spotted me and stopped to look closer. Just like everyone else, he probably wondered what the heck I was doing on this ship. I continued on my way as if he never saw me. I walked past a room were all of the pirate-looking crew had a meeting. They stopped when I walked by, probably thinking I was the captain or Mr. Arrow. I glared at Silver; I've hated him since I was eight. It was a long story and it made me cry to think of it. He stepped out of the room.
"You best be keepin 'tis a secret," he said, glaring at me. I knew what he meant. He was talking about the treasure. The crew was a bunch of pirates, and Silver was in control of them. I knew it all along; I just didn't say anything because we were after the same thing. If I told anyone he was a pirate, he could easily say I was a pirate too. Because I didn't have any parents or a home, I'd be put in jail right away. It wasn't fair, he could easily over-rule me, but there was nothing I could do but keep my mouth shut. I kept going on my way; he knew very well that I'd never tell anyone.
Later on I walked back to where the boy had been mopping to pile up a few ropes. He was still hard at work.
"So, are you…."he began, searching for the right words "part of this crew?" I nodded, not interested in talking.
"You don't seem to much like anyone else here," he commented. I kept going on my way, totally ignoring him. He walked up to me and held out his hand.
"I'm Jim Hawkins," he offered. I looked up at him closely. He had a smile on his face, which was something I hadn't seen anyone do on this ship do all day. I shook his hand.
"I'm Christine. Well, Chris, really," I answered, careful not to give out my last name "the cabin….girl"
Jim chuckled at my little joke, but that was just about as much as I planned to say to him.
It was strange really. Ever since my parents died, I never trusted anyone. I never talked to strangers, or bothered to make a friend, no matter how friendly they seemed. I had never given my name that freely before, but somehow, it didn't bother me. It didn't feel like Jim was a bad guy. I had adapted that ability a long time ago, and I was very glad I had it too, being on my own and all.
"So, why did u want to come on this trip anyway?" he asked. Not sure of what my answer would be, I kept silent. He didn't say anything either, realizing that I didn't want to talk. He turned back to his work. I was surprised at this though. Not very many teenagers would respect privacy so well, and show respect; even though I would be taking orders form him before he took orders from me. That was just the way things worked; guys were more powerful than girls. After a little thought, I answered his question.
"You could say I was chasing a dream, I guess," I answered. Jim sighed partially happy that I answered.
"That makes two of us."
Later that night, I sat staring out the window that hung over my hammock. I was on the top bunk in the corner of a room. I tried to get as far away from everyone else as I could, but it was packed full of people. The only empty hammock was the one below me. Just then, Jim walked in, carrying his stuff. Apparently, he hadn't saved a bunk like everyone else had.
"Oh, no," I thought "he's gonna have to bunk with me." He looked around the room before he spotted the empty bunk underneath me.
"Do you mind if I sleep here?" he asked. I shook my head. He dropped his bag and flopped over into the hammock. I leaned back and closed my eyes. I made it through the day, which made me very pleased, but I didn't show it. I had never in my life felt so at ease. I was also glad to know that my lifelong dream was only a boat ride away.
I woke up the next morning to find that I was the first to wake. Everyone was still sleeping and snoring. I put on my shoes and walked out to the deck. It was vacant, so I sat on the edge of the boat and stared out into space.
Within a few minutes, everyone was up and ready to work. Silver had ordered Jim to scrape off all the junk that stuck to the outside of the boat while I was in the kitchen wiping down the floors and counters. A few hours passed and I finished washing at least half the boat. I had done more than I was ordered to, so I decided to take a break for lunch. Out of curiosity I walked over to where Jim was working. He was barely halfway done. I had done that before, and it wasn't fun at all. I knew how hard it was to pull off all that crud, so I thought I thought about going down there to help him out. I almost felt I had to help him. He was so friendly before and I was so rude. I had to pay him back somehow. My stomach growled in denial, but I didn't care. I jumped down to the little board the hung by ropes that Jim was sitting on. Jim jumped in surprise when I landed, unaware I had jumped down. I smiled at him as he stared in confusion. I picked up a tool and began to help. No one said anything the whole time, and we didn't finish until late that evening.
"Well that was fun," Jim said sarcastically as he wiped the sweat from his face. I began to tug on the rope to pull us back onto the boat as Jim did the same.
Just as we got to the top, one of the ropes began to split and fall apart. The small wood plank we were on slanted to the side.
"Ah!" I screamed as I jumped for the edge of the boat. Apparently, Jim hadn't thought to grab onto the boat and fell with the small piece of wood. The rope that was connected to the ship began to slide past, giving Jim something to hold onto. I grabbed the rope and tried to pull it back up.
"It's beginning to break!" Jim yelled.
"Um, hold on!" I shouted, frantically trying to find a way to save Jim. I grabbed another rope and tied one end to the ship, and the other end to my waist. I then jumped over the edge and grabbed Jim's hand, just before he fell. We were both gasping for breath. Jim looked scared out of his mind, but I probably would be too. The rope was slowly pulled up pulling us both back to the deck. Half of the crew was staring at us, including Captain Amelia and Silver.
"What happened?" asked Dr. Doppler.
"He fell and-" I began, but I was interrupted.
"I saw the whole thing," said the captain. I gulped.
"What you did was truly brave. I thank you for it, but from now on I want all ropes and lifelines to be checked thoroughly," she said. I smiled sheepishly.
"Everyone back to work!" yelled Silver. The crowd vanished leaving just Silver, Jim and I.
"Well, its bout time ye' finished," he teased "that was pretty close. Now go into te' kitchen and get yourselves some dinner. Ya haven't eaten all day." I could tell that this nice comment had been geared toward Jim, not me. I bet Silver couldn't care less about me.
We headed into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl of soup. It was already packed with all the crew, busy eating and talking about who knows what. Instead of sitting down with everyone else, I walked to the other end of the room and sat at an empty table. Jim had just sat down with everyone else, but then got up from where he was and sat down next to me.
"You know, you make more friends if you made more of an effort to include yourself," he recommended. I didn't say anything to him. It wasn't because I didn't like him or anything like that, I just didn't trust anyone. Jim stretched his arm around my back and tapped my shoulder. Thinking someone wanted my attention, I turned, but no one was there. A little confused, I went back to my meal. Then I felt the tap again, so I tuned to find the whole place blank. I was very confused, and partially scared. Jim started to crack up, laughing hysterically. I realized it was him and frowned. I didn't like pranks that much. Jim smiled at me. He looked so happy and peaceful. I lightly punched his arm and began laughing myself. And for the first time in seven years, I smiled.
When my parents died, everyone I knew tried to make me feel better, but none of their attempts did any good. And for some reason, Jim could make me laugh without even trying. I eventually lost any friends I had, and lost touch with all my relatives. But I didn't need them, or so I thought. I made my way by sailing from port to port and living by whatever I could find. There was something about Jim, I just didn't know what. It was something I had never felt before in my life.
Late that night we were stuck washing all the dishes. But it was okay, really. Instead of working in silence, we talked and laughed the whole time. We ended up splashing water at each other and playing around a lot. It was more of a water fight than a job. The time flew by, but no matter how hard we worked, the huge pile of dirty dishes never seemed to go down. I was beginning to get very sleepy. Jim laid back and leaned against the cabinet.
"What are you doing? We still have a few dishes left," I complained.
"You can do them…." he smiled. Jim closed his eyes and put his hands behind his head.
"These pots are huge! They'll take me forever!" I whined.
"Knock yourself out," he said, half asleep. I knew he was only kidding, but I wasn't about to do these things alone and give him the easy way out. I looked around and saw that one of the pots had water in it, so I stuck my hand in. It was freezing. Feeling sneaky, I picked up the pot and dumped it on Jim's head. He sat there for a moment, dripping wet and freezing cold. He looked up at me through messy bangs that stuck to his head from the water. I smiled and laughed. Jim picked up a pan that had caught some of the water that fell from the pot and dumped it on me.
Eventually we finished the dishes, but we were both soaking wet. Jim pulled out a couple towels from the cabinet and tossed one to me. I wrapped it around my body and leaned back. Jim sat next to me.
"How long do you think it will be before we get there?" I asked.
"I dunno, I just hope it's soon," Jim replied.
"Why?"
"I have a lot of plans," his answer was simple, and unclear.
"Plans?" I questioned.
"Yeah, plans," he said.
"Are you too embarrassed to tell me?" I caught on fast. He looked at me slyly; probably amazed I knew what he was thinking about.
"Not many people think very highly of me back at home and I want to change that," he answered. I nodded, not having an answer to reply with.
"Do you have any plans?" Jim asked hopefully.
"Not really," I lied. It was as if he could read my mind.
"You're lying," he smiled.
"I am?" I asked questionably. Jim chuckled again, and then continued.
"No really," he urged.
"I," I began "I want to," I stopped myself, not wanting to admit the answer. What if I blew my cover and Jim found out I was after the treasure? What would happen if he found out that I was related to the infamous Captain Flint?
"I want to make up for all the things I lost in life," I answered. It was real corny, but true. Jim thought for a moment, trying to figure out what I meant, and then he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes again.
I closed my eyes too, and fell asleep. Even though it had started peaceful, my night didn't stay that way.
I had a nightmare that I had been having for the past 7 years. I would walk home from school on a dark stormy night and find the front door unlocked. A little scared I walked into my home to find no sign of anyone being there. I called for my parents, but there was no answer. I was only eight years old, and not aware of how much danger I was in. I walked through the house to come to the kitchen and find the scariest image of my life. My parents lay dead on the floor. Horror stricken and scared I ran out screaming, not sure of what I should do. When I came to the front door, I was face-to-face with a cyborg. But I was too little to know what that was. From my point of view, all I saw was a monster. Its hand looked like I giant claw and it had an eye that glowed through the dark. Lightning struck somewhere in the distance making his face visible for a split second. I'll never forget that face of that man and it's all because of him that my life fell into pieces.
