I am very sorry that the chapters are so short... Originally they were all
intended to be horribly long things. But I'll try.
Disclaimer: Do you see the title of this sentence? DISclaimer. As in, I am DISclaiming everything. NONE OF IT IS MINE!!!
Captain Sir told me that there was a lot to learn about sailing in the seas, and that it would involve plenty of hard work. I would do anything for a bit of food and some clean water at that point. So I went on with the crew, sailing around the world, practically. I found out that Captain Sir was a goods merchant with a wife and a boy named Alex. I automatically assumed Alex and I could find some grounds of friendship, but unlike his father, whenever Alex was aboard the ship he was rather snobbish, and I could never truly tolerate that. Alex did, however give me the first taste of being put down consistently, as though I was a servant. It helped me learn to "keep my place", as he quoted it.
Captain Sir, however, was quite different to me. I imagined that he treated me as a surrogate son, someone whom he taught everything about everything to. He showed me how to steer a ship, how to wrap a wound, and gave me some very basic good morals that I still value very much today. He taught me the meaning of hard work, and the understanding of fidelity to one's wife. He told me, "Will, if I were to bed with every woman that came my way, I don't imagine that I would be a very good husband, would I?"
I spent two years on his ship, the Fair Lady, before the worst came upon what I thought was my cure to a ruined childhood.
I was sitting on deck, waiting for Captain Sir to come out. It was early morning, early enough for the stars to be out. It was rather cold out, and I began to sing a song I had heard one of the crewmen muttering:
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me...
It was the only line I knew of the song, and I began to play with my father's pendant, singing it to myself over and over. It was just then that I saw sails along the horizon. Perhaps it was another ship, I thought. Maybe my father's ship. I had doubtless remembered my mother's words about the Caribbean and had always wondered if the Fair Lady was to ever stop there. If they had, I would most likely ask Captain Sir permission to meet with my father, and often fantasized about what he was like.
The ship in front appeared to be coming towards us fast and strong. I wondered if my father ever knew he had a child, if the child was named after him, if he knew my mother was now dead. I glanced at the sails on the ship, which did not resemble the British flag. I stood up, squinting through the fog. The main flag was a dark color, something I'd never seen on a flag... Perhaps it represented a different country? The close the ship got, I could recognize the color of the flag: black with a strange symbol on the front. It drew closer, and I saw a skull, backed by two bones, placed upon a black flag.
"PIRATES!" I yelled. "PIRATES! PIRATES! COME QUICK! CAPTAIN SIR, PIRATES!"
Captain Sir was out of his bedchamber immediately, robed in a nightcap and gown. "Where is it, Will? Where are the pirates?"
I pointed at the ship that was headed to park right next to ours. "It's got a black flag! With the skull!"
Captain Sir glanced at the ship. "Good Lord," he muttered. "Listen, Will. I want you to go down to the chambers and alert the crew. Let everyone know there are pirates. When they're all out on deck, you are to go down to the brig and remain there, you hear? Stay in the brig, no matter what happens! Is that understood?"
I gulped, nodding quickly. "Yes, sir. Yes sir, I will. I won't leave the brig."
"Good," he said. "Go now!"
I remember that I ran down the steps, screaming, "PIRATES! PIRATES! THEY'RE GOING FOR AN ATTACK! CAPTAIN SIR WANTS EVERYBODY ON DECK! PIRATES!"
The crew was up and putting their trousers on when the first cannon was fired. It went straight through a wall, causing water to begin to flood the room.
"EVERYBODY GO!" I yelled, trying to make them follow Captain Sir's orders. The ship was sinking, and I was quite scared that this incident would put my days on the Fair Lady to an end.
One of the crew members, Mr. Cooper, looked at me and asked, "Where are you going, Will? Certainly Captain doesn't want you on deck for all this."
"No," I gasped, the ankles of my trousers getting soaked, "he wants me to go down to the brig."
"The brig?" Mr. Cooper asked skeptically. "But that's all the way at the bottom of the ship! If they hit us hard enough, ye'll be the first to drown!"
I glanced around nervously. "I have to. It's what Captain Sir thinks is best."
Mr. Cooper gave me one last finalizing glance before taking off towards the deck, and I climbed downward towards the brig. It was frigid down there, and I remember that I sat down in one of the cells, ducking my head under as cannons blasted through it and water began to flood in, sinking the Fair Lady. It was only a matter of minutes before I began wading in the deepening water, and soon, trying to stay afloat. Just as I was thinking of ways to perhaps stay in the brig and still see what Captain Sir was doing, the answer to my latter question came to me. Captain Sir's body came afloat in the water just a few minutes later.
I saw his long white hair floating about, his eyes peaceful. He looked as though he hadn't been harmed at all. But I began to cry while still trying to swim. Captain Sir... dead? No, impossible.
"CAPTAIN SIR!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "Captain Sir, try to stay afloat! Wake up, Captain!" I reached a hand out, pulling up his cold, weighted body, trying to shake him. "Captain, if you kick your legs like this... See, you can do it! You can stay afloat! SEE, YOU CAN MAKE IT, CAPTAIN SIR!"
I let go on my already weak hold of him and he just began to sink to the bottom once more. Why was he doing this? Why was he playing such a terrible game? Was this another one of his tests?
"Captain Sir, stop napping! Wake up!" It was the only logical conclusion. "Captain Sir! Captain Sir! Do you hear me? I don't like this test, sir, please stop! Captain Sir! Wake up! It's not funny! Kick your legs! Please sir... Please..." My voice faded hoarsely as I came to a deafening conclusion.
He was dead. Dead, dead, dead. The word resounded in my head, over and over, like a vat of rum that would never end. He was gone? How could he be gone? Captain Sir, without life? No, it wasn't possible. It couldn't be. He was perhaps not the youngest man alive, but he was vibrant, teaching me everything I ever knew about this world. And now he was dead. Dead, drifting towards the end. His wife and children would never see him again. His crew would never see him again.
I would never see him again.
And then an overwhelming rush of emotions passed over me, beyond any sort of comprehension. He was just leaving me? Simply like this? Without any goodbye, or nothing? Just a message to stay in the brig? I had a desire to tell him all of this, to let him know before he was lost forever.
"This is it?" I yelled at his body, though there was only a few inches of space between the ceiling of the brig and the water now. The ship was coming down fast, I could feel it, but I had to say my last words to Captain Sir. I had to tell him that he shouldn't have left. "Where am I supposed to go now? That's always the case, I've never got anyplace to go, it's just Will wandering around, no one who bloody cares for him!" I used the word bloody just because Captain Sir had always told me not to. The ship was coming down fast, I could feel it, soon it was going to collapse to the ocean. I had to get out of there soon, I knew, but I grabbed a large plank of wood from the brig and held on. "See this?" I yelled, showing him the wood. "You wanted me to stay in the brig, I'll stay in the brig!"
And then, just as my sobs released with such a force I knew not, the swift current of the ocean and the collapsing of the ship left me being pulled away, clinging to the wooden plank of the brig for support, screaming, "Captain Sir!"
And then I saw a metal pole come down toward my head, and everything went black.
*********************************
I seriously hoped that was what I meant it to be... I wanted Will to have some deep hidden thing about pirates, and this would possibly be what did it... Well, review if you are a nice person.
Disclaimer: Do you see the title of this sentence? DISclaimer. As in, I am DISclaiming everything. NONE OF IT IS MINE!!!
Captain Sir told me that there was a lot to learn about sailing in the seas, and that it would involve plenty of hard work. I would do anything for a bit of food and some clean water at that point. So I went on with the crew, sailing around the world, practically. I found out that Captain Sir was a goods merchant with a wife and a boy named Alex. I automatically assumed Alex and I could find some grounds of friendship, but unlike his father, whenever Alex was aboard the ship he was rather snobbish, and I could never truly tolerate that. Alex did, however give me the first taste of being put down consistently, as though I was a servant. It helped me learn to "keep my place", as he quoted it.
Captain Sir, however, was quite different to me. I imagined that he treated me as a surrogate son, someone whom he taught everything about everything to. He showed me how to steer a ship, how to wrap a wound, and gave me some very basic good morals that I still value very much today. He taught me the meaning of hard work, and the understanding of fidelity to one's wife. He told me, "Will, if I were to bed with every woman that came my way, I don't imagine that I would be a very good husband, would I?"
I spent two years on his ship, the Fair Lady, before the worst came upon what I thought was my cure to a ruined childhood.
I was sitting on deck, waiting for Captain Sir to come out. It was early morning, early enough for the stars to be out. It was rather cold out, and I began to sing a song I had heard one of the crewmen muttering:
Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me...
It was the only line I knew of the song, and I began to play with my father's pendant, singing it to myself over and over. It was just then that I saw sails along the horizon. Perhaps it was another ship, I thought. Maybe my father's ship. I had doubtless remembered my mother's words about the Caribbean and had always wondered if the Fair Lady was to ever stop there. If they had, I would most likely ask Captain Sir permission to meet with my father, and often fantasized about what he was like.
The ship in front appeared to be coming towards us fast and strong. I wondered if my father ever knew he had a child, if the child was named after him, if he knew my mother was now dead. I glanced at the sails on the ship, which did not resemble the British flag. I stood up, squinting through the fog. The main flag was a dark color, something I'd never seen on a flag... Perhaps it represented a different country? The close the ship got, I could recognize the color of the flag: black with a strange symbol on the front. It drew closer, and I saw a skull, backed by two bones, placed upon a black flag.
"PIRATES!" I yelled. "PIRATES! PIRATES! COME QUICK! CAPTAIN SIR, PIRATES!"
Captain Sir was out of his bedchamber immediately, robed in a nightcap and gown. "Where is it, Will? Where are the pirates?"
I pointed at the ship that was headed to park right next to ours. "It's got a black flag! With the skull!"
Captain Sir glanced at the ship. "Good Lord," he muttered. "Listen, Will. I want you to go down to the chambers and alert the crew. Let everyone know there are pirates. When they're all out on deck, you are to go down to the brig and remain there, you hear? Stay in the brig, no matter what happens! Is that understood?"
I gulped, nodding quickly. "Yes, sir. Yes sir, I will. I won't leave the brig."
"Good," he said. "Go now!"
I remember that I ran down the steps, screaming, "PIRATES! PIRATES! THEY'RE GOING FOR AN ATTACK! CAPTAIN SIR WANTS EVERYBODY ON DECK! PIRATES!"
The crew was up and putting their trousers on when the first cannon was fired. It went straight through a wall, causing water to begin to flood the room.
"EVERYBODY GO!" I yelled, trying to make them follow Captain Sir's orders. The ship was sinking, and I was quite scared that this incident would put my days on the Fair Lady to an end.
One of the crew members, Mr. Cooper, looked at me and asked, "Where are you going, Will? Certainly Captain doesn't want you on deck for all this."
"No," I gasped, the ankles of my trousers getting soaked, "he wants me to go down to the brig."
"The brig?" Mr. Cooper asked skeptically. "But that's all the way at the bottom of the ship! If they hit us hard enough, ye'll be the first to drown!"
I glanced around nervously. "I have to. It's what Captain Sir thinks is best."
Mr. Cooper gave me one last finalizing glance before taking off towards the deck, and I climbed downward towards the brig. It was frigid down there, and I remember that I sat down in one of the cells, ducking my head under as cannons blasted through it and water began to flood in, sinking the Fair Lady. It was only a matter of minutes before I began wading in the deepening water, and soon, trying to stay afloat. Just as I was thinking of ways to perhaps stay in the brig and still see what Captain Sir was doing, the answer to my latter question came to me. Captain Sir's body came afloat in the water just a few minutes later.
I saw his long white hair floating about, his eyes peaceful. He looked as though he hadn't been harmed at all. But I began to cry while still trying to swim. Captain Sir... dead? No, impossible.
"CAPTAIN SIR!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. "Captain Sir, try to stay afloat! Wake up, Captain!" I reached a hand out, pulling up his cold, weighted body, trying to shake him. "Captain, if you kick your legs like this... See, you can do it! You can stay afloat! SEE, YOU CAN MAKE IT, CAPTAIN SIR!"
I let go on my already weak hold of him and he just began to sink to the bottom once more. Why was he doing this? Why was he playing such a terrible game? Was this another one of his tests?
"Captain Sir, stop napping! Wake up!" It was the only logical conclusion. "Captain Sir! Captain Sir! Do you hear me? I don't like this test, sir, please stop! Captain Sir! Wake up! It's not funny! Kick your legs! Please sir... Please..." My voice faded hoarsely as I came to a deafening conclusion.
He was dead. Dead, dead, dead. The word resounded in my head, over and over, like a vat of rum that would never end. He was gone? How could he be gone? Captain Sir, without life? No, it wasn't possible. It couldn't be. He was perhaps not the youngest man alive, but he was vibrant, teaching me everything I ever knew about this world. And now he was dead. Dead, drifting towards the end. His wife and children would never see him again. His crew would never see him again.
I would never see him again.
And then an overwhelming rush of emotions passed over me, beyond any sort of comprehension. He was just leaving me? Simply like this? Without any goodbye, or nothing? Just a message to stay in the brig? I had a desire to tell him all of this, to let him know before he was lost forever.
"This is it?" I yelled at his body, though there was only a few inches of space between the ceiling of the brig and the water now. The ship was coming down fast, I could feel it, but I had to say my last words to Captain Sir. I had to tell him that he shouldn't have left. "Where am I supposed to go now? That's always the case, I've never got anyplace to go, it's just Will wandering around, no one who bloody cares for him!" I used the word bloody just because Captain Sir had always told me not to. The ship was coming down fast, I could feel it, soon it was going to collapse to the ocean. I had to get out of there soon, I knew, but I grabbed a large plank of wood from the brig and held on. "See this?" I yelled, showing him the wood. "You wanted me to stay in the brig, I'll stay in the brig!"
And then, just as my sobs released with such a force I knew not, the swift current of the ocean and the collapsing of the ship left me being pulled away, clinging to the wooden plank of the brig for support, screaming, "Captain Sir!"
And then I saw a metal pole come down toward my head, and everything went black.
*********************************
I seriously hoped that was what I meant it to be... I wanted Will to have some deep hidden thing about pirates, and this would possibly be what did it... Well, review if you are a nice person.
