Michelle lay on her bed, her face buried in the pillow as she let out a scream. She had spent the last two years staying away from Jack, and now she was forced to be in his presence until they made it back to Port Royal. Fortunately, Port Royal was a couple days away, so she only had a couple of days to endure him. Tears threatened to erupt from her eyes when she thought about him and what he did to her. But she hadn't cried in two years, and she wasn't going to start now. The only way she would survive this mess is if she stayed strong and pretended Jack didn't bother her. She took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down. She hadn't meant to snap at him on deck and cause a scene, but seeing him brought up feelings of hurt that caused her to erupt like that. The last thing she wanted was to be reminded of the time when she was a part of the crew for the Black Pearl. She had spent the last two years denying to herself that she was ever a pirate. Sure it was the most fun she had had in her life, but it was also the most emotional. She turned around so she was facing the ceiling. 'That's odd,' she thought to herself, 'but I could have sworn it was brighter outside when I came in here.' Suddenly, a flash of blinding white light appeared in her room for a fraction of a second, causing her to shield her eyes. This was followed by a loud grumble. It was a storm!
Michelle ran out of her room and on to the deck. She slipped and landed on her butt from the slippery deck. Using the wall for support, she slowly made her way back to her feet. She went back in to her room, took off her high heels, threw them in the corner, and ran back out on to the deck. With her shoes off, she was better able to keep her footing on the wet, moving deck. The wind was strong, tossing her hair and dress all over the place. A bolt of lightning illuminated the deck, showing the crew running around trying to keep the ropes secure, but they would get undone because of the harsh winds and go flying again. Michelle wiped the water off her face and ran out to help the crew. She grabbed a rope that had gone undone and secured it into where she hoped was the right place. It was too dark to tell, but she thought she got it right. The boat gave a violent lurch, causing her to topple over someone. She got back up and yelled, "Sorry!"
"What?" said a male voice.
"SORRY!" she yelled even louder so that he could hear her over the howling wind.
"Is that you Michelle?" It was Will. "Get back into your room"
"What?" Michelle yelled.
"GET BACK INTO YOUR ROOM!" he repeated.
"I can't hear you Will," Michelle replied.
"What?" Will asked, but a wave came up on to the deck, causing Michelle to fall off her feet and slide to the other side of the boat. She got on to her hands and knees and used the side of the boat to lift her back up on her feet. Another lightning bolt streaked the air. Michelle saw a loose rope and tried to grab it. She almost reached it when the wind carried it up and made it whip through the air. It came back down abruptly and dragged across her cheek. She put her hand to her face and felt drops of blood beading out of the cut. She wiped it away and reached for the rope again. She was successful this time and soon she had tied it down. The winds started to pick up. The rain seemed to be coming sideways, stinging her face. She brushed the water from in front of her eyes, but stopped when she heard a loud ripping sound. Lightning filled the air, letting Michelle see what had caused the noise. One of the sails had ripped down to the middle, so half of the sail was in two bits. The loud thunder came almost immediately after, causing the floor to shake. Michelle grasped the railing and tried to stop herself from being flung into the violent sea below. Another bolt of lightning showed Michelle that Gibbs had taken over the wheel and now Jack was trying to fix the damage with the sail, but it continued ripping from all the wind. The crew tried to secure the ropes tighter than the others, but to no avail. A thunderclap sounded again, but not as loud as the previous one. The storm was finally moving away from them. Michelle started to walk to the other side of the ship, but a wave hit the ship at that moment and she was sent over to where most the men were trying to save what was left of the sail and crashed into someone's legs, causing a bunch of men to fall on top of her. "Sorry!" she yelled for the second time that night.
"It's alright," yelled a voice next to her. He stood up and offered Michelle a hand, which she gratefully accepted. She got pulled up on to her feet, but she ended up losing her balance and almost falling back down. Fortunately, the man who helped her up put his arms around her waist, stopping her from falling. "Thank you," she yelled over the wind.
"Anytime luv," replied the voice. He then went away to deal with other matters while she stood there trying to help get the boat under control. After about thirty minutes, the storm had left completely except for some dark clouds and a light drizzle. Michelle surveyed the deck. It was a mess. The men lay everywhere on the deck, exhausted from the ordeal they just went through. Jack was standing up at the wheel talking to the ship's carpenter, Jeffrey Clark. From the solemn looks on their faces, it didn't look like the report was good.
Finally, Jack walked over to the crew and said, "We, ah, seem to have some trouble with the ship that needs to be repaired right away if we want to, well, ever sail again. The closest land to us is a little island to the West that we can stay at until the repairs are done. So get up you dogs and lets get this ship over there!"
The crew groaned, but they got up and did as they were told. Soon the Black Pearl was beached on the island. The crew got off, and half of them searched for any fresh water supplies while the other half started to work on the ship, receiving orders from Jeffrey. Soon, the men came back, informing Jack that a river was not far from the camp. They went on to the boat and took out some of the food from the galley while a fire was being made to cook the food. Soon meat and bread were being passed around to everyone as they sat around the fire telling stories to lighten up the mood. But all of them were so tired that right after they finished eating they went to sleep. Michelle sat up and looked at the setting sun. She knew it was strange, but she enjoyed being stuck here on this island sitting in the sand by the sea with a bunch of pirates. She felt like a bird being let free of its cage. Port Royal was a great town, but it was too crowded and proper. She missed the sea, but she didn't realize how much until now. She heard someone sit next to her, and turned around to see Jack. "Good work out there luv."
"Thank you," she said, looking back out at the water, which gave him a good view of her cheek.
"Michelle, you seem to have a cut on your cheek."
Oh yea. She forgot about that. "Oh it's nothing," she said, putting her hand over the wound. But this caused some pain because the skin around it was still tender. She gave a small wince, but Jack noticed.
"I don't think it's nothing," he said. He reached down and came back up with a little hip flask in his hand. "Now this may sting a little luv," he warned her. Before she could protest, he poured some rum over her cut. It stung a little. That was an understatement. She was about to tell him off for it, but decided not to. She was too worn out to yell, and she didn't want to cause another scene. Jack tore off a piece of his shirt and dabbed her cheek so all the excess rum was off.
"I didn't know you knew so much about cleaning out cuts," Michelle told him.
"You can't spend as much time as I do around ships and rum without picking up a couple of tricks." He stood up and walked over to the fire where he picked up a plate and some meat for himself.
Michelle's eyelids became heavy and she realized every blink was getting longer and longer. She was so exhausted from all the events that had happened that day. She looked around the group and saw Jack staring at her as he ate his dinner. He gave her a small smile. She returned the gesture before collapsing onto the sand and falling fast asleep.
[A/N: I know it's not as long as my other chapters, but it had a lot of action so don't be mad at me! Ok, now on to the reviews!
Laraeliae Black: lol I say good chapter all the time too. I feel like a broken record, but that's what I feel, and there really isn't more to it.
Lauren: Well the last time I checked, we were writing one together. And I know Michelle's been acting like a real bitch (pardon my French) but if you think about what she's been through, she has a reason to be as bitchy towards him as she want.
Mer^2y: LOL! "You 'ave to be like ze 'ippo." lol that guy is really random.
TriGemini: Michelle can be really difficult, but she can control her anger. Well, at least for a day (lol).
Thank you for beta-ing Chelles! You are my hero! Even though I found the off mistake before you did! R/R!]