There's this really hot junior at my school. !!!

The song belongs to Stephanie Bentley and appears on the Holes soundtrack.

~*~

Chapter Five

Broken

~*~

I will survive

I will endure

When the going's rough

You can be sure

I'll tough it out

I won't give in

If I'm knocked down

I'll get up again

As long as my dream's alive

I will survive

~*~

               Carmela balanced precariously on the top railing. Serenity stood cautiously a few yards away, behind Rosalia and Graciela. They had been on the ship for less than six hours and already the girl had broken.

               The other two were trying in vain to get her to come down. "Carmelita," said Rosalia, "please come down."

               Carmela shook her head violently, her thin shoes slipping on the wood of the rail. Their island had sunk beneath the horizon less than an hour ago, and the first pangs of homesickness (and other things) had hit. "I can't," she said. "I can't stay here." The strap of her dress had been torn and the right shoulder was sagging halfway down her arm. The bright fabric of the dress looked tainted in the moonlight as the girl flailed her arms around, fighting to keep balance for one more moment.

               "Carmela," said the sensible Graciela, "if you don't come down from there, there is no chance that you will ever get home."

               "We'd never get home anyway," argued Carmela.

               "They have their way with us, they'll kill us next," said Rosalia softly.

               "I won't let them hurt you," said Graciela.

               "They already have!" said Carmela, gesturing at her torn dress and at the fresh bruises on her skin. "I won't stay here. I swim back to the island," she said.

               "We're all hurt and tired, Carmela! Tenemos sueno," Graciela said soothingly. "But we must go on."

               Carmela shook her head and dove into the water. Rosalia lurched forward, throwing herself halfway over the rail in an effort to grab her friend before she fell. "Carmela, no!" she yelled, panicked.

               "Shh!" said Serenity, "the pirates, they'll hear you!" Rosalia sobbed, but made an effort to keep it down as Graciela went over to comfort her. It was impossible to see if Carmela had survived the fall, as the moon had passed behind a cloud. The only sounds were the lapping of the waves on the ship and Rosalia's muffled cries. Serenity hesitated, and then went over to the upset girl. "She made a choice," she said as Graciela took a step back. Rosalia sighed heavily. "Graciela was right," Serenity continued. "There's no chance that you'll ever get home- that we'll ever get home- if we give up hope. Maybe Carmela will make it back to shore," she added, patting Rosalia on the shoulder.

               "I don't want to jump," said the girl. She must have been at least five years younger than Serenity, who felt a pang of sympathy in her breast. Had she also had someone in her life, someone that meant more to her than anything else? We've all been torn away from our own separate realities, she thought. We're really not so different.

~*~

               "And then there were three!" said one of the pirates morbidly, surveying what the pirates referred to as their 'booty.' Rosalia and Graciela stood together, Rosalia a step behind the latter, which was holding her chin high. She was a strong woman, and Serenity could tell that the pirates would never beat her, even if that meant killing herself. However, she had doubts about whether or not these two women would proceed to take their own lives the way Carmela had. The girl had not lasted but six hours, and already she had given up. Maybe Graciela and Rosalia would do the same.

               "We'll have to get more from the next island," said another. "Where we be headin', Cap'n?"

               "We be headin' where I tell ye to!" said the captain, whose hat was pulled low over his face so that it through a shadow over his features. His skin was rough and mangled with tattoos and scars. Rings hung from his ears, which were scarce covered by scraggly grayish-black hair. He was a cruel man, cruel at the mast and cruel in the bed. Serenity shuddered at the sight of him. Most of her efforts were put into avoiding him at all costs.

               Someone grabbed Graciela roughly by the shoulder and Serenity couldn't help feeling a bit relieved that they were not grabbing her instead. Immediately, however, she felt guilty, and trailed the pirate that had taken her until she came to a closed door.

               There was nothing that she could do for Graciela.

~*~

               The older woman, for Serenity had come to view Graciela as being both stronger and wiser than herself, was strangely subdued that night. She said nothing. She only opened her mouth to stick half a spoonful of gruel inside.

               "There's talk that we're going to Tortuga," said Serenity. "I lived near there."

               "How have you survived all this time?" asked Graciela.

               Serenity put down her spoon. "You're not going to give up on me too, are you?" she asked. "Don't do what Carmela did, please!"

               "I…" said Graciela. "How have you done it?"

               Serenity sighed, and then she shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "Everyone I've ever loved…everything I've ever cared about…it's all gone now, all of it. But somewhere inside of me…there's this silly hope that some of it might be left."

               Had Serenity been standing on the deck, she would have seen a rum bottle float past the boat at that moment.

~*~

               An apple bonked Will on the head. He whirled his head around in time to see a guilty looking captain standing near the door. "Sorry, mate," said Jack. "Apple?"

               "Thanks," said Will sarcastically, biting into the soft fruit. It was overripe, almost to the point of rotting, and it was sickeningly juicy in his mouth. Jack crossed the room in three strides and sat down in the chair opposite Will, automatically putting his feet up on the table and taking an apple for himself. He ate it thoughtfully, unaware of the juices running down his chin and getting caught in the sparse chin patch that he had grown. He absentmindedly dragged the back of his sleeve over his mouth and tossed the apple core behind him, out the porthole.

               "To you ever get tired of being out here?" asked Will, glancing out the porthole. Jack shrugged.

               "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow," he said by way of an answer. "I can't get tired of the sea. It's not in me, mate. Are you tired of the sea?"

               Will sighed. "No, not really," he said unconvincingly. "It's just that I…I wish that…"

               "That you were home with your bonnie lass?" said Jack with a grin.

               Will nodded. "I guess so…home with my bonnie lass." He smiled. "Home with Elizabeth."

               "Ah, a treasure, she is," said Jack, "But not exactly my type."

               "No," Will laughed, "you need more of a…sea-woman. Like Anamaria," he said devilishly. Jack had enough time to look appalled before Anamaria herself stuck her head through the doorway. "Speak of the devil," said Will.

               "Aye," said Anamaria. "The devil it is!"

               "I'll just leave you two alone," said Will, getting up out of his chair and offering it to Anamaria, who sat heavily in it.

               "Apple?" said Jack as Will closed the door.