A Few Good Years to Be Alive
Chapter 12: Jaden's Walk Down Memory Lane
(Day 3)
"Stop it, Megan. I'm warning you." Shavai stated as she continued trying to walk out of Megan's taunting, but to no avail. "Oh, you mean like I warned you about sleeping with euphnics?" Shavai turned and glared at Megan "Knock it off." Megan grinned "You mean the way you knocked HIM off?" Shavai looked infuriated."This is the last time I'm telling you." Megan beamed a wide smirk "I bet it won't be the last time for you." She walked over and poked Shavai annoyingly. She continued glaring back and flung her sword at Megan, but Megan was already out of the way. Megan ran to Jaden screaming in a high-pitch. Jaden gave a confused look of bewilderment as Megan leaped behind her. "Stop her! She's gone mad! And she has a sword!" Jaden looked unsuprised. "Honey, I'd hate to be the one to tell you but you have one too."
Megan glanced down and gleamed. "Oh yeah... hehe." Jaden shook her head and clicked her tongue. She wanted to get out of the fighting ring. So, she went and stood under one of the masts. Out of nowhere a coconut seemed to fall from the sky. Jaden jumped to the side weilding her sword at whatever hit her. "What in blazes?!" She yelled as she saw the coconut. Gradually she looked up to see Jacinda swinging around on the mast. "Hee hee Hoo Haw! I am a monkey!" Jaden, Megan, and Shavai stood looking vacantly at her in pity and confusion. Jacinda saw the looks and gave an embarrassed laugh "Hehe- Oh. It's not like you've never done anything embarrassing before." Megan replied "No, actually, I haven't." Shavai ran toward her bringing her sword down. "Oh whatever!" She yelled Megan countered her and kicked her in the butt and sent her on the ground. "Name one." Shavai looked thoughtfully and suddenly smiled. "Remember about a day or so ago and you got drunk and when you woke up you didn't know where you were and you held Mr. Cotton hostage and you had no shirt on?" Megan blushed "I did no such thing!" She insisted. "Oh whatever, you lying alcholic!" Megan yelled back "I am not an alcholic you infantile! I'm a drunk, there's a difference. Alcholics go to special meeting places!" She tackled Shavai to the ground and began tickling her without mercy. Jaden laughed and her mind wandered back to Demeta. What was she really up to?
Demeta looked around her little 'room' to see if there was any light. To her astonishment, there was none other than the single candle she was given. She looked at her ring "Are you catching up?" She asked it. It blinked it's emerald green color twice beginning to light up the room while doing so.
"And may he rest in peace." They crew took the sheet eveloped corpse and threw it overboard. He was one of their own. Mr. Cotton wiped a tear from his eyes and his parrot squacked "And yet we know not where. And yet we know not where. Rawk!" Mr. Gibbs padded Cotton's shoulder.
Megan looked off in the distance as they gave the fallen a burial at sea. Her mind wandered back for a moment to Brandon's threat and she saw herself being thrown overboard in a wrapped sheet. She could taste the blood in her mouth as she blinked herself out of it. Then she looked over at Shavai as she sat looking thoughtfully at a book. Megan pushed it more towards Shavai so she could see the title of the book. Before she could see anything, Shavai slammed the book shut on Megan's fingers and hit it against her forehead. Megan stumbled backwards. "Damn! What was the for?!" Shavai just shrugged and went back to the book. Not even looking up, she replied "You touched my book." Megan looked at Jaden as she almost fell over laughing at Megan. "I didn't know you could read." Jaden looked back at a couple of gold coins in her hand. "Appearantly the euphnic's been giving our little Shavai lessons." With that, Shavai threw the book at Jaden's face. Jaden fell over onto the deck. "Owies."
Will looked as the burials took place. He remembered there being six casualties, but there were seven bodies. "Jack, why are there more bodies than casualties ?" Jack looked at Will then at the crew throwing bodies over. "One of them had somekind of poisoning. Terrible way to go." With that he took a drink out of his flask. "So is drinking yourself to death." Will muttered. Jack turned sharply and threw his pistol at him. "You mind saying that a little louder?" Will gulped and picked up Jack's gun. "Or do I have to give you an old fashioned flogging?" Will gave a slight laugh. "Oh please, Jack. You're not my father." Jack stepped up to Will and grabbed him by his shirt and bent him over and began spanking him with the flat side of his sword. "What did you say?!" The whole crew began to laugh as Jack paddled away on Will. Shavai ran to his side "Captain Sparrow?! What for the sake of all the rum in the world are you doing?!" Jack let Will go. "Nothing. Honestly, nothing. Savvy?" Will stepped behind Jack nearer to the side of the ship. Jack flung his arms out hitting Will. "Would I hurt this defencless euphnic?" He pinched Will's cheek. Will turned bright red and slapped Jack's hand away. "I am not a euphnic! Would you people stop calling me that?!"
Jacinda yelled at Will from her spot on the mast "I'll believe it when I see it!" Will blushed and threw a bottle at her narrowly missing her. "Put up or shut up!" She yelled back at him. Will realized he would never get her that way, so he steadily walked over and began climbing the mast. "Oh lord." She looked down and saw Will approaching. Jack looked up and saw them both "That's it, Will! Be a fornicator!" Shavai came over and pulled his ear. "Ow, ow, ow. Ok, I admit it." Shavai pulled harder on his ear. "Ouch! Ok, it was not a nice thing to say!" Shavai pinched his ear "Alright! Will, I'm sorry!" Jack slapped Shavai's hand and felt his ear to make sure it was still entact. "Always did say she could fight with the best of them." Megan muttered laughing as she heard Jacinda's screams "Monkey gone mad!" She yelled.
Jaden looked into the darkness of the cell, trying to spot Demeta. "Demeta." She called out, she saw the candle flickering in the corner of the cell. "I'm right here, tell me, where else would I go?" Jaden looked at her thoughtfully and reminiscing. "To ransack and destroy another village and kill the children and people who live there, perhaps?" Jaden felt an urge to take her head off right there. She wondered how Megan felt. If she felt this way and her family wasn't killed by her, how did Megan feel?
Megan looked at Shavai "Did you see Brandon when we were attacked?" Shavai shook her head no. "All I saw were the creat- wait a moment, wasn't Brandon the name of that boy you were engaged to?" Megan shook her head. "Right before he almost killed me. When Jaden found me and we found you." Shavai snickered a little. "You mean it was hard to find me drunk in an alley?" Megan laughed a little and a tear went down her cheek. "Shavai..." She said and her voice began to shake. Shavai looked back at her "Yes?" She managed to say after a moment. Megan said nothing, looking inside herself for the right words. Shavai reminded her "Shavai what?" Megan looked at her "I'm scared." Her voice shook as she pronounced the words. "He said he was going to kill you and Jaden." Shavai gave Megan a hug. "It's ok. After all those bottles of rum, you think one man with a sword is gonna kill Shavai Hopkins and Jaden Roachelle?" Megan laughed a little. Shavai released her after a moment and smiled. "Trust me, Megan, we're not going anywhere soon." Megan sighed. "I hope you're right. I'll never forgive myself if something happens to either of you." Shavai smiled lightly. "Megan, if we do die, it just happens. Pirates never really die. It's just a small voyage after this one. And me and Jaden will wait on the dock for all eternity if we have to. We're not gonna leave you." Megan gave Shavai a small hug.
Jaden looked at Demeta. "Why were you with Roberts?" Demeta looked annoyed "I told you, he kidnapped me." Jaden looked as though a lightning bolt struck her. "Why didn't you escape?" Jaden asked. Demeta smirked at Jaden "Let me ask you something. Before all this began, what happened to your family?" Jaden shifted her standing postion uncomfortably "They were killed." Demeta ran her hand through the flame and corrected her. "Uh uh uh. You didn't finish. You were with them, weren't you?" Tears sprang to Jaden's eyes. "Yes." She answered barely audiable. "Why were they killed?" Demeta continued smiling at Jaden. "For no reason, we were taken in the middle of the night. I was twelve years old." Demeta shifted her crossed legs. "They took you on their ship and kept you there?" Jaden blinked and quickly wiped the tears away. "Yes, for three months. They killed my father and tortured my mother." Demeta stood up and walked calmly towards the bars. "They did unspeakable things to you, didn't they? And they did the same to your mother, didn't they?" Jaden's voice began shaking. "They raped my mother and they shot her when she was no use to them." Demeta stood about two inches from Jaden's face. "Then you stabbed one of the crew and made your escape with a lifeboat." Jaden's hand clenched into a fist. "I had no one left and they would've killed me, too. There was only one woman on the deck and she looked," Jaden's eyes lit fires in them and stared into Demeta's icy grey ones. "Just. Like. You." she stated as she got hold of her sword. Demeta smiled and beamed in her face. "Prove it." She said in a quiet tone. "I don't have to, you'll give yourself away. And when that time comes, I'm going rip your heart out of your chest so you can see how black it is before you die and go to hell." More tears of anger welled up in her eyes as she slammed a dagger into the wall as she walked back up to the deck.
Demeta chuckled to herself "See you, there."