Sorry it's been awhile. I had major writers block. BTW, italics are Cari's dream
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She was drunk. She could hardly tell where she was. She didn't like it. "I'm gonna go clear me 'ead." She told her friends.
She took a walk. She ended up on the docks. She stood, staring at the sky. Someone tapped her shoulder.
A boy named Allen that she had known for only a few days stood behind her. "Hello." She greeted him.
"Are ye okay?" she asked. He looked different. Suddenly he grabbed her arm and pulled her under the dock.
"What are ye doing?" she backed away from him. He advanced on her.
She broke into a run. She could hardly see where she was going, because she was drunk. He followed her. She stumbled, lost her lead. He caught up.
He tackled her to the ground. She struggled, trying to get out of his grasp. He pulled a knife out of his pocket.
He plunged his knife into her arm. She cried out. The searing pain became fuzzy, and her mind swam. She couldn't see, she couldn't think, she couldn't move. She didn't know what was happening, but she knew it was something bad.
Hurt. Lots of hurt. All over her body, inside and out. She felt like she was dying. What had he done to her?
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Jack sat up two weeks after the Rum Incident, as the crew called it. He had woken up in the middle of the night because he had heard things. He waited for a moment, but didn't hear the sound again. He was about to fall back to sleep, when a muffled scream pierced the silence. It sounded like it was coming from the Captain's cabin. Jack stood up tentatively. Walking over to the cabin, he pushed the door open slowly.
No one was there. Then, suddenly, there was movement. Cari's hammock swung violently. Another scream sounded. Jack went to the hammock. Cari was tossing and turning wildly in her sleep.
"Cari." Jack shook her. She screamed again. He pushed the Captain out of her hammock. She fell out, landing hard on the floor.
Cari's eyes flew open and she scrambled away from Jack, hugging herself. "Get out." She whispered.
"Why? What's wrong?" Jack asked.
Cari shook her head. "Go away, Sparrow."
Jack had only been on this ship two weeks, and he had never seen Cari like this. She was crying silently, and shaking. Something was wrong. "What happened?"
"I-" the Captain faltered. "Just-"
"A bad dream?" Jack guessed.
"Not exactly." Cari wiped her eyes. "It had actually happened, a few years ago." She shivered.
"Oh." Jack couldn't think of anything else to say. "Will ye be okay?"
"No." Cari drew her knees up to her chest. "Leave me alone."
Jack almost did as she told him to. He walked over to the doorway, but instead of going out, he closed the door. He heard Cari whimper from the corner she was curled up in. Jack then sat down at the small table. "I want ta know what made ye scream like that."
Cari whimpered again and put her head on her knees. "I don't want to talk 'bout it."
"I won't leave till ye do." Jack informed her.
"Fine." Cari's voice was muffled as she began. "I can get drunk easy, Sparrow. I got drunk 'bout five years ago. I went for a walk to clear me 'ead. I was. . ." she trailed off.
Jack restrained himself from saying, "Ye were what?" It wouldn't help. He looked at her for a minute. She seemed so small, so frail. It was like she was a six-year-old in trouble instead of a twenty-one-year-old awakening from a nightmare. Jack remembered something. What had Bramble said when he first came aboard the ship?
"Ye will find that most of the women on this ship have been broken. Very few have managed to put themselves back together."
Was this what she meant? Had the Captain been "broken" when she had gotten drunk? She had appeared to be alright. But it seemed like she wasn't. So Cari hadn't really "put herself back together". She was still able to be shattered at any moment. And by the looks of it, she had been.
"I was hurt, Sparrow." Cari had found the strength to go on. "I-"
But whatever she was about to say was drowned out by the stomping of feet. A fist pounded on the door to the cabin. "Cap'n!" someone called. Not waiting for answer, the door was flung open.
"Get out, Sparrow." Jesabel's eyes were cold as she raised her lantern. Behind her, Sarah and Roseline nodded.
"I was-" Jack was cut off.
"Out!" the three shouted in unison.
Cari gave a loud sob. Sarah and Roseline pushed past Jack into the cabin. Jesabel grabbed Jack's arm and dragged him out.
"Wait! I want ta know-" Jack protested.
"Go back to bed, Sparrow. This doesn't concern ye in the least." Jesabel glared at him, then went into the cabin. She slammed the door behind her.
Jack waited for a minute before climbing back into his hammock and falling asleep.
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Tari walked out of the Captain's cabin the next morning. As she closed the door, Jack ran up to her.
"What happened ta her?" Jack demanded.
"Curiosity killed the Sparrow." Tari smiled.
"Will ye at least tell me what's goin' on?" Jack asked.
Tari sighed. "Nope. Ye have ta ask her." she jerked her thumb at the cabin.
Jack growled. "She won't tell me."
"We're supposed to be secretive, Sparrow." Tari informed him. "If we weren't, ye wouldn't be here."
The door to the cabin opened. Cari stepped out slowly, like she had never walked before.
"Cap'n, ye were supposed ta stay in there!" Tari exclaimed.
"I don like bein' fussed over." Cari said. "I'm okay. Don worry 'bout me."
"Jack here wants ye to finish tellin' him whatever ye said last night." Tari waved her hand at the impatient Sparrow.
Cari rubbed the back of her head. "I'd rather not. . ."
Jack groaned. Women!
"But. . . I could." Cari stared at her feet.
"Could I find out 'bout everybody else?" Jack wondered.
Cari shrugged. "Why not? If yer gonna be here for awhile, ye might as well know."
Jack grinned. "Thank ye very much, Captain!"
Cari shook her head slightly. "Don't." she rubbed her eyes and wandered over to the steering wheel.
Jack furrowed his brow as she walked away. "Is she alright?"
"Aye. She's just tired and too stubborn to rest." Tari told him.
Jack nodded. There were many mysteries surrounding this ship, mostly ones about the women aboard. But tonight, he would learn the pasts of the crew. He would understand why they acted the way they did, and how they were "broken".
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The crew sat at a table in the galley. Cari had said that they would need to talk about their history. It made them scared.
"Alright." Cari took a deep breath. "I go first. I-" she braced herself and let the words fly from her mouth. "I was raped."
"Me too." Jesabel added. "Me parents were murdered. I haven't seen me brother since he left when they died." She turned expectantly to Sara. "Yer turn."
Sara toyed with her mug. "Me parents were killed in a fire me uncle started. Me uncle then took me in, and he raped and whipped me." Her hand unconsciously fingered her scar. "I ran away later."
"And I guess I'm next." Caitlin stared into her drink. "Me parents wanted a boy. But they got me instead. They put me to work. Lots of work. And they starved me. I ran away too."
"Well, I ran away just because. I became a pirate, but men in Tortuga and me former crewmates beat me. I was nothin' ta them." Robyn spat. She glanced at the cook. "Ye go now."
Lauren gazed at the wall. "I was captured by evil pirates. They beat me and left me ta die on some spit o' land." She thought a moment. "Nice rum there, though." She raised her eyebrows at Tari. "Spill it."
Tari smiled slightly. "I got nothin' ta spill. I wasn't hurt like the rest of ye."
"Then why are ye even here?" Sara asked.
"Cuz it's a nice ship. And ye need someone unafraid of the male population." Tari sat back, still smiling.
"All ye need to know about me was that I was beaten in all possible ways." Roseline glared at them, as if challenging them to question her. No one did. All eyes in the room swiveled to Bramble.
She didn't speak. She only stared hard at them with her steely-gray eyes. "No." she finally said. "I tell no one."
Cari nodded. Bramble would always be a mystery, and that was the way she liked it. She faced Jack, who had been sitting at the end of the table. "Happy now?"
Jack considered what he could say. He was happy he knew. But their stories were sad, and he also felt guilty for making them tell. And although he knew they didn't want his sympathy, he felt very sorry for them. They had lost so much, yet they continued on, not looking back. Kind of like him.
"Sparrow?"
Jack snapped out of his thoughts. "Can't say I'm jumpin' for joy. . ." he told them. "But I am glad ye let me know." Jack wondered what he should say next. "Ye've been through lots of hurt, but ye haven't given up." He smiled. "Ye are some of the bravest girls I've ever met."
The ladies grinned. Sparrow was indeed a good man.
"Well, now that that's over." Cari stood up. "I suggest we all get a good sleep."
"Wait." Jack stopped them. He knew what else he wanted to say.
"Yes, Sparrow?" Cari asked.
He slid his drink down the table to Cari. "Rum." he stated. "Makes ye feel better."
Cari gave him a puzzled look. "I can't. I've had one already."
"Makes ye feel better." Jack repeated.
After staring at the mug for a minute, she shrugged. "What the hell. A round for everyone!"
Lauren poured more drinks. Cari raised her glass in a toast. "To the ladies of me Dark Storm! To us!" she shouted.
"To us!" they yelled, clinking their mugs together.
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Jesabel sat up in her bed. Something large and red poked its face at her. She shrieked and rolled out of her bed.
"Bloody hell!" she exclaimed, glaring at the parrot. "Don scare me like that!"
"Wind in yer sails." It squawked.
"Oh, shut up." Jesabel told it. "Above deck, I dun wanna wake everybody up."
She went above deck and climbed the mast to the crow's nest. The parrot flew after her.
"What'd ye got for me?" Jesabel asked as she pulled the letter off its leg.
"Drink up, me, hearties." Was its reply.
Rolling her eyes, Jesabel opened her letter. After reading for a minute, her eyes widened and a grin spread across her face.
"Yes!" she whooped, scurrying back down the mast and below deck.
"Sara!" she shook her friend. "Wake up, Sara!"
Sara peered at her friend with blurry eyes. "What?"
"Allen!! Allen's coming!" Jesabel waved the letter in Sara's face.
"Allen? Your brother?" Sara snatched the letter from her friend's hand and looked at it.
"Aye, that's him!!" Jesabel could hardly contain her excitement.
"How do ye know it's from him?" Sara inspected the signature.
Jesabel sighed impatiently. "He sends me a letter on the 15th of ev'ry month, using a stupid parrot. And this time, he says that if I give him the bearings, he can sail there and meet us!"
"Ye better tell the Cap'n this." Sara advised. "So ye can get the bearings an' such."
"Great idea!" Jesabel swiped her letter back and raced to the Captain's cabin.
"I didn' mean now!" Sara called after her. But it was too late. So Sara rolled over and fell back to sleep.
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"No."
Jesabel's mouth dropped open. "But Cap'n-"
"I said no!" Cari slammed her fist down on the table.
It was the next morning. Jesabel had been told to go back to sleep when she tried to ask the Captain last night. So she came back after breakfast. But the Captain refused to give up the bearings and let Jesabel send them to Allen.
"But I ain't seen me brother since me folks were killed!" Jesabel exclaimed.
Cari put her head in her hands. "I know. But I can't let him on me ship."
"Why?!" Jesabel asked.
"Because it was yer brother that made me get this ship." Cari whispered.
Jesabel shook her head. "No. Allen wouldn't do that."
"He did, and yer only hurtin' yerself by not believin' me." Cari told her.
"Yer the one hurtin' me! Ye won't let me see him!" Jesabel yelled.
"I don wanna be used again!" Cari shouted. "And I don wanna look at the man who raped me!"
"Ye lie!!" Jesabel screamed, and hit her captain.
"Oh, girlie, that was a bad idea." Cari said through gritted teeth. She lunged at the younger woman and knocked her to the floor. "Ye never go against yer captain!"
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Jack sat on a box on the deck, watching the women working in the masts. "It's not tight enough!" he called up to them.
"Shut up, you." Caitlin instructed.
"Just tryin' ta help!" Jack explained.
There was a crash from the Captain's cabin.
"What's goin' on in there?" Roseline muttered, coming to stand beside Jack.
"It don sound good, whatever it is." Jack said. "Come on, let's have a look."
Roseline nodded. They walked to the cabin. Roseline knocked on the door. But there was no answer. Another crash sounded, along with shouts. Roseline opened the door. Jesabel ran out, sword in hand. She turned around to face the Captain, who followed her out.
"No, I don think so." Jack grabbed Cari by the waist.
"Let me go!" Cari shrieked.
"What's goin' on, Jes?" Roseline turned to the girl standing behind her.
"She won't let me see me brother!" Jesabel accused.
"He raped me!" Cari cried.
"Ye lyin' bitch!" Jesabel screamed.
"Hey. Ye don't insult yer Captain." Jack struggled with keeping Cari in his grip.
"But she is! Me brother wouldn't hurt anyone!" Jesabel informed him.
"Jes." Jesabel looked at Roseline. "Don ye think there may be more ta yer brother then he chooses ta tell ye?"
"No!" Jesabel shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "Yer all lyin!"
"It's the truth, I swear!" Cari looked at Jesabel with pleading eyes. "I wouldn't lie about somethin' like this!"
Jesabel continued to shake her head. "No, no. . ." she sank to the deck, crying.
"Sparrow, get yer bloody hands off me." Cari growled.
Jack released her. She sat down beside the young woman. "How 'bout this. I'll give ye the bearings. When he comes, ye can ask him if what I said was true or not. If it's not, then I am a lyin' bitch. If it is, please don get mad at him or me."
Jesabel considered this. "Alright." She agreed.
"Good." Cari helped her to her feet. "Now, let's get ye those bearings. . ."
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Ta-da! I hope that was good enough! I'm sorry for making you guys for wait so long!