A/n: sorry it took so long to update. It's probably going to be even longer for the next chapter, because I'm starting school day after tomorrow, so I don't know about homework and stuff…we'll have to see. Anyway, I hope it was worth the wait, because I worked really hard on it and stuff. Please. If you like it, review! I like constructive criticism even…it's always helpful! :D So read, enjoy and review.
Disclaimer: I really don't know who or what Pirates belong to, but I know that it's not me. And I don't even get the point of these things either, especially the Harry Potter ones, because who in their right mind would actually think that J.K. Rowling herself would be on this website, re-creating her own story?? Not me! So this is the only time that I'm going to put one of these one my story. I don't own Pirates of the Carribean or any of the characters, except for Marie and this story line.
Marie
It had been about a week since they had started on Jacks hut. After the wreck, the waves had washed up a number of supplies and debris for about a week. No bodies had come with these things, thank God, but it had provided her with supplies such as timber for building, nails and other tools, food supplies, pots and other utensils, some clothes and fabric. The fastest ship they could get was a trading ship, you see and they were snuck on. Therefore all the wreckage had become invaluable to her survival these past three years.
They were now making their way toward Marie's hut for a nice long lunch now that they had finished Jack's hut officially. They were walking in comfortable silence when Jack suddenly spoke up.
"So….how'd you get stranded here? " He asked her, wiping a stream of sweat from his forehead. It was hot. Over a hundred in the shade.
They had been together for a week, and they had gotten to know each other a little better. They really hadn't talked much though, because they were both trying to work and the heat kind of sucked the will out of you to do pretty much everything. Even when they had talked though, he had not brought up this up…perhaps he sensed that it was a sensitive subject with her.
"I'd really rather not talk about it, Jack." She said quietly. In a way though…she kind of wanted him to talk her into telling him, but she knew that it would be painful to talk about.
He looked over at her with his intense brown eyes. " You want to know what I've found from my own experience?" He broke eye contact and stared out over at the ocean, and they slowed down to a more comfortable walking pace.
"I've found that a lot of times, the things that we don't want to talk about are the things that we need to talk about the most" He looked back at her again. "And sometimes there the things that deep down, we want to talk about, but we keep denying almost because we want others to push it out of us. It shows that they care."
She was amazed. How can he just read my mind like that… She sighed deeply . This was going to be tough.
" I grew up in Holland. My mother's name was Katrina VanVotterman, and my fathers name was Franz VonVotterman . My father had created a monopoly of al the trading going in and out of Holland, so naturally we were very wealthy. It makes sense that my father would hire a partner to help oversee all this, because me and my brothers were to young and my mother was busy running the household and spending my fathers money. "
How typically woman-ish muttered Jack with a snort of amusement
I'm going to ignore that she thought and continued
"Well, my father hired this associate, Pieter Ruijven when I was fourteen and he was twenty-two. By the time I was sixteen, my father began to get suspicious of Ruijven because we were only making about half as much as we should according to the number of ships and docks we owned. Well, he did some snooping and found that Pieter had been cheating him out of a huge percent of his profit. Pieter, who had spies secretly posted in amoung our household servants, heard of this and informed him. He blackmailed my father, before he could turn him in to the authorities. He said that if so much as a word got out to anybody about this, he would disclose or biggest secret and ruin our families name.
"Wait, what is this huge secret?" Jack interrupted
Ignoring him, she continued with her story "Anyway." She continued pointedly " We got the first passage out of Holland on one of my fathers trade ships. The captain was one of the last that were still loyal to him. On our way across the ocean we ran into a hurricane. The ship couldn't hold out…" She said gazing out into the ocean, she was lost for a moment in memory.
It was stuffy and hot down in the cargo hold where Marie and her family had been forced to live in the past week. The captain had assured them that it was the safest place to be in a storm. She had a bad feeling about this though…this was no storm, it had been going on for a week.
She sighed and glanced around the hold at her family. Her mother and father were sitting propped up against a pyramid of rolled up oriental rugs. Her mother had her head leaning up against her father, sleeping and her father was just staring into space like he was thinking.
Isn't so ironic… she thought That it takes a disaster like this for them to tolerate each other again. That being on the very brink of death makes them love one another again….that's so sad.
She then glanced over at her siblings. There was Jach who at seven was the youngest boy. He was sleeping with his head in Luke's, the oldest boy of about 14, lap. Little Gretchen was sitting over all by herself curled up on the floor napping like the rest of them. Gretchen was the littlest of all of them all she was only 5. They all had the same blonde hair and blue eyes, except for Jach, who was the oddity with red hair and green eyes. Their mom was born and raised an Irish-woman and was Dutch simply through marriage, which is probably where he got it from. She loved her family, and felt tears start in the back of her eyes as she gazed at them. They all looked so fragile in the dim light of the single oil lamp, swinging from one of the rafters above. Every time the ship shifted in the wind, the lamp would swing noicely, causing the shadows jump and shift, making everyone look more frail then they were. Marie sniffled and wiped her eyes. Was she the only one who felt this…this impending doom on their family?? Even IF they survived the storm, she doubted if all of them would make it to shore. Luke was getting sick…even she knew that the deep shadows under his eyes and the gauntness of his body was simply because of the play on light and a lack of sleep.
He's fading quickly she thought and the tears started fresh. Everyone else just thought that she was a strangely morbid girl, with an over-active imagination. Which was mostly true, but she was also a very perceptive person who easily saw things that others normally would miss. Suddenly she felt the ship begin to travel upwards, like it was climbing a wave. You could tell this in the subtle shift of the cargo, and after a week of the storm, she thought nothing of it. But she sat and wait for the ship to crest, for that slight lifting feeling in your stomach when you began to go over the other side, but it didn't come . Instead the ship began to steadily climb. Uh-oh… she thought and looked over at her father. He was beginning to look panicked.
"Everybody!!" he yelled startling the children and her mother awake. " Grab on to each other and don't let go! This is going to get rough! "
Marie instantly crawled over to the now crying Gretchen. " Shhh…it's ok..were all here together it'll be fine." She cooed at her and pulled her gently over to her brothers.
"I'm scared Mawie…she sniffled."
"I know sweetie, but theres no reason to be, right Luke?" She glanced at her brother and nudged him slightly in the ribs. He glared at her, looking more scared than angry
"Of course there isn't. We'll all be fine." The ship was picking up speed and she felt that the ship was about to crest. Her mother appeared at her elbow and her father on the other side.
"Mama..I'm scared.." Gretchen crawled into her mothers lap and buried her teary face into her dress. We all huddled closer together. My mother began to softly sing a hymn to us. It has always been Gretchen's favorite one… all of theirs even. According to Katrina it was the one that her mother had sung to her when she was little.
My life rolls on in endless song
Above earths lamentations
I hear the real, though far off hymn
That hails a new creation
The ship crested the wave and went over the other side with a sick groaning sound. Gretchen whimpered and Marie reached over and began to stroke her head. She began singing softy along with Katrina.
Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear it's music ringing
It sounds an echo in my soul
How can I keep from singing?
Slowly one by one everyone joined in softly. Marie looked around and saw the fear begin to leave their faces. She closed her eyes and sang…
While though the tempest loudly roars
I hear the truth, it liveth
And though the darkness 'round me close
Songs in the night it giveth
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I'm clinging
Since love is lord of heaven and earth
How can I keep from singing?
While tyrants tremble in their fear
I hear their death knell ringing
While friends rejoice both far and near
How can I keep from singing?
In prison cell and dungeon vile
Our thoughts to them are winging
When friends by shame are undefiled
How can I keep from singing?
The silence after they had all finished singing felt heavy, but the feeling of terror was gone. The ship hit the water on it's side with a huge shudder. It shook in the waves violently, trying in right itself. Cargo came sliding across the floor inch by inch, the longer the ship was on it's side. Suddenly she heard the sound of rushing water and , glanced around , trying to pin-point the noise. What she saw made her feel faint with fear. The ship was slowly beginning to tip backwards because at the end there was a huge hole, into which water was pouring at a very alarming rate. It hit me then…we were going to sink.
"Mama…" Marie nudged her mother gently
"Yes dear?" she asked glancing down at her and Marie pointed at the hole.
Katrina gasped and screamed " We need to get above deck Franz!! It's not safe down here anymore! Were about to sink…"
"O my God…" He whispered sounding stunned. She took in her father for a split second. His lean angular face was haggard looking and creased with fear and worry. His normally neat curly blonde hair was going every direction and his blue eyes were wide with fear. His well-trimmed beard was wild and longer than normal from his lack of a proper shave in quite a while.
Suddenly the hole exploded under the pressure of the water. Water and wood went flying, The hole was even bigger than before and the water was roaring in. it was about 20 feet away from them and Marie could actually feel the ship sinking further back groaning loudly in protest. This seemed to pull him out of his daze.
" Come on! We have to get out of here if we want to…" Franz trailed off and Luke and Marie exchanged glances, both of them finishing his sentence in their heads.
Live…
They all stood up and began to precariously make their way across the floor trying to reach the ladder to the deck. Suddenly Jach lost his balance and went sliding quickly downward toward the hole. "MAMA! PAPA! HELP!" He screamed. He grabbed on to a piece of timber at the very last second. They could all see the tears of terror and pain rolling down his cheeks, and his face was twisted in his effort to hold himself.
"Jach !!" Katrina screamed, her eyes wild with fear. She turned and started toward him.
" No! "Franz yelled over the rushing water. He grabbed her arm and turned her toward him " I'll go down and get him, you take the rest of the children to the deck."
Franz and Katrina looked in each others eyes for a split second. They somehow knew that this would be that last time they would see each other alive.
" I love you Papa!" Marie screamed.
He glanced back at her with a sad smile on his face. Were those tears in his eyes? " I love you too darling. I love you all…"
With that he turned and began making his way toward Jach, who was starting to lose his grip on the timber. The water was already up to his waist
"Papa!! Hurry!" He yelled.
" Come along children !" Mama yelled around her tears. " They will be fine, we just need to make our way to the top! "
So they did, it was very difficult because the ship had taken about a thirty degree angle. When they finally reached deck it was almost as bad up there. The captain made his way toward them and yelled above the noise
" We need to abandon ship Madam! The lifeboats are over there!"
He pointed at it and all Marie could see was a blurry dark blue shape, that was constantly shifting and moving with the rain and sea. " Grab onto my hand!" Marie yelled to Luke and they made their way across deck in a line, each person holding the hand of the one in front of them. Next thing she knew, she was alone and floating in the ocean. Sputtering and coughing, she fought her way to the surface. Bursting through the top, she gasped for breath, and struggled to keep her head above the water.
Must've been knocked overboard… Marie thought, getting panicked. Wheres everybody else??
"Mama!!" she yelled. She paddled over to the nearest piece of timber and latched on for dear life…these were some HUGE waves.
"Mama! Papa! Jach, Grethen Luke!!!! Anybody!"
She had already almost lost her voice trying to shout over the storm. " Luke! Jach!" She tried again. She though she was crying, but she couldn't tell the difference between the rain, the ocean and her tears. She yelled for them for at least two hours, and the storm never let up
" Mama…" her voice was reduced to a croak. She finally just gave up and slumped onto the timber, defeated. The thunder was what scared her the most…the thunder and the lightning, but she had stopped even taking heed of these things…she just didn't care anymore.
Theyre all dead… she thought I'll never see any of them again…
She suddenly felt very tired, and even though a piece of splintery timber is not an ideal bed and the thoughts of you losing your entire family is are not exactly relaxing thoughts, she closed her eyes and fell into an exhausted sleep, the tears still running down her cheeks.
Jack touched her lightly on the shoulder. "Marie…are you ok?" she jerked and looked at him wildly. "What?! Don't' touch me !" She practically screamed.
What right does he think that he has to touch me ?? She thought angry all the sudden but also slightly relieved that he had pulled her from her thoughts.
"Sorry luv…you just kind of fazed out on me for a few seconds and I was trying to make sure you were ok…" He looked at her concern written all over his face. He let his hand drop and she relaxed slightly.
Of course… she thought suddenly feeling guilty.
"It's ok Jack, I'm sorry to snap at you it's just that…" she trailed off not wanting to get into that with him.
"Just that what?"
" Nothing. Anyway where was I?" She quickly changed subjects and picked up speed as her hut came into view.
"Oh yes… well the ship couldn't hold out. I tied myself to a piece of debris and floated for three days in the storm. On the third day the storm relented finally and washed me up on this island. And that's where I've been since. "
"Yes….I guess it is." He muttered behind her and when she turned and glared at him, he feinted innocence and gave her a wide-eyed 'what?'. She just shook her head and walked into her hut.
What a mess he is… she thought.