AN (10/30): Well, I get to see Finding Neverland in about two hours. I'm so excited! Since I can't stand waiting, I've decided to get my next chapter for this story nearly done. Somehow I've had enough time today to update this story and my other one...which you should read, by the way. It seems really long, but I do have romance smattered in there.
All Hallow's Eve: Chapter 3
"Oh...my..." I said softly, staring up at the screen and back at the man sitting next to him. This was impossible, right? How could a man be on live television and in my house at the same time. "Who are you?"
He looked at me with a slightly condescending look, as though I were a child. "I tole ye already, luv. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl."
"That just isn't possible, though," I insisted, standing and going to the mahogany chest that held my family's collection of DVDs. "Captain Jack Sparrow isn't a real person."
He looked up and down at himself. "I think I'm real. Unless this is some odd dream tha' we're both 'avin' a' the same time. Or I'm in someone's imagination. Bu' I don' think tha's the case. I probably wouldn' 'ave memories if I din' exist." He laughed slightly, watching me with avid fascination as I pulled out my favorite movie. "Wha's tha'? Another one of those films?"
It was quite astounding how fast he'd picked up some basic facts about life in the 21st century. "Yes, this is a film. And I'll show it to you. And maybe you'll understand why you can't be sitting on my couch right now. You don't exist. Films are false." I laughed weakly, wishing that he'd just go away. Yet, at the same time, I wished he'd just come over and kiss this hysteria away. I was very close to losing it.
"Films are false, eh?" His dark eyes were full of thought. "So...this man ye mistook me for...'e was false? Pretends t' be someone else in these films? Are films similar t' plays? Because, though I migh' be a pirate, I've seen some plays. Shockin', I know, bu' yer a strumpet wiv a mansion for a house. Perhaps everything is possible in the future."
"I'm not a strumpet," I protested softly, wishing my cheeks would stop trying to coordinate to the color of my clothes. "I'm a student. I go to a high school, so I can learn how to get a job when I'm older."
"You don' work?" he asked, completely amazed. "Is this a common occurrence? Where I come from, only the wealthy don' work a' yer age. Because yer seventeen, righ'?"
He was incredibly handsome and good at guessing my age. "Yes. I'm seventeen. And some people at school have jobs, but a lot of people don't. School is almost like a job." I smiled weakly and popped the DVD out of the case.
"I ne'er did like school much," he commented. "The teachers always though' I was a bit of a nuisance. Therefore, I received quite a few whippin's." The way he could talk about this so nonchalantly was rather alarming.
"You were whipped at school?" I asked softly as I walked over to the DVD player and set the disk inside the tray as it came out. The fact that he admitted he'd even gone to school was rather shocking, for that meant he'd come from a family with a bit of money. What was I talking about? He couldn't be real.
"Aye," he responded with a shrug. "I misbehaved." He chuckled lightly and smiled at me. "Don' look so worried, luv. I honestly 'aven' been affected by it."
"Obviously not," I responded. Was I asleep? I hoped not. He seemed so real. And I could lose myself in his chocolate eyes. I smiled lightly and hit the eject button again, tapping my foot as the silver tray went inside the electronic device. It really was amazing how well he was taking all of this change. If I'd come from the past, I'd be calling everyone a witch by now. But he couldn't really be from the past, right? There was no Captain Jack Sparrow.
"So...me first film, eh? D' ye think I'll like it?" Perhaps he used humor as a way to keep me from noticing how worried he truly was. Or he was treating it like a dream.
"I have the feeling it will look familiar," I replied vaguely, grabbing the remote and sitting down on the couch next to him. How I wished he'd wrap his arms around me! I suddenly felt cold and shivered.
"Ah." Jack smiled mischievously at me and then turned his attention to the screen as the music for the menu started playing. His eyes must've been as wide as saucers. "Ye know, luv...tha' coin there...it looks very familiar." He bit his lip, apparently trying to figure out if this was some sort of joke or something.
"It should look familiar," I responded as I hit enter. "But this will probably seem even more familiar. If you want me to stop it...just say so."
"I will," he responded, shivering slightly as the movie started. If possible, he seemed more entranced now than when he'd been watching Johnny Depp earlier. I realized I had a few minutes before he received a great shock, so I stood and grabbed a blanket out of our side closet, smiling and close to tears as I heard him say, "Gibbs? How...wha'...how does 'e look so ruddy young? An' why is 'e on tha' ship? Wiv...Norrington. And Governor Swann." I scurried back into the family room as he called out my name.
"I know this is really confusing, Captain Sparrow, but you need to see why I thought you were someone else. Something somewhere went wrong, unless this is all a dream." Why was he looking at me like he wanted to throttle me and kiss me all at the same time? Of course, I don't know if he really was looking at me that way. Maybe I was just imagining things...but, if this was my dream, couldn't he kiss me like I wanted him to? I mean, he wasn't Johnny Depp. He was Captain Jack Sparrow!
He blinked a few times, glancing back at the movie. "Is tha'...Will? Wha' is goin' on? I know all these people! How can they be in tha' little box?" He stood up, stumbling towards the television to glance behind it. His hands were touching the screen. "Wha' is goin' on? I woke up somewhere completely differen' then where I fell asleep! I mean, I'm no' complainin' abou' wakin' up near such a beautiful woman...bu' why am I stuck 'ere? Nothin' makes sense."
He looked like he was about to hit the television, so I quickly walked to his side and touched his arm. "Somehow, Jack, you've ended up in the future," I said softly, hoping it would calm him down. Honestly, I was about as shook up as he was. "I don't know how. But I think we'll be able to get you home."
"How?" he questioned, his hands now on Elizabeth's face as she left her home. "I don'...I don' see how we can see this."
"I don't think that you're supposed to understand it," I soothed, wishing I hadn't decided to show him the film after all. I tugged gently on his arm and escorted him back to the couch. "You'll be on the screen in a moment." I sat a few inches away from him this time, so that I could better tell what he was thinking.
"How can I be on the screen an' 'ere at the same time, though?" was his quick question. His earlier outburst seemed to have been forgotten and he was back to trying to figure this time period out.
"Because the actor that played your character was filmed. The man you saw on television before I put the film in. His name is Johnny Depp. Probably one of the best actors out there. Certainly the most dreamy." I grinned as he eyed me warily. "It was filmed about two years ago in the Caribbean and in California. Each time you watch it, the same thing happens."
"Ah," he replied, though I could tell he had no idea what was going on. When he spotted himself on the screen, he suddenly seemed embarrassed."Turn it off, luv. I've seen enough."
"Don't you want to see yourself get the Pearl back?" I asked, reaching for the remote.
"No. No' really. I don' wan' t' see any of it. It'd conflict wiv the images I 'ave in me mind." He frowned. "How is it tha' this film matches me memory so well, though? If it was filmed a few years ago, tha'd still be abou' two hundred years af'er it all happened."
"I don't know," I earnestly responded. "Perhaps the film is a real documentation of what happened in some parallel universe. I'm not sure."
"How'd I get 'ere, if I don' really exist in the past?" Why did he have to ask me such difficult questions while looking at me like that? I felt like I'd melt in a few moments because of the way he was staring at me.
Feeling vaguely uncomfortable, I shrugged. "I really don't know. I've seen programs about this thing called the Uncertainty Principle that said there's a billion other universes going on. Maybe you're from one of those...alternate realities. I really have no idea." Smiling slightly, I added, "If I did, I would tell you, Captain Sparrow. I can tell you don't really like it here."
"Well, I do like it 'ere," he corrected me with. "I like all of these magical technological advances humans 'ave made. I'm quite surprised tha' we understand each other...bu', I need t' get back t' me time period. There was somethin' important abou' t' take place."
"What?" I asked softly, considerably heartened by the fact that he actually liked it here. I hadn't messed up after all.
"Well, I was goin' t' be named godfather for Will an' Elizabeth's son," Jack said with a proud smile. "They actually though' tha' a scallywag was honorable enough t' be a godfather. Remarkable, really."
I had the feeling that Jack hadn't told anyone about these plans. "When was this supposed to happen?"
"Whenever I got t' Port Royal again. I planned t' go a week or so from now." Jack shrugged, looking vaguely uncomfortable again as he realized I hadn't stopped the video. He could hear himself talk. "Please turn it off, luv?" he pleaded. "I can't really think when I hear meself talkin'."
I nodded and pushed stop. "Sorry. I forgot that I hadn't stopped it yet." Feeling sheepish and blushing slightly, I stood up and grabbed the case, quickly taking care of it and putting it back into the DVD cabinet.
"Why are ye avoidin' me?" he asked softly. "Do I really scare ye tha' much? I mean, I can tell tha' ye find me attractive...bu' every time I get ready t' make a move, ye move around the house."
He was a bit more honest than I would've liked, as well as much more observant than I would've cared for...but he'd said that he was going to make a move. My heart flip flopped again. This was probably going to be a fairly common occurrence until I could get him back to his proper time. "Uh...well, I've never even been on a date with a guy before...and my parents will be home from church in an hour or so...so, its best if we just act like friends. They're going to wig out when they see me with an older man dressed as a pirate."
He looked faintly disappointed. "Well, then, luv, how should I look? Perhaps like some homeless waif...I'd hate fer yer parents t' "wig out". Whatever tha' means."
"Well, you could disguise yourself as a teacher or something," I said hopefully. "Or...I don't know. I'm going to be dead meat regardless of what I do when they get home. I was supposed to be home last night at about eleven."
"I know," he responded with sympathy in his voice. "Perhaps I'd bes' jus' leave, then. Because I doubt yer parents would approve of ye spendin' time wiv someone like me, e'en if I was in disguise." He stood, glancing at the now empty hot chocolate mugs for a moment as he tried to think.
"I can't just let you out of my house, though, Captain Sparrow. You know very little about our customs...and you'd get a lot of stares, like the Mayor." I sighed and bit the inside of my cheeks, a habit I'd had for years now whenever I was faced with a difficult problem. "You could hide in my room. My parents never go in there. And if they did...well, you could hide in my closet."
"So, ye wan' me t' pretend like I'm no' 'ere?" he asked with a rueful smile. "I could do tha', I suppose. An' jus' call me Jack. I don' exactly 'ave a ship 'ere t' command." He smiled more genuinely at me than any man had ever smiled at me before and I felt my heart flip flop again.
"Yes. If you don't mind, Jack." It was hard talking with a dancing heart. How did women ever get over this feeling? "I understand if you don't want to do it. I mean...we could send you to a homeless shelter or something."
"I don' mind a' all," he replied softly, smiling at me again. "How much time do we 'ave until yer parents get home?"
As I glanced over at the clock, he moved right up next to me. The clock said something around eight o' clock. "About an hour and a half," I responded as I turned my head to where he'd been standing. I nearly bumped my nose against his chin.
"Tha's plenty o' time," he commented, tilting my head up to kiss him. My wildest fantasies were coming true...but did I really want them to?