AN (12/9): A year ago today, I started the first page of my first story...didn't post it until a year ago tomorrow...what an accomplishment! I actually finished two books (seeing as this one will be done as soon as I get it written) when I was seventeen! Thanks, everyone, for sticking with me! Since tis almost the one year mark, everyone who reviews will have balloons and streamers fall down on top of them...
This is the last chapter...I really didn't plan on having it turn out this way...if I were her, I'd not have taken Jack back so willingingly...but my ideas have been drifting away with the wind. So, I'm ending it before I drag it on...
Anyway, I am starting a new piece...in addition to keeping up with my other story. It won't be a romance like this one...but it will be from Will's viewpoint and will have hallucinations and flashbacks and all sorts of fun stuff. Look for it, all right?
All Hallow's Eve: Chapter 9
"Really?" I asked softly. Perhaps I would get a fairy tale ending, after all. "You really want me to come back in time with you?"
He slowly nodded, smiling at me with a rather adorable half grin. I loved to see him smile like that...it vaguely reminded me of Han Solo in Star Wars. "Aye. I do. An' I'd love t' leave right now...bu' I don' think I can walk tha' far. Will your parents miss ye?"
"Not really," I replied, pulling at some imaginary hairs on my sweater. "My mom is too obsessed with Bingo...my dad's too obsessed with his work. They might be a bit sad...but they'd forget about me in a month."
"Pity," he replied, sighing softly under his breath with some degree of sympathy. "All the more reason t' leave. Though..." he trailed off and looked at me for a minute. I felt like bacteria under a microscope.
"Yes?" I asked a moment later. Why do people trail off like that, anyway? It is incredibly annoying...because it just piques your interest in the subject so that you'll listen more intently. Perhaps that was why people did it. Or maybe he just wanted to annoy me...or he was just thinking while speaking and happened to change gears, so to speak, while uttering that phrase...
He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment later until finally replying, "I think you should tell your mum. She's a nice woman...an' I really think you underestimate how much she'll really miss ye."
I laughed for a few moments and then suddenly stopped because of the rather perturbed look he was giving me. "You can't be serious, Jack! My mom...she really doesn't care what I do! As long as I get good grades and come home before eleven, she doesn't even acknowledge me!"
"Luv...I really think you should tell yer mum. In fact...I'm insistin' tha' you tell your mum. I refuse t' leave until ye do." He seemed rather amused at me as I glared at him. "Come on, luv...it won' be tha' bad. Besides... I'll make it well worth yer while." He smiled and kissed me softly.
How could I resist a man like Captain Jack Sparrow? Sighing, I slowly relented with, "Fine. I'll do it...but I won't like it. Don't you dare think you can control me this way, Captain Sparrow." I smirked at him and pecked him chastely on the cheek, amused (though terrified of telling my mother the truth) by the crestfallen expression on his face. "Do you even know where she is?"
"Nay...she'd left the house before I'd even woke up," he replied with a faint shrug, his face back to its characteristic grin as he stepped into my room to get a shirt. I was faintly disappointed...but knew that he wanted to leave now. "Ye should probably wear the strumpet dress, luv, when we go back," he called out of my room as he searched for the cotton shirt he'd been wearing when he got here.
"I will," I replied, stepping into my room after him and watching him for a while. He had quite a few scars on his back, as well as the ones that had been on the movie. Poor man...he'd probably been tortured numerous times.
"Good," he replied, smiling broadly as he pulled his shirt out of my dresser and slowly put it on, buttoning it up with utmost concentration.
"Does it really matter if you don't pay attention to your buttons, Jack?" I asked teasingly. I didn't want him to know that I was afraid to tell my mother that I was running away...he'd think I was juvenile.
"Aye, lass, it does," he responded with a triumphant grin as he put the last button in. It was a different shirt than the one in the movie...not that I expected him to wear the same shirt every day...right? If he did...that was just disgusting. "Otherwise I end up gettin' it crooked...an' it takes three times as long t' get it done up right."
I chuckled in response. "You know, Jack...you have some rather odd habits." Of course, I didn't mind that he did have odd habits...as long as he shared those odd habits with only me.
"Well, I am a rather eccentric person, after all," he pointed out. "It'd be odd for me no' t' have unusual 'abits." He chuckled softly, looking from me to his shirt. "Hey! Ye got the bloodstains out of it!"
"Yep. Used some bleach." He sounded almost like an excited child to me as I walked over to him and gently kissed his chin. "Modern conveniences are very nice."
"Aye," he agreed, though he seemed a bit mad at himself for agreeing. "Though...I like the way I'm used t' better. It doesn' seem like anyone ever actually accomplishes anythin' these days...everyone I saw while out an' about seemed to be stressed."
"Well...that's life in the United States, for you, Jack. Everyone is absolutely obsessed with money and material goods...they forget about the good things in life. Even though we have millions of "time-saving" inventions, people always complain about not having enough time." I shrugged lightly. "I really won't miss this century."
"Well...yer in for a lo' of hard work. I wouldn' 'ave invited ye, though, if I din' think you could handle it." He smiled faintly, reaching down and cradling my head in his hand. He was only an inch or so taller than I was...but it still felt heavenly. Part of me wondered why I'd forgiven him so readily...but then again, what did I have to lose, by falling in love with a made-up person?
My mother returned home a few hours later. How could I tell? The clunking of her old junker woke me up as I lay in Jack's arms. It was amazing how safe I felt in his arms...and I wondered how I could ever consider not forgiving him for doing something wrong. He was a fabulous man, after all. Kissing his cheek gently, I slipped out of bed and quickly dressed. I would have a lot of time to do this...mom always went to the computer after getting home. She'd play stupid games to "wind down". I think she did it to avoid thinking.
After I was dressed, I walked to the computer room and slowly entered, standing on the wooden floors in my bare feet for a moment. How was I supposed to say that I'd lied to her? "Mom?" I found myself asking softly as my fingers played with the light switch. Of course, I didn't turn the light off...that would be bad for her eyes.
She didn't even bother pausing her game as she asked, "What?" in reply. I could tell she wasn't in the mood for talking...great. I could tell her and run away...just like that. Except for one thing...Jack was tired and I'd have to wake him up...and she'd come back and see a nude man in my room. That wouldn't be good.
"Would..would you be really mad at me if I lied to you? Hypothetically, of course." Great...I certainly had tact. She'd never know what I was up to...I rolled my eyes slightly at my own mouth. Sometimes I needed to think before speaking.
"I'd be disappointed," she replied, pausing her game as she turned to look at me. "Why? Have you lied to me?" At least she'd paused her game...it showed me she cared a bit about me.
"Yes," I admitted softly, trying not to stare at the turkey on her ugly orange sweater. I hated when she wore that particular top...
"Well?" she asked a moment later, as though asking me to continue. I could sense that she was starting to get quite bored. Maybe she had ADHD or something...
"I...uh...I really wasn't raped, mom." The last part of that came out quickly as I fought with my insides to have the courage to admit something so...evil to my mother. She hadn't raised me this way.
"You weren't raped?" she asked, frowning. "Do you realize...do you realize what sort of trouble you put the police in, for no reason? They're out there looking for that man you made up, for heaven's sake!" She swore a few times at me, standing up and nearing the doorway. For a moment, I thought she was going to hit me. "How can you be so irresponsible? Do I not give you enough attention?"
"No...no...you give me enough attention," I lied, wishing those stupid tears nearing the corner of my eyes would just go away. "I lied...I lied because...well, I didn't want you to find out that I'd slept with Jack."
"The man is at least twice your age!" my mother shouted, livid with indignation. She'd never imagined a life for me like this...all she wanted me to do was to keep excelling in school to make her look good. My mother was very scary when she wanted to be...and she desperately wanted me to realize I'd made a mistake.
"I love him!" I shouted back. "And I don't care what you think, mom...we're running away, tonight. I didn't even want to tell you...but he wanted me to." Strangely, I felt as though I could see the thoughts whirling around inside her head and could see the motives behind all of her actions the past seventeen years. She wanted me to earn her glory...rather than be myself. She would never be satisfied with what I decided to do with my life. It was really quite a good thing that I was leaving.
My mother looked at me in horror...I'd never stood up for myself before. Shaking her head as her face went from a pale yellow to a red to a purple, she just stared at me for a long time. "You can't run away," she finally said softly.
"Why not?" I asked, sighing. I really didn't want to know why not...but this would give Jack more time to get dressed. Besides...the woman did give birth to me, after all.
"Because I said so!" she responded...though, her voice lacked a lot of its usual conviction. "And I'm your mother...you can't say no to your mother!" Her voice almost seemed to be pleading for me to reconsider.
"Yes I can," I replied smoothly. "I'm leaving. And that is that. You were never there for me when I needed you!" Sighing, and wiping at the tears now falling down my face, I did the hardest thing I'd probably ever have to do...I turned away from my mother and walked out of the computer room. I'd never gone against my parent's authority so brazenly...which is why I considered it such a hard thing to do.
Smiling to myself, I walked to my room and locked the door behind me, just in case my mother decided to come after me or something. Cheerfully humming as Jack looked at me curiously, I stripped off my clothes and put on the strumpet dress. "Let's go, then."
"Jus' like tha'?" he asked softly, looking at me as though I'd lost my mind.
"Just like that. My mom doesn't want me to go with you...all the more reason for me to hope that the graveyard will send us back in time." I laughed lightly and kissed him quickly. "Don't look so worried, Jack. Before long, we'll be back where we belong, together."
I only said goodbye to Daisy...there hadn't been enough time to say goodbye to anyone else. Of course, she had drooled when she spotted me holding Jack's arm....but had understood at once why I wanted to go. What teenage girl wouldn't want to go back in time with an Adonis like Captain Jack Sparrow? Even I wasn't crazy enough to pass up a golden opportunity like this one.
When we reached the graveyard, I stopped for a moment to smile at the angel. I had found love...and a guide. Perhaps the marble statue had heard me, after all. Of course, the idea of an inanimate object actually hearing anything and making such a wonderful thing happen to me was preposterous...then again, the thought of me going back into the fictional past with a person who was only in a movie was preposterous as well. Perhaps the impossible can happen, sometimes, if you believe or want it enough. "Where did you wake up at, Jack?"
"Over here," he replied, leading me gently towards a row of headstones surrounded by dying flowers with little bits of frost glistening on them. I was a meat popsicle, once again, in this dress...if this didn't work, I'd probably freeze to death. We strolled past a fairly fresh grave, and he stopped right next to a rather ugly mausoleum.
"Is this the place?" I asked, shivering slightly. It was cold enough for me to see my breath...then again, it was nearly eight o' clock, and we were going through a cold spell.
"Aye," Jack responded, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He grabbed my hand, kissed it, and pressed a skull with crossbones on the mausoleum. A thought flashed across my mind for a brief instant...how did he know he had to do that? However, that thought died as soon as I realized I was warm, it was very noisy, and the air smelled like gunpowder, rum, and women. Apparently it had worked...and I was now starting the adventure that women in my century longed to start.
orcachick2005: Well, I just wanted to get this story over with... I was running out of ideas, if you couldn't tell. I wouldn't have forgiven Jack that easily either. He's a git, that really needs a woman to not fawn over him to realize that he's a git...anyway, I'm glad that you wanted to scream at her. TNT does know their drama. And tis okay...I do understand. I get swamped with stuff a lot. And I forgive you...I suppose...
borne-shadow-childe: I wrote it so much better in the other story, though. That was just a summary, in the last chapter....you should at least check out chapters 20 & 21 on The Emerald Eyes...anyway, thanks for the review! And he did kill Meagan...sorry that it happens to be your name as , I guess.
Eccentric Banshee: Yes...the Keira Knightly and Jack Davenport commentary is very funny. I've seen it twice, I think...the Johnny Depp one was sadly boring. I was expecting more. And it was very fun to meet up with you again on Neopets. We should bump into each other more often. And thanks for taking the time out of your busy schedule to read this bit...I was being rather angsty when I wrote the first few chapters...now I let my angsty tendency out other ways... I'm glad you enjoyed the pedometer so much...it is very cool. I used to wear it, during the summer, to see how far I would walk with my mum...
Pirates-arr-me-life63: Oh, tis okay. Thanks for leaving a review this time...and how did you manage to make it, a whole weekend without a computer? I'd go nuts.
Lady Fae: Sorry...I'm all idea-d out. There could possibly be a sequel, though...I've been toying with that in my mind before I go to bed each night...I'd write it from Jack's perspective, though...thanks for leaving a review!
CrazyPirateGirl: I think it happens to all teenage women...mood swings are the pits. Thanks for leaving me a review! I'm really touched by all the support I've gotten for this story...really amazed me, actually...
Anyway, since you were the first reviewer, you get a loverly bottle of lens cleaner! -giggles- Sorry for the randomness of your prize...I'll throw in a can of Shasta as well...I think we have Creme Soda or Root Beer...take your pick.