Hey again, another fic re-written.
Too much to find, so much so little time,
So many images persist to shade my mind. Will I ever come around or will I just hit the ground?
Will I still be standing, when it all comes down?
Why can't I seem to sort it out? Why am I always filled with doubt?…
Will somebody be there to catch me when I fall?
Chapter One: Finding Freedom
sSs
Morgan watched out her bedroom window as the Black Pearl sailed in, they were returning for about the billionth time since she were little. Morgan's mother would never let her go out when they were here. This time Morgan weren't going to let him get away, she were going to go with him. Her mother was gone to the market, so she grabbed her bag and raced down the stairs and had her hand on the handle just as it turned and her mother pushed the door open.
She looked Morgan up and down; Morgan backed up knowing her reaction was still to come.
"Where on earth do you think you're going young lady?" Morgan looked down at the floor as she closed the door. Her mother had once been the daughter of a wealthy man, but now she was just some common Tortugan whore, her father had disowned her when she became pregnant with Morgan.
"I'm leaving,"
"I won't let you go, I will not let you become a pirate like your brother."
"Why can't you just let me live my dream?"
"Because your dream will have you killed."
"So you'd rather have me stay here and be a whore lik-"she slapped Morgan across the face. Morgan put her hand to her cheek and stared at her mother in angry disbelief.
"I'm so sorry" she reached out to Morgan and Morgan backed away from her. "Im sorry I-"
"Never touch me again!" Morgan screamed and ran past her out the door.
Morgan ran partially down the street and stopped when she saw the pearl, remembering what she was doing in the first place. The breeze blew and a strand of hair fell around her face. The captain would never let her on the ship if she looked like a woman so you veered of into an alleyway. She kneeled down and pulled some hairpins out of her bag. She tucked every last strand underneath her bandana; she got up and headed out of the alley, straight for the pearl.
Morgan wore a pair of black pants, a white shirt, and a vest that concealed the outlines of a cloth she'd tied around her midsection to look more like a man, (and also a deep wound she had received when defending her virginity from a man who tried to rape her). And of course a navy colored bandana, and boots. She couldn't believe what she was doing and she had butterflies churning in her stomach. She stopped at the beginning of the dock and watched as she saw men loading the pearl with goods. She walked up to one of the men and remembered to change her voice.
"Where be yer captain." she asked, and even she had to admit, she was a very good actress. He looked Morgan up and down; she thought he might suspect something. He pointed to the ship and she let out a silent breath, which she had been holding in. Morgan pushed past all the men and walked up the ramp.
Morgan got up on the deck and noticed a man lingering near the captain's cabin talking to another man, the first with his back to her. She figured it was worth a try and walked up behind him clearing her throat to get his attention. He turned around and she couldn't believe her eyes, he was gorgeous, she mustered up all her strength to just keep your eyes on his so he wouldn't notice something was wrong. He stepped closer so his face was right close to hers; Morgan recognized this as a tactic to make your opponent feel inferior.
"Ye need somethin' there boy?" he asked, and Morgan stared back at him, not moving a muscle, making that his presence didn't scare her.
"Are ye the Cap'n o' this vessel." she tried to use her best pirate talk, and obviously it was working.
"Captain Jack Sparrow, and who be you?" he turned around and picked up a crate of rum, turning back and looking her in the eyes once more.
"Joseph" she blurted out, that was her step dad's name, and if she had given him hers he would clearly have known she weren't a man. He raised an eyebrow and waited for Morgan to give him the rest of her name. "Joseph carter." Which was her best friend Mary Anne's last name. He looked at her a little closer, and she wondered if he could tell.
"An' what might ye be wantin' me for?" he asked her placing the crate of rum in her arms and grabbing another, motioning for her to follow him into the captain's cabin. She did.
"I wanna join yer crew." Morgan stated trying not to sound nervous, all though she were.
"An' ye think a young lad like ye could handle bein' on me crew."
"Aye cap'n" he looked at Morgan as though he could tell she wanted to really bad. He stood there contemplating, an Amused grin on his face, he stood silent and she were getting impatient.
"We leave first thing in the mornin' be here bright an' early o' we leave without ye."
"Aye cap'n" Morgan said as he brushed past her and out the door. Realization hit her that she had nowhere to go, she ran away from her mother and her beatings. She ran after Jack. "Cap'n" she yelled after him, tailing him. He turned around abruptly, making her run into him, toppling him over and landing right on top of him, she looked in his eyes for a moment, then got off of him and stood up. "Sorry cap'n" Morgan paused and held out a hand to him. "I 'ave no where to go." He just sat there and stared up at her, she thought he might be mad, but he grabbed her hand and with much effort, Morgan helped him up. He looked at her oddly and she searched his eyes as to find some reason why, but saw nothing, his expression was blank. He shook his head and let out a small laugh.
"Think ye can handle tha nigh' shift?" he asked, Morgan nodded and he left, heading up to the helm without another word.
Later that day a man came up to Morgan. She'd spent the day helping lug crates of rum, and supplies up onto the boat and into storage, whilst doing the best she could not to show she was sore.
"I'm Gibbs, an' ye must be the newbie." she nodded.
"Yeah. I think"
"C'mon I'll show ye yer bunk." Morgan followed him downstairs and into the crew's quarters where he gave her an empty bunk, there were various bunks occupied by crewmen, this was their time to have a break. The ship was loaded and still docked. When Morgan were called for dinner she were hesitant, but Gibbs encouraged her. She sat with some of the other crewmembers that were telling her stories about treasure and some stories about whores.
Morgan told them some jokes about whores; she didn't have much trouble either seeing as her mother was one. Soon she was called up to the deck for her shift. She had been out for hours and yawned from her tiredness.
Morgan had always wanted to be a pirate; her father was a pirate, which's why her grandfather had disowned her mother. Because she had had un-wed relations. But not just for that, he had royal blood (his cousin) and for her to disgrace his family by falling in love with a pirate was more of a mistake. But he didn't disown her until he found out she was pregnant, he could hide her affair with a pirate but he couldn't hide a pirate's baby. The pirate eventually abandoned her and she got married to another man.
Morgan had always considered herself a mistake, because her mother had always called her her mistake whenever she got mad at Morgan, or upset. Morgan wanted to run away many times but she did love her mother, and she couldn't leave her no matter how hated she felt.
Her life had a turn for the worse when her brother left a year and a half ago, and she started to beat Morgan... but all this was in the past... or at least Morgan hoped.
Morgan heard footsteps behind her as you looked out at the indigo sky, but just ignored them figuring they were from a crewmember. But the footsteps continued, stopping right behind her.
XX
So many people everywhere,
So self absorbed without a care of their viral Ives,
I'd like to bleed them all, when all is drained who shall hold…
I could always hope for change, could always hope to rearrange,
But why not just abandon hope
And tear it all apart now?
-The Checkered Demon, AFI
MorganS.
