Sweet Revenge

Chapter 4

Reviews please! Anyways, thanks for reading, Jack'll be coming up soon, don't worry!

I lay out on the beach for hours, wondering what to do next. Finally I stood, and decided to see if there was any food or water on the island. After about an hour of searching I found one lone coconut tree with four coconuts.

I cracked one open with a rock and drank the sweet juice that seemed to disappear in seconds. After eating some of the coconut flesh I sunk down to my knees and fell asleep, wondering what the island would bring.

The next few days passed uneventfully, and I found no other food. The last coconut was gone and my throat felt like sandpaper. I lay aimlessly under a tree hoping something would happen so that I would see Charlie Macey again. Only for one purpose of course: to kill him. The gun began to look better and better as the days went on and there was no sign of help. I tried to imagine what it would feel like to pull the trigger and I almost did twice.

The next morning I awoke to white sails on the horizon. I waved my arms frantically, wishing I had thought of starting a signal fire. Amazingly the vessel kept coming and I screamed for joy.

A group of sailors rowed to the island and a man who appeared to be their captain bowed in front of me. He said something in what sounded like French and I shook my head and said, "Ye speak English?"

"Pardon Mademoiselle, I am Captain Louis Cartier. Are you in need of assistance?" he asked with a graceful gesture.

"Aye… please help me! Jus' bring me to a port, any port!" I nearly begged. I recognized the sail as a French flag, and the captain was dressed in uniform so I assumed they were a navy ship. Maybe because I was a woman—and with the bodice on I didn't look much like a pirate—they didn't think I was a pirate, I shall never know. They never questioned me about it, and I assumed they thought I was just a poor shipwrecked woman.

So the French sailors brought me aboard the Belle and I sailed with them for near two weeks before they dropped me off in a small Port which ironically was called Port Charles. They had accommodated me with a fine green dress on board with which I was able to sell and buy some breeches, a shirt, some boots, a hat and a cutlass.

I surveyed the ships in the harbor and picked one out, determined to find a port where I could start my search. That night I snuck aboard a ship and waited for the next chapter of my life to begin.

I snuck off the ship when everything was quiet. As I journeyed up from the lower storage areas and somehow made it off the ship undetected. The port was loud and smelly immediately making me smile as I realized it was Tortuga.

Whores marked every corner; drunks were passed out on the streets. I took a deep breath and grinned idiotically. A man slapped my arse as I walked down the street and immediately got a punch in the eye. Others called out to me, some even came up to me and asked if I was interested in the night—needless to say these men wouldn't like the feel of their faces when they sobered up.

I walked in one of the taverns—the one my father had often gone… with some company many a time.

I surveyed the loud drunk pirates and found a table in a corner and sat down. A woman came over a few minutes later—older and for some reason I recognized her.

Yelling over the crowd she asked, "What ye want?"

The voice was unmistakable. She was my father's "best friend" in the ports and he had spent many a night with her. She wore way too much makeup, and her dress was a bright red, with an extremely low cut neck. There was something about her that set her aside from the other whores—there wasn't such crudeness in her.

"Maryann?" I asked.

She looked down at me and squinted a little. "Well if it ain't Cap'n Ridges 'lil girl. Where be the rascal?"

I clenched my fists as I readied myself for the words, "He be dead."

"What? What ye be saying, child?" she asked, real sorrow in her eyes.

"He was murdered by his first mate over a month ago. The whelp took over the ship," I explained with anger flooding though my body.

"Murdered? Samuel Ridges be dead?" she asked and sunk down into the empty chair next to me. "Jus' don' seem possible."

"Not for me either," I murmured.

"What happened to the ship?" she asked.

"The scallywag's got it."

She eyed me curiously and asked, "What'd you do 'bout it?"

I glared at her and tried not to yell, "I did nearly everything imaginable to save Pa. It be only a stroke of luck that I ain't dead on a godforsaken beach right now!"

I got up to leave but Maryann grabbed my arm and said, "I meant no disrespect, jus' I can't believe ol' Sam is really gone. Don' go."

"Me Pa is dead and I'll never see 'im again. I'd gladly give me own life if he could be here right now," I said through clenched teeth. I sat back down and buried my face in my hands. I could feel the hot tears run over my hands, but I did nothing to stop it though I knew pirates don't cry.

Maryann looked at me with a sad gaze and I could see a few tears escape her eyes. "Want somethin' to drink?" she asked, trying to regain her composure as the kohl around her eyes streamed down her face. She made no move to wipe it away and stood up. Without waiting for my answer she walked to the bar.

A few minutes later she arrived with a bottle and a mug and set it down in front of me. "Yer Pa's favorite. We—he always drank it when he came here."

I uncorked the bottle and the sweet scent of rum wafted towards me. It was some of the best rum there was, Pa always had a few bottles hidden away that he celebrated. He still rarely ever let me drink with him, usually only when he was drunk already.

I uncorked the bottle and held it in my hand for a minute. Without another thought I brought it up to my lips and drank.

I laughed again as I sat on a man's lap—I wasn't sure who and I didn't really care. Bottles of rum littered the table and I mumbled something as I drank some more and he picked me up.

"Want some fun luv?" he asked with what looked like a smile.

"'Course," I said and jumped down from his arms, pulling his arm to the desk where he got a key. We stumbled up the stairs and made it to the room. We kissed menacingly and sunk down in the bed.

I awoke with a sheet tangled around my bare body. I looked over at the other side of the bed which lay empty. On the bedside table six coins sat glittering in the sunlight. My eyes went wide and I leaped across the bed, grabbed the coins, and threw them out the empty window. Damn bastard! I was no whore!

I dressed quickly determined that I wouldn't let a man get the upper hand on me ever again.

I asked Maryann for a job—just selling the liquor nothing more.

"Ye certainly didna object last night," she said as I made the stipulation.

I glared at her and said, "That be for mutual pleasure… money wasn't a part of it."

She looked as if she didn't believe me but nodded and I started working at "The Bucket of Blood".