THE BARREL
Chapter One
Tortuga
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own PotC or Captain Jack Sparrow. :( Other characters you don't recognise though are most probably mine :P
Summary: Jack is spending a nice night in his favorite place on earth, Tortuga. He decides to buy a barrel of rum to ease the strain of being a pirate, when he realises that there's something mysterious in the barrel he's bought. Definitely NOT rum. Will whatever's inside the barrel change his life forever, or is the barrel simply a hoax and waste of time?
I suck at summaries, but don't judge my story on it:P This popped into my head a while ago, and now I've actually started it. It's very random. R&R if you wish. Constructive criticism is always welcome. :)
Enjoy!
The Tortuga bar seemed a little deserted for a Friday evening. There were only two or three pathetic drunken bums lying around here and there, so out of it that an explosion couldn't stir them. Every now and again one of them would let out a loud snort, or a subconscious swear.
But the number of people out in the streets made up for the lack of life inside. The usual fighting and screaming, staggering and tripping, betting and dealing, and of course that pitiful pleading that filled the air every night seemed to have exceeded its usual standards.
Jack Sparrow grinned and nodded to himself. It was a beautiful sight. What could be better than Tortuga on a night like this? His beloved Pearl anchored out in the harbor, his beloved crew either drunk on shore or on board, and his beloved self, sitting at the bar, eyeing the slightly curvy, averagely good-looking girl in front of him. He leaned across the dark mahogany table. "You got a name, lass?"
The dark haired girl turned to face him and nodded. "Yeah." she replied nonchalantly.
Jack stared at her. "I see." He paused. "And would ya like to enlighten me as to what it may be?"
She raised her eyebrow, studying him. "Siena."
Jack nodded knowingly. "Hmm. Siena." There was a short pause as he pretended this information was of great importance. "Can you show me the goods, love?" he said, motioning towards the cellar. He put five shillings on the table.
The barmaid looked absolutely horrified. She scowled and slapped him.
"OW! What the bloody 'ell was that for!" he exclaimed in annoyance, rubbing his cheek.
"You pervert!" she shrieked.
Jack looked confused. "Wha'?"
She glared at him with her dark brown eyes. "This is a bar! Not a brothel, you filthy pirate!"
Jack's eyes widened, realising what she meant. "I meant the rum! The barrels of RUM." He explained quickly. "The ones for me ship."
A confused expression showed on her face, then she gasped. "Oh! Oh, I'm SO sorry…I thought…" she went a bright shade of crimson. "Yes…back, um… back here." She stuttered, extremely embarrassed.
She lit a candle, and then led him down a dusty set of stairs into the dark cellar. It smelt of slightly rotting wood, different kinds of alcohol, sea water and dead fish. Jack wondered how on earth it had come to smell of fish unless it was used as a storage room of the sort.
"I'm so sorry by the way… I didn't know you meant the-" she started in a timid voice.
"That's alrigh' love, honest mistake." He replied, quite starting to like her idea.
They walked to the far end of the cellar, through rows of shelves lined with bottles.
"Sorry about the smell." She apologised. "My uncle Gilbert likes to spend his spare time down here."
Jack raised his eyebrows.
She noted his expression, and explained; "He likes fish."
Jack nodded. "Aah..." he replied, quite confused.
She gave him an embarrassed smile, and stopped in front of a wall with five barrels lined against it. "You can take whichever ones you want, Captain Sparrow." She told him.
Jack eyed the barrels. "Hmm." He walked past every barrel, examining it carefully. "Mmhmm." He said, frowning. He stopped at the last barrel and gave it a curious look. He tried to remove the barrelhead, but it didn't budge.
Siena glanced at him. "Something wrong?" she asked.
Jack stared at the barrel intently. He nudged it. "D'ya hear that?" he asked her.
She listened, and shook her head. "No."
Jack leaned in closer to the last barrel. Unless he was going crazy, which was undoubtedly highly possible, he could've sworn he heard something inside. Something other than rum. Jack knocked on the barrel, then kicked it.
Siena watched him with curiosity as he examined it. She seemed to think he was acting very strange, and took a step back.
Jack shook the barrel, and sure enough, something was heard moving inside. Something solid.
He put the barrel back, and paused. After a moments thought, he started talking. "We know yer in there, so yer might as well come out… an' don' think that hiding in a rum barrel will get ya anywhere other than trouble, savvy?"
Siena backed away a little further. Jack's odd behavior had started to scare her a little. After all, talking to rum barrels was surely a sign of insanity, and she wasn't too comfortable with the idea that she was alone in a dark cellar with an insane pirate.
Jack looked frustrated. The barrel hadn't made any other noise.
"Ah, Captain Sparrow? If you'd like to pick a barrel now, that'd, er… be nice." She said, hesitantly.
Jack looked up. "I'll take this one." He said, nodding towards the noisy barrel.
Siena nodded, and they dragged the barrel up the cellar stairs, back into the bright candlelit pub.
The three drunken bums were still lying about snoring, and the streets were still filled with yelling, swearing and gunshots. Jack smiled. He loved Tortuga.
………………………………………………………………….
After twenty agonising minutes of dragging the heavy barrel through crowds of screaming lunatics wanting to take it to bed with them, Jack managed to haul it onto the Black Pearl, and into his cabin.
He had decided that he wasn't in fact crazy just yet, and that he had indeed heard something inside the barrel.
He tried to remove the barrelhead by all means possible, but to no avail. He turned the tap from where the alcohol should normally escape, but none did. After careful consideration of what he should do, Jack settled on talking to whatever was inside the barrel, and maybe lulling it into a false sense of security before interrogating it thoroughly, and, after gathering all information possible, chucking it overboard for pretending it was rum. In Jack's professional opinion, it was a perfect plan, assuming of course that whatever was inside the barrel could in fact speak, and was, in fact, alive.
He sat on the bed, opposite the barrel. "Now, I won't hurt you, if you come out o' there an' tell me what you're doin'." He told the barrel in a very serious voice.
The barrel didn't reply.
"I'll give you one more chance before I smash this barrel o' yours, and well… I don' think you'd want that." He told it.
It still didn't reply.
Jack stood up. "Righ'. Fine. You asked for it." He said, walking out of the cabin.
After a few minutes, he came back with a large metal mallet from below deck, where repair tools were kept. He turned to the barrel. "Last chance."
Still no reply.
"Don't say I didn' warn ya."
He hit the barrel with all his might, and found that the mallet bounced right back, causing no damage to the container whatsoever.
He stared wide-eyed at the barrel, disbelief written all over his face. He'd expected it to break or even crack, spilling its contents onto the floor.
He started hammering again, but the mallet just kept bouncing back, as if it was hitting a very strong solid material.
Jack stared at the barrel. It was just like any other he'd seen, old, used, and full of rum. Except whatever was inside definitely wasn't rum, and Jack decided he was going to get to the bottom of it.
A/N: I'd love to hear what you all think of it! Reviews are what keep people writing:P
Thanks :D