The Curse of the Sparrows
Chapter 1- Beginnings
Summary- Why does Jack always have such a hard time of things? Simple- he is the next victim of the Sparrow family curse. But Jack does not take this lightly, and embarks on a lifelong quest to break it, thereby freeing him and all his descendants.
Note- This story will be told in a series of vignettes. They will be in chronological order, but they'll jump around a bit. (For example, chapter two will be set three months after chapter one, chapter three will be a year after chapter two, and so on.) Just making that clear. If you find the method confusing, please let me know.
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The Brigand's Haven was crowded, as usual. It was a bar, and very unpleasant, but this drew the scum of the town to it. Considering that the town in question was Tortuga, the scum of the town were really quite frightening. It was well known that most desperate women would rather turn to prostitution that accept a job there, and it was not uncommon for the owner, Tom Sparrow, to have to remove at least one dead body from the premises at closing time.
It was no place for a child, but this was exactly where Tom's son, Jack, had grown up.
You see, Jack's mother had been- forgive me for putting it so bluntly- a whore. His father was a criminal who was on the run from the authorities and had happened to spend a night with said whore. Unluckily for her, she became pregnant. Unluckily for him, as soon as the babe was born, she dumped him with Tom and proceeded to walk out of his life. Well, not so much walk, as run away as fast as humanly possible for a woman who has just given birth a few hours ago.
So here was Jack, the child that no one wanted. Tom was all for chucking him into the ocean and being rid of him- in fact, he nearly did. But as he stood at the end of the dock, holding the baby out over the water, Jack gripped his finger with one tiny hand.
Huh, thought Tom, the lad's got a strong grip. It was a strange, detached thought, but it caused him to re-think the situation. I could just keep him locked upstairs all the time until he's old enough, and then I'd have another pair of hands around the bar. It'd be free labor, too. Yeah, I think I will.
Tom Sparrow was not a good man. You have seen his thoughts, the chance for his own personal gain was the only reason he did not kill his son. Yet… perhaps he will grow fond of Jack. We will see.
At the age of five, Tom put Jack to work serving drinks. Since then, he had grown invaluable to his father in helping to run the bar. They were a decent team, Tom and Jack- but Tom's love for Jack did not extend beyond that of a business partner at this point in time, as Jack was soon to find out.
For the moment, however, let us return to our opening scene- the crowded tavern, filled with pirates, thieves, and the like. A now fifteen-year-old Jack Sparrow was serving drinks. He had no beads in his hair, no bandana, and no hat. He had no kohl around his eyes, and his skin was not yet tanned and roughened by years at sea. He was wearing a dirty shirt that at one point may have been white, and a pair of black pants that were much to big for him. The pants were rolled up at the ankle and held on at the waist with a belt. Stuck inside the belt was a cutlass his father had given him for protection when he deemed him old enough (at the age of seven).
Jack was rather skinny, a situation born of the fact that he rarely received three meals a day. When he did, one or more of the meals was likely to be something meager, like an apple or a few slices of bread.
Jack had now finished serving all the drinks on his tray, and had gone behind the bar to sit down. He had been sitting there for a minute, maybe two, when his father approached.
"Whatddaya think you're doin'?" he asked his son, yanking him out of the chair. It was not a question, but Jack attempted to answer it all the same.
"I need to sit down! I've been servin' drinks all day!" he protested. "An' I wouldn't mind some supper, either."
"Here." His father said, tossing his son an apple.
"This all?" he asked, disappointed. Though, it must be admitted, he had not expected much better.
"Sure is! Maybe if you work harder, you'll get more, eh?"
"Like anything I could do around this dump would earn me a decent meal." Jack muttered as he grabbed another tray of drinks to serve.
"Oy, Jack!" Jack's ears perked up instantly as he heard his name through the din. He turned to see a couple of pirates sitting at a table near the back of the room. Grinning, he made his way over.
"Charlie!" he exclaimed, sliding he and the man he was with a drink. "How ya doin'? Who's your friend?"
The reader may be interested to know at this point that Charlie is wearing a tri-corner hat. It is less worn and tattered, but it is unmistakably the same one Jack will wear later in his life.
Charlie was short, and a bit chubby. He had shaggy blonde hair and a short beard. Both were beginning to grey, but from Charlie's attitude, one would get the impression that he was unaware of this, which was delightfully refreshing. His friend would probably be reasonably tall at standing height. He was black, with hair worn so short he looked bald, and a curly beard. He wore a round pair of glasses close against his face.
"This is Jacob." Charlie said. "He's a fellow sailor on the Sweet Vengeance."
Jack whistled, impressed. "She as good of a ship as they say?" he asked eagerly.
"You bet." Jacob said, speaking for the first time.
"Aye." Charlie said. "Pull up a chair an' we'll tell you all about 'er."
Jack glanced toward the bar, only to see his father watching him. "Not now. Maybe once things slow down, savvy?"
"All right." Charlie said. "I'm gonna hold ya to it though."
"Later then." Jack said, setting off toward the bar. His eyes had lost the light they had when he was talking to his friend, and, if you had looked closely, you might have seen fear in Jack's eyes when he saw his father watching him.
"All right, Charlie." Jacob said. "I've met the kid. He the whole reason we're here? I mean, look at this place! There ain't even any cheap women about!"
"Jake," Jacob grimaced at the nickname. "You need to see it my way. I've known Jack for a while, he's a good kid, but his father's a monster. He's had him servin' drinks since he was five! Can you imagine that?"
"What's it to you? Face it, Charlie, there's nothin' you can do for the kid." Jacob always preferred to be realistic, and, honestly, he had to admit that Charlie was probably not cut out to be a pirate. He was too kind-hearted, really.
"Actually mate, I think there is."
"What then?"
"We're a few men short, right?"
Jacob thought he could guess where this was going. "Right." He said, doubtfully.
"I'm gonna ask Jack to come with us when we leave. I'll vouch for him before the capt'n, even, but he needs to get out of here!"
Jacob sighed, he'd guessed as much. "Charlie, we leave tomorrow morning. Even if you can convince the cap'n- which I doubt- do you think the kid'll actually come with us?"
"Jake," Charlie said seriously. "If you'd grown up in Tortuga, and with a father like that, wouldn't you want to run away?"
Jacob looked over at the bar. Jack was talking to his father. He couldn't hear what they were saying over the din of the crowded bar, but apparently the 'talk' had been an 'argument', because Tom suddenly cuffed his son on the side of his head and pushed him away to go serve some more customers. Jack rubbed the side of his head and, as he walked away, Jacob saw him wipe his eyes on his sleeve.
He had never been softhearted, but this did something to him. He turned back to Charlie.
"Aye." He said, trying to keep his voice steady. "You're right, mate. That kid needs to get away from 'ere."
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For the benefit of you, the reader, let us go back in time a bit and eavesdrop on Jack's conversation with his father.
"Jack!" Tom barked at him as soon as he left Charlie and Jacob's table. "Get over here!"
Jack hurried over as fast as the half-full tray of drinks he carried would let him. "What is it, dad?" he asked, setting his tray down on the bar.
"These few hours are our busiest." Tom told his son. "You can talk to your friends when things slow down."
"Dad, can't I just talk to them for a bit-"
He shouldn't have pushed his father so far. Tom's fist suddenly shot out and hit Jack on the side of his head.
Jack stumbled and would have fallen, but his outstretched hand caught the side of the bar in time. He squeezed his eyes shut to stop tears from falling.
"Now go do your job, or you'll get no meals for a week, ya hear?" With that, Tom shoved Jack away.
Picking up the tray with one hand from where he'd set it, Jack walked away, brushing the tears from his face with the other.
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In a few hours, most of the patrons of "The Brigand's Haven" had either left or passed out. Jack and his father would leave them slumped over their tables until closing time, then they would pick them up and throw them out the door.
But right now, in the early hours after midnight before Jack would be called away for the closing chores, he was free to do as he liked- as long as he stayed inside the pub.
Jack usually spent this time sitting behind the bar daydreaming. He would close his eyes and imagine what it would be like to be a pirate. To sail on the high seas, to be feared by all, to be rich with treasure- that would be the life.
Today, however, he did not daydream. As soon as the drunken old coot in the corner stopped ordering more rum (due to his loss of consciousness), Jack headed over to Charlie and Jacob, who had managed to stay reasonably sober.
"Jack," Charlie said when he'd sat down at their table. "We've got a proposition for ye."
"Lemme hear it." Jack replied.
"Sweet Vengeance is a bit short of crew members." Jacob said. "So, me an' Charlie were wondrin'- 'ow'd you like ta come with us when we leave port tomorrow mornin'?"
Jack hesitated. "Look," he said with a pained look. "I'd love to, really, but- I'm needed here."
"Jack, wake up!" Charlie exclaimed. "Your old man treats you horrid! You gotta get away from 'im, mate."
"No- I'll be fine!" Jack insisted.
"Look, Jack, Charlie's right." Jacob said. "Yer father- what's 'e to you?"
"He's my father! I care about 'im, as much as it may seem otherwise. Hell, I guess I might even love 'im."
"Aye, maybe so." Charlie said. "But do ya think the feelin's mutual?"
Jack was motionless for a second. "Of- of course it is.' He said with effort. "An' don' get me wrong, it's a nice proposition, an' I'm thankful to ye for makin' it- but I'll be fine here."
Jacob glanced at Charlie, as if to say- We can do no more.
Charlie replied with a look that said- But we have to try.
"Alright, Jack." Charlie said, standing. "If yer sure, we can't make you change yer mind- but think on it overnight, okay? If ya decide ya wanna come with us, meet us in front of Sweet Vengeance at seven tomorrow mornin', alright?"
"Alright." Jack said heavily. "But I can assure ye that I won't be seein' ya there."
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"Dad?" Jack asked as they put out the lights in the bar.
"What is it?" his father asked.
"Well-" he said. "I was wondrin' somthin'."
"What?"
"Do- d'ya luv me?"
"Love yeh? Jesus, Jack, are ya bloody insane? 'Course I don't. Ye're nice to 'ave 'round, but I reckon I could get along fine wi'out ye…"
Jack felt like the ground he was standing on had suddenly decided to drop down a bottomless chasm. The feeling was, in fact, very much akin to the one he would feel five years later, when Barbossa betrayed him.
"Oh." He said, feeling rather numb. "Yeah, tha's what I thought."
The next morning at dawn, Jack packed his belongings into a sack and quietly slipped out of the pub. By seven o clock he was at the docks, and by nine the pirate ship Sweet Vengeance was sailing out of Tortuga with a new crewmember.
As Charlie and Jacob explained to Jack how the ship was run, he turned for a brief moment to look back at the town he'd known all his life. Somehow, it gave him a sense of looking into the past. He looked toward the horizon. It appealed to him- it was a place that you could always see, but never reach. Like the future. And, for the first time in fifteen years, Jack Sparrow thought that his future just might be something worth living for.
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Well, there you have it- chapter one. Like it? Hate it? No particular opinion? Please review! I know it's long, I just wanted to introduce everybody to the characters, since they're almost all OC's…most chapters will be shorter.
