-1The most wretched luck can come in the smallest packages. I loved a girl once, never was there a woman finer, braver, or more beautiful. I remember that fateful, gray day that I found the bottle, bobbing about in the surf. I'd fancied it a bit of destiny when the bottle washed up to rest at my feet. I remember picking it up, enjoying the weight, turning the dark glass about in my hands. Once, it held rum, pirate rum no less. But then it held a note, a declaration of love, a curse upon me. The ink was blotchy, the handwriting atrocious. But still, I'd managed to make out the jumble of words:
I'm no good love, I can't think straight. So I'm going to scream all my sorrows into this bottle here, and throw it out to sea. I don't blame you, life's like that you know. Life for me has always been like the ocean, love, coming in waves of highs and lows. But until you came along, I never felt even the urge to seek the shore. But how could things have been different? Could I possibly expect a lady like you to leave a respectable young lad like Will for a rotten pirate like me? Sailing the high seas together, with nothing to care for but rum and treasure and waking up with your warm body beside me? I'd be a liar to say it didn't sound like heaven, love, but heaven's far from the reach of a sea dog like me. I know in my head that we could never be, no matter how much I like to think about the possibilities. So for now my mornings are cold, but my days are free, except for those little thoughts about my pirate swan that creep in every once in a while. I suppose curiosity wasn't enough to catch you after all. I hope you're having a good little life with Mr. Will Turner, he may be a eunuch but he'll at least take care of you proper like. I hope you have oodles of babies and so much happiness it's bursting out the cracks of the windows and doors of your cozy little cottage. Well, I am a pirate, so forgive me for telling lies. Bugger to Will, I really wish you were here with me. Can't you just feel the sea spray, cool and salty on your face as we cut through the deep blue on the Pearl? Can you imagine me next to you, my kisses on your neck and my promises in your ear to never let you go? I keep a treasure chest in my head love, I've filled it with little things of you and me, like the time we was stranded on that little island, dancing and singing songs and swilling rum. I should have kissed you then, love, I should have run my fingers through that long golden hair of yours. Even if I couldn't tell you how you pulled at my heartstrings, I could have showed you. It's a cruel thing to do to a man, love, but neither of us could help ourselves, could we? You were just you, irresistible, and I'm just me ol' self, reaching for treasures I lust for but can't have. You're just as untamable as the sea, love, and that's why you're the only woman for me. And that's why I'll die a man alone.
JS
Foolish man that I am, I showed that note to my love, in a fit of jealousy. Did she love the pirate? Did she love him more than me? No, never, she defended herself. Never. Satiated, I'd retreated. But how could I be surprised, when upon the coming of the next sunrise, I found the place in bed beside me empty? She left no note, but I knew in my heart exactly how I'd lost her. She was a free spirit, the Elizabeth. How could I have ever believed she could be happy with a blacksmith like me, when a sparrow offered her the freedom of the sea?