Chapter 6

Jack inside the Locker

White, whiteness was all he beheld waking up from what must have been the most bizarre dream he's ever experienced. Covering his face with his hands to block the bright light. Was this death? Was this heaven?

Jack lifted his body, aching from something that felt like he fell from the sky above and landed on the hard ground beneath him. Raising his chest from the ground he felt his bones cracking and a moan escaped his lips. His dry lips, as it felt like he had drunk an ocean, the sea salt taste on his tongue was making the hairs on his back stand up. Now trying to get up and see if there was any water around Jack lifted his full body from what seemed to be a hard surface, but it was sand that covered both his black boots when he had fully risen. His brown, almost black eyes were used to the bright light by now, and he could see clearly where he was. A desert?

It was hot, with not a single touch of wind. No soft breeze that could ease his burning dry eyes. But there was no sun, just blinding white light, a silence was covering the white desert, it was so quiet Jack could almost hear his blood run through his veins.

It was almost like he was hit on the head and had been unconscious for days, as if every memory of the last minutes before everything went black, was lost from his mind. He tried to recall, time and time again what made him end up here. It was when he noticed a large shadow covering the sand a few steps away, Jack looked up. It was the Black Pearl, his beloved ship. They both ended up in this strange and haunting place and moving up the ladder of the Pearl Jack tried to recall how he got here, again and again.

It was moments later after experiencing quite a few hallucinations Jack tried to empty his lungs. The Pearl was stuck, stuck inside the sand and after every desperate attempt to get his ship to move it seemed impossible, there was no wind, no water. Jack was laying down inside the sand, face up in front of the Pearl where he earlier had pulled and pulled on the robe to move his ship into the direction of what he hoped was an ocean if there was any around. Jack had given up.

It was only when he had found a rock and had thrown it away, just as this strange place couldn't get any weirder, Jack beheld the stone turning into a crab, a tiny crab that soon started to raise a whole army of crabs, carrying the Black Pearl along the empty desert into one single direction. Just standing there, not believing what he saw, just before setting in a pursuit of following his ship, Jack suddenly heard something. Something, or.. someone, was calling for him?

It was another one of these hallucinations, wasn't it? A woman's voice calling for him, probably luring him away from his beloved Pearl. But Jack couldn't ignore the gut feeling that tried to pull him back. This voice.. it sounded so familiar. He had searched, his eyes moving around the empty landscape of endless sand, there had been no one, no one that he'd be leaving behind once he'd turn and run for his ship before it was too late. So he run, without looking back..

Minutes earlier, Kate inside the Locker

It was like most moments, when it was light Kate felt the need to explore, for what must have been the hundredth time, the endless madness of the white deserts. Her bare feet carried her into a direction she felt like she hadn't gone to before, guiding herself to another unknown location. It wasn't like she was carrying a compass around so she could check whether she'd been in this direction before, so she just had to deal with the fact it was always a wild guess.

A compass.. Kate did not know why but she was quite alright with the fact she did not have one. She could not recall why, but something about this object gave her spine a cold shiver.

It had been quite some time since something had happened. It took her a lot of days and nights before she was brave enough to leave the lighthouse again, after her strange and terrifying encounter with the dead singing people. But there was a curiosity dwelling within that made her to get exploring the outside again. Still this voice, inside her head, that was telling her this wasn't her end, there was more, and she needed to find out why.

Kate hummed on the rhythm of her footsteps minutes later, the feeling of the sand on her bare feet made her calm from all the weirdness of the Locker. Suddenly she came to a halt as her eyes spotted something inside their corners. It was something small that moved quickly. Kate noticed herself holding her breath as she tried to come closer to the small object that seemed to have moved only seconds ago. Bending down slowly her fingers curled around a large stone, too big to fit into the palm of her hand Kate held it with two hands now, not wanting to let it slip. It was a perfectly oval round-shaped light grey stone and for a moment Kate felt like her sanity was playing tricks with her again.

'It's just a stone..' Kate whispered to herself and moved the object back into the sand again, shrugging her shoulders trying to make sense of herself. But suddenly, just after turning her sight away from the stone, it started to move again. Small, tiny eyes, legs and something that looked like claws appeared from out of nowhere, and before she knew it the stone had turned into a crab and started running fast. Kate shrieked but something inside her made her feet move quickly behind the tiny creature now running for its life.

It wasn't as if she needed food in the Locker, things went different here, but like the human instinct was making her case the little creature Kate's bare feet made her run faster. When she felt the muscles in her legs after running across the desert for minutes, she suddenly heard an 'oof' sound come from her throat as all the last air still left was pressed from her lungs and her chest came down into the sand of the endless white desert. The little creature made its way for an escape still running quickly.

It seemed, from where Kate was still, stomach down into the sand, the crab almost reached its destination. It was only when the crab almost vanished behind the horizon Kate crawled up quickly, trying to continue her pursuit she saw something that made her stop abruptly. It was a whole herd of little creatures making their way in a certain direction. Walking now instead of running, while out of breath, Kate reached over the mountain of sand and saw what the little crab, and now a whole bunch of them, were making their way for. Kate felt like she was nailed to the ground as every last bit of air escaped her lungs, but not from the running. There was a ship, a large vessel, just sitting there in the middle of the large sea of sand, not moving, no wind to touch the sails, and of course, no ocean, as Kate had longed for more than a thousand times to feel the touch of the ocean again on her bare skin. The ship was just as lost as she was, sitting there with probably the same desperate desire for water. Kate raised the hem of her dress strolling into the direction she was earlier running to, to see the shape of the ship better. She did not expect to recognize anything she knew, but something was telling her to get closer. The pupils of her eyes grew bigger as the large ship, looking so small from the great distance she was standing, suddenly shaped into something she recognized, and her weak legs moved Kate down onto her knees with a soft pound.

'The Wicked Wench..' Kate breathed out as her heart made a jump. Her hands moved before her dry mouth. This was impossible. There it was, Jack's ship in the middle of a desert with nowhere to go. Kate tried to see better from afar, squeezing her eyes to get a better look as she rose from the ground after the shock.

'Why.. is she black..?' Kate recognized the ship she knew, but something was off, all the color of what she knew to be the Wench had disappeared. Almost like it had caught on fire, but.. survived.

Suddenly there was movement, the herd of crabs had moved into the direction of the Wench and Kate beheld them moving toward the hull of the ship. Kate had to rub her eyes to see clearly, but the Wench was lifted and started moving. Still strolling closer Kate watched the lifeless sails not move an inch, it was impossible, the ship started to depart from her place in the sand without the slightest breeze of wind.

As the hull moved further and further along, Kate too tried to get closer, but she couldn't reach the ship before it'd be gone, and something was telling her she needed to get on the ship, no matter the cost.

Walking faster and faster, still recovering from her sprint before, Kate saw a small shadow appear from behind the ship. On the other side of the Wicked's hull, there was a person, just standing there, probably just as shocked about the sight as Kate had been some seconds ago. Kate for a moment was cautious of the fact it might be a dead person again, like the signing people before, and for a moment she wondered whether to let it go, the ship, this strange hallucination the Locker made her see. Kate tried to look closer, standing there in peace of the decision she just made, to let it go, but still pinching her eyes she suddenly recognized the shape of the figures body, clothes, and hat. All the air still inside her lungs was pushed out as she beheld the form of none other than Jack Sparrow, standing there watching his ship move along the sea of crabs. Kate cried out a sound she'd never expect to come from her lips and all she could do was run, run with every fiber of her being.

'Jack' Kate's weak voice was nothing compared to the great distance still between her, Jack, and the Wench. So she tried again.

'Jack!' a little louder, but still not enough.

'JACK!' her voice now howled across the empty endless sands of the desert. Her feet carrying her quicker than ever before into the direction of Jack still standing there, watching the Wench move quicker and quicker. Kate screamed and screamed for him, but he did not seem to hear. Like everything went by slower than normal Kate felt her legs give in, but she did not dare to give up. It was suddenly she saw the figure, she was sure of it was Jack, suddenly started running as well, and her heart made another jump.

Then it came to her, Kate beheld Jack not running into her direction, he did not hear her desperate screams, he was not coming for her as her eyes beheld him running behind the Wench instead. Just like her, he was trying to reach the ship and sail away to wherever the ship was going. Kate started running even faster, stumbling now, almost falling again and again but getting up every time continuing her pursuit. Till suddenly she came full-on crushing down against something that felt like an invisible wall, a glass window that separated her from Jack and the Wench. Kate was knocking, hitting and slamming the window, trying to break through and trying to get to Jack. In desperate attempts she fell to her knees, her fists still knocking against the glass. Kate felt the skin of her hand's tingle, opening her fists her hands now pressed against the invisible wall to keep her torso up. Empty eyes, damp by the tears coming, her heart died a little in that moment of realization that Jack wasn't hearing her. She was chasing a ghost, it was impossible for her to get to him, that was clear now. Tears were rolling down her face as the pain entered her chest, trying to control her breathing Kate suddenly felt a fear she'd had before, the fear of being locked up, the trauma she had suffered years and years ago that had scarred her for life. Kate couldn't breathe, the air was gone from her lungs and she recognized her panic attack as she felt like almost losing her consciousness. But suddenly images of Cutler started to enter her mind, frame by frame, how he'd comfort her in moments like these. His warm embrace, strong arms surrounding her, and hugging her tight. Until every memory of pain, every piece of fear of the darkness, every lost thought had vanished and was replaced by his heartbeat that carried her into safety. Kate still leaning against the glass window, arms hugging her legs, her head moved down onto the top of her knees, tears running down her face, she closed her eyes and all was gone. She was back, back at the lighthouse that kept her a prisoner, locked inside her own mind dwelling endlessly inside the Locker, the deep eternal sleep, the compass' curse that made it impossible for her to escape from here on her own. Just like earlier, she had felt it, the compass's presence. If it was true and Jack had been inside the Locker, the compass must have been as well, and it had reminded her, it gave her back the memory of why she disliked the idea of a compass. It was that very object, that had started it all..

Aboard the Endeavour

Cutler had it all under his control, the heart, more and more pirate ships being destroyed every day by the bidding of Davy Jones, using him as his pawn in a game of revenge on the world, his control on the Brethren Court to meet for the first time in centuries, and now the shining silver coin twisting inside his fingers made his collection almost complete. Cutler twisted and turned that coin, one of the nine pieces of eight he had managed to get his hands on, it almost made him calm, sitting behind his desk late at night inside his office on the Endeavor, trying to empty his mind after everything that had happened these last days, Jack Sparrow being pulled down with the Black Pearl by the Kraken, sending him to the Locker. Jack was dead, finally. But still, after Cutler got almost everything he desired, there was this hole, this black bottomless hole inside his heart that couldn't be filled with revenge. Cutler soon came to realize she had been right, Kate had been right all along, as she had told him time and time again 'revenge won't take the pain away'.

Still, this burning feeling that traveled over the edge of his skin, through his veins and always occupying his mind, revenge was the only way, and Cutler couldn't imagine living his life differently, without her here to take away the pain, her love being the only medicine against the toxic poison that was flowing through his veins.

'He is alive, Sir' Mercer's voice whispered within the darkness of the night that covered Cutler's office, only seconds before Mercer had entered the room with a confused expression on his face.

'Sparrow is back' Mercer continued as he beheld the same confusion on his master's face. Cutler swallowed. Jack was alive, back from the Locker, how on earth was it possible for a mortal human to enter the living world again? But Cutler reminded himself that in this time, nothing surprised him any longer.

'Bring him to me' Cutler moved the words from his lips with a sigh. Mercer moved his head down accepting his command and left the room in silence. Cutler needed to see into the eyes of the man that once again seemed to escape his fate, dodging death itself time and time again. But he was nothing more than a pawn to Cutler's revenge.