4. The Reasons
Once we finished cleaning the store, Elizabeth and I dragged Jack and Will outside and onto the desolate street.
"Jack! Come on! I'm the one who's afraid of spiders! Get over it!" I snap at him.
"But luv, it was so big and hairy!" Jack cringes at the thought.
"Yes, I know. I was the first to see it," I remind him. "But come on—we have to get back to my house so we can play that piano and get the hell out of here!"
"She's right, Jack. Let's get going," Will says, rubbing his head drowsily from the scare.
We snuck back to my house and climbed up the balcony once more. Once in my room, I shut and locked the door and the doors to the balcony. We all looked around at each other nervously and then at the piano.
"Who wants to go first?" I ask, glancing at Elizabeth and Will, and then at Jack, who was anxiously sitting on my bed.
"We can," Elizabeth says. "Would you like me to take the lyrics or would you prefer to hold on to them?"
"I think you should hold on to them for now…just in case when Jack and I get back Norrington and his men are looking for Jack and me,"
"Good plan," Will says, as I hand his wife the piece of paper.
"Wait!" I quickly rummage through a few things in my bathroom and finally pull out a little plastic bag that zips shut. I carefully put the music in the bag and zipped it shut.
"In case we are around water," I smile and hand the bag with the lyrics over to Elizabeth.
"Good thinkin', pet," Jack winks, "now let's do this before I lose my bloody mind!"
Elizabeth and Will sat down at the piano and they both took a deep breath.
"We'll see you there," she said finally as we temporarily hugged good-bye. I joined Jack on my bed and watched as Elizabeth began playing the song. She played faster and faster, wishing inside her head to get back home. She kept playing and playing, wishing and hoping, her delicate hands flew madly over the keys. I glanced over at the clock by my bed and noticed that she had been playing for nearly 20 minutes. Something wasn't right. She and Will should have been gone by now. Jack and I exchanged a worried glance, as we both realized that something wasn't working. Maybe it would be impossible for us to get back.
Finally Elizabeth stopped playing and frantically turned around. Tears were rolling down her face.
"It's not working! How are we ever going to get back!" She shrieked in a panic.
"It's fine! I'm sure we'll find a way. Let me and Jack try," I urged, trying to calm her down, as well as Jack's and my nerves. Will and Elizabeth rose from the piano bench and sat on my bed, while Jack and I took our seats at the piano. I glanced over at him nervously, but his warm rough hand on mine calmed my nerves. I took a deep breath and began playing. I played faster and faster, just as Elizabeth had, and just as I had the first time I played late that night in this very room. I closed my eyes and let my hands glide over the keys while I wished hard to be somewhere else—to be where Jack came from. I wished hard in my head that I could get away from the present and be back where life made most sense to me—back on the Black Pearl—back in Port Royal—312 years ago from the life I knew.
I kept wishing and playing and finally I opened my eyes. Jack was beside me. I looked behind me and Will and Elizabeth were still sitting on my bed. We were still in the present day. I frantically stood up from the piano.
"What are we going to do?" I exclaim in a rush of panic. "This is horrible! We're never gonna get back!"
"Shh, luv. We'll get back—everything will be fine," Jack comforts me and holds me in his arms. Will held onto Elizabeth, who was now in a state of hysterics. We were helpless and we knew it.
Or so we thought.
Once we regained our senses, all four of us congregated on my bed and sat in a circle and discussed the situation.
"Okay, what are we doing differently?" Elizabeth asks the first question. I write down a "number 1" on a piece of paper.
"Well when Elizabeth and I left Port Royal to get Jack and you, it was just the two of us," Will says thoughtfully.
"Okay, that makes sense, because when I first came, I played in here and I was alone," I reply, writing down this first difference.
"Yeah, and when we left we were alone in that store, luv," Jack chimes in.
"Okay, so first difference—we have to be alone or with one other person," I read from the paper. "Anything else?"
"Well, we were being chased by soldiers, luv," Jack remembers.
"But that doesn't matter I don't think," Elizabeth says, "because Will and I weren't being chased by soldiers when we left,"
"Yeah, and I wasn't being chased by anything when I left here," I say quietly, thinking about how this could make a connection to how we can leave.
"Well maybe the soldiers made you guys leave in an act of desperation," Will says.
"How do you mean?" I ask quickly, thinking he's on to something.
"Well, when you guys played at the piano, soldiers were chasing after you both and in an act of desperation you had decided to play and while you played it was a desperate attempt to escape from the possibility of hanging and possible death—" Will says.
"A desperate attempt at freedom," I say quickly. "What about you and Elizabeth?" I ask eagerly.
"Well we left in desperation to find you and Jack," Elizabeth says, "and in case you forgot, Will, Norrington was after us. It may not have been an army of soldiers after Jack and his rescuer, but my Norrington and Gillette both were after us,"
"Were they really?" Will asks, trying to remember the situation.
"Yes, don't you remember that night? It was the night after Jack's execution—they had already left, and I brought you to Lindsey's store,"
"Yes, I do remember!" Will exclaims, " and on our way there Norrington stopped us and asked where we were going,"
"And you told him 'to Lindsey's store'," Elizabeth continues.
"Norrington's not a stupid man," Will explains, "he knew we were on yours and Jack's side and meant to stop us, but we ran to your store,"
"and I played the song, wishing that we could find you both and that you were both safe and that Norrington wouldn't catch us," Elizabeth explains even more. She turned to Will. "I remember hearing him chasing after us and calling out for Gillette,"
"I do too," he replies softly. "So it was in an act of desperation,"
"Okay," I say as I write down 'number 2' on the paper.
"What about you, luv?" Jack asks curiously.
"Oh, when I came to your world it was definitely out of an act of desperation," I reply with a smile remembering that night where I sat and feverishly played the piano. I suddenly sat up straight, struck with an idea of how to get back.
"Okay, tonight we're going to get back. Will and Elizabeth, you both are going to stay here and play this piano. Jack and I are going to go down to the store and play that one. We'll be with one other person…"
"But it seems we need to be in an act of desperation," Jack jumps in.
"Shit, you're right. But the fact we need to get back is desperate!" I exclaim. "Ugh, you're right. How are we gonna make an act of true desperation?"
We all sat back and though long and hard. A true act of desperation is never made up—it happens sporadically at an essential moment in time. How does one create that?