5. Flashes

"Well let's see what we can do with what we have, then," I say, as we all sit around, still trying to figure out how to get back to the 17th century.

"Hey, there's some guy standing outside yer front door selling coconuts," Jack says as he comes back into the room from the kitchen downstairs. I look up at him curiously.

"What did he look like?" I ask, suddenly feeling nervous.

"I don't know, poppet. Just some man," he says, sitting on the bed.

"Just one man?" I ask, getting off the bed and walking out into the hallway.

"I think so…"

Suddenly there was a banging on the front door.

"Jack! That's no coconut seller! That's a robber!" I exclaim frantically running into the room and locking my door.

"How can ye tell?" Jack asks, getting off the bed and going to the door and opening it. He sees a group of men punching in the glass and knocking down the door.

"That's how!" I exclaim. "Oh shit, how the fuck are we gonna get this done!" I shriek.

"I have an idea!" Will exclaims. Suddenly there is shouting from the first floor level: "we know you have our song! That's our song and you bettah be givin' it back!"

"FUCK! They're looking for the song!" I shriek quietly. I look at the clock and it's pretty late, around 9:30 at night.

"Will and Elizabeth, I want you both to run as fast as you can to the store. It should be closed right now. Just break in and start playing that piano! We have to get outta here!" No more words were said as I rushed them outside to the balcony. They scurried down and ran off as fast as I'd ever seen people run.

"Jack, let's do this," I say, my hands shaking as I sit at the piano bench. I look over at Jack and almost break into tears. "What if they die on their way to the store! What if it doesn't work!"

"Shh, luv, everything will work out. It always does," he winks at me and kisses me on the cheek. "Now play that song!" I took a deep breath and begin playing. As I played, I heard foot steps walking up the stairs down the hall. My heart skipped a beat knowing that they were coming for this very room. It was as if they knew what they wanted lay behind this closed door.

"We know you 'ave our song! We want it back!" They called throughout the house.

I played faster as tears began rolling down my face once again. I felt as though I were re-living that first night that brought me to Jack's world. All of those memories flashed in front of my eyes as they closed tightly while I played. "Please let us get out of this house. Please let Jack and I be safe. Let us be free back in his world. Please…" I thought over and over again. I saw myself playing piano that night—the tears rolling down my cheeks as I had wished to be free from my own world. I saw myself in the store, playing piano for those snooty ladies and writing out by hand their music requests. I saw Jack. I saw myself throwing a coconut at his head and him passing out. I saw myself taking care of him as I continued to wish. I saw us searching for his bead, and the spiders and running from Norrington. I saw flashes of us on the Pearl sailing. I saw us in bed together that night—the night I gave myself up to him. I saw us in Tortuga and with that other woman. I saw myself betray him to Norrington and Gillette and then I saw Jack at the gallows…

"Jack! Jack! JACK! You can't die!" Salt water filled my mouth as my body turned over. My eyes flew open and saw that I was treading water in the ocean. "Jack!" I scream. Suddenly, there is a splashing and Jack breaks through the water, gasping for air.

"Jack!" I exclaim and grab on to him.

"Pet! What happened! There was this flash and…" Jack exclaims back at me. He spit water from his mouth and began treading water.

"I…I don't know! I was playing and all these memories from when we were last in Port Royal came to me…JACK! You're you again!" I exclaim suddenly, seeing him in the moonlight.

Jack touches his head and his face and feels his long hair and beads.

"Pet! We're back!" He exclaims excitedly and tries to hug me while treading. We both laugh. I begin looking around and noticed we were not far from shore.

"Let's swim," I say, pointing to the lights from the shore.

We swam for what felt like a longer time than we expected, but finally we made it to shore. Exhausted and in entirely different clothing from when we left, we dragged ourselves out of the water. The surrounding town appeared familiar—Port Royal. We exchanged glances both filled with relief and angst, for neither of us knew what was to come—if Norrington was after us still or if Will and Elizabeth had made it back safely or not. Drenched, we walked quietly through the streets. All was silent in Port Royal, and all was dark, except for lone candles burning in the windows of residents.

As we continued on, we suddenly heard running from behind us.

"Luv! This way!" Jack exclaims as he looks behind us and sees a couple of shadowy figured running towards us. He grabbed my arm and we began running.

"STOP!" A voice from behind us shouted. They sounded to have gotten much closer. Jack suddenly took a turn down a darker alley way. We waited there to see the mystery runners run past.

"Where did they go!" One of the voices asked the other as they paused right in front of the alley where Jack and I hid. We were up against the wall, trying ever-so hard not to even breathe so to not be noticed.

"I think we lost them!" The second voice sounded. I turned to Jack.

"We know that voice!" I exclaim suddenly. "Elizabeth!" I shriek, coming out from the darkness of the alley and into the main street. Suddenly I felt Jack's grip on my wrists pulling me back into the alley. I saw why: Gillette and Norrington stood before me in the middle of the street.

"There they are! Get them!" Norrington exclaims.

"Good job, pet!" Jack rolled his eyes at me as we began running away once again. We ran all over the town, going down dark alleys until we made our way to the other side of the harbor. Out of breath, we finally sat down on a dock where a ship blocked us from view.

"Good job back there, pet. Thinkin' ole Gillette was Elizabeth!"

"Shut up Jack! I must have some water in my ears or something—cus I could have sworn it was her!"

"Suuuure!" Jack coaxes. I smack him playfully on the head as we both laugh at my mistake.

"Shhh," I hush him suddenly as I peer out to sea from the end of the dock.

"What is it, luv?" He asks as he joins me.

"I think I hear people out there!" I turn back to him and point in the direction I hear the noises.

"I hear it too!" Jack says. He puts his hand over my mouth to quiet me down. He didn't want me making another mistake like before. I ripped his hand from my mouth.

"I'm not going to call out to them this time!" I shrieked quietly.

"Just makin' sure," he winks at me and tries to get a better view of the people in the water.

"Pet! I think it's Will and Elizabeth!" Jack exclaims quietly to me.

"How can you tell?" I ask, squinting to see the people in the water.

"Listen carefully—you can kind of make out they're saying," Jack says softly.

We listen and as we listen, we notice that they are getting closer to the dock. It no longer becomes a strain to hear them, only see them.

"Jack! It is them!" I exclaim. "We have to save them!"

"Pet, calm down—"

Before he even finished his sentence I had jumped in the water and begun swimming out to them.

"Luv!"

"Elizabeth!" I call out as I swim closer.

"Lindsey!" She screams back. I finally get out to where they are treading water. We embraced.

"Where's Jack?" She asks, out of breath.

"On the dock," I reply, pointing towards it. The three of us swim for a bit and finally reach the dock, where Jack pulled us up. Once on the dock, we all embraced, thankful we made it back safely.

While we let them catch their breath, Jack and I told them our story of how we got back and how we ran into Norrington and Gillette and how we ended up on the dock.

"What happened to you guy?"

"Well, there was this flash…" Elizabeth began.