I choked out water, my vision slowly coming back to me. My head still throbbed, but I was alive. How? I thought, I was drowning… dying.
"Rosabelle! You're alright." I saw Elizabeth bending over me. She was soaking and was only in her underdress. Then I remembered what had happened. We were alone on a deserted beach, without food or water.
"I'm fine…" I groaned.
"Oh, I was so worried about you, I thought maybe you were… were… dead." Elizabeth wept.
"It's okay, sis. Everything is okay." I reassured her, although I didn't believe it myself.
"I was so scared when I saw Jack carrying you out of the water." My sister said. Wait, what? Jack Sparrow did what?
"What do you mean, 'you saw Jack carrying me out of the water?'" I asked.
"Jack, he had to walk the plank as well. Then he said he saw you drowning in the water. He swam with you back to shore. I thought he was too late." Elizabeth answered, croaking out the last words. Jack rescued me? Again? What was it with me getting rescued by a pirate? Questions flooded my mind.
"Where's Jack now?"
"He's gone to collect firewood." Then Elizabeth added. "He'll be back soon."
I hung around the soft sandy shores, dipping my feet in the shallows. It had been almost an hour since I'd woken up, you would of thought I was bored just sitting by myself (as Elizabeth had gone off to look for Jack.) But I wasn't, my life had been so chaotic and difficult these last few days and I felt glad to have a moment of peace to relax, staring out into the never-ending ocean. But my silence didn't last long.
"Sis, we've got the wood and I found Jack!" I turned to see Elizabeth and Jack coming towards me each carrying a large pile of wood. They dumped the piles of wood on the sand as I stood up and walked to them. I watched Jack as he stepped in big equal strides and knocked on a palm tree then jumped on a particular spot. Elizabeth and I followed him.
"Jack, how are we going to get off this island?" Elizabeth asked.
"You're guess is as good as mine, love." Jack replied, uninterested.
"But you were marooned on this island before, weren't you? So we can escape in the same way you did then." Elizabeth answered not giving up.
"To what point and purpose, young missy?" Jack said, roughly. "The Black Pearl is gone and unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice ― unlikely ― young Mr. Turner will be dead long before you can reach him." How could he? I thought Will, gave up his life to save us and you're just going to leave him to die?
"But you're Captain Jack Sparrow!" I went on, "You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of The East India Company. You sacked Nassau Port without even firing a shot. Are you the pirate I've read about or not? How did you escape last time?" Elizabeth nodded at me in agreement.
"Last time… I was here a ground total of three nights, all right? Last time…" Jack opened a secret cellar door. " … The rumrunners used this island as a cache. Came by, and I was able to barter a passage off. From the looks of things, they've long been out of business. Probably… have your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that." He climbed into the cellar and came out with three bottles of rum.
"So that's it then?" Elizabeth said with disbelief, "that's the secret grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow. You spent three days lying on a beach drinking rum?!" Jack just shrugged.
"Welcome to the Caribbean, love's." As he walked passed he handed both of us a bottle. What was he thinking? That we'd just forget about Will and stay here drinking rum?
"Come back here right this second, Sparrow!" I yelled, about to storm after him when Elizabeth pulled me back.
"Don't worry, Rosabelle." She whispered, "I have a plan."
"We're devils and black sheep and really bad eggs. Drink up me 'earties yo ho! Yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me." We all sang, dancing around the blazing fire. The night was dark lit only by the fiery flames and the countless stars in the cloudless sky. We linked arms and twirled around once again.
"I love this song! Really bad eggs. Ooh." Jack said, drunkenly as he fell over. He pulled Elizabeth and I down next to him. "When I get the Pearl back, I'm gonna teach it to the whole crew, and we'll sing it all the time!"
"And you'll be positively the most fearsome pirate in the Spanish Main." Elizabeth encouraged, really getting into her act.
"Not just the Spanish Main, love. The entire ocean. The entire wo'ld. Wherever we want to go, we'll go." Jack explained, "That's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails that's what a ship needs but what a ship is… what the Black Pearl really is… is freedom." My heart began to thump faster. I knew Jack was just a drunk pirate at the moment but what he just said reminded me of the rebellious and free feeling I felt when I was aboard the Pearl. It's true, I thought everything that Jack said, a ship is freedom, is adventure and makes you feel alive. It's one thing to live and another thing to be alive, to feel excitement and thrill.
"Jack… it must be really terrible for you to be trapped on this island." I pretended.
"Oh, yes." Jack replied. I felt him put his arm around my shoulder and tried to hide my disgust.
"Mr. Sparrow… I'm not entirely sure I've had enough rum to allow that kind of talk." I exclaimed, moving away from his arm.
"I know exactly what you mean, love." Jack curled his mustache.
"To freedom." I toasted and held up my bottle of rum.
"To the Black Pearl." I pressed my lips to the foul-smelling bottle but didn't actually drink but watched as Jack gulped down the whole bottle's contents until he lost consciousness. I smirked and glanced at my sister who smiled back at me. It was time to get to work.
Smoke blurred the surroundings and tumbled through the hazy air. It was a tropical day and there were a few wispy clouds crawling through the azure sky.
"Duck!" Elizabeth cried as their was another explosion near me. I ducked just in time as the flames burst and grow higher. I chucked a barrel onto the pile and dodged the next explosion; I wiped the sweat and ash off my forehead threw some more bottles of rum into the fire.
"No! Not good! Stop! Not good! What are you doing? You burned all the food, the shade! The rum!" Jack cried, running towards my sister and I.
"Yes, the rum is gone." Elizabeth replied, walking up to him.
"Why is the rum gone?" Jack asked, stubbornly
"One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels." Elizabeth stated. "Two, that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire royal navy is out looking for us, do you really think that there is even the slightest chance that they won't see it?"
"But why is the rum gone?" Jack said, acting like a child who had lost his favourite toy.
"Jack," I said, walking up to him. "Did you want to get off this island or not? Well, if you did it's worth losing few bottle of rum for!" I sat down on the beachfront and stared into the horizon.
"Just wait, Captain Sparrow. You give it one hour, maybe two, keep a weather eye out and then you will see white sails on that horizon." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jack take out his one-shotted pistol and point it at me. I really didn't care and I knew he wouldn't shoot. Sure enough, Jack stuffed the pistol back into his belt and stormed off down the beach in a huff. Not even a half hour later I spotted the Dauntless sailing to our island.
"But we've got to save Will." Elizabeth begged. We had been picked up from the island and brought to the Dauntless, Jack cursing under his breath the whole way.
"No. You're safe now. We will return to Port Royal immediately, not go gallivanting after pirates!" My father replied.
"Then we condemn him to death." I pointed out.
"The boy's fate is regrettable, but, then, so was his decision to engage in Piracy." My father responded. How could they do this?! Will saved our lives! I wasn't just going to leave him to die. I mean, I engaged in Piracy as well but they came to rescue me, anyway!
"Will and Rosabelle, only engaged in Piracy to rescue me! To prevent anything from happening to me." Elizabeth argued.
"If I may be so bold as to inject my professional opinion." Jack started. "The Pearl was listing near to scuppers after the battle. It's very unlikely she'll be able to make good time. Think about it. The Black Pearl. The last real pirate threat in the Caribbean, mate. How can you pass that up?"
"By remembering that I serve others, Mr. Sparrow, not only myself." Commodore Norrington said. I couldn't stand this anymore! Everyone except for Elizabeth and I, of course, were acting like it was okay to leave someone behind. He helped rescue my sister, he saved both our lives more than once and we were just going to leave him while we returned to Port Royal and pretended everything was alright! I glanced over at my sister who looked as if she was going to burst out into tears. My sister loves Will. And he's my best friend. I'm not going to leave him to die. I can't.
"Commodore, I beg you, please do this. For me… " I croaked, my throat had gone dry, and my eyes watery. "As a wedding gift." Everyone stared at me in surprise especially the Commodore.
"Rosabelle. Are you accepting the Commodore's proposal?" My father said. I gulped, Will almost gave away his life for me, the least I could do was give away my heart.
"I am."
"A wedding! I love weddings… drinks all around!" Jack interrupted then held out his hands. "'Clap him in irons,' right?" Norrington looked from me to Jack.
"Mr. Sparrow, you will accompany these fine men to the helm and provide us with the bearing to Isle de Muerta." He stated. "You will then spend the rest of the voyage contemplating all possible meanings of the phrase 'silent as the grave.' Do I make myself clear?"
"Inescapably clear." Jack answered.
"Now, Rosabelle, Elizabeth, we really must get you into some proper clothes." My father told us. I nodded silently and looked down at my red dress. I had rips and the thread was becoming undone at the edges, as well as having filth smudged all over it. I followed my father and sister into the cabin. I dressed into a mild pink gown with frills and ribbons, slipped on pearl-white heels and plaited my dark locks. For the first time in several days, I felt everything was back to normal. Except that Will was still in danger, we were sailing to an Isle swarming with pirates and I was set to marry the Commodore. It wasn't that I did not have respect for him, he was a fine gentleman but did I love him? No. But Elizabeth and Will loved each other, I was doing this for them, so that they could be together.