There's a whole lot of singing that's never gonna be heard,

Disappearing every day without so much as a world somehow...

Think I broke the wings off that little songbird,

He's never gonna fly to the top of the world right now...

Will giggled. "Tell me about daddy again, Uncle Jack. Is he actually out at sea right now?"

It was now February. Elizabeth and I were planning another expedition, this time to Africa. Jackie smiled and coughed, running his hands through Will's curly hair. "Aye, and the captain of the Flying Dutchman as well."

Gibbs had come back from Tortuga a few weeks before with Jackie's medicine, which helped him cope with the pain of his illness. His health, however, had declined. I turned back to Elizabeth, who was staring off into space. I snapped my fingers in front of her face. "Bess, come now, love, we need to talk about this expedition!"

From outside, we all heard thunder. She blinked and turned her head back to me. "Oh–I'm sorry," she yawned, her eyes drooping a bit. Not only was Jackie sick, she seemed to be falling ill as well.

"Alright then," I pointed to Madagascar, "how about this. You and your crew sail a week beforehand. I'll come afterwards, just to see if Jackie'll be all right with Gibbs when we're gone."

Jackie looked highly offended. "Dad-" he said, sounding embarrassed.

"That'll be fine," said Elizabeth, rubbing her eyes. "And Will? Who will take care of Will, since Gibbs will be taking care of Jack?"

"Now, listen!" Jack said. "I'm not that sick!"

We all heard thunder from outside again, this time accompanied by lightening. The dog that used to be in the old prison at Port Royal jumped up and barked at the window. Elizabeth groaned loudly and clenched to both sides of her head, looking greatly stressed. Jackie and Will stared at her as I stood up and walked over to her.

"Bess, don't you fret this way," I told her sternly.

"I'm not fretting!" she cried, standing up. "I'm going to make dinner!"

She walked away, into the kitchen. Jackie coughed again and looked at me. "What's gotten into her?"

"How should I know?" I shot back. "You're the one who claims he has an intuitive sense of the female creature."

He grinned stupidly.

"I'm making chicken!" Elizabeth came out again, holding a jar of flour. Her messy, knotted hair flew back, past her shoulders. "Where's Gibbs? Is he still cutting fire wood? Go outside and tell him to cut off one of the chicken's heads!"

She turned back around to head into the kitchen, only to get caught in her skirts and fall down. There was the sound of clay breaking and the whoosh of flour going everywhere. Will began laughing and Jackie began coughing heavily as Gibbs walked in, holding a couple pieces of fire wood. "What's going on in here?" he cried, half-surprised and half-amused of what he was seeing.

I wiped flour off my face smartly and didn't even bother answering him. He dropped the wood next to the fire and came over to Jackie's aid. I went over to the table and began wiping off flour from the maps when I head a sob. I squinted my eyes and saw that Elizabeth was sitting on the floor and had hidden her face in her knees. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, and some of her fingertips were bleeding. I scowled.

"Bess, there's no need to cry over this. We can clean this up," I said, but she just shook her head and continued to sob.

"No, no!" she said through her muffled sobs. "I'm useless! I'm useless!"

Gibbs and Jackie exchanged nervous glances. I could tell that they were clueless on knowing what to do. I tried hard to act as if nothing were wrong. I took her hands and helped her stand up, but the wails that wracked through her whole body were so intense that her knees buckled. I caught before she could crumble back onto the floor again.

"I can't do anything right!" she moaned.

I breathed in heavily through my nose. I was starting to get annoyed by now.

"Alright Bess," I told her, turning her towards the stairs. I helped her walked up the steps and forced her into bed.

"Just sleep for a while. Come back when you've calmed down," I said, putting her blankets on her. She curled up into the ball and keened to herself. She looked so pitiable, like a beaten dog. I touched her hair. "Maybe we can do something with these knots," I grunted, trying to not project sympathy. Then I left her alone to gather herself up.

I began to fret at the thought of the others' reactions to Elizabeth's outburst as I walked downstairs. She was our Pirate King, naturally; a leader, a fighter. Then why the sudden tears? I knew she was struggling since Will's birth. I could imagine it would be difficult to be a single mother, taking care of a rambunctious two-year-old. But she had Jack, who helped take care of Will despite his illness and the fact he and her had bitter feelings for one another (and showed it very much). Maybe she had inherited it from her mother, possibly? It happens sometimes, I heard, with mothers; the strain of their responsibilities as a parent had led them to develop insanity. Was Elizabeth actually becoming crazy?

So many questions, so little stairs.

When I reentered the room, everything seemed so wrong; the floor and the walls were filthy and covered in flour, and Will was crying. Gibbs was comforting him as best as he could it looked like, as Jackie was gulping down medicine straight from the bottle. Pulling the flask away from his lips, his eyes caught mine, and he turned abnormally pale. I walked over to him.

"So, what's wrong?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "I don't know, but whatever it is it's not good."

"Is she...you know..." Jackie said uncomfortably, as if I would slap him if he asked.

"I don't know," I knew what he was talking about. "It made be a possibility."

Jackie shook his head. "Never would I imagine...Lizzie, going insane..." He stopped and looked me in the eye, serious. "If she is, we need to get Asthore out of here."

I was token aback. "Will? Why?"

"I think she might try to hurt him. She might kill him and won't remember," Jackie explained.

"But she loves him," I said.

"Yes, and so do I," he said with a bit of stiffness in his voice, "but still, if she's truly going off her deep end, she'll become a danger to us, let along herself..."

A small, quivering blot of crimson formed on the tip of his nose. I took out my handkerchief and gave it to him. "Quit fretting, boy, you're making yourself get a nosebleed."

Jackie took the handkerchief and pinched his nostrils with it. "Bugger. Thanks, Dad."

We had no dinner that night, as we cleaned and swept the room free of any flour. We finished a quarter to nine, around Will's bedtime. Yawning, he made his way upstairs to bed. Afterwards, we all sat down and made ourselves comfortable, easing our aching joints. It must of been only about thirty seconds later when we all heard a high-pitched scream. We jumped up to our feet in unison as Will ran down the stairs, sheer terror plastered across his face. I bent down and took him by the sides.

"Why, what ever is the matter, Will?" I asked him.

He bursted into tears. "Mama's gone!"

Terrified silence followed this outburst. Elizabeth? Gone?

"What do you mean? She isn't in her bed, Will?" I asked, now frightened.

He nodded and choked through his sobs, "I couldn't find her anywhere! I'm sorry, Paw-Paw Teague! I didn't mean to make her that mad! I didn't mean to!"

"Of course not, Will, you don't need to apologize. You didn't mean to make her mad, none of us did," I solaced him as I looked desperately to the others. "Gibbs, look around the house. I'll look outside. Jackie, take Will to bed and stay with him. And also, your nose is bleeding again."

Slightly annoyed, Jackie touched the tip of his nose, and, sure enough, blood was leaking again from his nostrils. He took Will by the hand as the other hand covered his face back upstairs. Gibbs lit a lantern and began searching the dark kitchens as I lit another and went for my coat.

As soon as I stepped outside, the heavy winds came blowing furiously towards me and, if it weren't for the fact the candle was bordered with glass, it would surely go out. I grabbed on to my hat and began searching throughout the island. I checked under all the docks I could squeeze under and the rubble of rotting boats and half-sunken ships. It was a bad night for searching for a possibly-crazed girl, and, with irritation, I rechecked everywhere I looked before I almost went back inside, hoping that Gibbs had found her. But, instead, I heard a voice faintly floating across the angry winds. It seemed as though it was coming from behind me. I turned around, hoping to find the source of the voice. It was coming from under one of the more rotted docks. Holding up the lantern to my face, to walked to it and found a gruesome sight.

Elizabeth was sitting under the dock, her arms wrapped around her legs, her legs tucked under her chin. She was soaking wet, and, what disturbed me most, nude. She acted as though I was not there, continuing to sing something under her breath. Her face and eyes were glazed, as though she were in a trance.

"Bess," I said loudly, hoping to wake her, "Bess, come now, wake up."

But she did not; she did, however, turn her head to me, continuing to sing. She looked as though she could look right through me. I grew more horrified; this was not the Elizabeth I knew, nor anyone. Setting the lantern firmly beside, I took her by the wrists and began to shake her.

"Bess, WAKE UP!" I was now yelling. It took time to her to come back. After a long time, she blinked, and, as though spell of insanity melted with the rain into the sand, she seemed to become normal again. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped. She looked terrified, humiliated. I let go of her wrists, and she covered her face as she started to sob.

"What's happening to me, Captain?" she wailed. "What's happening to me?"

I did not answer her as I draped my coat onto her shoulders. I led her into the house, leaving the lantern outside to burn out.