Day 28
Chip's dead now.
I buried him on a cliff where we always liked to hang out and look at the rest of the island and the sea.
Chip told me that he wanted to be a great pirate one day. He wanted to be a great pirate so that he could collect all the unwanted and abused children and made sure that they were never mistreated again.
Only six years old and already harbouring such a noble dream.
He would've been a great man.
Now I will never know for sure.
He...he managed to hold on for one day. We talked. We talked about a lot of things. But this is what I remember the most.
He told me that he never saw me as a brother.
He told me...that...that he saw me as a father.
He told me that past year with me was the happiest time of his life.
His last words to me...I don't deserve them at all.
What he said to me was...was more painful than anything I've ever endured.
"I love you, dad."
That's what he said to me. It was so painful to hear that. It was painful because I loved that boy so much and I never told him that. It was painful because I wasn't good enough to be called a father by such an innocent. If I had been a good father, I would've protected him at all costs. I wouldn't have let him died. I wouldn't have allowed him to go back to that monster. I...I would've helped him grow up so that I could one day share a bottle of rum with him. If I had been a good father, I would've done what was best for him regardless of his wishes.
I am a dreadful father.
But one thing's for certain now, with Chip gone, there's nothing left for me on Baterilla. I'll depart as soon as I can get a boat.
I don't belong here anymore.
