Pairing: Ragetti, Bootstrap Bill Turner
Word Count: 443
Prompt: Graveyard
Ghost Ship
---
Death was at all times solemn, but not so much at sea. A man dies on shore and his body remains with his friends. Mourners go about the streets with candles in hand, but when a man was thrown overboard at sea and lost there was suddenness to the event, and a difficultly in realizing it.
A man dies on shore and you follow his body to the grave.
A stone marks the spot.
The sea was too vast and too deep to place a marker for each man lost to it.
Not much was known about Bootstrap Bill Turner. According to Jack, for most of his life, Bill had been known as a merchant seaman based out of his home port in England, or at least that's what he told his wife. A secret pirate he was, and had only spoken of his family to a choice few, perhaps in an effort to conceal any remorse he might have had.
On occasion, Ragetti could still recall his death, and how his pain came in waves, the furrows gradually narrowing as the crests grew steeper.
From feet to knees, up to his muscular arms, elbows and fingers – Ragetti watched as the cannon dragged him below, and he was no longer able to speak when Bill disappeared beneath the surface. Ragetti wondered if Bill would be willing to let the cold enter him, and questioned what it would be like for Bill to let the air in his lungs be replaced with sea water.
That image of a ghost-ship manned by one, sailing into the cold and dark, began to haunt him everyday after the deed was done, despite the fact that the image seemed to comfort him.
Ragetti often heard stories told of how the dying decided to leave symbols created from their life experiences. Ragetti took the ghost-ship as his symbol.
Most nights after Bill's death, Ragetti listened to his own breathing and counted the seconds between his breaths, bolting upright when the Pearl let out small groans of her own. He was dreading and expecting Bootstrap's ship of death to deliver him back to the Pearl that night, but he was sure that could not stomach the guilt that came when he would see his face again.
---