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CALAMITY JACK Author: The Flaming Mint Disclaimer: I own nothing in this world except far too much POTC merchandise. Disney has made a fortune off me. Summary: You have a rather wretched life in a shabby Caribbean port. That is until the unforeseeable meeting with a roguish pirate. A certain Mr. Sparrow. You find yourself forced to save him from his current dilemmas thus finding yourself in a new one… your growing feelings for the man who stands for all you hate. * * * * * CHAPTER 1 – Dusk Light Swimmer Night falls abruptly and unsubstantially as it always does in your bleak and shabby hometown. You kick empty bottles of alcohol with your worn boots as you trudge back to the tattered shack you can barely call home. A slight breeze ruffles the oversized white shirt that you stitched together last week after realizing the majority of your clothes had been stolen off the clothing line that hung outside your back door. You live in one of the busiest ports in the Caribbean. A perfectly divided one as well; merely a cobblestone road separates your dreary and desolate lifestyle from the one of wealth and class. You can in fact, see the perfectly tiled rooftops from your own where you often sit and gaze out at the mounting glassy ocean which you so long to be on. It didn’t always used to be like this. You remember a time when your mother and father owned their own beautiful ship. The Raptor. Honest sailors they were, sailing merrily from port to port, you grew up on the sea. Learned how to fire a gun on the sea by shooting objects off the deck’s rail with your father and the crew. Even your mother joined in sometimes. You learned how to swordfight out of pure boredom with the crewmates. Though you never mastered the art of swordsmanship. One night during a blazing storm you woke from your chambers below deck as a bolt of lightning seared ruthlessly through your dreams. The yells and screams and orders from above deck sounded hassled and hasty. Your mother burst into your cramped quarters. “Stay here (you), no matter what! Stay here!” She ordered, placing a hurried loving hand on your cheek. It was the last time you ever saw her. Being ten or so, and being curious, you did not heed her warning. You rushed out into the unrelenting storm and saw before you the angry black ocean raging below the livid sky. Alongside the Raptor there was another ship, one that radiated evil. No bigger than the Raptor, it was a pirate ship. Sailing friendly British navy flags for the past few hours it had within minutes shot up its skull and crossbones and advanced upon your parent’s ship. You hid behind a door and watched in horror as the ship caught up completely. The crewmen around you were running every which way strapping on rifles, shouting, and checking the masts. The rest of the night was nearly a blur. All you could remember were the pirates, with nothing but hate and greed in their eyes swinging onto the Raptor, slaying the crew with ease and searching hungrily for the goods loaded below deck. They were the dirtiest creatures imaginable and you could hardly stand to look at them. You stayed hidden behind the door in complete shock, unable to move an inch. You saw your father rush by and you took a chance and leapt out from your hiding place. “Father!” You cried. He turned, fear drenching his deep brown eyes. He stepped towards you and placed his hands on your shoulders. “Get below deck and I will come for you soon.” He ordered pushing you back slightly, his voice not wavering in his panic. His eyes lingered on your worried face and he stroked your hair hastily, touching the colorful beads you had braided into the front strands of your hair because your father had them as well. You couldn’t answer for a figure was making its way hurriedly towards you, his eyes glinted yellow and his hair was matted with blood. “P-p-pirate…” You gasped. His sword was raised; he would kill you both. You tried to motion to your father to do something, but he was too close. You grabbed the handgun from your father’s belt, cocked it and fired. The pirate went down, his sword inches away from your father’s back. You burst into tears at the sight of the crimson liquid staining the wretch’s filthy vest and trickling onto the recently scrubbed deck of the Raptor where it was beaten away by the unrelenting rain. Needless to say, you escaped that ghastly night. Your father, you, and a surly looking crewmember rowed away from the glorious Raptor into the fog. The Pirates took your mother and the lives of the rest of your crew. Left with nothing, you rowed into the nearest port you set eyes upon. And that was that. Your father drowned his sorrows in the drink for eight years and you kept yourself and him alive by sharpening swords and weapons at the blacksmiths down the road. You cross the dirt road intersection that leads to your house and meander through the beaten down door into your dank home…er…room. The night is young and you don’t feel like bothering with your dead drunk father, sprawled out in the corner, so you take your long sword, that you crafted yourself and step back out into the world. Perhaps, you think, you can challenge one of the handsome sailor boys down by the docks to an affable duel. It’s always fun to beat them. If not, then the sunset is thrilling enough to watch, you figure. The docks seem rather empty tonight. Must be a storm coming, you think. They always leave the docks early when there is a storm on the way. Storm or no storm, the mixtures of indigo, yellow and lilac in the young night sky invite you to sit on the edge of the dock nearest to a great trading ship entitled simply The Bell. No one is around, so you begin humming to yourself an old sailor’s jig you learned back on the Raptor. You suddenly find yourself wondering what became of your parents beloved ship. And while lost in this thought, you don’t see the impending bubbling of water in front of you. Something takes hold of your left leg that is dangling over the edge of the dock. A hand! You shriek and fall into the water…not the way you had wanted to go. The cold water alarms your unprepared skin sending it into goose bumps. Whatever had just grabbed you is still close by; you rub the salty water out of your eyes and reached haphazardly for the wood of the dock in your blinded state hoping to escape whatever it is. You heave your soaked self out of the murky dock water and get on your knees to scout beneath the deck. The slight sound of a splash behind you, you turn to see the flash of a figure ducking beneath the other side of the dock. “What are you doing down there?” You yell down at the person hiding beneath the rickety dock on which you kneel. It’s only three feet wide so if you stuck your head out to see beneath it you would spot the person. “You know it’s peak feeding time for sharks right about now!” You say aloud in a matter-of-fact tone. You have absolutely no clue if it is true or not, but you hear the water splashing and a drenched figure hauls himself on the deck. Well… that is not what you were expecting. But then…what were you expecting? “Don’t fancy being taken down by one those beasts.” He says squeezing the salty water out of his dreads and ponytail. You take in the sight of this dusk light swimmer. His drenched state intensifies the unconformity of his attire. He takes off his oversized brown boots and dumps the copious amount of water in them back into the sea. A vast array of intriguing trinkets dangle from the waistband that holds up brown trousers. A pink and red sash is sprawled away from where it is tied at his waist. His baggy white shirt clings to a rather nice looking body. There is a manner of various tidbits dwelling in the mass of black hair he has, shrouded by a damp maroon bandana. Colorful beads decorate random strands of hair and hang from the bandana itself. You inadvertently reach up and touch the beads in your hair. The stranger suddenly ceases his wardrobe ministrations and looks over at you. You realize you have been staring and look away quickly. “Well ‘ello there.” He drawled, smirking slightly. You noted a few glints of silver and gold teeth. “Could you do us a favor and keeps mum ‘bout this whole little situation?” He requested. But you didn’t know what he meant, what situation? Hadn’t he just been swimming? Or… You see on the other side of him, a sheathed sword…and wait is that a pistol? And on his arm…his rolled up sleeves reveal… Why didn’t you realize it before? This man was a… “Pirate!” You yell out in shock. He scrunches his face in exasperation and checks to see if any one is within close proximity and heard you. “Though usually something I brag about luv, at the moment it would be of great assistance to me if you kept that…” he places his ring adorned hand over your gaping mouth and you stare feeling a mixture of shock, excitement and anger. It isn’t everyday a real pirate… a rather handsome one at that… arrives literally at your feet and tells you to be quiet. This should be interesting. TBC... |