Today...I went to Julia's house so that she, Jinn and I could study Chem and Physics. Myeh...however we ended up talking and listening to stuff like Macy Gray and Panic! at the Disco. And Bill from Tokio Hotel sounds like a WOMAN! meh, he looks like one too.
Anyways here is the next instalment of The Pirate Story:
The days were carefree at the Cutlass Inn. Miere and Arla never had to feel lonely, for they had various customers to entertain, and more importantly, Henny and each other. Even though there were always floors to be mopped and dishes to spread, it was enjoyable work.
However Captain Seth’s restrictions proved to be bothersome. He himself seemed like a man with no feeling, pacing up and down the corridors and barking brusque orders at everyone he saw. He was the strange presence in the otherwise tranquil seaside stop. Miere and Arla couldn’t understand him. They knew he had a room upstairs which served as a study cum bedroom, but what did he do in there? There were times when he hardly used the room, and also times when he would barricade himself in and not come out until closing time.
Once Arla posed Henny this question when she was ordered to send up a meal to him, but Henny shrugged and muttered something which sounded like “Doing accounts.”They had only entered the room once, and then only upon the Captain’s request. It was almost as stark and scrubbed as its owner, the walls plain and whitewashed, with green lichen licking them. The floor was composed of rough floorboards. The decor consisted of a simple bookshelf, a table and chair, and a bed.
Captain Seth had turned around and fixed a stony stare on them. “You know I was a captain once,” he began. “A pirate captain who roamed the seas.”
Affirmative nod. The girls had heard all about it from Henny.
“So I’ll tell you my experience. It was the first time I’d been on it. The sea was quiet and the harsh sun shone on us. The ship hoisted its sails and rode away on the wind.
“I was on deck duty—scrubbing and cleaning it. The ship cut cleanly through the waters. Our captain, Sherwood, had a score to settle. We set off in pursuit of the Iron Maid, Our target ship.
“There was a twist in the atmosphere after half an hour of sailing. I knew that the Iron Maid was near. A dark mist descended over the waters. The maroon flag loomed before us.; The ships halted, prow to prow.
“Then all hell broke loose.
“The crew members went berserk. We launched ourselves onto the other ship and started knocking each other off. Cutlasses flashed ad swords bit into skin. I only possessed a small dagger, so I avoided the heated attacks up front. Instead I slunk along and attacked the opposing deck-swabbers.
“Having practiced with my weapon, I wasn’t too bad, but I couldn’t avoid the slashes to my face. My adversaries were deft, and I was partly lucky that I could parry their attacks. This sense of manic loyalty to Sherwood kept me slashing their throats.
“However in the mist something else emerged. It was the smell of blood, fetid. Like a snake, it ensnared the whole boat. And strangely, I like it. It was like a powerful engine injecting energy into me. I inhaled and lived on it at that moment. My brain was resisting but I was dying away. That smell was deluding me, making me think that I needed it. It was like I was the smell.“The blood came in different shades—black, red, brown, maroon—and it swirled around us like a swollen river. And living on that smell alone I hacked my way to my own minor victory. The bodies piled around me like dead houseflies.”
Here he stopped, and looked at the girls.
“Aren’t you scared to be here, in this room, with a man who loves blood?”
“No,” Miere spoke for both of them.
“Really?” Arla caught the slightest ghost of a smile.
They were then sent off. There was nothing particularly strange about the captain’s tale, but the way he told it was scary. His eyes had acquired the glow of a distant land and his tone fluctuated with passionate intonation. He had stepped out of his mould, but even so, this change was so disconcertingly familiar.
They passed a widely-arched window. Then it hit them.
The sea. The captain had become like the sea, voice accommodating, drawing them closer, his words like waves to sweep you off your feet. He had grown distant, like the sea receding because of the moon’s gravity pull. He had grown until he was too big and fragmented to come back.It was then Miere and Arla realised that they couldn’t live with the sea anymore. It would always be there, calmly roiling; incarnating into the captain to mock them. They hated the hollow feeling the sea gave them. It promised the excitement of unexpected lands beyond boundaries but at the same time, Captain Seth took it back from them. The sea stealing from the sea. This feeling was growing into the direction of fear.
And I am happy because if I do well in whatever I am supposed to do, I may go to Japan. ^_^
私は幸せである。
