by J.A. Sprouls
Chapter 1
Pilar had been hiding in the storage compartment during the whole storm. She was absolutely terrified of the storm and what it was doing to the ship. It was a very helpless feeling to be tossed from side to side, not knowing if the ship would turn over completely. She had never learned to swim which made it all the more terrifying. It wasn’t as if she had really wanted to be here in the first place. Her father was a pirate, just which particular pirate he was she didn’t know, but she knew somewhere there was a pirate with the same violet eyes she had and she was bound and determined to find him. Most particularly since her mother succumbed to an illness, leaving her all alone. She didn’t like being alone. After all, she was only twelve years old so she figured that she would find her father and then he would take care of her. The only way she figured she could do this was to join a pirate’s ship. Surely they would know of a pirate with violet eyes.
Therefore, she signed on as a cabin boy. She had cut her hair and wore baggy trousers and shirts in order to look more like a boy. And most importantly, she kept to herself. She only served the captain. If he wanted something, she would get it, but avoided the rest of the crew if she could help it. That isn’t to say that she didn’t pay attention to what was happening on board. She watched them doing all the necessary things to get the ship out to sea and she learned a lot. The main thing she learned was a completely new language, though she figured that her mother wouldn’t want her to actually use most of those new words.
She overheard a couple of the crew talking and they mentioned the captain had been tossed overboard in the storm. She also found out that the cook had been made the new captain. If she understood them right, it was mainly because they figured they could lose him and not be out too much and it kept them from having to take charge and risk going overboard like the other captain. If he didn’t die in the storm then they could very easily overtake him and put in a ‘real’ knowledgeable captain. This concerned Pilar very much. She always liked the cook. He was one of the few crewmembers whom she had dealt with on a regular basis and he had always been nice to her. She figured that the first chance she had to talk to the captain she would warn him. After all, she was a cabin boy and served the captain, so it wouldn’t look suspicious if she talked to him. Since she had been hiding from the very start of the storm she didn't know the crew had decided to abandon the ship and that is was just her, Wicket, Tally and Pigtail still aboard.
There was a horrible scratching noise coming from the other side of the door. She wasn’t sure what it was but she figured the only way she would find out was to open the door. She wasn’t a brave person, so she stayed put. The storage compartment was just for captain supplies - booze mainly - but there were other things here also, like blankets and clothes. That was why she hid here during the storm. She figured it would be a lot softer t with the ship tossing about like it was. The booze had been tied down along with a few other boxes so basically the blankets and clothes were the only things that were tossed about. Therefore, nothing hurt when she was hit by falling items.
That’s when the door suddenly swung open and there stood Wicket. She always liked him and his friend Tally. He was very funny but she didn’t think he meant to be funny most of the time. It’s just that things he did didn’t seem to work out quite the way he had expected them to.
“There you are. We got to thinking we hadn’t seen you lately and got a bit concerned. Hey, Tally, Pill’s in here.” That’s what they called her. She hadn’t told them her full name for fear they would figure out that she was a girl and not let her come but, she thought, that was the least of her problems now.
“I heard a crash and felt a horrible bump. Did we get stranded on a reef?”
“Don’t know, haven’t been topside just yet. We were headed that way when Tally asked if I had seen you. So I told him it would be best if we went looking for you. So we did.”
“And we found you,” Tally felt the need to add.
“Well, seeing as how we’re talking to her, I think she could figure that out. Let’s go topside and see how the new captain fared,” Wicket suggested.
“Guys, I think you should know that the other crew members are planning on getting rid of the new captain. That was why they made the cook captain, they felt he was expendable.”
“That has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard,” Tally exclaimed.
“It’s true, I swear. I overheard them just after the other captain went overboard.” Pilar was a bit miffed at Tally for thinking she would make something up like that.
“No, no, you misunderstand me. I didn’t mean something like - you misunderstood them or something like that. I meant the thought that they considered the cook expendable. How you gonna eat if you don’t have someone to cook for you.”
“He’s got a point. On the other hand, you have to consider the fact that the crew on this ship wasn’t the swiftest in the fleet. I mean, they use their knives to clean their ears.”
Tally whispered to Pill, “Wicket’s got some sort of aversion to knives.” He winked at her like this was a secret just between the two of them. He said in a louder voice, “But we don't have to worry about the crew taking over. Because when the second storm came up they took the dinghies and went overboard. I guess they were thinking they would stand a better chance that way than they did with a new captain who used to be a cook. So, let’s not dilly dally below deck, let’s see how bad the damage is and just where we ended up stranded. I hope it’s a nice tropical island with lots of pretty women.”
“Hey, real smooth Tally, You’re talking like a sailor in front of a kid. Kids are impressionable and you don’t want to go leaving Pill with that kind of impression about you, now do you?”
“Well, he’s got to learn it from somewhere, who better than me?”
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