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Aaaand here it is! A bit of a longer one this time =). Enjoy!!
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Chapter Four - Under the blackened night sky.
“HMS Royalty?” Anne questioned, reading the letters across the back of the hull. The ship that came into view was a wooden dark brown, her sails mighty and high against the masts.
“Aye, a retired British Navy vessel.” Answered a man next to her. She looked towards him, and nodded in reply. Wrinkled in the face, his long and greying hair whispered around him.
Around her, people were hugging each other, saying final goodbyes and nonsense she didn’t care of. A few ragged men were loading sacks and cases onto the ship, throwing them with no worry as to how gently they landed. Mothers were scurrying around, making sure their children had enough warm clothes, as their husbands bargained with the ship’s chef to provide them with an extra ration of food. Anne looked behind her, sweeping her auburn brown hair off her shoulders. The same faces, none knowing what to expect of this new place, looked back. A promise, indeed, but none knew if it was ever to be fulfilled. A cooling, soft rain started to fall, sending a sheet of calmness over the chaotic situation. She tended to slip off a lot, into a world she liked as her own. With her dreams providing as a back drop, her thoughts would fly in and out of her head, pausing for only one moment at a time. She liked to dwell on things that other people would surpass, though you would never guess it by looking at her. She thrived on new experiences, especially the kind that none else could relate too. Anne’s only downfall, some would say, was her inability to handle any anger or any rage that would enter, acting upon it immediately. She did not think before she acted, and when questioned about it, replied that it was her Mother’s gift to her.
James took Anne’s sack from her, bringing her back into reality.
“We must board.” He said, leading her towards the que. The old man followed closely.
As they moved closer to the ticket officer, Anne looked back to the town. To the little village, to James’s cottage on the outskirts, to her Father’s modest home. To everything she knew.
“Tickets please M’am! He shouted at Anne, whom threw them back in return. The officer looked startled, and spluttered something Anne couldn’t make out. By now, James had gotten used to her behaviour, and so proceeded onboard without a word.
Anne followed James onto the ship, which she realised was not in it’s grandest of years. As they made their way to what would be their home for the following few weeks, Anne stopped at the sight of the readily growling sea. As the waves started to crash along the side, it rattled her through her skin and into her bones. She breathed in the cold sea air, feeling it fill her lungs with a capacity like never before. Anne felt herself smiling as she surrendered to her newest challenge.
“You too eh?” croaked the old man, startling her from behind. With no reply, she located James at the end of the ship, making his way into the hull.
“We sleep down here, Anne.” He said, pointing to a pair of bunks in a corner. Following him in, putting her sack onto the top bunk that she claimed as her own.
As the hull became fuller, Anne left James on his bunk and made her way back up the narrow wooden stairs, and onto the deck of the ship. She walked slowly towards the bow, dragging her hands along the wet rail.
“All aboard!” The ticket officer yelled, signalling to the captain. The rain fell harder on Anne’s head, flattening her usually buoyant hair. She watched as the ship started to leave, catching the wind in her sails.
People were yelling goodbye, waving pieces of clothing or their hands. Blowing kisses. Anne sighed, looking away from them. She instead focused on the bow again, watching it gain more and more speed. The sound of goodbye’s started to fade away. The ship rocking steadily beneath her, she began to drift, her eyes closing. The feeling she felt was like no other, calm and at ease, yet excited and exasperated at the same time. Every breath she took was like that of the first she had ever witnessed. Every other sound around her blocked itself out, allowing everything to give to the sea. It slashed, it crashed and it extorted. It flowed, it grew, and it fell. It held hope, loss and everything in between. Anne imagined the memories it held, seeing everything from death to birth to victories and losses. She felt herself moving closer to the edge, feeling herself take a leap upwards, felt her fingers grazing gently over the statue of the mermaid at the very front, taking in every cut and groove it held. With nothing now supporting her feet, they dangled above the water, tempting the sea and herself. Her arms holding on to the statue, she dropped them a little further, the sea spray tickling her feet and calves.
Someone was calling her name in the distance. Her eyes remained shut.
“Anne!” Someone yelled over the sound of the sea.
Dropping her arms a little further, it was now only her hands supporting her. She felt as if her entire life rested at the bottom of the ocean, and she wanted nothing more than to be one with it. Slowly, finger by finger, she let go of the statue with her right hand. She felt it dangle weightlessly next to her body. She was slipping off, supported only by her one hand. The sea growled recklessly, as if it could see what Anne couldn’t. It wanted to claim it’s prize before it could be wretched away. James reached down within seconds, grabbing Anne’s hand just as she let go. Her eyes jolting open, she became aware of the scene around her. People were yelling, shouting instructions. Looking down, she saw her feet within a metre of her sea. ‘My sea..’ she thought, watching it roll around her. She looked up to see James pulling her slowly, and a few other men grabbing on to help him. Her arm was back over the bow now, followed by her shoulders, back, pelvis and legs. She was slumped in a ball on the hard wooden floor, with women rushing to put blankets on her and soup into her mouth. James kneeled down beside her, wiping the rain off her face, then his own. She got up slowly, resting her weight again on her arms. James took her head in his hands, surveying her every inch. She pulled it back.
Gaining full awareness back, she shook her head and said, “I’m ok.”
“You nearly bloody well went overboard!” One of the men around her shouted. James remained silent. Anne’s spontaneous and dangerous behaviour was wearing him down, little by little.
“I’m fine.” She said, lying through her teeth. Truth was, Anne was not fine. She had more fire in her than ever before, having come within one metre of certain death.. And wanting it. It wasn’t the death itself she wanted, it was to be at peace with the ocean, to be part of it, to be as one. It was, indeed, her newest and greatest love. She kept her eyes on the ground.
James got back onto his feet, and made his way down to their bunks. He was holding on to all he could with Anne, and needed time to let it all catch up with him.
Anne ignored it, only wanting to get back to her sea, to be near it. Slowly, after double checking she was ok, the crowd around her left. She did, however, keep her blankets on. Making her way back to the bow, she rested there again. Closing her eyes, she felt for the statue underneath.
“Yer not th’ only one, ye know.” A voice said, interrupting her. She opened her eyes and whipped around. The old man from the dock had followed her to the bow, dropping his hands on the rail. Anne said nothing, giving him a narrow eyed and resentful look.
“Yer not, me lass. There have been many others tha’ feel tied to th’ sea, each in their own way.” He said hoarsely, unaffected by Anne’s gaze. She turned back around, facing the horizon. He sighed slowly, and Anne could hear what sounded like his bones rattling inside.
“Look a’ her. How could ye not? I knew it, ye know, as soon as I saw ye, I knew it. Yer one of ‘em.” He said again. It was as if Anne had replied, the man continued to have a conversation.
“One of what?” She asked finally, giving in to curiosity.
“Ye know… One of ‘em free folk, tha’ roam th’ seven seas fer all she’s worth. A scallywag.” He said, a sudden toothless grin appearing.
“I am not.” Anne replied. She wasn’t in much of a mood for talking, let alone arguing.
“Aye..” He laughed, “Believe what we want, eh lass? Tha’s th’ way to live life.” He said, looking upwards towards the cracking clouds. The rain was still falling, gathering in little pools over the deck.
At this, the old man turned around, leaving Anne to her own. She watched him go, his left foot with a noticeable limp. The night was getting older, and darkness was becoming more predominant than light. As the ship’s oiled lamps were made to be off at 9’ o clock, Anne felt herself becoming wary, her eyes becoming heavier to lift each time she blinked. She yawned, her knees becoming weak. She felt herself drifting again, however different from the last. Curled up on the wooden deck floor, Anne Bonny lay sleeping, underneath the blackened night sky.
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Well, what do we think!?
Thanks so much for reading!
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