The story
A young girl was on the beach. She was curled up into a ball far away from the water so it wouldn’t touch her, but close enough, the waves washed out the sound of her crying. Her ponytail kept getting whipped around by the wind.
There was a small village off in the distance. And from it, a boy was walking towards her but she didn’t seem to notice. He was only a few years older than her but so much more mature. His parents were fishers and he had to watch over himself. Most of the other kids ignored him or teased him but he didn’t mind, he had her.
The two were close, usually spending every day together. Jimbob decided what they did most of the time since he was older, but they enjoyed their time together. He sat down next to her kneeling body, “Why are you out here?”
The girl hiccupped before speaking, “because I don’t want to see anyone.”
“Not even me?”
She shook her head. “I don’t mind you, Jimbob,” she muttered. Sitting up to rub at her eye.
He turned her face to look at him and rubbed the leftover tiers off her cheeks. “Then why don’t you want to see anyone else?”
She was silent for a little while and Jimbob waited until she was ready to talk, “Tom was making fun of me again.” He put his arm around her, “do you want to talk about what happened?”
She sighed, “Tom was making fun of my name again.”
“What? Why? Your mother picked it out for you.”
“I know!” she almost shouted, starting to cry anew.
He squeezed her shoulder again and she sighed. “What’s wrong? You don’t usually act like this. What could he have ever said to you?” he muttered.
“He…he said it doesn’t fit me. He says I’m too much of a tomboy.” Jimbob ground his teeth, ready to say something when she stood up suddenly starting to pace. “I did everything I could think of. I grew my hair long,” she brought her hair forward and started to pull on the end of it while she was still pacing. “I wore dresses, I stopped doing things I liked. I don’t know what else I could do.” she stomped.
“I know what you could do to stop them from hating you,” he muttered, looking up at her.
Her eyes went wide “really what?” She sat in front of him, sitting forward a little.
“You could stop hanging out with me. They only hate you because of that.”
Her smile turned into that of a grimace of anger. “No never. If they don’t like you, I don’t want to be friends with them. You’re my best friend.”
Jimbob chuckled, “alright, alright. I won’t suggest that again.” She sighed as she sat next to him, leaning against his shoulder with her eyes closed.
Jimbob rubbed her back lightly. “Well, since you won’t let me take care of Tom, what do you want me to do?”
The girl sighed, leaning more into him, “I don’t know.”
“Well then, why don’t we get you a name that does fit you?”
The girl looked at Jimbob sitting up properly, “we can do that? What could we do?”
Jimbob smiled, “sure we can.” He then covered his left eye, “we can be pirates.”
She thought for a moment, tapping her chin lightly as she did so, “how will that help?”
Jimbob sighed, shaking his head as if he expected her to know. “We use the title you get with your position as your new name, that way, it would fit you.”
“Then what title will I have?”
“I’ll be the first mate,” he said, pointing to himself, “and you’ll be the captain.”
She smiled, closing her eyes and leaning against him again, glad he was her friend.
~*~*~*~*~
Those same eyes opened, only much older. She only saw wood above her and felt her body rock back and forth slightly. She sat up to look out a window, only big enough for her to crawl through, and saw nothing but the ocean.
She still looked the same as she had in the past. Her hair was shorter, too short for a ponytail now, and a little curlier.
As she got up, she went over to her closet looking at the fancy clothing, most with short sleeves, and decided to pick out one of her oldest clothing. It was baggy pants and a brown vest with a white shirt underneath. She smiled as she felt the vest before heading to the door. Once out on the deck, the wind hit her, but she didn’t really mind.
As she was walking along, she saw one of the other crew members. He is the chef of the crew. He looked up at her “oh Captain, just getting up?”
“Does it really matter, Mike?”
He chuckled then nodded “that’s true.” He watched her look around. “Looking for Jimbob?” she nodded “he’s taking over Gary’s job as a lookout so Gary could help me with the inventory. We’re almost done, though.”
“I see. How is the kitchen doing, by the way?”
“I could use a little help but otherwise, fine. More than enough food to last us a few weeks still.”
“Good.” She then started to climb up to the lookout station. As she did, she looked down and saw some of the other crew members walking around. Jimbob had done as he said he would and helped her get a pirate crew, them all only knowing her as Captain.
She got to the top and saw only Jimbob. He looked similar though his hair was longer, pulled back in a short ponytail. He wore black pants that were somewhat loose, a white shirt, and a blue coat.
“Hey.”
He turned to see her and smiled at her “ah Captain, glad to see you are up.”
“You know you can call me by my name. I don’t mind if you do…at least when we’re alone.” She muttered, leaning against the railing.
Jimbob watched her for a moment then chuckled. “But don’t you hate your name?”
“Yah, I know but….”
He smiled, moving closer to her, messing up her hair “thanks.” When standing next to each other, Captain only came up to his shoulder. He looked at her “isn’t that your old clothing? Why are you wearing that?”
Captain shrugged, “I had an old dream and just felt like wearing it.” Before he could say anything else, she looked around. “I just passed Mike. Gary should be coming back soon.”
“Good, so I can get down.” He looked behind the Captain. “Though it looks like I won’t be able to do what I want.”
The Captain looked behind to see another ship heading their way. “And I just got up.”
“It’s your fault for sleeping so late.” The Captain stuck out her tongue at him.
~*~*~*~*~
It had been a quick battle, the other group being a much smaller pirate ship and crew. They had attacked first and soon found themselves in over their heads. Blood hit the deck, but that didn’t matter to Jimbob. It was the enemy’s blood and the enemy’s deck. Jimbob looked around to see the crew finishing up the remaining enemies. He grabbed the closest member of his crew. “Where’s the Captain?”
“She went to wash off the blood.”
Jimbob nodded “Make sure to take everything before we burn it.”
“Aiy aiy.”
Jimbob went back over to their ship. He found the captain’s quarters quickly, having been there many times before. He entered without knocking to see the bathroom door closed. Walking over to the bed, he sat down. He only had to wait a moment before the Captain came out. “You’re lucky I was done changing when you came in.” Now she was wearing a large coat that covered most of her body.
“Doesn’t matter anyways. I wouldn’t have been interested in anything I would see” Jimbob said with a chuckle.
Captain glared at him, “do you want me to throw you overboard?”
That made Jimbob actually laugh instead of chuckling. “Like you would be able to do that. I’ve been your first mate since we were kids.” It was then that Jimbob noticed her clothing, “isn’t that one of mine?”
“Leave me alone.” She said, crossing her arms, “it’s the only thing that has long sleeves, and I don’t want to go out in the wind since I’m still wet from my shower.”
“It’s okay. I don’t mind, really.” Captain sighed and sat next to Jimbob, leaning against him “you okay?”
“We almost lost a few people this time.”
Jimbob smiled, wrapping an arm around her, “don’t worry, everyone is fine. You did a good job” Captain nodded her head; both were silent for a while. Ever since they had attacked the other ship, the ship had stood still, as best it could on the sea. They felt the ship suddenly move forward.
“They’ll want you to go and light the other ship.”
“I know,” they both stood up and Captain crossed her arms.
“What’s wrong?” Jimbob asked, stopping by the door. Captain muttered something, and Jimbob leaned over to hear her better. “What?”
“You shouldn’t be taller than me,”
Jimbob smiled and pulled her into a hug “don’t be mad, I like you at this height.”
Captain pulled out of his arms. “Well, I don’t,” with that, they headed on deck, the crew were waiting but with a kid. “What’s this now?”
The child had black hair and wide green eyes. His height measured to the captain’s shoulder, which made her stand a little taller. The clothing he wore looked fancy though they were torn and dirty.
“He was in the brig of the other ship. Figured you wouldn’t want us to burn him with the bodies.” Captain nodded while looking at the child. The kid shivered at the mention of bodies.
“Looks like a rich kid,” she muttered.
The other shrugged and she turned away from him, crossing her arms as she looked at the pile of stuff they had got off the other ship. “Anything else?”
Gary nodded, “yeah, they had a map on them. Someplace we haven’t been before.” he held the rolled-up map out to her.
“Really?” she walked over to it, opening it up and while trying to get a lay of the land.
Before she could get a good look at it, she heard “Hey!” it was then pulled out of her hands. The person turned out to be the kid who held the map close.
Captain put her hands on her hip and leaned a little forward. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“It’s my map, not yours!” he held the map a little tighter.
“Your map?” she raised one of her eyebrows and looked over at Jimbob out of the corner of her eye, who shrugged. “We found that,” she pointed at the map, “on that,” she then pointed to the other ship. “How does that make it your map?”
“It was my fathers first, then those guys took it. I got on their ship before they could leave, but they then threw me in their brig.” Both Captain and the kid shivered. The brig was not something anyone wanted to spend time in.
“Should we trust him?” Captain asked, looking at Mike crossing her arms. When no one said anything, she turned slightly to look at Jimbob, “well?
Jimbob chuckled, “you’re asking me? Aren’t you the captain?”
Captain glared at him before sighing. “You know what, I don’t want to deal with this. Just put him in one of the cells.”
Jimbob chuckled as he watched the kid dragged off. “So what now?” he asked, walking over to Captain and putting a hand on her head. She glared at him before hitting his hand off her head.
Captain lit the other ship on fire and then turned to her crew. “We should head to the closest town. I’ll plan what to do after that.”
~*~*~*~*~
Jimbob headed down to the cells with a plate of food. “Hey, how are you holding out, kid?”
The kid looked up, “my name’s Andy, not kid!” he said with a huff “I’m fine, much better than the other ship,” Jimbob nodded, hearing what the kid had said before.
“Yah, not all pirates are kind to their captives.” He opened the cell door to put the food on the floor before closing it.
“Why are you here?”
Jimbob looked confused as Andy picked up the food and started to eat rather quickly. “To give you food.”
Andy swallowed before speaking. “Well yeah but, the captain asked you a question. That must mean you have some amount of power. You could have just told someone to bring me food.”
Jimbob nodded, “That is true, but we’re a little short on people right now.”
“Why?”
Jimbob shrugged “the Captain has high standards, so we don’t get many new people. The captain turns away most people who want to join us.”
“What are the standards?”
“Well first, you can’t ask her anything about her name” Andy opened his mouth, but Jimbob interrupted him. “She doesn’t like her real name.” Andy closed his mouth before starting to eat again. “The second thing is total loyalty, for the rest of your life, to her and I. The rest is mostly all about their morals.”
“Why you too?”
“We grew up together.” He shrugged “we’re best friends. That’s why I’m the first mate.”
“Oh, so that’s why she asked you earlier.” Jimbob nodded. The two remained silent until Andy spoke up once again. “What morals do they need?”
Jimbob looked surprised, “you know what morals are? You’re pretty smart, huh?” when Andy didn’t say anything, Jimbob sighed, “well, there are some things you can’t like doing. You can’t like killing kids, stealing from poor people. Nothing the captain thinks as low.”
Andy nodded “I could do that.”
Jimbob snickered, “You’re still a kid. I don’t think you should be agreeing to that kind of stuff. Well I guess you can agree to the last one, but the loyalty thing would be bad.”
“I’m not a kid,” Andy muttered while putting down his plate, food already gone. “What’s so wrong with me agreeing with that?”
Jimbob shook his head and sighed, “look, the problem is if you break the rules. If you do, the punishment isn’t something anyone can survive.”
Andy’s eyes went wide, and he moved back a little, “you mean if I break the rules, I die?”
Jimbob nodded slowly, “yeah, that’s why Captain probably won’t accept you into the crew. It’s why she doesn’t really accept anyone. She takes only people she knows won’t break the loyalty rule because she doesn’t want to feel betrayed.”
“Oh…”Andy said, placing his fork onto his empty plate. Jimbob took the plate with him as he left Andy to think.
The next few days, Mike was the person bringing Andy his food. On the third day, Captain was the one who brought food. Andy frowned at her “where is Mike?”
“One of the others got sick, and Mike is watching over them. I decided I would give you your food.” she placed the plate down a little roughly and flinched slightly about doing so, but closed the door quickly to hide it.
She turned to head to the door when Andy spoke up, “wait, where are you going?”
She looked back at him. “I was going to head up.”
“Don’t you think you are forgetting something?”
Captain turned back to him “no. why?”
Andy tapped his plate while looking up at her. “I’m bored.”
Captain chucked “bored? You’re technically a captive.”
“Yeah, but you all don’t seem to hate me.” he chewed his food for a moment “can you let me out?”
“Did you not listen to me?”
“You didn’t listen to me.”
Captain moved closer to his soul “ and what didn’t I listen to you say.”
“I’m bored.”
“And I said-”
“I’m bored, I’m bored, I’m bored, I’m bored, I’m bored, I’m bored, I’m bo-” Andy got louder and louder as he went on.
Captain covered her ears “alright!” she shouted, which made Andy stop.
“Alright?”
Captain sighed, “I’ll let you out to help the crew.”
Andy moved up to the bars, “only help out the crew?”
Captain frowned “what do you mean?”
He looked nervous for a moment before he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, looking at the Captain straight in the eye, “I want to join your crew.”
“why?”
Andy shrugged. “I don’t have any family, and even if you did bring me back to land, no one would really want to help me.”
Captain frowned, “that’s not a really good reason.” She crossed her arms, “you could always join the navy. They will take you in if you tell them that you were kidnapped by pirates.”
Andy frowned, “but I don’t know any of them.”
Captain raised her eyebrow, “you don’t know anyone on this ship.”
Andy pointed to the stairs that left the cells. “I know some of you. Like Mike and Jimbob”
Captain’s eyes went wide, “you don’t know us. You have only talked to us once or twice.”
“That’s more than I know about the navy. And you guys saved my life. You’re not talking to me like I’m dumb.”
Captain shook her head, “there is another problem with you joining. You’re way too young to be agreeing to our terms.”
“I’m not a kid!” Captain moved back a little from how loud Andy screamed. She didn’t think he could get any louder than last time. After a moment, Captain moved to look Andy in the eyes once again.
“I don’t think it would be good for you to join my crew. You have to follow all of my orders. I could command you to do whatever I wanted, whether it was killing someone or stealing something. At least the navy doesn’t kill you if you fail an order. But if you fail to follow an order, then I don’t know if I can trust you.”
“But-”
“But nothing. If you don’t follow my orders, I can kill you.”
Andy rolled his eyes, “with how worried you sound, I don’t think you would order me to do that stuff.” he crossed his arms but moved a bit away from the bars, “or kill me.”
Captain sighed, “Well, yes, I guess I wouldn’t, but that doesn’t count for when you get older. It’s for the rest of your life. You can’t ever leave. That’s not something you can choose now, no matter what you think. You’re way too young. We’ll be dropping you off at the next port we stop at.”
Andy shook his head, “no, I want to join.”
Captain sighed and stood up. “I’m sorry, but I can’t accept that. Like I said, you’re too young.” She went and grabbed the keys. “But I’ll let you help out the crew till we drop you off.” Andy sighed but was happy to be out of the cell. He picked up his plate and followed Captain up to the deck.
It was a month until they got to the next port. Over that time, Andy did any job he was given. Getting to know the crew as best as he could. It was Captain’s turn to steer the ship and she was humming softly to herself. As she did so, Jimbob walked up to her with a plate of food. She blinked at it for a moment before taking the plate letting him take over the steering. Captain took a bite and gasped.
“That good?”
“Yeah, did Mike make this?”
“Andy said the recipe was from his father.”
Captain sighed, taking another bite with a sigh, “he’s been doing practically every job.”
Jimbob smirked, “Hmmm, I wonder who he reminds me of starting out?”
Captain stood up straight, “I don’t know who you could be talking about.”
Jimbob leaned closer to look down at her, who frowned. “Yes, I wonder.” she glared and shoved some food into her mouth, and he laughed.
~*~*~*~*~
Jimbob and the Captain watched as the others checked the ship hull and everything under it. Captain and Andy were still fighting over Andy joining the crew. The two were at a standstill, and no one wanted to discuss the subject since they got into a shouting match the last few times.
Currently, the others were teaching Andy how to take care of the ship. “So, what are you going to do?” Jimbob said, looking at Captain.
Captain bit her lip, “You know we need to leave him here. It would be too dangerous.”
Jimbob shook his head, “you act like there would be no one to protect him.”
Captain glared at him before waving Andy over. He walked over before smiling up at her, “Andy, you should go get food.”
Andy crossed his arms and stomped his foot, “not until you let me join your crew.”
“Andy, don’t be like that,” Captain muttered, shaking her head.
“I won’t go get food until you let me join your crew!”
Captain sighed, shaking her head once again, “okay, okay. Fine, you can join us. Just go eat first.” She handed Andy some money.
Andy smiled, “Really? I can join you?” he took the money and looked at it for a moment.
Captain smiled at him, “yes. It’ll take about three hours to load up all the supplies onto the ship,” Andy smiled and started to head off as Captain and Jimbob turned back to the ship.
“Captain, we don’t need three hours to load up, only one,” Jimbob muttered.
Captain sighed, nodding her head slowly, “I know that Jimbob, no matter what he says, he doesn’t know what the life of a pirate is like. I can’t let him make that decision at his age.”
Jimbob chuckled, “didn’t you decide to be a pirate at his age.”
Captain glared at Jimbob, “yes, but I had you, and that makes our situations different.”
“And Andy has you. That makes them the same.”
“Doesn’t matter. He shouldn’t be making this choice.” Captain said, glaring at the ship, her fist clenched.
Jimbob moved in front of her, “so you’re making the choice for him?”
Captain looked up at him with a glare, “yes, yes I am!” she then stomped back to the ship with Jimbob following. Neither noticed the small shadow close to them.
~*~*~*~*~
Just like Jimbob said, they were loaded and on their way in an hour. Captain was leaning against the rail, looking back at the town, her elbows on the rail, her hands intertwined, and her head on her hands.
“You miss Andy, don’t you?” Jimbob said, leaning on the rail next to her.
“Of course I do, it was only a month, but he was a good kid, hard-working even if he was a little stubborn.”
They both jumped when they heard a voice behind them, “then you shouldn’t have tried to leave me!” They turned to see Andy standing by the mass.
Captain looked shocked, “why are you here? You should be eating in a restaurant right now.”
“I heard your plans to leave me, so I got on the boat as soon as I could.” He said with a nod and a smile
“You shouldn’t be here!” Captain stomped her foot.
“I want to be a pirate on your crew.”
“You don’t know what you’re getting into!”
“Then tell me!”
“If we get captured, then pirates or soldiers won’t go easy on you!”
“I don’t care!”
“You should! You should be back in town, finding someone to take you in.”
“I don’t want anyone but you guys.” Andy started to tear up at that point, “After I lost my family, I tried to get back the only thing left of my family and then was captured by those other pirates, and I thought that I wasn’t going to be happy ever again. But then you guys saved me, and for a month, I was really happy.”
Captain sighed, walking over and pulling Andy into a hug. “Okay, okay, look, I still don’t like the fact that you would be put in danger, but I know I can’t change your mind.” She gave a small smile, “if you would do so much to stick with us, I guess I can’t stop you.”
Andy looked up at her, still holding on to her coat, “you’ll let me join?”
Captain sighed, “I won’t allow that.” Andy looked like he was about to say something, but Captain covered his mouth. “You’re still too young. Once you become an adult, you can decide to join.” Andy’s eyebrows furrowed “but I won’t try to kick you off anymore okay? It’s a compromise.”
When she removed her hand, he was frowning but hugged her “fine.”
~*~*~*~*~
Once they were out on the ocean again, they took a better look at the map to see where this island they were heading for was. It took them five months to get to the location of the island. While everyone else was checking the ship, Captain, Jimbob, and Andy looked over the map. “So what is this place? Do you know anything about it?” She would have asked him about it before, but she had been busy teaching him all he needed to know to be a pirate and felt she could deal with it if the island was there.
“It’s an island that has great treasure, but also great dangers like monsters and traps.”
“And?” said Captain, leaning on one arm.
Andy bit his lip, looking down, “that’s all I remember my dad telling me.”
Captain watched him for a moment, waiting for him to say more before looking down herself. She looks up again and messes up Andy’s hair. “It’s okay little Andy, don’t worry about it. We’ll have to be more careful, that’s all.” Andy frowned at the nickname she had given him just because he was smaller than her, which made Captain smile a little more. “Okay then,” Captain picked up the map and rolled it up with a smile. “You should stay here, Andy.”
She started to head off the boat, and Jimbob followed her. Once her feet touched the sand, she turned to look at Jimbob, “you’re staying here.”
“Not on your life. If you get stuck in a trap, you won’t be able to get out.”
“I want you to stay here and keep the boat safe.”
“The boat isn’t going to get damaged here, but you might get hurt.”
Captain glared and stomped off. Jimbob smiled, following her, taking her silence as yes. When Captain was standing on the grass, she looked around to see a forest to her right and a hill of what looked like moss to her left. “which way? Hill or forest?”
Jimbob looked between the two before pointing at the forest, “let’s go check out the forest. Better place to hide stuff, if anyone did so.” Captain nodded, walking quickly into the forest, leaving Jimbob to keep up with her. For a while, nothing happened to them. When something finally happened, Jimbob pulled Captain back, just as she was out of the way, spikes came out of the side of the wood right where the captain had been.
She turned to Jimbob as he spoke, “see, this is why you need me” she rolled her eyes and pushed him. Spikes came out of the woods where Jimbob had been standing a moment before.
“Yeah, I really need you.” She said, putting her hands on her hips.
He glared at her and stood up, whipping off his clothing before looking at her once again, “you know you could have just told me it was coming. You didn’t need to push me.” Captain just stuck her tongue out at him, turning from him and pulling out the map to see where they were. She then started to walk once again. “Brat,” Jimbob muttered, following her once again.
They went on for a while, but nothing else seemed to happen to them. Captain turned around to Jimbob with a sigh. “We should probably go back now, any farther, we’d be going too deep. I wouldn’t like to go that far without the rest of the crew.” Jimbob nodded, letting Captain pass by him. She smiled slightly but walked by, heading towards the ship.
Once the two stepped out of the forest, Captain started to head towards the ship, “everything okay?” she shouted to the few who were looking her way. It was with that yell that the hill they had seen before started to move. It turned to face them to reveal a four-legged creature that had moss covering its entire body. Once it faced them, it gave a deep roar.
Captain and Jimbob turned around as the rest of the crew ran towards them. Both were too shocked to move until the creature shot a ball of green slime at them. Jimbob thought fast enough and pushed the Captain out of the way. The Captain landed on her side and turned around only to see Jimbob getting hit himself. The crew didn’t give it time to attack again, they attacked it in force, and while a few of them got hurt from it clawing at them, they attacked its neck first, taking it down quickly. By the time they had killed it, the slime had sunk into the ground leaving only the bones of Jimbob.
Captain looked at the body. The only thing moving was the one hand that rose to her mouth. She crawled over to his body and slowly reached to touch the skull. A dark shadow seemed to cover her body, but when the rest of the crew blinked, it was gone as if it had never been there. That was when the tears started to roll down her cheeks. Her whole body started to shake. She reached out her other hand and picked up his skull. She looked at it for a moment before pulling it close to her chest and let out a wail, bending over crying into her knees. The crew came over to her and tried to comfort her, but she just ignored them.
“We should get her back to the ship and leave this place. Nothing good would come from her staying here,“ muttered Mike. Gary nodded and started to pick her up.
“No!” she reached out, as if trying to grab Jimbob but only managed to grab his jawbone before Gary had completely picked her up and started walking back to the ship. She held both bones close to her, muttering to herself stuff the other crew couldn’t make out.
Andy stayed behind only long enough to bury the rest of the body. It only took them a little while longer to get off the island. Captain spent the whole time in her room.
~*~*~*~*~
It was a few weeks before anyone saw Captain again. They left food outside the door,, and when they went back to check on it they saw that it had been eaten. When she did come out, they were quite shocked to find she was carrying around Jimbob’s skull. She had somehow managed to attach the jawbone to it, with some screws she had found somewhere. The others were worried about her as she seemed to have forgotten everything about the island and what happened on it. Andy swore that when he stared at it long enough, he could see a light coming from its left eye socket, but when he blinked, it was gone.
What worried them the most was that she started to talk to the skull as if he was alive.
“Captain?” Mike asked, coming up to her.
She turned to him with a smile holding the skull close to her chest. “What is it, Mike? Is there a problem in the kitchen?”
Mike shook his head, “no, nothing like that.” He muttered, looking at his feet.
She watched him for a moment, looked at Jimbob before nodding, “then what is it?”
“I was wondering if you could help me get something out of the hold?”
The Captain smiled “is that all? Sure.” She placed Jimbob’s skull on a barrel, “sorry Jimbob, I need to keep you here because you can’t help. I’ll be right back, though.” She nodded at it before following Mike to the hold.
Gary waited a moment before taking the skull to the kitchen. Most of the other crew was waiting there for him.
“What are we going to do with it?” Andy asked, leaning on the table to see the skull. He moved back slightly, seeing that it was looking at him. Again he saw the light, but after another blink, it was gone. He shook his head and looked at Gary.
Gary sighed, “We need to free Captain from its curse.” He brought out a hammer and shook his head, “sorry Captain” he muttered before bringing the hammer down on the skull. Which wasn’t affected by it at all. Everyone watched as he hit it a few more times with no change. He growled at it, “looks like we need to try something heavier.” He walked out of the room, and when he came back, he had a cannonball in his hands. “This should work,” he grunted, lifting the cannonball above the skull. He let it go and watched as it fell on the skull, making the table break. When the cannonball rolled off, they saw that the skull had once again been unaffected.
Gary frowned as he picked up the skull. “What happened to this?” he shook his head before putting the skull back where the Captain left it before she realized what happened. Later that night, when everyone was eating, she asked what had happened to the table, and they just blamed a small amount of fighting. She gave them a quick lecture, and they all listened as it felt like they had the old captain back.
~*~*~*~
Months passed and the crew watched as Captain went on talking to the skull. She also seemed to have a memory problem forgetting whole events. The crew acted as if those events didn’t happen, worried that if they brought it up, they would harm Captain.
Captain was in the bathroom while Jimbob’s skull sat on her bed. She walked out and sat next to it, picking it up “Sorry to keep you waiting.” She was wearing the same big coat she had worn the day of his death. She smiled after a moment, “yah, I did need to clean up,” she laid back, lifting Jimbob up so she could look him in the eyes. “Sorry, your jaw is loose. There isn’t much I could do,” she stopped for a moment then smiled, “maybe in the next port I can fix it.”
There was a knock on the door and the Captain sat up. “Come in.” The door opened to show Andy. “Hi, little Andy. How is everything going so far?”
Andy let the ‘little’ part drop. He had other worries now, “It’s good, Captain,” he said, coming in and letting the door close.
“Is everyone being kind to you?”
She had asked him that every few weeks, forgetting the last time she had asked. This was the third time she asked him. “Yah.” He answered with a small smile, which made Captain smile more.
“That’s good. Jimbob and I were worried they would be mean to you, weren’t we, Jimbob?” Captain made Jimbob nod his head. Andy tried to not look at the skull. The slime had changed it somehow. Not only was it really strong, it now glowed when in the dark. “Did you hear me, little Andy?” Captain asked.
He looked up at her “No, sorry I didn’t.”
She smiled “that’s okay. I was saying Jimbob, and I wanted to make a deal with you.”
“A deal? What kind?”
“It’s quite simple” she stood in front of him. He still only came to her shoulder, so she leaned forward so she could look him in the eye, “if the ship gets attacked, I want you to hide till the fighting’s done. If whoever attacked us won, tell them we forced you to work for us, okay?”
Andy’s eyes went wide and he took a step back, “What, why?”
She smiled. “Jimbob and I don’t want you to get caught up in this yet. You still aren’t old enough, and that might mean they treat you better.”
He frowned then, “I still want to join the crew. That hasn’t changed. I’m already caught up in this.”
Captain smiled. “I know, but you’re still a kid. If you’re part of a pirate crew, they’ll have no mercy and will kill you. If you claim we forced you, they probably won’t kill you.”
“Probably?”
“That’s the best we can do. I’m sorry.” Andy looked into her eyes and saw her old self in them, no craziness, and no sadness, just concern. He nodded, not knowing what else to do. She ruffled his hair “thanks. Now, why don’t you go off and see if the galley needs help, okay?”
Andy frowned, “I know what I have to do. It’s not like I haven’t worked on this ship for a year.”
“Right, sorry,” she said with a smile.
He started to head for the door but turned back as he opened it. “Captain?”
“Yes?”
“Take care of yourself, okay?”
Captain chuckled. “You sound like something bad is going to happen.”
“Something bad already has,” he muttered, looking down.
“What?”
“I was wondering if you would get rid of the skull?”
The Captain’s eyes went wide. “I couldn’t get rid of Jimbob. He’s my first mate.” She hugged the skull close.
“I don’t think he would want this,” he said, turning from her.
“What was that?”
“Nothing. I didn’t say anything,” he said with a smile turning back to her.
“Well, if you’re sure. Run along now and be careful.”
“Sure,” he nodded. Andy’s promise to the captain and Jimbob’s skull didn’t take long before he would have to follow it. Only a month later, the navy attacked the ship. The only thing known was that Captain and her pirate crew fought against them, only gaining death.
~*~*~ *~
It has been twenty years since then. Most of the pirates demographic had been killed off though a few were struggling to remain. A group of twenty soldiers were getting ready to sail, early in the morning, planning to set out soon. Three were talking to the dock owner to make sure everything was set and paid for.
The three men were wearing their uniform; as such, their clothing was exactly the same, all a dark green color and losses so that they didn’t get in the way. They also were very plain because they only wore them when they were fighting.
The dock owner shook his head, “You shouldn’t go out tonight.”
The leader of the little group looked at him. “Why?”
“Because the head pirate is out tonight.”
“Head pirate?”
“It’s just a ghost story,” muttered the second pirate.
The dock owner shook his head, talking as if the second pirate never spoke, “It’s the story of pirates who got killed by the navy, now they say the captain, who was stabbed through the heart, travels the sea on her ghost ship. She holds the head of her first mate.”
“What’s her name?” asked the first one.
The owner shook his head “no one knows. She was only known as Captain. It seems she didn’t like her real name.”
The third one started to pay attention at this point. He looked at the boat owner in the eye, his left eye lost during training, “What does she look like?”
“You can’t really tell what she is wearing because she is wearing a huge coat.” the soldier with the eye patch looked down.
Their chief officer came up to them. “This is not the time for chatting if everything is done, we should be leaving.”
“Yes, sir” the three chanted while saluting. They climbed on the ship and started to sail away. The dock owner shook his head, doubting he would ever see them again.
~*~*~*~
They had been sailing for a while, long enough for it to become night. It was starting to get foggy as they sailed, making it even harder for them to see in front of them. The chief officer placed one man in the front of the ship to look ahead. “Sir, I think I see something,” he said. The chief officer came over and stood next to him.
“What is it?”
The soldier pointed ahead. “I see a ship.” The ship he was pointing at slowly came into view. The mass of the ship was leaning to the side, there were holes in the body, and the sails were ripped up, but it seemed to still sail fine. The soldier’s eyes went wide “it’s the ghost ship!” the soldier took a step back in fear, shaking his head as if he didn’t believe it.
The chief officer looked back at the soldier with a glare. “It’s probably a fake, they faked the holes.”
“But the holes look real, sir.”
The chief glared at him, “there could be a smaller ship inside holding this fake ship up.” With that, he turned to the rest of the men, “We need men to travel over to the boat and bring out the fakes.”
“Sir?” the soldier that had found the ship spoke up. “Why must we? Can’t we leave it?”
The chief glared at him once again, “no, we can’t.” he pointed to the flag that was blowing in a wind that wasn’t there. “It’s a pirate ghost ship. The people faking this ghost ship are pirates. Since we’re the navy, we need to take care of them.” He turned to the rest of the ship. “Ten men are going up there to check it out.” ten men agreed to climb over. This included the one with the eye patch from the small group before. The captain went over as well, not trusting his men to do the job right.
As the soldiers climbed over to the ghost ship, they landed on the deck. Looking around, they saw it was covered in bodies. Most were decaying, and some looked like they were only killed a week ago. There was one thing they all had in common. They were all missing their heads. “I see they are willing to go through a lot to make this look like a ghost ship. Look around, see if you can find anything.” Before they could learn anything else, though, a voice spoke up.
“Look, Jimbob, more people to join our crew.” They looked to their left. Everything was dark, as if the moon couldn’t reach there. All they saw was a glowing skull, it’s eyes dark watching them. A moment later, it started to move closer to them, soon they saw two hands holding it up. A bit later, they saw it was a girl holding it. She was wearing a large coat. The left of it was stained with blood that came from a hole in her chest where her heart would be.
She came closer, and almost all the soldiers stepped back. The only one who didn’t was the one with the eye patch. “So many members Jimbob, we might need another ship too.” It was then that she noticed the ship they came on. “Your right, Jimbob. We could use their ship,” she chuckled, which seemed to echo in the cold night. She appeared in front of the chief officer. “So, who wants to join first?”
The officer growled, “none of us!” he brought his sword down as if to slice her head. Her arms seemed to move on their own, and she brought the skull up to defend herself but when it blocked the sword, she looked at the skull. “Jimbob, you don’t have to defend me. That’s what the crew is for.” It was then that the soldiers noticed the skulls and swords floating around them. Quickly they seemed to solidify into bodies of the old crew that died on the ship. All the soldiers started to attack them out of fear, except for the one with the eye patch.
He just shook his head, watching as the others fought in vain. “It shouldn’t be like this,” he muttered. The pirates didn’t attack him either, though when he felt something cold grip his left arm, he looked to see it was dressed in an apron. This made him frown. When he looked back, he saw that the rest of the soldiers were dead. He watched as Captain stepped over the bodies.
“This is interesting isn’t it, Jimbob? Unlike the others, this one isn’t attacking.” She came up right in front of him. He was taller than her, but because he was slouching, he was looking her in the eyes. She looked at him for a while, then shook her head. “I can’t figure any reason, can you, Jimbob?” she put the skull right in the soldier’s face, who then backed away slightly. It freaked him out to look into the black eyes of the skull. They stayed like that for a while. The soldier swore he could see that light in the left socket, Nothing made a sound besides the waves before the Captain smiled. “Really, Jimbob? It’s little Andy?” she pulled the skull back down and looked Andy in the face again. Andy followed the skull, but as soon as it had moved, the light was gone. Andy assumed that she had probably realized who he was when she had first looked at him but wasn’t sane enough to realize it without help. “It is! I couldn’t tell with you growing so tall and the eye patch. Where have you been?”
Andy frowned at that. “You mean you don’t remember, Captain?” Captain shook her head.
~*~*~*~*~
Andy was walking along the deck heading towards his room when the first wave of navy soldiers came on deck. He was going to help but then remembered his promise to Captain. Quickly hiding in a barrel on the deck, he climbed into it ignoring the food that was still there. He could see a good amount of the deck through a hole in the side of the barrel.
The battle was chaotic. When one person died, another took their place. Captain came out of her room with a sword in one hand, Jimbob in the other. As soon as Captain joined that battle, sailors started to fall left and right. Captain didn’t even seem to be breaking a sweat. Soon she ended up in front of the barrel that Andy had used as a hiding place. She was looking for her next opponent when the two heard clapping. Both her and Andy looked to see it was an officer. “Tom,” Captain growled.
“Hello to you too, Captain, or should I call you by your real name?”
“Don’t you dare!”
Tom looked hurt, “We grew up in the same town, and you won’t let me call you Anne-?” The grip on her sword grew even tighter.
“You’re not allowed to call me that!” She interrupted him.
“Oh right, only Jimbob is,” he sneered. It was then that he noticed the skull, “carrying around skulls now? Are you going for the morbid look?” he pulled out his sword, “because if you are, that skull is the worst one I’ve ever seen.”
“Don’t insult Jimbob!”
“Oh, so that’s what happened to him, is it?” Tom chuckled, “suits him,” Captain swung at him, but he stepped out of her reach. “It’s all your fault, you know.” Captain froze for a second, and Tom swung at Jimbob, Captain without thinking, moved it out of the way. “Are you trying to keep him safe?” he swung at Jimbob again and again. Captain moved it away again without thinking, this time in front of her chest. Tom shook his head “fool!” he thrust his sword at Jimbob, which again Captain moved away, but this time Tom wasn’t aiming for him, he was aiming for the Captain’s heart. The sword hit its mark, and Andy gasped.
Tom smiled as he removed his sword from her body. She fell to her knees, as tears started to roll down Andy’s face. Her body hit the deck, and Tom walked over her body, looking for his next victim. The Captain’s last words were only heard by Andy, “don’t worry, Jimbob I’m fine. After I get up, we can start sailing around again.” With that, she died with a small smile on her face. A darkness seemed to seep out of her and into the deck before condensing into her body once again. With a blink, the darkness was gone.
The battle ended soon after that with the death of the rest of the crew. The sailors found Andy quickly, and he kept his promise to the Captain, saying he was forced to work for them. The sailors believed him because he was crying. He had joined the navy after because he didn’t have anywhere else to go, just like he told the Captain and Jimbob’s skull.
When they took him back to port, they signed him into the navy quickly. Tom suggested Andy join his unit, but Andy lied and said he was afraid of Tom and his uni because of the bloodbath they created.
For years Tom tried to keep in contact with Andy as he got higher and higher in rank. It wasn’t until Tom was sent to check on the head pirate and never came back did Andy have peace.
~*~*~*~
Now knowing that Captain was the head pirate made Andy almost smile. Knowing she got revenge for what he did even if she didn’t remember it. Andy watched the Captain as she thought for a moment. He didn’t know if she would believe him or not. Sadly she shook her head, “no, I don’t remember, sorry, little Andy.”
Andy cringed at the nickname. It was weird to him since he was taller than her now. Another crewmember grabbed Andy’s other arm, making him look that way quickly because of how cold the touch was, seeing it was Gary before he looked back at Captain. “But this is wonderful,” she put Jimbob’s skull on top of her head as she came closer to Andy. She touched his cheeks with a smile; her hands were warm, making Andy move back a little in surprise, which only made her move closer. “You can join our crew again. Now everyone can sail together again.”
He shook his head, “but I’m not like you, Captain.” he whispered, feeling like any louder would cause something to happen.
“What do you mean?” she started to frown.
“I’m not dead!”
Captain shook her head, “I’m not dead. I told you I don’t remember dying.”
Andy looked around frantically, trying to find a way to get out of this situation. His eyes landed on the skull. “Can I talk to Jimbob?”
Captain sighed as she took the skull off her head and held it out in front of Andy. “Okay, but only for a little while.”
“No, I mean the real Jimbob!”
Captain looked at Andy for a moment before speaking, “this is Jimbob. Are you okay?”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s always been a skull.”
Andy’s eyes went wide, “No, he hasn’t!”
“Yes, He has! If he wasn’t, that would have meant Jimbob had died.” Her hands shook slightly.
Andy frowned, “I’m sorry.” He muttered before kicking the skull. It flew out of her hands and over her head. As it bounces, it was the only sound that was heard as it skids to a stop.
Captain was frozen until the skull had come to a stop. She looked at the ground, “that wasn’t very nice little Andy.” She muttered, but Andy wasn’t listening to her. He was busy watching as the skull started to float. The light in its left socket was back in full force and seemed to flow out of it, filling into a full body.
Captain turned around to pick up the skull. She walked to where it was only to see feet instead. She looked up to see Jimbob standing in front of her.
She glared at him, “who are you?!”
Both Andy and Jimbob looked surprised, “you don’t recognize me?” Jimbob asked.
Captain pulled out her sword, pointing it at Jimbob’s neck. “No, I don’t know you. Who are you!?”
“Captain, that’s Jimbob!”
Captain turned to glare at Andy, “no, he isn’t! He is a skull. That’s how he has always been.”
“No, he hasn’t! He died before you!”
Captain’s eyes went wide, and she shook her head, taking a step back. She dropped her sword and kept taking step backs till she bumped into the rail. She fell to her knees and covered her ears. The two could only catch a few words like “Jimbob,” “died,” and “no”.
Black smog seemed to cover her as another ghost came out of her body. “Ha, do you think she would listen to you?”
“Who are you!” demanded Andy.
“I don’t remember my name anymore. It’s been so long since I’ve had to say my name.”
“What did you do with Captain?” Jimbob demanded himself.
“I am a ghost, I possessed this girl’s body when you died” she said, pointing at Jimbob, “It was so easy with all her sadness. She wanted to get rid of that sadness, so I did so by taking her memories.”
Andy’s eyes went wide, “that’s why she didn’t remember things.”
“She also doesn’t remember you.” She pointed towards Jimbob.
“Well, bring them back!”
The ghost laughed, “Like I would do that.”
It was then that Captain looked up. She then quickly glared at Jimbob, “you stole Jimbob give him back.”
Jimbob looked shocked, “What?”
Captain stood up and started to march towards Jimbob. “Give back Jimbob!”
“You better hope she doesn’t grab that skull hidden inside of you. If she does, you’ll go back into your skull form. I’ll make sure of that, just like I always have.” The ghost laughed
“What are you talking about?” Andy said, starting to struggle to get out of the Mike and Gary’s ghost grip.
“That skull was the best way to control her. As long as I talked to her through that skull, she would do what I said. Why wouldn’t I let him break free.”
“What?” Andy said, looking at the ghost. It was hard since it was still attached to Captain, who was walking slowly towards Jimbob, who was backing up, looking at what was around.
“He,” the ghost said, pointing to Jimbob, “tried to break free a few times, but now that she died with the wish ‘to keep sailing with everyone,’ I’m stronger than ever before. It has not been completed since it has no ending. When a ghost wants something, it is stronger.” The ghost chuckled, “and she is never not wanting.”
Andy shouted towards Jimbob, struggling against the ghost again. “Hey, I need some help!” Jimbob grabbed the sword that Captain had dropped, throwing it to Andy. While Andy did catch it, the ghost seemed unaffected by the sword. “It’s not working!”
Captain turned to glare at Andy before turning back to Jimbob. They were on each end of the deck and her in the middle. She turned to Andy “stop hurting them.”
He blinked, looking to see he hadn’t done any damage. Her glare was fiercer, and she took a step towards him. When he dropped the sword, she smiled at him before turning back to Jimbob.
“Andy.” Jimbob called, pulling his attention. “There is one thing, but I don’t know if it will work. If it doesn’t work, you’re going to need to kill her yourself.”
Andy’s eyes went wide, “I can’t do that!”
“You’re going to have to if my plan doesn’t work.”
Andy took a deep breath before nodding his head. Jimbob nodded his head, then looked back at Captain. She glared and ran at him, reaching for his head. Jimbob grabbed her hands and leaned close to her. “Annebell,” he whispered.
Captain blinked a moment before struggling against his hold, “let go of me!”
“Annebell,” he whispered again, looking her in the eyes.
“What! What are you doing!” the ghost shouted. It seemed with every repeat of that name, the ghost became more and more detached from Captain.
“Annebell,” with that last call of her name the ghost flew out of her.
Captain blinked for a moment “Jimbob?” she whispered back.
He smiled at her. “Been a while. Sorry for being late.” her eyes went wide before she hugged him tightly, he returned it resting his head on top of hers.
Their cute moment was interrupted by the shouting of the ghost. “NO! NO! NO! NO!” It turned to the two. “How dare you fight against me.” It then laughed, turning to Andy, who was still being held by Mike and Gary’s ghosts. “But that’s fine. I have another chance at life.” The ghost quickly floated towards Andy, and he flinched back, actually able to bring his arms up to defend his face even if that wouldn’t help. When the ghost cried out in pain, Andy opened his eyes to see Mike and Gary’s ghost sword drawn now defending Andy. “What!” the ghost was holding its chest, a dark smoke pouring from a cut now there.
“Before, when you controlled me, you controlled my crew.” Captain said as she pulled away from Jimbob, who couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her. “But now, things are different.” she turned, fully drawing her sword that came from nowhere. Andy looked down to see the one he dropped was gone. “Mike, Gary, and Andy are my crew.” She pointed the sword at the ghost. “And my crew would never betray each other.”
“Why….why...why…”the smoke that poured out of the wound seemed to disperse, as it did the ghost seemed to fade away, as the ghost was fading away so were Mike and Gary “why...did...I...die?...I...want...to...liv-” with that last word the ghost was gone.
All that was left were Andy, Jimbob, and Captain. Before they could say anything, the ship rocked to the side, starting to sink without the ghost’s influence. Andy was thrown to the railing while Jimbob and Captain weren’t affected.
“You need to go, Andy.” Andy looked up at her as she moved closer “you need to leave this ship.”
He pushed against the railing to try and stand straighter “but what about you, Captain?”
Captain chuckled. “I’m a ghost, Andy. You don’t have to worry about me.” she looked back at Jimbob, who smiled at her. “I’ll probably rest finally.”
“But I just got you back.”
“You’re part of the navy now. You have an even better crew than we were.”
“You’ll always be my crew,” Andy shouted over the crashing sound of the mass falling over.
Captain touched his face softly with her cold hands. “And we are very proud of you.” she whispered. It seemed to be the only sound he could hear. “But this is not where you belong anymore.”
Andy closed his eyes, trying not to cry, “no I refuse. I’ve alway belonged here with you all.”
“And we will meet again. Someday, but for now-” before Andy could say anything more, Captain pushed him off the deck. He reached out to her as he fell plummeting into the water. He swam up to the surface. Once he did, he was immediately pulled into a dingy by some of his fellow soldiers. When he looked back over to the ship, it had mostly sunk into the sea, the deck now bare.
