The worst smell of blood and deteriorating bodies was like a slap in
the face when Jack
Sparrow stepped onto the dock at Port Royal from aboard the Black Pearl. It was so
silent, his footsteps echoed; he could hear his heart beating, his breath coming out in
controlled steadiness. With every heavy step he took, he fell closer towards insanity.
You chose, Jack... You chose, you did...
Hundreds upon hundreds of slaughtered people. Blood everywhere. People's heads
detached from their bodies, limbs strewn about; piles of them; all mutilated. Some, he
recognized; Governor Swann, Commodore Norrington, Will! William Turner, young,
strong, brave Will. Tortured, killed, finally defeated. That poor boy, and his lovely new
wife...
Look what you've done...
Jack kept an expressionless face and continued his walk, stepping carefully over the
bodies and still managing to get his boots soaked with blood. And those maggots; where
did they come from as the flies were all gone? Maggots covered every eyeball, crawled in
every ear. They had died - the people - had died not long ago. Their corpses were fresh
meat for all those maggots... All those horrifying insects, crawling, wriggling their tiny
bodies, eating, living... The only life on the whole island...
He stumbled as a wave of sickness passed over him for a moment, but he quickly gained
his composure once again, and continued on. He had to keep everything down, otherwise
he would go mad. Go mad and shriek like a bloody banshee, tear his own eyes out, cry
until his body dehydrated, and die; why not die?
Because you did this...
He had to go back to the Black Pearl. He couldn't face this any longer. Who he had
come to find was no longer there, that was apparent. The enemy had escaped, yet again,
but Jack had survived. Jack, his ship and it's crew; all at these people's expense.
"Hello, there, Jack," a voice said behind him. Jack spun around and standing where he
hadn't been a moment before, was a man. There was silence; the smell was terrible,
almost made the pirate captain pass out on the spot. And the maggots, those slithering
beasts, the bodies, the blood, the limbs, the heads, the eyes...
"Lost for words, I see?" the man whispered, thoughtfully. He smiled his blackened teeth.
Jack didn't budge, or make any sign that he had heard a word the acquaintance had said.
He just stared off, through the man, through the bodies, the maggots, his ship, the ocean...
into his past he longed to forget.
"You poor boy," the man continued, stepping silently over a dead woman and her child; a
small baby. Both were white with death. Jack couldn't take his eyes from them. "All
these people dead because you couldn't conquer your worst fear. Sorry, Jack; here I am."
*
"Yes," the old psychic said, nodding many times, her eyes shut and wrinkled face down
in concentration. "It is to be your future, god bless your unfortunate soul. You will have
to make a choice, Jack Sparrow; you will have two paths to choose from, and that is the
one you will choose. There is no way to change it, for you will not know the right path
until it is too late."
There was silence in the room, in which Jack sat looking a bit stunned by the psychic's
performance. Not only had she mentioned Port Royal, a place most Tortuga street
women had never heard of in their entire lives, but she had also talked of Will, and
Elizabeth, which was, indeed, extraordinary.
"Aye, well," Jack finally said after much thought, lowering his boots from the table he
was comfortably propped up at and setting two of the four chair legs he had been
balancing on, down on the floor, "That is a very interesting trick you did just there, but I
don't think I'll be letting anyone kill my mates off anytime soon."
"Jack Sparrow; you are kind at heart, but have no sense of impending danger," the old
lady replied, slowly.
"And that's why I'm a pirate," Jack said, grinning innocently. "Good day to you,
madam." He stood and left the depressing, deserted room out onto the streets in the slum
of an island, Tortuga. The old woman said no more.
The captain, while in the area for a few days, had found this lady wandering desperately
in search of enough money to feed herself. She had offered him a reading of the future
for one shilling. Jack, giving her four, had hoped for a more pleasant experience. Not
only had he been bothered by this woman's "premonition," but angry that she had
suggested he would do such a thing in the first place.
"Bloody raving dowager," Jack muttered under his breath as he strode off in the night
towards his ship once the lady was out of earshot. "I fear nothing."
A/N: How was it? Good? Bad? Please tell me! Thank you! And I will continue! :D
Sparrow stepped onto the dock at Port Royal from aboard the Black Pearl. It was so
silent, his footsteps echoed; he could hear his heart beating, his breath coming out in
controlled steadiness. With every heavy step he took, he fell closer towards insanity.
You chose, Jack... You chose, you did...
Hundreds upon hundreds of slaughtered people. Blood everywhere. People's heads
detached from their bodies, limbs strewn about; piles of them; all mutilated. Some, he
recognized; Governor Swann, Commodore Norrington, Will! William Turner, young,
strong, brave Will. Tortured, killed, finally defeated. That poor boy, and his lovely new
wife...
Look what you've done...
Jack kept an expressionless face and continued his walk, stepping carefully over the
bodies and still managing to get his boots soaked with blood. And those maggots; where
did they come from as the flies were all gone? Maggots covered every eyeball, crawled in
every ear. They had died - the people - had died not long ago. Their corpses were fresh
meat for all those maggots... All those horrifying insects, crawling, wriggling their tiny
bodies, eating, living... The only life on the whole island...
He stumbled as a wave of sickness passed over him for a moment, but he quickly gained
his composure once again, and continued on. He had to keep everything down, otherwise
he would go mad. Go mad and shriek like a bloody banshee, tear his own eyes out, cry
until his body dehydrated, and die; why not die?
Because you did this...
He had to go back to the Black Pearl. He couldn't face this any longer. Who he had
come to find was no longer there, that was apparent. The enemy had escaped, yet again,
but Jack had survived. Jack, his ship and it's crew; all at these people's expense.
"Hello, there, Jack," a voice said behind him. Jack spun around and standing where he
hadn't been a moment before, was a man. There was silence; the smell was terrible,
almost made the pirate captain pass out on the spot. And the maggots, those slithering
beasts, the bodies, the blood, the limbs, the heads, the eyes...
"Lost for words, I see?" the man whispered, thoughtfully. He smiled his blackened teeth.
Jack didn't budge, or make any sign that he had heard a word the acquaintance had said.
He just stared off, through the man, through the bodies, the maggots, his ship, the ocean...
into his past he longed to forget.
"You poor boy," the man continued, stepping silently over a dead woman and her child; a
small baby. Both were white with death. Jack couldn't take his eyes from them. "All
these people dead because you couldn't conquer your worst fear. Sorry, Jack; here I am."
*
"Yes," the old psychic said, nodding many times, her eyes shut and wrinkled face down
in concentration. "It is to be your future, god bless your unfortunate soul. You will have
to make a choice, Jack Sparrow; you will have two paths to choose from, and that is the
one you will choose. There is no way to change it, for you will not know the right path
until it is too late."
There was silence in the room, in which Jack sat looking a bit stunned by the psychic's
performance. Not only had she mentioned Port Royal, a place most Tortuga street
women had never heard of in their entire lives, but she had also talked of Will, and
Elizabeth, which was, indeed, extraordinary.
"Aye, well," Jack finally said after much thought, lowering his boots from the table he
was comfortably propped up at and setting two of the four chair legs he had been
balancing on, down on the floor, "That is a very interesting trick you did just there, but I
don't think I'll be letting anyone kill my mates off anytime soon."
"Jack Sparrow; you are kind at heart, but have no sense of impending danger," the old
lady replied, slowly.
"And that's why I'm a pirate," Jack said, grinning innocently. "Good day to you,
madam." He stood and left the depressing, deserted room out onto the streets in the slum
of an island, Tortuga. The old woman said no more.
The captain, while in the area for a few days, had found this lady wandering desperately
in search of enough money to feed herself. She had offered him a reading of the future
for one shilling. Jack, giving her four, had hoped for a more pleasant experience. Not
only had he been bothered by this woman's "premonition," but angry that she had
suggested he would do such a thing in the first place.
"Bloody raving dowager," Jack muttered under his breath as he strode off in the night
towards his ship once the lady was out of earshot. "I fear nothing."
A/N: How was it? Good? Bad? Please tell me! Thank you! And I will continue! :D