Chapter two - a friendly whack on the head

Updating a little early, because fuck it. I'm going back to school soon and your comments are always a nice temporary distraction from horrible facts like that.

Love ya little whores.

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"Nothing is ever done in this world until men are prepared to kill one another if it is not done."

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"Well, Frank," the captain said. "Welcome aboard the Black Freighter."

I scoffed. "Some welcome."

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, but the whole atmosphere just doesn't feel very friendly to me."

The captain furrowed his brow, looking almost offended.

I stared at him. "I'm tied to a table leg."

"That was just to stop you running away while the ship was in port." He pulled out a dagger and cut away the bindings, and I struggled loose then stood up.

The captain glanced me over, his eyes dragging up and down my form, and I shuffled back a step, uncomfortable under his gaze. "Why exactly am I here?" I demanded, using the confidence I had while I still had it.

"We just needed an extra pair of hands to help around the ship," the captain said nonchalantly.

"Why me?" I asked. "Why get someone to traipse all the way across town to my house to grab me when you could have easily taken someone from one of the homes along the coast, no fuss?"

Captain Bryar paused. "Well, we heard-"

We were abruptly interrupted as the door crashed open. "Captain!" a man yelled, skidding into the room. His brown curls were tangled and dry from the ocean air, and his frayed clothes spoke of a laborious position on the ship. "Captain, it's- it's the Aurora!"

The captain's eyes darkened, and his fingers automatically ghosted over the pistol on his belt. "All hands on deck," he roared, suddenly fearsome and aggressive.

"And the kid?" the curly haired man asked, nodding in my direction.

"Stick the girl in here with him to keep him company."

'The girl'. My stomach churned at his words. I desperately hoped that this girl wasn't some concubine planning to have sex with me. I was small and terrified, and I knew I would be an easy target.

"Don't be scared, kiddo," the captain said. "We'll make it like a nice wet dream for ya."

I shuddered. To be honest, I rarely found women attractive. I had a feeling it was going to be more like a wet nightmare.

"Knock him out, will you, Toro?"

My eyes widened and I stumbled backwards. "No, you don't have to do that."

The man with the curly hair shook his head. "Trust me, kid. You won't wanna witness the Aurora." The man smiled kindly, as if rendering me unconscious was a friendly gesture, then raised his fist and brought it down on my head.

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Unconsciousness lasted a long while. It took some time, but soon blackness began to dissolve into blurry colours, and silence was broken by a ringing in my ears. I groaned and tried to force my eyes open to no avail. I tried to piece together where I was and what had happened.

Shrieks of 'Fire!' and furious yells penetrated my ears, and the sound of swords clashing told me all I needed to know. Everything came back to me. Pirates. Yeah.

A cannon blew, resurfacing the blinding ringing in my ears again, and a little squeak came from the corner of the room. I opened my eyes (to great success this time) and glanced around. I appeared to be alone in the dining room. I clutched at the side of the table and hauled myself up. That's when I caught sight of her. A young girl- no older than me- was shivering and cowering in the corner of the room underneath a shelf, hugging her knees and hiding behind her hair.

She didn't look much like a hooker, so I approached her.

"Are you alright, miss?" I asked.

"Thank you for your kindness," she said, her voice wavering. "As much as I would like to say that I am alright, I must be truthful and tell you that I am most certainly not."

"I'm sorry," I said awkwardly, unsure how to comfort her.

She waved a hand feebly. "It isn't your fault." She paused. "That is, presuming you aren't one of them."

"One of who?" I asked dumbly.

"The pirates. Outside on the deck, pillaging and screaming and murdering their fellow sailor."

I shook my head. "No. I'm sort of- well, I'm a prisoner, I suppose."

She smiled a little and sighed tiredly. "Me too."

"Franklin," I said, extending a hand.

"Jamia," she said softly, shaking my hand.

"So," I said. "What's the Aurora? It sounded quite dramatic."

"It's another ship, from what I've gathered," she said. "One they seem to hate with everything they have."

"Why?" I frowned.

She shrugged. "Don't know. They just have a grudge against them. They're never this vicious with other pirates. Only the crew of the Aurora."

"Pirates are strange creatures," I murmured.

"Agreed."

A crashing and the sound of breaking glass reverberated through the room and I tensed. Neither Jamia nor I dared to move. There were two men fighting in the room with us, one with his hands wrapped around the other's throat. Blood smeared from his hands to the other man's neck from where he had broken the glass in the door.

I recognised the man with the bleeding hands as the one who had taken me from my home, and the loathing I felt for him was quick to take over my whole body. I silently wished that he would be killed by the opposing pirate, but things weren't looking hopeful. He growled and shoved the other man up against the wall by his throat, and I covered my eyes, starting to feel nauseous.

I heard the ring of a sword being pulled from a holster, and I held my breath. There was a pause, then a sickening squelching sound, then a horrific crunching. Jamia buried her face in my shoulder. My kidnapper laughed softly. "Love a good kill with a sword," he mused. There was that horrible squelching sound again as the sword was pulled out, and a thud as the body slumped to the floor, and I glanced up just in time to see my kidnapper sliding his bloody weapon back into its holster on his belt. "It's so much more intimate than a gun, killing with a sword," he murmured, slowly making his way across the room towards us. His eyes locked with mine, and I froze. "How's it going, pretty boy?" he teased.

I shrugged. "Could be better," I said, masking the shake in my voice with overconfidence. "I'm stuck on a ship full of maniacs who are too busy killing other maniacs to tell me what's going on. It's a little annoying."

"Aw, I'm sorry, sweetie. I'd love to spare you a minute, but this is a pretty high priority job. Guess I'd better be going. Au revoir!" He skipped over the limp corpse on the floor and slipped back outside, and within a second he was poised to jump on yet another opponent.

Jamia stared at me. "Why was he... like that?"

I grimaced. "I don't know. None of the others speak to me like that."

"He's treating you like some common whore."

"Oh gosh," I mumbled. "What if that's why I'm here?"

Jamia patted my shoulder kindly. "Then you'll just have to brave it, I suppose." She pulled me into a sympathetic hug, rubbing my back comfortingly. "You could always kill yourself," she mumbled against my shoulder.

I snorted. "Yes, I suppose. Silver lining," I laughed.

Jamia laughed too. We stayed there for the rest of the night, huddled in the corner whispering to each other as the pirates battled outside. This whole ordeal was quite hellish, but I must admit, I felt lucky to have a friend.

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after all this time shitty endings are still my speciality

love you, my lil pretzels

xoxo