On the evening of day two, Eric and I are curled together, trying to protect each other from the cool evening breeze, when suddenly the boat begins to rock. It’s only a light, gentle rocking, but it’s movement. We both lift our heads to see a mass of lights coming toward us. It’s a ship. It has to be. We both bolt upright and get to our feet, our legs wobbling. My heart begins to thump. Oh God, is it a rescue ship? Are we saved? The relief that floods my system, as I lift my hands and start yelling in a croaky voice, is huge.
“Is it a ship?” Eric rasps, his voice dry and crackly.
My eyes burn from too much salt and too little water, but I squint and as it nears closer, and I can see it is. “Yes.”
“I know,” he croaks “But what kind of ship?”
“Does it matter?”
He grunts angrily. The last few days haven’t been easy on our friendship. When faced with life and death, anyone would become overly stressed. I drop to my knees, feeling my heart hammer. This is our chance to get help. We’ve been out here two solid days and there’s a ship heading in our direction. I won’t be letting it pass. Eric moves about, and our tiny lifeboat rocks. I lift my sore, aching arms and begin flashing the little light from my life jacket.
Suddenly a large light turns and points in our direction. I squint and cover my eyes. They’ve seen us. Help has arrived. Oh God, we’re going to survive this. My knees buckle and I fall, relief flooding me. Eric continues to yell and wave the flashlight around. From this angle, the light isn’t piercing my eyes, and so I can see what he can’t, and when I see it, my blood runs cold. It’s a flag…but it’s not a country flag, or a navy flag, no…it’s a skull and crossbones. My stomach lurches, and it takes me a moment to gather my bearings enough to reach for Eric’s leg and pull at him, bringing him down to my level.
“What the hell, Indi?”
“Th-th-th-the…”
“What’s wrong?” he asks, confusion washing over his features.
“Th-th-the flag. They’re pirates.”
“What?”
“John said…he said…there were pirates out here. Oh God, Eric, they’re pirates.”
He shakes his head in confusion, so I lift my wobbling hand and point toward the ship that’s now coming closer. His eyes narrow, and then I see fear fill his eyes. He reels backwards, fumbling for something to paddle us away. Anything to get us out of here. Deep down in my terrified soul, I know we’ll never outrun a ship like that. We have only two options—jump overboard, or let them capture us. Right now, both could possibly mean death, it just depends which death we want. Maybe they won’t hurt us. Maybe they’ll just let us go, or leave us here?
No. They’re pirates. Everyone knows that’s not how it works.
I clutch Eric, terrified. My heart is beating so heavily it hurts, and my body is tingling all over, fear and panic wash through me. The urge to flee, to run, and to save myself is huge…yet there’s nowhere to run to. Eric’s eyes are darting, and he quickly flicks the flashlight off. His body shudders and for a long moment, all we can see is darkness. Our breathing is the only sound I can hear until the ship comes closer, and waves begin to lap against the boat. My heart hurts, it aches so badly I want to rip it out just to stop it. This is like a nightmare, except I can’t wake up. I can’t do anything but pray to God these pirates aren’t awful.
“We should jump over,” Eric whispers.
“And die?” I hiss.
“We’re going to die if they get hold of us!”
“We can’t be sure of that.”
“It’s too dangerous!” he growls.
I can’t answer, because the light swings our way and falls directly on our boat as the large ship stops beside us. I can’t see a damn thing; all I can see is the blinding light. I hear voices, and then I hear the sounds of ladders rolling down. I whimper, and clutch Eric closer. I clamp my eyes closed, wanting to drown it all out, wanting to take myself away from this fear. I feel Eric flinch, and then I hear the ragged, angry voice fill my ears.
“Get on the ship.”
The raspy, deadly voice causes ice to run through my veins. I open my eyes and see a man hanging off the ladder, glaring at us.
“Please, we don’t want any trouble,” Eric whispers.
“Shut up, get on the fuckin’ ship.”
“Just leave us here, we’re just…”
The man pulls out a long, rusty sword, and thrusts it toward Eric’s face. He yelps and leaps backwards, knocking me over. I cry out as my sunburned back hits the side of the boat.
“Get on the fuckin’ ship, now.”
Eric puts his hands up, trembling. “Okay, okay.”
He wobbles as he edges toward the ladder. The pirate grips his arm, hurling him over until he’s dangling like a floppy dog off the ladder, one hand grabbing it desperately. His screams rip through me, and I wrap my arms around myself. The pirate shoves at him, forcing him to climb the ladder, and then he turns to me. He’s an older man, with a long, bushy beard and thinning grey hair. He crooks his finger, and I don’t dare argue. I walk forward, reaching out and taking the ladder in my hands. He grips my shoulder, causing me to cry out as his fingers cause my burned skin to protest angrily. He keeps hold of my shoulder as we climb, and when we step over the side he shoves me forward.
I crash into Eric, hard. He wraps protective arms around me, and I’m grateful. I blink my eyes, letting them adjust to the twenty or so men surrounding us. I let my gaze scan them all, and I’m surprised to find them…clean. Well, they’re not clean as such, but they’re certainly not what I expected. It doesn’t make them any less deadly though. Every one of them has a hard, angry expression. They all hold a weapon of some sort. Swords. Knives. Guns. I tighten my grip on Eric and watch the older man who grabbed us, walk toward the door that goes down below deck. He flicks it open and yells down.