A pirate's Ward

I stood stiff at the door to my father’s cabin. My hand was shaking and I tried to control my fear. I knew that going in there was a bad idea, but I needed to know the truth.
Steadying my hand with a new found confidence, I knocked on the solid wood.
“Come in,” My father’s voice broke the silence of the quiet summer morning.
I slowly turned the door and walked in, my legs turning to jelly.
“Ah, Miles,” My father greeted. “What seems to be the problem?”
“I wanted to talk sir,” I told him.
“Yes, yes about what?” he never took his eyes away from the maps on his wall.
I looked down at my feet and took three deep breaths. “My mother,” I told him looking up, straight into his eyes which were now on me.
My father steeped over to his desk and sat down. “I thought we agreed not to talk about her,” he started playing with the odd items on his desk.
“I know sir,” I stared. “I just want to know about her. Is it so wrong for a boy to wonder about his mother?”
He gave a hefty sigh. “I suppose it’s only natural…But Miles, I’ve already told you a lot.”
“All I know is that her name was Jessica and she came from a wealthy family,” I explained. “I want to know more. Like, what she looked like and how she died.”
My father remained silent. Normally I would have left, but I made myself a promise to learn that day all I could about her.
“She had long curly blond hair,” he said. “Her eyes were blue like the sea on clear waters.”
“And how did she die?” I asked, the image of my mother was stuck in my head and I would never let it go.
“She died giving birth to you,” he told me.
“Thank you sir,” I was about to walk out when a thought hit me. It was one I have never dwelled on before.
“Sir?” I asked turning back around. “I’ve never heard of a pirate who remained somewhere for ten months.”
He scratched under his left ear. I knew that this meant he was thinking hard. But what could he possibly be thinking about. Was he trying to lie to me? Why couldn’t he just say he loved her enough to stay on land, giving Kyne power of captain till he returned.
Sticking true to my colors, I left the room after he had been scratching his ear so much a red mark began to grow.
I walked somberly along the boat. I thought about my mother. If she had blond hair and my father had black hair, why was it that I had red hair when I was younger? True my hair had turned black early on, but there has to be a reason for my red baby hair.
I turned a corner and Ziggy smacked into me. I remained upright, but Ziggy’s small body was pushed to the ground.
Ziggy was the new cabin boy. Around four years ago, my friend Caleb had become a full pirate and age sixteen. I took over since I was nine. However, being the captain’s son, I knew a lot more, so I was a pirate at thirteen. Ziggy was nine then. He was short for his age but very good at sailing.
We picked up Ziggy off a king’s ship. He was a ship’s boy there and he was very interested in seeing seas from the other side of the war, the side of a pirate. He already had experience so no one had much to teach him. He was very fast and could make his way around the boat easily. The only problem was he kept running into people, especially me.
“Sorry sorry sorry!” He cried gathering himself together and standing back up.
“Slow down Ziggy,” I warned him.
“What’s up with you?” He asked me tipping his head like he always did.
“Nothing,” I sighed.
“Wanna play hide and go seek?” He asked.
“I’m not in the mood Ziggy,” I started walking again and Ziggy followed behind me.
“Awww whys not?” he begged.
“I’m thinking okay.”
“About what?” Ziggy climbed onto the edge of the ship like I used to and I had half a mind to push him off.
“None of your business!” I spat at him.
“Awww come on!” He pleaded. “I’m bored.”
“Then go make yourself useful!” I replied.
“How?” He jumped down in front of me and I nearly tripped over him.
“Geez Ziggy don’t do that!” I yelled.
“Come on Miles! Let’s go play,” he tugged on my arm but I jerked away.
“Pirates don’t play!” I scolded.
“Pirates don’t this. Pirates don’t that!” He mocked. “What do pirates do!?”
“Steal and kill,” I replied digging my hands deep in my pockets thinking about when my first kill would come around. Caleb’s changed him forever. He stopped hanging out with me and became what he called a true man. I bet he wasn’t a man yet.
“Doesn’t sound as fun as hide and go seek!” Ziggy sighed.
“Alright Ziggy,” I turned to him. “I’ll play with you. You go hide, and I’ll come find you.”
“Oh no!” he said backing away. “I’m not falling for that again!”
“Just leave me alone!”
“Fine!” Ziggy turned away. “But one day you’ll be asking for me!”
I walked along in silence. I saw Caleb looking out on the sea. Ever since he went on his first raid, he never was the same. My bright happy Caleb turned into a dark rough pirate in minutes. And that certain pirate didn’t want to hang out with little kids.
I walked up and stood next to him. He looked at me, his eyes were like coal, black and cold. “What?” he asked.
“Didn’t know it was illegal to stand here,” I replied in a voice just as rude.
“It is now,” he said pushing me to the side. You see, Caleb had once been a scrawny little kid, but now he was one of the strongest men on the boat. I fell over and landed on my butt.
I jumped up and stared at Caleb. “Don’t push me!” I yelled trying to push him over. However, Caleb was still a good foot taller than me, and with his new found muscles, he didn’t even topple a bit.
He laughed and grabbed one of my arms. “Just what are you trying to prove huh?” he asked
Not even honoring him with a response, I used my other arm (luckily my stronger left arm) and swung it into his jaw.
The blow was not enough to actually hurt him, but he wasn’t expecting my punch to be as strong as it was (and honestly neither was I) so he was caught off guard and released my arm. I took advantage of his momentary loss of awareness and aimed to kick his knee. However, by the time my leg got there, so had his hand. He lifted my leg off, and the other slipped from underneath me. He was pulling me up into the air and my head hit the deck as he lifted my ankle to his neck.
Mr. Ash just happened to be walking by and saw me attempting to knock my fists into Caleb’s legs.
“Stop it,” he hissed. “Do you to want to get in trouble. Mr. Kendig is coming!”
Mr. Kendig was the quartermaster. If he came by and saw us fighting, the option of dueling on land wouldn’t even arise.
Caleb knew this so he dropped me and I landed with a thunk on my head, toppled over, and came to a halt on my stomach, my chin crashing against the deck, causing my to bite my tongue, a most painful experience.
Mr. Kendig walked around the edge of the boat, on patrol duty, and saw me lying on the deck, holding on tightly to my chin, which, by then, had begun to throb against my upper jaw.
“What’s going on here?” Mr. Kendig asked as he stood next to Mr. Ash.
“He started it!” I shouted jumping up to my feet. A couple of my teeth had pierced my tongue, so a few drops of blood sprayed on Caleb’s face.
“Started what?” He asked, giving me a warning look.
“The fight!” I shouted loud enough to catch the attention of a couple pirates who gathered around us.
“What fight are you talking about?” Caleb said laughing. “The kid’s obviously got a pretty big imagination.”
“Then why,” Mr. Kendig walked over to me. “Does he have blood on him?”
“How the hell should I know?” Caleb shouted.
“I think perhaps you have broken the articles,” Mr. Kendig looked back and forth between the two of us.
He was right. Article three of our pirate laws said that all disagreements were to be settled on land.
“Yeah,” I said. “But he pushed me first!”
“You still participated I see,” Mr. Kendig replied. “It seems that punishment is in order.”
“It’s all his fault!” I retaliated. “He’s too mean!” I tried to go after Caleb, but a strong arm held me back. I looked up and saw my father standing there.
“I don’t think punishment is necessary. Perhaps just a duel shall be enough,” he said.
The other pirates around us agreed.
“It’s true,” Mr. Ash said. “No one got badly hurt and the ship is due for a careening.”
“There is an island just west of here,” Mr. Finnegan said. “Should take about a day to get there.”
Mr. Finnegan was the sailing master’s chief. He was a small man with hair black like coal and it was very wet and slimy. His teeth were more yellow than the others, as if he was born with that smile.
“Alright,” Mr. Kendig said almost willingly. “A duel it is.”
“Until then Miles,” My father pulled me away. “You will wait in my cabin.”
Before I could even utter a response I was thrown into the room and the door was slammed shut.
I sat heavily on the bed and cradled my chin which, now that I wasn’t agitated, had begun to hurt a lot. I wasn’t looking forward to fighting my ex-best friend, but as I wiped my tongue blood from my lips, I felt myself getting pumped.

The next day Mr. Ash came and got me after we had landed on the island. I wasn’t surprised to find that no one was scrubbing the boat; most men were probably waiting to watch the duel. I was led through the circle of men till I faced Caleb.
Mr. Kendig handed us each a pistol, and a cutlass.
We faced back to back and they counted ten paces each for us. As soon as we were givin the okay, we both turned around.
I immediately shot my bullet, however my hand was shaking at the thought of hurting him and my bullet was off to the left about a foot. He aimed his gun a fired. I jumped out of the way which earned me a couple of boos from the crowd. But I didn’t care, I’d rather be a coward who wins than a man who losses.
With both our bullets gone, we resorted to our swords. Caleb came running at me with his right hand on the handle. I was lucky enough to be small so I simply ducked as he swung at my head. I used my left foot to sweep under him and he fell to the ground. I aimed to stab at his arm, but he rolled out of the way when I hesitated. Winning a duel you don’t want to fight is hard.
Caleb jumped up and swung at me again. I jumped to the side and moved around to his back. I brought my sword down on him, but he was quick to turn around and block my attack. We both pushed our arms and broke away from each other.
Caleb stabbed at me and I quickly jumped back. Had I not moved, the cutlass would have caught me right in the heart. Caleb was trying to kill me. He didn’t want to just draw blood and win, he actually wanted to kill me! I was so angry, all my thoughts had seemed to build into a cloud that blocked all thought.
I swiftly ran up to Caleb who was watching my anger rise. My first attack was blocked, but as his moved his sword away, I kept running.
I ended up on the other side of him. Both my arms were holding the sword to my right side. The cloud was leaving and as soon as it was gone, the sounds of loud cheering came from all around me. Shocked, I looked over at my sword. There were drips of red landing on the sand below. I glanced over at Caleb and saw that he was clutching his arm, which had a nasty cut in it. I had won.
Mr. Ash, the ships surgeon took Caleb back to the ship to stitch his arm up. The other pirates congratulated me and then went off to tend to the boat.
I dropped my cutlass in the sand and stared at the odd spot of red among the white. Had I really just fought my friend?
I then remembered what someone once told me when I was seven “Pirates don’t have friends.” I remember that was right before the man died. It got me thinking, if pirates had no friends, what happens when they retire to a life of no danger?
It was then that I realized the cruel reality that came with the life of a pirate. We grow with no real friends, and, if any, only about 5% of us will live to be over 40. That most of our kind would die before our real time; whether it be by the king’s navy, the hash rules of the sea, or, as my fortune was becoming true, the hand of one who was once close like family.
I couldn’t force myself to walk to the ship, even though I saw Ziggy waving to me. I stood there with a dry mouth.
Caleb, the one who I could once tell secrets to, was now the one person I had to keep secrets from the most. Caleb, the one who had saved me countless times before, was now the one I needed saving from. Caleb, the one who had once been my brother, was now my enemy. I knew deep down that there was no salvation for our friendship. After all, Caleb was a pirate, and pirates don’t have friends.
I suddenly became lonely. I longed to see the face of that girl Kathy. To do what her aunt suggested and live a calm life with her no matter how odd she acted. I suddenly felt that even though she was miles away, she was the closest friend I had, even if I’ve only seen her twice, and might never see her again.
If a girl I barely know is my best friend…is it really all that great to be a pirate?