Whale's Cove

I came back to consciousness with a shudder as I choked on the salt water in my lungs. Turning on my side I cough up the liquid and try to figure out what happened. I was thrown from the boat and…. Oh no, the passengers!

I bolt up into a sitting position so fast that my head spins. Holding my head I close my eyes until the world steadied, but the familiar rocking of the ship didn’t help the situation. It also didn’t help that once I reopened my eyes I had to slap my hand over my mouth to hold in my screams.

Surrounding me, all grouped together, were dirty, smelly, toothless men who grinned and leered at my soaked body. I tried not to scream since I didn’t really want to make any loud noises or sudden movements, but when one of them reached out to grab my leg I couldn’t stop the hair splitting scream that tore from my throat. I tried to crawl back, still screaming, but one of the men behind me grabbed my arms and held tight as I struggled to get free. I fought against all of them as they began to grab my kicking legs and slapping hands. One dirty, sweaty hand slapped over my mouth and I started to gag at the smell and taste.

“What in high heavens is going on out here?!” a deep, angry voice bellowed over all of us.

Almost immediately I was released and the men scrambled to form a misshaped line in front of another man who stood in a doorway. At least he looked cleaner than the rest of the crew, but that didn’t help me to feel welcomed when his dark eyes landed on me.

“Who are you and why are you on my ship?” he commanded, the anger in his voice pricking and stinging the air around my skin.

I stumbled to my feet so that I could stand up to him at my height of 5’9”, “I think the real question is why your crew kidnapped me and what did they do to my crew?!”

He seemed to get angrier with every word I spoke, his black eyes flashing as his dark hair danced with the ocean wind, “My crew didn’t have any opportunity to kidnap you since we haven’t be able to dock at any land in three weeks. I think I would have known if they sneaked a woman onto my ship within that time.”

He took a step closer to me, “And I don’t know a thing about any other crew besides mine. I haven’t seen another ship in the past four days.”

My bravado seemed to melt as I realized what he was saying, “But how did I get here? What happened to my ship and where are my passengers?”

The man frowned, “You Captain your own ship?” he gave a deep laugh, “That’s hilarious, seeing as how women are not allowed to own a ship or crew.”

My anger returned, “Excuse me? Did you miss school the day they talked about women’s rights? This is the 21st century, not the 1700’s!”

The men looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign language.

The dark eyed man shook his head, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I’m still waiting on an answer to who you are and why you’re here.”

One of his dirty crewmen stepped forward and raised his hand while clearing his throat, “Umm, I know why she’s here.”

The dark eyed man and I looked at him and waited for him to continue.

He gulped, “We, uh, I mean the crew and me noticed one of those sea animals circling around a piece of floating wood so we took the small boat and paddled over and saw her laying across a plank. We thought she was dead so we were going to take any valuables she had on her, but when we brought her to the ship we noticed that her heart was beatin’ so Fred there,” he pointed to an older man with no teeth and dirt smearing his face, “started to beat on her chest until she chocked up all the water.”

The dark eyed man nodded and looked at me, “Now that we know how you got here you can tell me who you are.”

I sighed, rubbing the ache under my temples with my fingers, “I still don’t understand how I got here. The animal you saw? Was it an Orca?”

The crewman looked even more confused, “A what?”

“An Orca,” I explained, “A large whale that’s black and white with sharp teeth.”

“Ah, sure,” the crewman from earlier said, “the animal was large and black and white. You call it an Ore-kah?”

I nodded, “Orca, or Killer Whale as some people like to say.”

It seems that every time I say something they become even more confused.

“Okay look,” The dark eyed man said, “You can either tell me who you are, or you can walk the plank!”

He pointed to the piece of wood that extended from the ship and that’s when I really looked at the ship I was on. It was like something from a story book. The dark wood was slightly moldy and uneven. Large sails of fabric stretched with the wind as the ropes that controlled them were tied taunt to the ship’s railings. There were kegs and brooms and mops along with other old sailing objects strewn along the multiple layers of decks.

My God, is this the set of Pirates of the Caribbean?

“I’m waiting,” the man growled.

I glared. God, he’s impatient, “My name’s Rae.”

The men began to laugh, some even falling on the floor.

“Your name is Ray? That’s a man’s name!” One crewman gasped between laughs.

The dark eyed man laughed with his crew, taking a break to include his own thoughts, “You’ve a man’s name and you own your own crew and ship? Are you sure you’re not a man trying to be a woman?”

I glared at him then looked down at my chest. While I’m not a D, my C cup is defiantly not able to be mistaken for a flat chest.

He must have followed my gaze because he hummed in his deep voice, “Yes, well you are the oddest person I’ve ever met.”

“Well you are your crew are the dirtiest people I’ve ever met.”

They began to smell each other, cringing at the odor.

“And,” I continued, “Now that you know my name, I would like to know yours as well.”

He opened his mouth, but a voice from up above called out, “Cap’an! Ship ahead!”

We all looked up to see another dirty sailor in the bird’s nest.

The dark eyed man, who I’m now assuming is the captain, called up, “Can you see the flag?”

The sailor disappeared for a second then called down again, “Britain flag, sir. I’m thinking it’s a tre’sry ship!”

The captain smiled, “Perfect. Men, prepare to board!”

All of the sudden the ship was a flurry of movement. All the man ran around like chickens with their heads cut off, or at least that was what it looked like to me, but since the Captain calmly walked to the wooden wheel and began to steer the ship it was probably more like organized chaos.

I looked in the distance and noticed a large shadow begin to fade into focus. It’s another ship! Maybe they live in the 21st century. Or, I thought as we gained speed and began to get closer, maybe not. The ship looked more like this one then any modern vessel I’ve ever seen.

Albeit cleaner.

As we got closer the men became more excited. They hollered and hooted and made so many other noises my head began to pound.

“Alright men, assume your positions!” the captain screamed.

Immediately after there was a loud boom, followed by the ship rocking in the water. I looked forward to see smoke billowing out of the side of the ship ahead, which for some reason made me look up past the bird’s nest to see the world known skull and crossbones symbol.

My God, am I hallucinating?

I watched in frozen shock as the ship I’m on pulled up next to the other ship. Cannons were shot, guns fired, and swords clanging as the men from this ship crossed over on boards, swung from ropes, and just plain jumped to the other ship. Then I watched as the Captain of this ship fought with who I’m assuming is the Captain of the other ship. Their swords clanged with fierce sparks and screeching notes as the men of each ship fought the other.

But everything came to a halt when the dark eyed captain of this ship pulled his gun out and pointed it at the other man. After a few seconds of silence everyone pulled out guns and pointed them at the opposition. Talk about a stalemate. They stayed in that position, the tension in the air so taught I could hardly breathe, but then, ever so faintly, I heard a whistle. It seems I wasn’t the only one because the crew from this ship immediately began to back off, crossing back to their original vessel.

The men from the other ship were confused, but decided not to worry about it and the two ships went their own way. I stood in confusion, watching as the captain steered the ship as if nothing happened, but when we were out of sight of the other boat three men rushed to a small door, flinging the wood open so that two men could carry a large chest onto the deck.

I narrowed my eyes as the crewmen stood impatiently as the captain slowly walked to the chest, carefully opened it, then withdrew gems, gold, jewelry, and coins from within.

They couldn’t have just… “Wait!” I cried over the crew’s joyful cheers.

The men looked at me as if I was crazy, “How did you get that chest?”

A crewman laughed, “How you tink? We ‘tole it.”

“But-” I stuttered, “That’s not right.”

The men laughed louder.

The Captain walked up to me, “Sweetheart, the world’s not right, and the only way to live in it is to take what you need and damn the others.”

I glared at him, “Yes, well, with men like you I’m not surprised.”

He gave me a smile and walked off to join the rest of his men.

God, if you can hear me, please send me home.

The captain gave me one last smirk before he turned back to his men, joining in their joyous celebration of thievery.

Damn, this is definitely not the set of Pirates of the Caribbean.