Burning Sea Chronicles: The Scarlett Rogue

I cling desperately to the rough wood of a floating rum barrel, holding back tears. The water is cold and I’m finding it hard to hold on but, I must, I promised I would survive. My eyes burn and my head aches, all around me are charred remnants of what was once my home. I tried not to gag as the smell of burning flesh and wood filled my nostrils. My family is gone, burned alive or taken prisoner by Commander Charles Barnet and his naval crew. All my tears have dried up, there is nothing left. My mind races, then slows, races, then slows, over and over again. Images flash and memories linger. I am exhausted. I am broken. I am alone.

To my knowledge I am the only crew member of the once glorious Scarlett Rogue to have evaded capture or death. I have yet to decide if this is a blessing or a curse. I’m alive but my life will never be the same. All the people I love and all the things I know are now gone, stolen from me in the cruelest way imaginable. Forced to stand by and watch as my family and loved ones perished. Unable to stop the destruction around me, I have never felt so helpless, so alone.

My mother and father suffered the opposite fate from me. They were one of the few who refused to go down without a fight. They stood alongside our brawny and valiant captain, my love, defending the Scarlett Rogue with their lives. Their certain fate was unknown but one could guess. I wanted to help but I was ordered by both my parents and Captain James Avery, to attempt an escape. The women and children, other than my mother and I, were taken by the Blues as well as several cowardly men. No doubt the women would plead the belly and be spared a hanging and the three children would be sent to orphanages. The men however, would be quickly tried and hung by the Port Royal government for piracy. The rest of the men were mercilessly killed and left to burn with the ship.

I was beginning to grow weak, my grip on the barrel loosening. Exhaustion and emotional stress began to take hold as I faded in and out of reality. For a moment I saw his face inches from mine and I could almost swear that I felt his warm gentle breath on my face. Reassuring and electrifying at the same time. But then I blinked and he was gone, replaced by the carnage and debris of my life strewn about me. My throat tightened and I felt suddenly dizzy. My vision blurred turning the destruction in front of me into a swirl of warm color and light. Then everything went black.

I open my eyes, blinking in the bright light of day. All sense of time escaped me. Had it been days or mere hours since I witnessed the demise of the Scarlett Rogue and its crew? And how did I remain clinging to this barrel when my limbs felt useless and heavy? My mind raced searching for answers and recalling horrifying images of death and destruction. And my heart broke. I thought of my mother and father, gone forever. Everyone I ever knew ripped from my life, never to be seen again. I no longer had a home or a family. I screamed out into the vast waters. The anger I felt giving me the energy to continue fighting. Then everything was pushed out of my head and replaced with the face of my beloved. A new wave of sorrow washed over me as I recounted the last moments shared with James. It felt as if my heart had been ripped from my chest and shredded to pieces, leaving me empty and broken. He was my everything. Our relationship was something so strong and real that it now felt like a giant part of me was missing. Yet something deep down inside my very soul told me to not give up complete hope. That small place within me burned white hot and made me believe. One day we’d be together again, whether that be in life or in death.

In this moment I made myself a promise, I would survive this and I would get revenge. I will not succumb to the overwhelming desire to give up, I will fight. Determination set in as I planned or daydreamed rather, about the day I find the men responsible for the deaths of so many and give them exactly what they deserve. Heart pounding and head swimming I cried out with anger and sorrow into the vast emptiness until my throat was sore and my voice raspy.

My eyes begin to flutter, fatigue taking over once again. My body feels numb and heavy. I look around wearily in search of a more suitable hunk of debris to cling to and find a large piece of what appears to be the deck. I begin to paddle weakly towards the wreckage, still holding on to the barrel. It takes nearly all of the little energy I have left to get myself close to the wooden remains of the Scarlett Rogue’s deck. I pry my stiff arms from the barrel and grab hold of the deck piece. Pulling myself up takes several pathetic attempts, my eyes aching with what would have been tears of frustration had there been any left. Finally I am only the board and as I lay curled in a ball I realized how incredibly alone, tired and cold I actually was. Lulled by the gentle rolling of the mercifully calm sea and taken over by pure exhaustion, the bleakness of my situation momentarily dawned on me before I fell into a deep sleep.