Open Ocean

"Those where the scariest moments of my life" my mother said puling her locket along its chain. She looked down at her lap and let go of the necklace. Her eyes were wet.
"Oh momma" I said getting up to hug her. We were sitting in front of our fire place, her in the rocking chair I on the floor. We did this every month, talked about all that had happened. We talked about my father leaving. We talked about the many times the pirates had invaded. And we talked about that night, the night I was almost gone forever. This night of story telling happened to fall on the night of my 18th birthday. I was all grown up now. I had finally grown out my blonde wisps and now had a head of thick brunette curls, just like my mother. We had the same eyes and olive skin. I loved my mother and she loved me. We were all each other had, on our own in this town. I sat back down and looked at the fire, she continued the story.
"A boy, about sixteen, I saw him walking up the beach. He was carrying something, at the time I didn't know it was you" she said looking at me for a second before staring off out the window.
"I ran up to him when I saw the blonde hair, there weren't many girls with blonde hair in the town at the time. I was grateful that you had taken after your father for once. I ran to him and cried when I saw you limp in his arms. He said you were alive and handed you over. I saw your chest rise and fall and breathed a sigh of relief. I looked up to thank him but he was gone. All I remember was the scar that ran the length of his face, however he was still a handsome young man. I searched for him a bit after that night and never found him. I pray every night that he is well taken care of and that he is safe" she said looking up to God. I pulled my knees into me and stared at the fire. The flames dancing against the stone fireplace. I looked over at my mother who was staring at the full moon out the window. The moonlight was pouring into our one room house through that window. I walked over to it and looked out at the ocean. I loved the way the moon and ocean blended together on nights like these. The deep blue water acting as a mirror to the silver moon. It looked almost as if the moon was in the sky and under the water at the same time. I turned to my mother again to see that she was asleep. The fire was dying down and I just stood at the window. I knew she would wake soon so I didn't bother moving her to the bed. I heard a knock on the door and walked over to open it. I reached for the handle and thought twice. It was almost eleven, a pretty unusual time for a knock on the door. I backed away and the knocking persisted. I took a deep breath and opened the door. I was expecting to see someone outside but there was nobody, just night. I stuck my head out the door and looked around. No one, just silence. I pulled my head back in and closed the door. I tucked a loose curl behind my ear and turned to the bed. I jumped when I saw my mother wasn't in the rocking chair anymore. I felt a firm hand on my shoulder causing my heart to quicken in pace. I whipped around to come face to face with a very pale woman. My mother was shaking her eyes wide and full of fear. She looked back to the door, the knocking had stopped. She looked at me and took off her necklace. She put it around my neck.
"Keep this with you and never lose it" she said and kissed me on the forehead. A faint cannon went off in the distance.
"They're coming. They're here" my mother said panicking. She ran to the window and looked out. There was screaming in the distance and fire, I could see it's glow.

We were a ways from the heart of the town but close enough to still be in great danger. She motioned toward me and told me to climb out the window. I obeyed. She pushed me through and once I was out she went through as well. We crept through the bushes next to our house and heard a loud crack. We turned around to see a body being thrown out of a neighboring house. We wasted no time, we ran as fast as our legs would go down the dirt road and into the heart of town. This was all to familiar, this had been the same trip as before. We heard yelling and footsteps close behind but we dared not turn to look. All we could do was keep moving forward.

We reached the heart of town and could see the fort close ahead. We were almost there. I saw my mother stop running and I felt myself slow down as well. There were bodies littering the streets and buildings. More so than last time, it caught us by surprise. I felt something hard hit me in the back and fell to the ground winded. My vision went blurry for a moment, but I could hear my mother screaming. I looked up to see her being carried away by two uniformed men. She was fighting them to come back to me. I felt myself lifted up, same as before. This was all happening same as before. I kicked and spat. I wouldn't make this easy for my captor. He set me down and hit me hard in the face. I was stunned. He picked me back up and carried me to the ship. I could hear the yelling and the lapping of the waves on the shore.

I was thrown down onto the deck and my captor walked away to help launch the ship. I stood up and ran to the edge, just like before. I was running through the pirates, just like last time. I made to the rail, just like last time. I was about to jump over board, when a hand grabbed my arm and spun me around. I came face to face with bright green eyes and pitch black hair. A very stern looking young man was staring into me. My heart quickened and my breathing was heavy. He simply shook his head and threw me into a group of pirates. They were laughing at me and pushing me around. I wasn't going to just stand there and put up with it, I pushed back, hard.

One of them was caught of guard and fell into another, they both fell to the deck. They looked at me and one pulled a sword. He pushed it close to me, touching but not stabbing. I looked him dead in the eyes, I wasn't going to go down a coward. He snarled at me and when I thought I was in for a clear of the throat made everyone look away.