Can't Live My Life in Yesterday

As the boats approached the merchant ship at a steady, quiet speed, Emeline could feel her adrenaline climbing. She tucked her blonde hair up in a tri-pointed hat as to make her less noticeable in the dark. Captain Ezra’s boat was a few feet ahead, and was headed to board on the back end of the ship while her boat was to head toward the front. The merchant vessel was moving at a very slow speed, not having picked up the wind yet. The small pirate boats made it to the side of the large ship. Emeline could see the words HMS Venus painted elegantly on the side. Her father gave her the signal from his boat, and she and her crew climbed up the emergency ladder on the side of the boat. She peeked over the edge, seeing only a handful of sailors patrolling the deck.

“Five,” she whispered down to Lee, who flashed the signal across to Ezra. She watched until the soldiers had their backs turns, and she quickly flipped over the side of the ship, ducking behind a barrel. She held her breath as the patrolmen walked past her, and she stuck out her leg. As soon as he fell to the deck, she grabbed his gun and bashed him over the head; he was out cold.

“What was that?” came the chorus of the other sailors, who quickly ran toward their fallen comrade. Emeline ducked behind the barrel again, holding her breath as the sailors approached.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

Emeline peaked out from behind the barrel to see all five sailors in a pile, blood leaking out onto the deck. She saw her crew standing behind them, a few of their knives dripping with fresh blood. She could feel the adrenaline surging through her veins. Her father and his crew joined them on the deck.

“Em, we’ll take care of the captain and the treasure. Go work yer magic,” Ezra said quietly, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. She smirked, picking a few of the sailors she considered friends and heading below. They crept down the ladder to the powder magazine. There were a few men sleeping in the room, and before she even gave the command, their throats were silently slit. Emeline swiftly picked the lock on the door, and inside they saw barrels of gunpowder stacked in a mountain. She took down the top barrel and slowly drilled a hole with her knife, then dumping some on the mountain of barrels before trailing the rest out into the bigger room.

Suddenly, a loud bell rang out on the deck above. Emeline and her men barely had time to react before there were sailors emerging from the lower decks and attacking them. Emeline drew her sword and fought alongside her men. It was not the first time she had taken a life, but it was the first time the odds hadn’t been in her favor. There had been more sailors than they had estimated. They disposed of the few sailors left on their deck then ascended onto the main deck. The scene before them was chaos, dead bodies and blood everywhere. Emeline scanned the deck, desperately looking for her father.

“Em!” she heard him shout, her gaze finding him pulling him sword out of a dead sailor. “Light it up, we have to go!” She nodded to him and ran back below the deck. She took out two rocks and sparked them together, starting the flame that would take a minute or less to blow. As she was tried to climb back to the top deck, a shot fired from the steps leading to the lower decks. Emeline fell back to the floor, groaning as her shoulder began to bleed. She took out her pistol, firing off a shot that went straight through the sailor’s head.

“Fuck,” she murmured, trying to ignore the pain as she climbed up again. She waved at her men and her father, signaling that they needed to go. The pirates tried to end their personal fights, killing or injuring before running to the side and climbing down. As Emeline ran toward the side, she was stopped by a sailor in an officer’s jacket pointing a pistol at her. Her eyes widened as the battered man pulled the hammer of the pistol back. Emeline was slammed to the ground a split-second before the gun sounded. She whipped her head around and saw a young man with brilliant green eyes and freckles lying next to her. “Did you just…?” her thought was interrupted as she grasped her shoulder in pain. Instead of answering her, he pulled her to her feet and pulled her around a corner and into the captain’s quarters, shutting the door and pushing her up against the wall.

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?” he asked in a low, serious voice. Before Emeline could answer, a thought dawned on her.

“This place is gonna blow!” she half shouted, fighting the man off and running toward the back windows of the ship.

“What?!” the man yelled after her. She stopped, making a split second decision.

“Come on!” she yelled, grabbing his arm and dragging him with her. They jumped through the glass windows, falling many feet down into the rough seawater. Just as the two had submerged, the ship above exploded, sending chunks of wood everywhere. Emeline fought her way to the surface, struggling to stay afloat with her bleeding shoulder. The world around her began to fade to black, and the last thing she saw was the man from the ship swimming towards her.

The man grabbed her, half throwing her over his shoulder and swimming toward a floating chunk of wood. He threw Emeline’s unconscious body over the wood, and clung to the other side. After a few minutes of floating in the dark water, the pirate ship came into view. They threw down a few ropes, and the man swam toward the ship. They passed up Emeline’s body up first, and pulled the man up afterwards.

The man was thrown down onto his knees in front of Captain Ezra. Lee tried to shake Emeline awake as Ezra bore down on the stranger.

“What did ye do to her?” Ezra growled menacingly. The man looked up at him with a steady expression.

“I didn’t do anything to her,” he began in a clear English accent, but was cut off by an uproar from the crew. “She was hurt when I found her,” he said quietly. Ezra frowned down at him, hand resting on his pistol. Everyone’s attention quickly jumped to a rough coughing noise that came from behind the man.

“Em,” Lee said softly, helping her sit up as she coughed up water. “What happened?” Emeline rubbed her eyes, trying to focus on the situation in front of her. When she saw her father with his hand on his gun, her eyes widened.

“What’s going on?” she asked, confused.

“We found ‘im with ye, he’s one of them,” one of the crewmen said in a menacing voice, eyeing the man suspiciously. Emeline leapt up, groaning in pain as the blood began to soak her sleeve.

“Don’t hurt him,” she gasped, standing between her father and the man. Emeline swayed, her vision blurring a little. Ezra stepped forward, supporting his daughter’s weight. “He saved my life,” she whispered, losing consciousness again and falling against her father. Lee ran over, picking her up and taking her and a few other sailors below to treat her wound. Ezra turned his gaze back to the man.

“What’s yer name?” Ezra asked, eyes still suspicious. The man with green eyes looked up at him with pride.

“Benjamin Hooper,” he stated. All eyes on the deck shot to his face, an array of emotions among them. Ezra smirked, stepping toward the man and pulling him to his feet.

“Hooper, eh?” he chuckled. Benjamin nodded. “Well, well men. Seems we have a celebrity in our midst.” The crew chuckled, knowing that the Hooper family was one of the wealthiest merchant families in no just the Caribbean, but in all of England. “We’ll have to keep you around,” Ezra said with a mischievous smile. “Take ‘im down to the brig,” he muttered to two men, who grabbed each of Benjamin’s arms. “Oh,” Ezra said, causing the men to pause. “And make sure he’s comfortable, men,” he chuckled, walking off towards his quarters. Benjamin didn’t fight the men as they dragged him down the decks to the brig. He only paused when they caught a glimpse of Emeline laid out on a cot, blood dripping down her arms and onto the floor. Before he could see much else, he was shoved along and thrown into a cell in the brig.

“Sweet dreams,” the crewmen laughed as they locked the door and left Benjamin alone in the dark room with only the light of a few candles to keep him company.