Categories > Original > Romance > Timepiece: Imari
Chapter 2: Into the Bloody Water
There was a volley of noises all around me. People were shouting and screaming--from what I didn't know. I heard splashes of things being dropped into water and then the clang of steel against steel. My eyelids were sealed shut. I knew if I opened them now I'd be sick, so without looking I tried to observe my present condition. The pole I had clung to was now horizontal and the air was much hotter. My eyes were also stinging with the change in lighting. It had been very late when we had left the movie theater and had therefore been dark, but now intense light tried to press into my vision. Panicking I tried to place the sounds to something I recognized and then realized I was screaming. I shut my mouth immediately and my eyes popped open. I shut them again, but then seeing I felt worse when I did so I opened them again.
I was looking at water. Though it was a beautiful color I knew I did not have the time to appreciate it. Lifting my head I saw the open ocean and nothing in front of me. I turned my head around as best I could with out letting go of the pole and saw a large ship directly behind me and a smaller one at its' side. I heard gun shots and what I imagined to be cannon fire. There was a battle going on. I had forgotten my present position and my hands slipped unexpectedly. My face hit the end of the bow and I felt my nose crush with the impact. I gave a muffled scream and plummeted to the waters surface.
My back took most of the fall and it stung painfully. I tried to stay calm and make my way to the top in an orderly manner, but calm and order were the last things on my mind! I kicked fiercely and what seemed like forever finally ended as my lips parted to inhale the moist air. I spun about in the water looking for any sign of land. Not a thing! My instincts told me to swim as far away from the battling ships as my mind simply stated that if I was to have the slightest chance at finding my way back to Uncle Mike's I should stay with one of the vessels. My arms and legs moved me slowly to the ship I had fallen from while I reviewed the matter in my head.
I circled the right side of the ship to look for a ladder that, I had once heard, might have been built into its side. I gave a sigh of relief when I saw the small peg of a step sticking out of the smooth wood. I gripped the first and the one above it with either hand and silently waited for the fight to end.
My heart was racing furiously. I heard awful screams of men fighting above me and for the first time in my life I heard the sound that steel makes when it rips through flesh. I felt sick.
Something hit the water next to me. I looked over my shoulder to find the body of a neatly dressed man with a crimson stain covering his front sinking into the dark water. I let out a screech and hid my face against the smooth wood. I felt something then as the bodies of dead men were thrown over the edge that I had never before felt. I felt like some deep sickness was consuming my mind so that when I saw the dead bodies of boys and old men being thrown unceremoniously into the open ocean I could sense my sanity leaving me.
The sun was setting as the turmoil above me began to be still. There was a long period of rustling and the sound of objects being dropped and pushed across the deck. Not much later I saw the other ship fall behind and change its course. In the fading light I could barely make out the many neat uniforms bustling about the deck of the small vessel.
Survivors, I thought. I'm glad.
More noise came from above. This time it was the shouts of victory. It seemed to last for hours. There was singing and I even heard one of the men telling a story to another man as they hung over the edge, drunk past all reason,
"She was a beauty she was," he began. "I met 'er only a year a'fore I joined up with the last Capin'- you didn' know 'im back then, less serious- and I was jus' a lad of thirty . . .hic. Bad luck those women are! Anyhow, I was a fool an' fell in love with 'er. I never asked 'er name until I wanted to marry 'er an' when I did she turned out to be Rosetta, my half-sister! Ha! Nothin' but bad luck they are! But I didn' care, so I asked 'er to marry me, but she told me she was gettin' married to my second cousin! Heh!"
That's just sick!
*
As the night wore on my eyes became heavy and a cold wind started to blow on my back. Wet, cold and exhausted I thought of home. I thought I would have given anything to be back again. I wanted to be at home curled up in my wool blanket with a cheap TV dinner on my lap watching Beauty and the Beast on my small TV.
I wondered what happened to my friends. Were they comfortable? Had something worse happened to them? Or had they stayed at home?
My head rocked slowly from my sleepiness. I tried to lay my face against the ship, but instantly pulled it away. I put one of my hands gingerly over my nose. Pulling it away I saw that my hand was smeared with fresh blood.
Great, I thought feeling my nose again. It was twice its normal size and I felt a big gash on the top of it.
It's broken.
I laid the side of my head against my hand and tried to close my eyes. I heard a noise above me. I glanced up. There, leaning over the deck, was a man, his face covered by both hands. He was mumbling something and I listened harder.
"How did you get yourself here, Jim . . .?"
He started to say something else when someone else stumbled up next to him.
"Who you . . . hic . . . talkin' to Jimmy Boy?" This one was drunk apparently. The man he called Jimmy stood erect and I could no longer see him, though I continued to gaze above me.
"No one. I was just thinking out loud." His voice was crisp and full of energy. The other laughed between hiccups.
"BOYS!" he bellowed. "Me thinks Jimmy's goin' crazy!" There was a roar of laughter and I saw Jimmy's' form lean over the rail again. This time his eyes were open. I didn't move for fear of him noticing me. He stared blankly at first then he squinted and leaned over a little more.
He sees me! I panicked. I drew closer to the ship to be out of the light. He stood up again and for a moment I thought he was gone and hadn't really seen me. But I was of course wrong and I yet again saw his form leaning over the edge, only this time he was actually climbing over the rail. I closed my eyes and bent my head.
This isn't happening! You know it's not! It's just some whacked out dream in which you can feel great anxiety, fear, and pain. Yeah, that's it!
I opened my eyes and to my great disappointment found a pair of pale blue eyes staring into mine. He quickly lifted a finger to his mouth to stop whatever noise I might have made and then in one quick movement put me on his back.
"Hold on," he whispered.
He began ascending the side of the vessel when suddenly a large man popped up over the rail with the sickest look I had ever seen. Before I knew what was happening Jimmy ducked his head and I got the man's hot sickness full in the face.
I screamed and sputtered.
"Oy!" called the man from above- from his voice I could tell it was the man who had interrupted Jimmy before. "Jimmy's got a catch!" There were more howls of laughter and sounds of shuffling and pushing.
"Come on, Jim! Show . . .hic . . . us what you got!" said one.
Jimmy had stopped at first, but figured that he couldn't stay down there forever and continued to go up. At last we came to the top and he stepped away from me obviously trying not to get any vomit on himself.
I think I'm gonna cry!
"An' what's this?" It was the man from before who had talked with 'Jim'. He was short and had limp features and was very thin. As I took a glace about the deck I saw that all of the men, (there were no women on board from what I could tell), though of different heights were all seemingly lacking of fat. Some were the right size but none of their faces appeared healthy. I could feel the stomach acid burning at my flesh and almost gagged. The man whispered something to the man next to him and they both grinned menacingly. The one seemed about to speak, but glanced at Jim and frowned. The guy next to him, noticing this restraint, continued for him.
"Jim, me thinks you'd betta' fetch the Cap'in and tell 'im we've caught ourselves a-" he paused and sneered at me. "A mermaid." The others chuckled and I saw Jim leave through a small opening among the crew. I wanted to jump over the edge or at least follow him to escape the closing wall of ugly, sickly men.
"Hey, Red!" called the second. "Bring us a pail of wata' and a scrubba'." More laughing. There was some shuffling behind them and it seemed as though none of them were drunk anymore for they all stared with cold and sharp eyes. Then a bucket and a large bristle scrubber appeared in his hands.
"Now little fishy," he took a step toward me. "This just won' do. You're a gettin' that vomit all over our clean deck." I looked down and saw that it was most definitely not clean. Blood was smeared across the floor and the hot sickness that had so recently made my head its residence was mixing with it. I looked back at the man and he motioned for me to take the items. I didn't take them. Instead I yelled out something so stupid I wondered if it was really me who had said it.
"You had better not mess with me. I'm close friends with . . . Captain . . . Barbosa!" I had gotten the name from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. "And you'll have to deal with him if you don't leave me alone!"
The crew burst into laughter and before I knew it a small, hunched man in rags was standing before me. He was glancing around like he couldn't see, which, from the glazed over look in his eyes, was probably true.
"This is the only Barbosa we've ever heard of an' he's our cook!" laughed the first. The man disappeared as quickly as he had come and the laughter slowly died out. I felt like such an idiot! The other man now dropped the brush in front of me and took the pail in both hands. I stared at the ground. I could feel the cold sea water rush over me and I hunched my shoulders against it. There seemed to be no end to the sneering torment.
"Now clean it." I didn't know what to do. There I was with blood all over my face, vomit on my head and shoulders and lots of ugly, dirty guys ordering me to clean the blood-stained deck of some unknown ship. I sank to my knees- partly out of obedience but more from exhaustion and self pity. I took the tool and began scrubbing. I kept my head lowered so the men couldn't see the tears that were slowly making their way down my red stained cheeks. They kept up their mocking jokes and laughter and my arms felt weak and I couldn't move them any more. I saw someone walk towards me. One foot lifted back and then came back full force into my stomach. I let my head fall to the floor and gripped my stomach.
"That's enough," came a deep, commanding voice. I didn't look up but the laughter stopped instantly.
"Cap'in, we'es was only havin' a bit o' sport with the little-"
"Did you hear what I said Yates?" The Captain's voice was clear, harsh and so quiet that it was barely above a whisper. It was when he spoke this time that I turned and lifted my head to see him. I saw that all the men had straightened their backs and were looking straight into the distance.
"Y-yes, Cap'in." the man replied softly. The Captain turned from his sailor and, with his hands behind his back, looked down at me. His eyes were severe and his face held no expression.
"Get up," he commanded. I felt it was best not to keep him waiting. I pushed off the floor and rose. He was only a little bit taller than me and his outfit was neat and tidy. He obviously respected his own position. For a long time he stood there and stared me in the eyes. He suddenly turned to Jim and spoke calmly.
"Give her some more water to rinse off with. Then show her to the room under my cabin. She will stay there. Tomorrow she will begin working with Barbosa." He again turned and began to leave through an opening.
No, I thought. I can't stay here. These people will kill me!
I spun around and tried to throw my self over the side. Many hands had grabbed a hold of my legs and, instead of the dramatic death- or at least an exit- I had hoped for, my upper body came swinging into the side of the ship where my forehead smacked against the hard wood. I felt it split and fresh blood trickled into my hair. They pulled me aboard while I fought to plunge into the cold, blue thing below. My head was turned to face the Captain who had come back to watch.
"Well, I am glad to see you have spirit." That was all he said and he left with a graceful stride. I felt a hand impact across my face. I looked angrily at the person who had done it.
"Once the captain has spoken no one does otherwise."
*
A few more buckets of sea water were poured over my head and I tried to rub off as much gunk as I could. No one else spoke to me again and the celebration continued. Jim motioned me to follow him and I most willingly did so. I did not want to stay where I presently was. No one even gave me a glance as I walked through them to a small door that was on a staircase. Jim opened the door and walked in first. He quickly shut the door behind me. I looked around and was surprised at the size of the room. It wasn't huge but for being a room under the stairs it was rather large. There was a neatly made bed that lay directly on the floor. There was a small square window to my left and a large wooden chest in the corner at my right.
"You will sleep here," said Jim. His voice was soft and he was looking straight at me. I glanced up at him and then down at the bed. I stared at it and heard the door open and close behind me. I didn't look to see if he had left I just kept staring. I felt numb all over and didn't want to move for fear of letting the pain come back. A few moments later the door again opened and closed.
"Take a seat." It was Jim. I slowly kneeled down and kept my head down. He kneeled directly in front of me and he laid some gray cloth on the ground.
"Your nose is broken. You need to reset it. Do you know how?" I shook my head and looked up. He reached out with both hands, placing one around my neck and the other on my swollen nose. I closed my eyes and I heard a loud CRACK! All the pain in my body came rushing back and I shivered.
"I have some other things to do. You'll need to do the rest yourself." He pulled some items out from the middle of the cloth. There was a small mirror and two vials. He held out the blue vial. "Use this to clean your cuts and then wrap them with the cloth." Then he held out the black vial. "Put this on your nose three times a day from now on and your nose will heal a lot faster." He stood and looked about once more before heading for the door. He stopped suddenly and I heard him laugh.
"Sorry about the thing on the side of the ship." He tried to contain his laugh. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but," he chuckled, "you should take a bath as soon as possible." He left after smiling one more time.
There was a volley of noises all around me. People were shouting and screaming--from what I didn't know. I heard splashes of things being dropped into water and then the clang of steel against steel. My eyelids were sealed shut. I knew if I opened them now I'd be sick, so without looking I tried to observe my present condition. The pole I had clung to was now horizontal and the air was much hotter. My eyes were also stinging with the change in lighting. It had been very late when we had left the movie theater and had therefore been dark, but now intense light tried to press into my vision. Panicking I tried to place the sounds to something I recognized and then realized I was screaming. I shut my mouth immediately and my eyes popped open. I shut them again, but then seeing I felt worse when I did so I opened them again.
I was looking at water. Though it was a beautiful color I knew I did not have the time to appreciate it. Lifting my head I saw the open ocean and nothing in front of me. I turned my head around as best I could with out letting go of the pole and saw a large ship directly behind me and a smaller one at its' side. I heard gun shots and what I imagined to be cannon fire. There was a battle going on. I had forgotten my present position and my hands slipped unexpectedly. My face hit the end of the bow and I felt my nose crush with the impact. I gave a muffled scream and plummeted to the waters surface.
My back took most of the fall and it stung painfully. I tried to stay calm and make my way to the top in an orderly manner, but calm and order were the last things on my mind! I kicked fiercely and what seemed like forever finally ended as my lips parted to inhale the moist air. I spun about in the water looking for any sign of land. Not a thing! My instincts told me to swim as far away from the battling ships as my mind simply stated that if I was to have the slightest chance at finding my way back to Uncle Mike's I should stay with one of the vessels. My arms and legs moved me slowly to the ship I had fallen from while I reviewed the matter in my head.
I circled the right side of the ship to look for a ladder that, I had once heard, might have been built into its side. I gave a sigh of relief when I saw the small peg of a step sticking out of the smooth wood. I gripped the first and the one above it with either hand and silently waited for the fight to end.
My heart was racing furiously. I heard awful screams of men fighting above me and for the first time in my life I heard the sound that steel makes when it rips through flesh. I felt sick.
Something hit the water next to me. I looked over my shoulder to find the body of a neatly dressed man with a crimson stain covering his front sinking into the dark water. I let out a screech and hid my face against the smooth wood. I felt something then as the bodies of dead men were thrown over the edge that I had never before felt. I felt like some deep sickness was consuming my mind so that when I saw the dead bodies of boys and old men being thrown unceremoniously into the open ocean I could sense my sanity leaving me.
The sun was setting as the turmoil above me began to be still. There was a long period of rustling and the sound of objects being dropped and pushed across the deck. Not much later I saw the other ship fall behind and change its course. In the fading light I could barely make out the many neat uniforms bustling about the deck of the small vessel.
Survivors, I thought. I'm glad.
More noise came from above. This time it was the shouts of victory. It seemed to last for hours. There was singing and I even heard one of the men telling a story to another man as they hung over the edge, drunk past all reason,
"She was a beauty she was," he began. "I met 'er only a year a'fore I joined up with the last Capin'- you didn' know 'im back then, less serious- and I was jus' a lad of thirty . . .hic. Bad luck those women are! Anyhow, I was a fool an' fell in love with 'er. I never asked 'er name until I wanted to marry 'er an' when I did she turned out to be Rosetta, my half-sister! Ha! Nothin' but bad luck they are! But I didn' care, so I asked 'er to marry me, but she told me she was gettin' married to my second cousin! Heh!"
That's just sick!
*
As the night wore on my eyes became heavy and a cold wind started to blow on my back. Wet, cold and exhausted I thought of home. I thought I would have given anything to be back again. I wanted to be at home curled up in my wool blanket with a cheap TV dinner on my lap watching Beauty and the Beast on my small TV.
I wondered what happened to my friends. Were they comfortable? Had something worse happened to them? Or had they stayed at home?
My head rocked slowly from my sleepiness. I tried to lay my face against the ship, but instantly pulled it away. I put one of my hands gingerly over my nose. Pulling it away I saw that my hand was smeared with fresh blood.
Great, I thought feeling my nose again. It was twice its normal size and I felt a big gash on the top of it.
It's broken.
I laid the side of my head against my hand and tried to close my eyes. I heard a noise above me. I glanced up. There, leaning over the deck, was a man, his face covered by both hands. He was mumbling something and I listened harder.
"How did you get yourself here, Jim . . .?"
He started to say something else when someone else stumbled up next to him.
"Who you . . . hic . . . talkin' to Jimmy Boy?" This one was drunk apparently. The man he called Jimmy stood erect and I could no longer see him, though I continued to gaze above me.
"No one. I was just thinking out loud." His voice was crisp and full of energy. The other laughed between hiccups.
"BOYS!" he bellowed. "Me thinks Jimmy's goin' crazy!" There was a roar of laughter and I saw Jimmy's' form lean over the rail again. This time his eyes were open. I didn't move for fear of him noticing me. He stared blankly at first then he squinted and leaned over a little more.
He sees me! I panicked. I drew closer to the ship to be out of the light. He stood up again and for a moment I thought he was gone and hadn't really seen me. But I was of course wrong and I yet again saw his form leaning over the edge, only this time he was actually climbing over the rail. I closed my eyes and bent my head.
This isn't happening! You know it's not! It's just some whacked out dream in which you can feel great anxiety, fear, and pain. Yeah, that's it!
I opened my eyes and to my great disappointment found a pair of pale blue eyes staring into mine. He quickly lifted a finger to his mouth to stop whatever noise I might have made and then in one quick movement put me on his back.
"Hold on," he whispered.
He began ascending the side of the vessel when suddenly a large man popped up over the rail with the sickest look I had ever seen. Before I knew what was happening Jimmy ducked his head and I got the man's hot sickness full in the face.
I screamed and sputtered.
"Oy!" called the man from above- from his voice I could tell it was the man who had interrupted Jimmy before. "Jimmy's got a catch!" There were more howls of laughter and sounds of shuffling and pushing.
"Come on, Jim! Show . . .hic . . . us what you got!" said one.
Jimmy had stopped at first, but figured that he couldn't stay down there forever and continued to go up. At last we came to the top and he stepped away from me obviously trying not to get any vomit on himself.
I think I'm gonna cry!
"An' what's this?" It was the man from before who had talked with 'Jim'. He was short and had limp features and was very thin. As I took a glace about the deck I saw that all of the men, (there were no women on board from what I could tell), though of different heights were all seemingly lacking of fat. Some were the right size but none of their faces appeared healthy. I could feel the stomach acid burning at my flesh and almost gagged. The man whispered something to the man next to him and they both grinned menacingly. The one seemed about to speak, but glanced at Jim and frowned. The guy next to him, noticing this restraint, continued for him.
"Jim, me thinks you'd betta' fetch the Cap'in and tell 'im we've caught ourselves a-" he paused and sneered at me. "A mermaid." The others chuckled and I saw Jim leave through a small opening among the crew. I wanted to jump over the edge or at least follow him to escape the closing wall of ugly, sickly men.
"Hey, Red!" called the second. "Bring us a pail of wata' and a scrubba'." More laughing. There was some shuffling behind them and it seemed as though none of them were drunk anymore for they all stared with cold and sharp eyes. Then a bucket and a large bristle scrubber appeared in his hands.
"Now little fishy," he took a step toward me. "This just won' do. You're a gettin' that vomit all over our clean deck." I looked down and saw that it was most definitely not clean. Blood was smeared across the floor and the hot sickness that had so recently made my head its residence was mixing with it. I looked back at the man and he motioned for me to take the items. I didn't take them. Instead I yelled out something so stupid I wondered if it was really me who had said it.
"You had better not mess with me. I'm close friends with . . . Captain . . . Barbosa!" I had gotten the name from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. "And you'll have to deal with him if you don't leave me alone!"
The crew burst into laughter and before I knew it a small, hunched man in rags was standing before me. He was glancing around like he couldn't see, which, from the glazed over look in his eyes, was probably true.
"This is the only Barbosa we've ever heard of an' he's our cook!" laughed the first. The man disappeared as quickly as he had come and the laughter slowly died out. I felt like such an idiot! The other man now dropped the brush in front of me and took the pail in both hands. I stared at the ground. I could feel the cold sea water rush over me and I hunched my shoulders against it. There seemed to be no end to the sneering torment.
"Now clean it." I didn't know what to do. There I was with blood all over my face, vomit on my head and shoulders and lots of ugly, dirty guys ordering me to clean the blood-stained deck of some unknown ship. I sank to my knees- partly out of obedience but more from exhaustion and self pity. I took the tool and began scrubbing. I kept my head lowered so the men couldn't see the tears that were slowly making their way down my red stained cheeks. They kept up their mocking jokes and laughter and my arms felt weak and I couldn't move them any more. I saw someone walk towards me. One foot lifted back and then came back full force into my stomach. I let my head fall to the floor and gripped my stomach.
"That's enough," came a deep, commanding voice. I didn't look up but the laughter stopped instantly.
"Cap'in, we'es was only havin' a bit o' sport with the little-"
"Did you hear what I said Yates?" The Captain's voice was clear, harsh and so quiet that it was barely above a whisper. It was when he spoke this time that I turned and lifted my head to see him. I saw that all the men had straightened their backs and were looking straight into the distance.
"Y-yes, Cap'in." the man replied softly. The Captain turned from his sailor and, with his hands behind his back, looked down at me. His eyes were severe and his face held no expression.
"Get up," he commanded. I felt it was best not to keep him waiting. I pushed off the floor and rose. He was only a little bit taller than me and his outfit was neat and tidy. He obviously respected his own position. For a long time he stood there and stared me in the eyes. He suddenly turned to Jim and spoke calmly.
"Give her some more water to rinse off with. Then show her to the room under my cabin. She will stay there. Tomorrow she will begin working with Barbosa." He again turned and began to leave through an opening.
No, I thought. I can't stay here. These people will kill me!
I spun around and tried to throw my self over the side. Many hands had grabbed a hold of my legs and, instead of the dramatic death- or at least an exit- I had hoped for, my upper body came swinging into the side of the ship where my forehead smacked against the hard wood. I felt it split and fresh blood trickled into my hair. They pulled me aboard while I fought to plunge into the cold, blue thing below. My head was turned to face the Captain who had come back to watch.
"Well, I am glad to see you have spirit." That was all he said and he left with a graceful stride. I felt a hand impact across my face. I looked angrily at the person who had done it.
"Once the captain has spoken no one does otherwise."
*
A few more buckets of sea water were poured over my head and I tried to rub off as much gunk as I could. No one else spoke to me again and the celebration continued. Jim motioned me to follow him and I most willingly did so. I did not want to stay where I presently was. No one even gave me a glance as I walked through them to a small door that was on a staircase. Jim opened the door and walked in first. He quickly shut the door behind me. I looked around and was surprised at the size of the room. It wasn't huge but for being a room under the stairs it was rather large. There was a neatly made bed that lay directly on the floor. There was a small square window to my left and a large wooden chest in the corner at my right.
"You will sleep here," said Jim. His voice was soft and he was looking straight at me. I glanced up at him and then down at the bed. I stared at it and heard the door open and close behind me. I didn't look to see if he had left I just kept staring. I felt numb all over and didn't want to move for fear of letting the pain come back. A few moments later the door again opened and closed.
"Take a seat." It was Jim. I slowly kneeled down and kept my head down. He kneeled directly in front of me and he laid some gray cloth on the ground.
"Your nose is broken. You need to reset it. Do you know how?" I shook my head and looked up. He reached out with both hands, placing one around my neck and the other on my swollen nose. I closed my eyes and I heard a loud CRACK! All the pain in my body came rushing back and I shivered.
"I have some other things to do. You'll need to do the rest yourself." He pulled some items out from the middle of the cloth. There was a small mirror and two vials. He held out the blue vial. "Use this to clean your cuts and then wrap them with the cloth." Then he held out the black vial. "Put this on your nose three times a day from now on and your nose will heal a lot faster." He stood and looked about once more before heading for the door. He stopped suddenly and I heard him laugh.
"Sorry about the thing on the side of the ship." He tried to contain his laugh. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but," he chuckled, "you should take a bath as soon as possible." He left after smiling one more time.
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