Pirates: Lana and the Mystic World

Chapter 7.

I cleared my throat and he released my hand from the handshake. "We leave in 15 minutes." I said to Alistair and turned toward my men.

"Mingle with Captain Alistair's crew. I have to get something from me cabin." They nodded in response and walked over to the other group, shaking their hands and introducing themselves.

I arrived at my room and sat at my desk, opening the map on the table and observing it for the millionth time since I got it. I committed to memory every line engraved, all the places on the map, and even the handwriting used.

I closed the map and made way to my bed, plopping down on it and sighing. I was so close to the treasure. To think I'd spent almost 11 years searching for this and all of a sudden I've almost found it. I felt an emptiness inside me.

I began living as a pirate for myself and not just accomplishing my father's lifelong dream. But why does it feel like my only life's purpose was to find the treasure? Fear started to crawl into my heart.

I feared that once I found the treasure, I would lose my sense of meaning in life. Did I really, really enjoy being a pirate? Is that my purpose in life? The reason I was the only one to survive, excluding Evalyn, on that ship?

Woah.

I shook my head and let out a chuckle. "Things are getting too deep." I said aloud. We wouldn't want to unpack 10 years' worth of thoughts that I blanked out and numbed myself from. That would be bad.

I leaned back and rested my head on the window, closing my eyes and embracing the silence. The water was moving at a steady pace and the sound was very comforting.

I heard a light clink on the ground and opened my eyes. I looked at my wrist and realized the pearl bracelet had fallen. Luckily it hadn't cut and splattered the pearls everywhere, it only loosened off my hand. Strange.

I bent down to pick it up and grabbed it from the floor, but noticed something underneath the bed. I wore the bracelet and tugged at the two extended pieces of the gold chain which had two pearls at their ends, to tighten it on my wrist.

I then got off my bed and knelt on the wooden floor, stretching my hand to remove what I had seen, moments ago. My fingertips finally made contact with it and pulled it closer to me. I lifted the wooden box and eyed the top, bottom, and sides.

I sat back on the bed and caressed the top of the box briefly before opening it. Inside held a folded piece of paper, a journal, and a lead sketch. It was the first thing I picked up; it was of a woman who held a baby. A lake and some trees were also shown as the background.

It was a really detailed drawing and the woman in it looked very beautiful as she smiled brightly at the artist who drew her and somewhat oddly familiar...I turned the paper and saw writing in the bottom corner. It said:

Hally

16.12.1666.

"Mum?" I turned the paper and looked at the picture again, tears prickling my eyes. I didn't remember what my mother looked like. Dad told me she passed away exactly six months after I had been born due to pneumonia.

We weren't influential and barely managed to get by, so he said. That's the reason he joined a pirate ship. He didn't want to lose me too.

We may not have had much but dad was very skilled with his hands. He was a good cook, which was why he was recruited by the crew and he could draw too. My childhood memories had been buried so deep in the back of my head that I forgot what a talent he had.

16.12.1666. Exactly six months after I was brought into this world. She looked so full of life in this drawing. I never would've guessed that she would pass away moments after the work was completed.