The Ring

Chapter 28

     I was shaking. Both from being freezing and from fear. There was a strong scent of alcohol and fish on Hook's breath and his beard tickled my cheek. I wanted so desparately to hold my breath to get away from the smell, but I had to take deep breaths to fill my aching lungs.

     "You." Hook grabbed my face with his thumb and pointer finger and jerked my face up so that I was staring right into his eye. "You, will NOT escape me this time."

     Hook grabbed my waist and put his hook on my neck and when we faced the surrounding crowd, more cheers arose.

     "SILENCE YE IDIOTS!" Hook barked and the ship went dead silent again. "By celebrating, you will draw attention from those on land! We cannot risk her being discovered." Hook said more quietly. "The island believes she has safely left Neverland, and I'd like to keep it that way. Not a word is to be spoken about her unless we are below deck. No chances of being overheard by a mermaid while talking on deck shall be taken. Nobody shall look at her without my permission. GOT IT?!"

     "Aye!" Was the only response from the crew before they all went about their business as if I weren't standing right there, as if I hadn't been captured.

      "This way, my dear." Hook said too sweetly. He released me, but it's not like I could walk, so I just stood there shaking. But I stared right at him, trying to develop laser vision so I could burn that smirk off of his face. He laughed and held out a finger, pointing at me. Without another word he jabbed at my chest and I promptly fell to the ground. Crew members that were near by chuckled, but nothing more. Hook chuckled too and kicked me in the stomach, hard. I coughed violently but Hook didn't seem to care, though that doesn't surprise me. He simply grabbed the net by my feet and began dragging me across the deck, with me on my stomach.

     Every pirate we passed either kicked me or poked me with a mop, some even stuck me with their swords. Beside my wanting to prove they couldn't hurt me, I cried out every time something hit me. Especially when some moron took a dagger and literally dropped it on me. The tip stuck perfectly in my back, digging into my skin a good inch or so. But I cut myself off mid-scream by biting the inside of my cheek until I tasted blood.

     Hook seemed satisfied with my pain and he gave the net another sharp tug, causing me to turn over, the dagger still in my back. I glanced up at him but he seemed to be shrinking. I understood why, seconds later, I was being pulled down the stairs and into the place I had slept a few days ago. My head slammed on every step, jerking violently. The dagger in my back got pushed in a little further, but after about five steps it had slid out of my back. Every step I hit felt like someone was taking a sludge hammer to my head. I heard someone slam the door behind us and the room went almost completely dark, but Hook's little right hand man, Smee, was carrying a candle in front of us. The room spun as if I were on a tilt-a-whirl and I was starting to get extremely nauseous.

     But the dizziness was covering up the pain in the rest of my body a little bit. I could feel bruises forming all over, on my legs, my arms, my butt. But aside from my head, the worse pain was in my back. Not only did it feel like someone was hitting me with a sludge hammer, but it felt as if white hot nails were getting jammed into it. I kept biting my cheek, but little gasps escaped me every couple steps, which only made Hook laugh. Smee remained silent and didn't even look back at me.

     By the time we reached the bottom of the steps, I was ready to puke. Hook released the net and walked to the other end of the room with Smee. I turned my head around as far as it could go. One, two, three.. There were only ten freaking stairs! It had felt like so many more.

     Why would they bring me down here? From what I remembered, the only things down here were hammocks and the cannons. Oh god, are they going to stuff me in a cannon?!