A Pirate in Time (Completed)

13

"Every time I would ask about my mother, my father would describe her as a kind and beautiful woman. She had this way about her, a gentleness with a bit of fire as well," Jay spoke, "Her name was Elspeth Rose. She was born the daughter of a Duke, but she was illegitimate, giving her no claim to his noble blood."

I watched Jay as he told his story. The flickering light of a nearby lamp caused dark shadows to stretch across his face, deepening his features. His eyes were closed, and his head rested against the back of the couch. He looked like he could fall asleep if he wasn't telling me all this.

"She lived with her mother, in a small cottage at the edge of town. They had little money, but she was always happy. She had always said she loved the freedom of a simple life. But one winter, her own mother fell terribly ill, and they did not have enough money for a physician.

"My grandmother passed in early spring, and feeling pity for his daughter, the Duke offered her employment in his household. She became a maid, but often found herself outdoors where she could care for the animals and feel a bit of happiness again. It was there that she met my father, a simple stable boy named Jeremiah.

"Needless to say, they fell in love. The Duke wasn't very happy about this, for he intended to marry his daughter off to a man of higher stature. So instead he offered my father a deal. He told the boy that if he could come into enough coin to provide a respectable life for my mother, then they could wed.

"Determined to find his fortune, Jeremiah set to the seas. He became a pirate, and a quite famous one at that. For three years, he was captain of his own vessel, and at that point, he had finally collected enough to return.

"He went back to my mother and showed the Duke all he had earned. The Duke had half a mind to report the infamous pirate on his lands, but my mother's love for him kept him quiet, for it reminded him of his own love with my grandmother. Elspeth and Jeremiah wed at first opportunity.

"They were very happy for about a year, but my mother passed the day I was born. My father was devastated, and he was left with me, a child he didn't know how to raise on his own.

"He hired a midwife to help raise me until I reached the age of five. At that time, both the British Navy and the Spanish Armada were hunting him.

"One day, we sold everything we owned and my father brought me down to the docks. We bought passageway on a ship heading for India. We had to jump ship at every port where the British were searching ships, but we stuck together.

"Eventually we located his old crew and came into possession of this ship. I've been here ever since."

That was terrible. I watched Jay with a glimmer of pity in my eyes. He was denied a proper childhood from the start. He turned his head and opened his eyes to look at me.

"Wow," I said, for lack of anything else to say. There was something else though, "So when did you become Captain?"

His eyes hardened a bit and he looked away, "Three years ago, when my father fell to an enemy vessel. I was nineteen."

I dropped my gaze, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"It's alright. He was living on borrowed time."

We fell into a comfortable silence then. In truth, it freaked me out that I was having a conversation with someone who died long before I was even born, but life is funny like that.

I tried to steer our conversation in a different direction then, "What was your proudest moment?

I turned my head to find Jay was nearly asleep. I felt pretty exhausted too, "The first time my father let me sail."

I smiled softly and laid my own head back, "I'd have to agree with you there. I've always loved the gentle swell of the ocean and the sound of the sails pulling taut against the wind. It reminds me of home."

Home.

That struck a chord somewhere deep in my chest. I might never see my home again. Or my family.

I sighed and momentarily wished I had more alcohol to numb that pain as well.

"I've always cherished the freedom that comes with being on the open ocean," Jay mumbled, "Every time I step foot on land, I feel like I'm being suffocated. Like I'm somehow more susceptible to drowning there than I am at sea."

"That's deep," I mumbled to myself as I felt my eyelids getting heavier.

Maybe I was imagining it, but it was almost as if I could feel Jay's eyes boring into the side of my head. I turned and met his gaze.

"You have the most peculiar way of speaking," he said quietly as he continued to study me.

My heart jolted a bit, and I made a mental note to watch what I say in the future. It seems that all the alcohol has loosened up my tongue.

"I've been told that a lot actually," I tried to brush it off with a shrug as I stared back up at the ceiling.

I closed my eyes. The soft light of the lamp flickering behind my eyelids.

Jay made some sort of noise that reverberated deep in his chest.

The world slowly fell out of my awareness as sleep consumed me.