Chapter 11

After a long night, having fallen asleep at the dining table, in which you continued to feel very seasick, you woke up when the pirate ship lurched, and you fell off the bench, onto the wet floor.

You sat up, confused.

You were on the cold, wet, floor.

It was downpouring. You could hear it on the deck above you, and a single leak dripped on your face. The open trapdoor at the top of the stairs was gushing water, bringing down a small, but steady tide of water that now covered the whole floor with a full inch of water.

You dashed to the stairs for something besides the lurching table to cling to, and peeked up on the deck.

Eight-foot waves crashed into the side of the careening pirate ship. A few of them reached the deck.

The raining sky was becoming overcast, and the bands of intense rain that came and went did nothing to help the situation.

A wind stronger than you'd ever felt before buffeted the flying water drops from both sky and sea, making for a stinging wind, and carrying loose items airborne.

All of the men were keeping low. You spotted the Captain right away, no hat, but his brown fishtail braid being thrown like a whip about the wind.

Your hair would've been completely flung around in the wind too, but most of it was already soaked down.

The Captain, along with three other men, were trying as they could to raise the sails. They'd been raised earlier, but they had fallen back down again, hence the lurching of the ship that woke you up.

"Captain!" You yelled, but the wind carried your voice away with it. "Captain!"

Was he the one who scrubbed the deck that first day? And what's going on, are we in danger?

The Captain must've heard something though. He turned around, still pulling on the rope, and saw you. He yelled something to you that you couldn't quite make out.

"What?!"

He yelled it again.

Oh, I hope this is important... You dashed up on deck, running towards him. But suddenly, the ship tilted again, and you lost your balance and slipped on the deck, sliding towards the railing with a scream glued to your mouth.

Someone grabbed your wrist.

You glanced up as the ship righted itself again and looked into the relieving sight of the brown eyes of the Captain. You'd fallen towards him, and he caught you.

How come didn't he fall too? You wondered. Then you saw that he and the other sailors on the deck had tied themselves to the mast of the ship.

"What are you doing up here?!" He exclaimed, terribly worried, raindrops pouring down his face, grabbing you with both hands by your shoulders.

"I thought you had something to-"

"Nothing to say worth losing you for!" He retorted.

"What's going on?!"

"What do you think?! Tropical storm!"

"Is it almost over?!"

"Of course not! It's just getting started!"

"Then what were you going to say?!"

"Well I was going to say to stay below deck, and find the rest of the crew if you can, they're hiding the barracks somewhere!" He yelled over the storm. "But now I can't reach back to the trapdoor, so just get in my cabin!"

He started running, pulling you, one hand holding your wrist, the other behind your back, across the top deck to the door of his cabin, pushing you inside, and slamming the door shut, just as the ship hit another wave and he slipped with a grunt, falling to the other side of the deck, and throwing you into the wall.

You heard a crack of lightning, a boom of thunder, another squall of rain splashing over.

Yelling, running, stomping, slipping, splashing, raining on the deck.

And if that was just morning, you wondered how you'd survive banging into the walls until late afternoon.