High Seas

24

Captains log October 12th, over the past couple of months the black dahlia has taken severe damage from the weather and enemy ships. unfortunately, we could not make it back to the island for repairs so we are stationed in st. Augustine Florida until the ship is ready to set sail. it's coming up on 5 months of Elizabeth being missing, the crew seemed to go back to normal every once in a while we do laugh at her past dramatics. I even find myself thinking of her at night, while I lay in bed, memories of midnight talks resurface in my mind. 

I rubbed my face as I was getting off track with my log,

the ship had multiple cannon ball-sized holes in the sides, and it could use a fresh coat of paint or two. one of our masts was broken from a fight with the Spaniards.  it was currently the beginning of the day, the plan is to buy supplies, tools, food, and paint. tomorrow the plan is to split up all the money and treasure that we have collected between the crew. i-

Bang

as I was writing I was rudely interrupted by something in my office falling over I looked to where the noise came from, it was the cat, it knocked over my telescope and it rolled across the floor. the same cat Elizabeth took from the British army ship, has been here eating the mice on the ship and I guess is a part of the crew. I say that because Jackson won't let me throw it overboard 

and I've tried

"stay away from me" I threatened and it meowed at me I rolled my eyes and continued with my log.

I've been keeping in contact with some of the business owners here in st. Augustine, to make sure that we are in constant supply of things we need such as sugar, spices, wood, and more. I heard from our wood supplier that he knew a man that could help with extra nails and tools. so I and Jackson were gonna make a trip to see him, unfortunate the man lives in Macclenny which is close to the border of Georgia. Jackson and i are going to have to be careful when traveling that close the Georgia for we had a run-in with some...disrespectful people. it was around 6 in the morning the sun was just now rising, if we want to get to Macclenny at a reasonable time we had to leave early.

knock knock

I groaned and told them to come in, it was Jackson

"captain are you ready" I looked at my log a decided to come back to it later. I grabbed my hat and nodded following him out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I grabbed a little shoulder bag I had in my room and sat it on my bed, I grabbed some paper, ink, food, and a compass I stole and the map patty stole from Mr.Thomas. it was Sunday the day we were all supposed to run however after a heated discussion and the word that some of us were thinking about running got out Mr. Thomas had all of the overseers outside tonight. so wanting to run tonight would be borderline impossible. but I would rather stub my toe on a rock than stay here one more day, especially with my back like this. once everything was in my bag I put it on my shoulder and headed out the back door I made sure the coast was clear before I made a run for the edge of the woods. at first, I was running in a random direction. I tried to make sure I was far away enough before stopping for a break. I looked into the sky to see the moon directly overhead and the north star to the side of it. I remember savage telling me about the north star

*******

"that star right there," he said pointing to the brightest star in the sky" that is the north star "if you find that you can always get your sense of direction. that star will always point north so if that's the direction you wanna go, follow it but if not to the left side is east the right is the west, and if you wanna go south of it, turn your back to it."

*******

 I ran southeast through a dark forest only lit by the moonlight that would peek through the canopy of the trees that towered above me. I ran for hours, only sometimes taking a break to catch my breath but that was hard to do as the wind was icy from the cold weather so it hurt to breathe. I looked around and saw nothing but trees that went on for miles, the sound of bats overhead startled me as I hurried through the forest, the adrenaline in my veins is what kept me from becoming tired. as I was running I pulled out my compass to make sure I was headed in the right direction. I looked behind me and kept going only I started to walk from my adrenaline running low and my tiredness catching up to me, I started to yawn but I slapped myself to try and stay awake. I was snapped out of my thoughts by my foot sinking into cold water, 

well that woke me up

I pulled my foot out of the water, I was surrounded by marsh and swamps I took the moment to breathe before walking through the mud and water, occasionally my foot would get stuck. however, I wouldn't let some mud get in my way that was until I was met with a hissing noise but the hiss quickly turned into a growl followed by the sound of water splashing. I quickly picked up the pace again trying my best to run through the mud. after walking through the swamp for an hour I finally hit solid ground again. I sat at the base of a tree to try and catch my breath before continuing on from the tree I could see the sun peeking over the horizon. I took that as my queue to get back on the move, I don't want to sit too long in case someone was chasing after me. as the day drew on my walking started to become more sluggish, my feet were hurting, and the cuts on my back were starting to hurt me again from not changing my bandages before I left. at this point, everything hurt, my throat, my hands, my legs, I felt so exhausted from the lack of sleep that I didn't even notice I hadn't eaten anything. I reached into my bag to pull out the food I had packed only to realize that there was a hole at the bottom of my bag and everything including the compass was gone. I sighed and took the bag off my shoulder and threw it, to say I was pissed right now was an understatement. 

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gurrrrrrrrrr