A Neverland Tale - HOOKED (eng)

Chapter 5.5 - Luke

She waited for an answer, but instead, the captain just shrugged - and finally loosened the iron grip with which he had held her. Immediately, she reflexively took a step away from him. Even though he subsequently moved away from her as well. Any distance between them was just fine with her, for it was one more step that separated her from his blade or hook. Just the thought was enough to send another shiver trickling down her spine. Secondarily, her hand went to the place from which his fingers had come loose and tugged at the slipped red coat that still lay rather flaps around her shoulders. However, she made no move to remove it. Instead, she rubbed over the dull throbbing silence, whose rumpled fabric was not the only evidence that Hook had roughly dragged her here this time. Bemused, her gaze jerked around, instinctively searching for a way out.

Meanwhile, all-consuming darkness prevailed outside. Toward the sea, in which direction one could look from the captain's cabin, was nothing more than the vast, roaring Neversea. A misty blackness that had no end... at least none that would not bump up against impenetrable fog that would eventually end visibility. Only the pale moonlight broke on the gray-white swaths, drenching them in ghostly light as the soundless billow bumped against the Jolly Roger. Eerie shadows in the mists, the cruel pirate captain, bloodthirsty crocodiles...

'Neverland is full of adventures, huh? ' she thought a little ironically, and now frowned miserably at the thought that had once tempted her. Because Luke had the same thoughts as Hook - even if from a different point of view - because he was right: she was trapped.

At that moment, there was no way for her to escape that would not have ended in hungry crocodile stomachs or a pirate's blade. Frustration and despair welled up inside her, rising like a tide that had previously been up to her chest and was now up to her neck, culminating at the moment when Hook closed the window and the golden hook bolt was pushed forward with a scraping sound. The yelp of the wind and the soft sounds of distant singing died away along with the roar of the waves, barely as the heavy timbers of the window frames pressed together. It left an oppressive silence that settled over the room even heavier than a cloak of rock. For a moment, she must have stood in the cabin, stepping from one foot to the other like a.... well, lost person. Hadn't there been a letter opener or knife on the desk? Her eyes flew there and indeed briefly caught the gleaming blade and hurriedly darted back to Hook.'

And what are you going to do with it then? You've got a knife in your boot- it's of NO use to you at this moment! He'll impale you before you can reach for it!' she scolded her own voice, while the matching imaginary itself rolled its eyes like a mother over her clumsy child. With a soundless groan, she raised her hand and tensely ran the back of it over her cheek. It was no use.

"Look what you've done." (Hook)

'What?' Irritated, she blinked, taking a second as the words seeped into her mind... much like the water shimmering on the wooden floor at his feet, reflecting the flickering light of the lit candles and sinking between the floorboards in places. Finely curved leaves in soft, soft colors. A subtle beauty and a touch of green nature in this spot of gold and maritime stiffness. The sea of blossoms at Hook's feet seemed all the more twisted, rising from it like a stone statuette. Cold and hard. All the greater was the irritation that he planted within her with his words, and which spread in fine ripples across her brow. It was actual regret that was there in his features. It seemed to grieve him that she had plucked up the tender plants in such a way because she had snatched them from their ancestral place and exposed them to this fate in the clumsy escape. And that was... strange. This man was strange.