A Heart Yearns For It's Truth

Stede Bonnet stared in horror at the recent cadaver that had collapsed in front of him. His scream, as loud as a harpy, echoed through the thick forest. The eerie atmosphere looked as if it had been heavily dusted with ink-black coal it was so dark. Vines twisted and gnarled around the Gentleman Pirate's ankles, reaching, almost pining to touch the corpse in desperation. It was all a trick of course. It had to be. Any minute now Admiral Chauncey would leap back up from the ground, whistle and give the order for his men to surround Bonnet and take him to face the King for his crimes. Stede was a monster after all. 

For a minute, Stede stood there, frozen, and screaming in terror. Trembling so uncontrollably, his knees almost gave way. He couldn't believe it, it had happened again. Of course it had. Stede was a plague, a black spot on the world. Despite his best efforts of kindness and humanity, he always changed people for the worst. That's just how it was. 

Within a split second decision, he was off. Running, sprinting and panting his way back to them. From the day he had turned his back to his family, his wife, he knew it had been a mistake. The life of pirating he had created for himself was a ruse, an escape from his true feelings and vulnerability. Stede had to face up to the people he had failed and scurry back to hide in his old monotonous life. The safety blanket.

It was the next morning, just before lunchtime, when he arrived back at his old estate. Sweaty, dressed in soiled rags, hair as messy as it had ever been and lacking any thought of shoes whatsoever. He didn't knock, with fear from the chance of disturbing his family more than he already knew he would. Stede was aware how insane he looked. Creeping in, in hopes of allowing time for a quick change into his in usual fancies. This quickly turned, however, when he found himself standing behind the gaggle of women, which included, of course, his wife: Mary Bonnet.

"Darling" came the slightly-raspy-almost-too-quiet voice of Stede, "I'm home."

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It was mere a full day back in his quaint town in Barbados before Stede's view began to change. He had realised all too quickly that he no longer had fitted 'land legs'. Walking on hard, bumpy, solid earth seemed a strain on his ageing legs if done for too long. To his utter surprise, Stede found no pleasure in the perfect house. With no holes to patch, no open sky above, no sound of the gently lapping waves below his feet, and most importantly: no crew to read to as he watched them fall asleep. Deep down, in the bottom pits of his black heart, he knew he had chosen wrong. It pined for the sea harder than it had ever done before and weeped at the realisation that he might never see his found family again: especially his Ed.

It was only the second day when things took a turn for the worst. After stumbling across and purposefully climbing a ladder only to find his wife and Doug having their illicit affair, he could no longer fight to keep down his thoughts. The knowledge that his family had moved on, were happier without him was eating him away. The yearning grew stronger.

After making a complete fool of himself in front of a gossip-hungry crowd (the majority of those had already seen him fuck up once before), Stede fully understood how little he fit into this life anymore. He made up with Doug after pinning him to a table with a threatening warning, and the two devised a plan to pronounce himself dead to the world, gone, poof. It would be the perfect fuckery. 

It began simple enough, with a corpse, pig's blood and a paid carriage. The plan quickly became slightly unorthodox, however, when they got a falling piano and a huge wildcat involved. It was outlandish. And Stede loved it!