Rosemary Book: 2

Ch 22

Past.......

After telling Jim the truth about his father's death, Jim out of anger tried to attack him. But some of the men held him by the arms to hold him. Captain Hook smirked as he watched the young boy struggling to free himself from the pirates. Jim was taken below, wrists tied and locked up in a cabinet on the ship.

After being left alone, Jim decided to wait until nightfall to break free from the ropes that were tied around his hands. He knew there was no point going through the door since there was a chance of one or two men guarding it. Jim looked around the room to see if there was something he could use. All he could find were rocks in some of the chests he found. Rolling his eyes more to himself, this is a Pirate he's dealing with. He most likely was going to go through the rocks to see if there were any gems in them.

Looking at the rope and the rocks he had an idea. He tied the rope around the door to hold it tight and had the rest of it stretched out to two of the chest boxes now filled with all the rocks in order for the heavy weight to keep hold. Then he used some rocks to start a fire on different corners of the room.

While the fires started to burn, he knew he had little time left before the smell of smoke reached the others. He grabbed one of the left over empty chest to start smashing through the wall on the other side. The more he banged on it, the louder he heard the voices getting closer. The fire spread more in the room, causing his breathing to get heavy. With more determination, he kept forcing the firm object into the wall. One hit after another, until it finally made a hole on the wall of the ship. He was able to have a peak of the water from outside. Jim dropped the box, and started using his leg to kick faster in order to make a bigger opening.

"Fire! Fire!"

"Pour it out!"

"We can't get through!"

"You're all idiots!"

Jim heard Hook yelling at the men in the end, knowing the captain had figured him out. Taking one last glance at the now burning room, Jim ducked into the hole he made, and was now looking out into the dark blue sea. Holding tight on the wood, he knew he had to make a choice. Jumping into the cold freezing ocean and swimming to who knows where, or keep staying there only to wait to see what Killian Jones will do to him after the damage he's done.

"Like I'm going to take that chance" He muttered to himself and finally threw himself into the chilly waters.

Numb at first, it took a while for him to feel again. He swam up into the surface and gasped for air. Turning his head at the ship, he watched as the fire spread from the once small room towards the rest of the area. He witnessed the men hurrying to get buckets of water, trying to keep the flames from growing more.

Jim grinned proudly at the destruction he caused. Feeling satisfied with the victory, he started swimming away into the darkness.

When Hook had heard there was a fire in the cabin where Jim Hawkins was put in, he knew it was no accident. Jim was definitely his father's son. If the father was clever enough to fool a Pirate for months on his ship, he expected no less from Jr. Jim's actions from earlier tricked him into thinking he was too emotional to think properly. Which now caused Hook to be more annoyed with himself.

The men were not helping by being idiots. Ignoring the damage, Hook broke into the room and found it filled with smoke and fire, but no one else in sight. He did find the broken hole with a view of the outside, figuring out that the boy had indeed escaped. Not wanting to waste a search, he decided saving his ship was more important. Which he knew was mostly likely what Hawkins had planned from the start.

"Well played, Hawkins. Well Played."

XXXXXXXXXX

Jim felt the heat on his face. He also felt something caught in his throat. Feeling rough, he started coughing out what he believed was a mixture of sand and sea water. He felt himself sitting up, and finally opening his tired eyes. He found himself on a beach somewhere. Fearing the worst, he looked around and saw only trees nearby.

"Where am I?"

"Tirulea" He heard a voice. Turning around he found a woman with red hair floating in the water looking up at him.

"And you are?" He questioned her. Wondering why she was still in the water.

"Oh! I'm Ariel. I found you sleeping on a rock. But I think you lost your strength because then you fell into the water. I feared the worst had happened. Thankfully you were still breathing. So I brought you here and waited for you to wake up." She cheerfully explained.

"Uh... thank you..." He couldn't understand why someone could be so cherry?

"Are you ok? What were you doing out in the ocean by yourself? I didn't see any boats nearby to return you to." She asked.

Choosing to ignore the person he just met, Jim started to wipe the sand off of him. Not really interested to continue the conversation.

"You're the silent type, aren't you?" She asked him. He continued to focus on making sure he didn't have any injuries. Ariel felt bad for the boy, believing he was having a hard time.

"You're very different from the man I found the other day."

"Are you always around to scout drowning people?" He annoyingly said.

"No. But I just started. Makes me feel good!" She smiled. All Jim could think about was that she was an odd woman. He shook his head to focus on his situation.

"Where did you say I was again?"

"Tirulea. It's a beautiful place. Filled with-"

"Don't care." He waved off. "How far is it from Montresure?" He didn't mean to sound rude, but he wasn't in the mood after everything that's happened. But her silence did catch his attention to look back at the once cherry woman, who was now frowning.

"What's with the face?" He asked her. It made him uneasy.

"Sorry. But... I think this place used to be the name you spoke of."

Instantly getting a chill on his back. Jim suddenly remembered the unfortunate truth that time works differently on Neverland since no one actually grows up there. But he was really hoping he was wrong.

"How long ago was that?" He asked. Ariel was puzzled.

"I don't understand"

"How long ago since this "Tirulea" started here?" She stayed quiet, finding the water more interesting than him.

"How long?" He asked more firmly. She still stayed quiet as a mouse.

"Tell me!" He yelled, losing his patience. The girl scooted away, started by the boy's tone.

"It's been decades." She finally admitted. Slowly raising her eyes up at him.

Jim was still a rock. He was pale as a ghost. But he felt numb. He shook his head, not accepting to believe her words. "You're lying." She sensed something was wrong. Clearly it was bad news to tell him.

"I'm sorry. Maybe I can help." Swimming closer to him, her fin popped up over the water. Jim's eyes widened after what he just saw.

"You're a mermaid!" He said in shock. She nodded and moved closer, worried for him. Jim took steps back. Knowing during his time on Neverland not to trust mermaids.

"No! Go away!" He grabbed a rock and threw it at her. She ducked into the water. Taking this as his chance to run away into the woods. Ignoring her calling out for him to wait.

Ariel pouted, feeling sorry for the boy. He looked so lost and broken. She hoped he would be okay.