Crazy In Love | Buggy

s e v e n

Those words become lodged in my mind, replaying over and over again, until I felt so dizzy that I could collapse to thr ground at any second. I had to fight the urge to throw up, or run, or cry. Any of my body's natural reactions would not be helpful in this scenario.

I felt stupid for thinking there could be any other outcome than this. The realistic part of me knew what was going to happen. A pirate was never going to be merciful, they did not have it in them. Especially not Buggy of all people, a man known for being especially ruthless and cruel.

There had been a small part of me that had hoped for mercy, had hoped that perhaps he had a softer side to him. At one point, I thought I had seen it, somewhere deep in those eyes had been a gentleness. The way he had so gently dried my tears... now, I felt so naive to ever believe such a thing.

I became aware of his clowns advancing towards me, weapons held firmly in their hands. The reality of the situation was hitting me like a truck, crashing down on me like a thousand tonne weight.

My entire town was about to be slaughtered like animals, and it was all my fault. I was frozen in a mixture of fear and shock. That is, until I saw the clown holding Jean put his blade to his throat again.

"No!" I screamed, pushing Buggy away and attempting to run towards my little brother.

I didn't manage to make it very far. Buggy was just too fast for me. His fingers tangled painfully into my hair, roughly yanking me backwards. The pain radiated across my skull, a hot burning sensation.

I slammed back into him, feeling his arms snake themselves around me, holding my firmly in place. Despite the clear difference in strength between us, I still fought against him. I thrashed my body, twisted against his grip, yet it never seemed to loosen.

He was impossibly strong. His grip was as strong as steel. I made absolutely no progress in my escape from his grasp. The scariest thing about it was that it did not feel like he was trying very hard to hold me still. It felt as if I was a small child, struggling against the world's strongest man.

No, I thought. Even the world's strongest man wasn't this strong. His strength was non-human.

"And where do you think you're going?" He lulled out in a tone that was dripping with sadistic enjoyment.

Since I couldn't free myself from him, I did the next best thing. I twisted around in his arms, turning around so that I could look him in the eyes.

This seemed to shock him. I guess he had been so sure that I was terrified of him (which I was, to be fair) that he didn't expect me to be brave enough to look at him directly in the eyes. Plus, everytime that we had made eye contact, it had been him forcing it. This was the first time I had initiated it.

His eyebrows shot up. "Got something to say, darling?"

"Don't let your men kill my brother, please. I can give you what you want."

He grinned mischievously at that, tilting his head to the side. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, I can get you your treasure. All I ask is for you to call off your men, and leave my town alone. Leave my brother alone."

Without hesitation, he yelled out, "Wait! Everybody stop!"

From my peripheral vision, I saw his clowns all freeze in their tracks. I searched for the one holding Jean, to make sure he had stopped too. I imagined myself being too late. He could have already cut off my little brother's head off.

He hadn't. Jean was still alive. Once I saw that, I relaxed just a little bit. I had bought us some time. Now, I just had to make sure that I didn't waste that precious time. I had to make this count. Everyone's lives depended on it, on me.