I Am The Psycho Pirate

Chapter 9 - Denial

(Present Night)

Cubby hesitated for a moment, his eyes locked on the flickering flame in his hand. Then, with a heavy sigh, he finally spoke.

"There wasn't anything we could do. We would have been taken down too," His voice trembled as he uttered those words, his gaze shifting from the flame to meet my eyes. His expression was filled with sorrow, and the golden mask of fire continued to dance across his face. My heart sank, matching the fate of our beloved ship. He was gone for good. It was as if the world had stopped turning, and I could feel my throat tighten as I struggled to speak.

"I see," I said, shakily. "I'm sorry Cubby. I know I should've been there."

"Oh you don't say, genius," he sassed. "You could've had that type of mindset when it happened." A solitary tear welled up in my eye. And that tear eventually turned into many.

"I'm sorry alright! I'm sorry! I didn't know!"

"You also didn't seem to care enough to know!" he argued.

"Well I do now. And I promise that I will never ever EVER leave you guys—er leave you again like that! Exploring wasn't all it was cracked up to be! Peter isn't a legend, he's a whiny, immature little brat! He's the reason I left!"

"Ohhhhhhh I see. So that was the real reason why you came back. Not because you missed us. You didn't care about me or Izzy. You only care about us when you come back and realize how much of a selfish idiot you are." he spat fiercely, hurt in his eyes though.

"No Cubby! That's not what I meant! Of course I missed you guys!"

"Come here Jake," he ordered softly. Confused, I stepped closer. "No no, closer." he said as he motioned for me to sit on his hammock with him and I did so, shocked that this flimsy thing could support both of us. After getting in a comfortable position, I glanced up at him, waiting for him to speak because I doubt he just wanted to sit next to me.

"Well?" I asked.

"About what happens to Izzy, Jake. I have a little question to ask you."

"What?"

"Do you think you can keep it a secret?" he asked.

"Of course." I answered, eager.

"Well, so can I." he said with an evil looking smirk. He blew out the match stick and then lay down again as I just sat at the opposite side of the hammock. I rolled my eyes and growled.

"Are you serious!" I shouted, grabbing his arms and pulling him up. He tried to wiggle and escape but I kept a firm grip on him. We started to catfight and wrestle like real brothers....but unlike every other disagreement we had, this one wasn't so serious. In fact....I was actually giggling a little bit here and there.

"Let go!" Cubby whined as he tried to push me off of him.

"Never!" I exclaimed, beginning to tickle him. Finally I heard from him what I thought I would never hear again: Laughter. He was actually laughing uncontrollably as I tickled him, forcing him to let the cat out of the bag. I know he was probably beyond furious with me, but you couldn't tell the way he was laughing.

"I'll tell you for real this time if you stop!" He shouted.

"Really!?" I yelped, eagerly, not even realizing that I may or may not have just let go of him and let him fall hard on the floor.

"OW!" he shrieked. "Dude, you jerk!" he moaned, pushing himself up and rubbing his back.

"Sorry Pipsqueak." I giggled. I felt my smile drop and the tension rise as he grabbed me by the collar and got in my face.

"If you ever call me that again, I will rip out your eyes and shove them down your throat so that you can watch me slice your carcass open with your sword!" he growled through his teeth like a rabid wolf. I gulped.

"Y-yes Sir." I stuttered anxiously. He let go of my shirt.

"Good," he said, lying back on his hammock. "Speaking of your little toy sword, where is it?"

"First of all, it was not a toy, it was a weapon. And second of all, I'll only tell you if you tell me why Iz isn't here." Cubby simply stared at me in response, giving me an up and down.

"You lost it on your little adventure didn't you, you moron?" he asked.

"Yes." I admitted defeatingly, blushing and not wanting to recall that moment.

"Jake, I read through you like a book!" he said victoriously, lying back on the hammock, his hands behind his head. "You have no secrets from me."

"Well then how come you get to have so many from me!?" I argued.

"Because I'm better at keepin' them." I playfully shoved him and he just slapped me back in return.

"Alright we're even!" I shouted, pinning his arms down to his side before we broke out into another cat fight. "Now for the last time Cubby. Tell me what happened." I ordered. He sighed and had his eyes closed for a little while but eventually opened them. The temperature had all of a sudden dropped when I saw the sadness in his big blue eyes.

"Alright Jake," he said, the sorrow recognizable in his voice. "I'll tell you."

"And you better not leave anything out." I commented.

"It was only about a couple of days after the hurricane. Honestly I'm surprised I didn't see this coming. First Izzy was abandoned in her own home, then abandoned by you here, then she was a slave, then she was robbed and then caught in a hurricane until it finally happened. I don't know why everything took so long to play out. She must have been battling this for years and I never realized. Probably because she put up quite the fight against the psychosis. But one night...I guess she lost."

To Be Continued...