Happy October 🎃

Day 21: Karl

"Karl! Karl!" Jorge tugged at the hem of the massive pirate's sleeve.

Karl, a German pirate, only gently shook the Mexican boy off. "Not now, mi amigo, Karl is talking," he continues to look at the person in front of him, barely acknowledging Jorge.

Jorge whined before letting go of Karl, sad that his best friend was ignoring him. The boy covered up what little he could of his intense vitiligo, using his cow-print hat and dark brown bangs, before venturing off without Karl-without permission. And Karl didn't even notice.

Karl always had his eyes on Jorge. If Jorge was out of his peripherals, Karl would become enraged until he entered them again. But right now, he was so heavily engrossed in a conversation about gold, that he didn't even realise the little boy had scuried off without warning.

Jorge grinned gleefully as he skipped past the docks and into the port. He slowly dropped his smile as more and more people looked at him, like he was cursed. He frowned and looked at his feet, pulling his hat further down to shield his shame. He was being eyed down by some rough hooligans, before being approached by them. Jorge gasped quietly as he saw their large boots come into view.

"Well, look what we have here," one chuckled. "Come on, freak, let's see your face."

Jorge looked up at the men, presenting his skin. They laughed and cried and giggled and groaned, before chatting amongst one another and grabbing him up. Jorge tried to scream, but he was muffled by one of the men's shoulder.

"We'll get an even prettier penny for selling him, I mean, just look at him," he says.

The others nod. "Yeah, but he's too young. Maybe he could clean for us instead."

"Yeah, until he's grown enough," he grumbles. "Then we'll sell him. Or maybe sell the freak now, to a circus."

Meanwhile, Karl felt a tingle in his body that something was off. He grinded his sharp teeth together before abruptly stopping his friend. He looked down. Jorge was gone. He looked behind him. Jorge was gone. He even looked behind his friend, and Jorge was gone.

"JORGE!" He suddenly shouted, not even saying goodbye to his friend before running off into a direction. He had one of those looks in his eyes, one that could kill.

Jorge whimpered and cried as he was blindfolded and lead to an empty apartment downtown.

Karl scolded the locals and nearly blew their heads off asking where his little friend was. He shouted Jorge's name with every step, alerting pretty much everyone of his presence. Karl was well known, well feared, and not to be reckoned with. If he was looking for someone, he was absolutely going to find that someone, with bodies behind him.

As he was pointed into the direction of the apartment, he didn't even say a thanks to anyone as he followed the path. He stumbled upon the apartment building and held a gun at the covering "manager", another hooligan in disguise.

"Some men took mi amigo. You better tell me where mi amigo is..." he smiled wide, bearing his sharp, shark-like teeth.

The hooligan, shaking, pointed upstairs. "Ap-Apartment 304."

Karl smiled and shot the man anyway, not even taking the time to look back as he ran upstairs to the third floor. He quickly found 304, bursting the door down.

Jorge was already in there, thankfully alone, and untouched, other than grope marks from the men handling him, and he was blindfolded.

"Jorge, mi amor!" Karl rushed to his little friend, tearing off the blindfold before picking up the child. He was angry. At the hooligans, yes, but also at Jorge. This wasn't exactly the first time Jorge was kidnapped.

"Karl! Karl!" he cried, hugging the man's neck.

"We're having a talk at the ship."

"I'm sorry, Karl. I'm really sorry."

"I'll find those men and feed them their entrails," he promises. "I need to get you out of here, first, mi amor."

Jorge held onto his fatherly-figure as Karl rushed back to the ship. He reluctantly entrusted his friend from earlier, who happened to be a crew member on the ship, with Jorge, before stepping away.

"I'll be back. Do not let him out of your sight," he warns.

Karl turns away, rushing back into the port.