The Pirate's Map

Chapter - 1, Back On Deck

"OYI! Get your feet back on deck, I don't want any lazy assed pirates on my ship!" My captain commanded; his irritation evident.

I jolt awake from my dream, shaking my head and rubbing my eyes. I didn't want to irritate Captain more than he already was, so I quickly apologized. "I'm sorry captain, I'll go up now." I say, quickly climbing back up the ladder from the sleeping quarters to on deck.

As I reached the deck, people were already working, as usual. Matthew was tying down the main sail to the boom, Sal and Cass helping with the jib sails, and George mopping the deck floors.

I went over to Matthew, and started helping him with the main sail. "Have you noticed the captain more uh... irritated than usual today?" I asked Matthew as I put the rope through the little loops of the sail, hoping he might know the reason for the captain's irritation, as he was the first mate and a good friend of the captains.

Matthew – still working on the sail – started to look a bit concerned. "He is? Well, that's why I haven't seen him on deck much today." he exclaimed, worry evident in his tone.

If Matthew didn't know what was wrong, then the crisis was bad. The last time I remember the captain being this irritated, it was because we had gone off route because of the strong winds. He was furious, but thankfully we got him to calm down and reach our destination and found the treasure successfully..... eventually.

Matthew and I finished putting the sail up and dusted ourselves off. "Well, I better go talk to him then, I hope we haven't gone off track again, because last time that's happened... well you know. Help Cass with the sails, will you?" he said, going down the ladder to the quarters, leaving me standing next to the boom.

I decided to go to the gunwale of the ship, leaning out with a chuckle as the salty breeze blew my hair. This was one of the fun parts of sailing, I got to lean out on the ship and-                                                    "Hey Astoria, have you seen any ropes on deck? I can't find any to tie the last sail down" Sal asked from behind me

I stirred a little as I looked back at him. "Jesus- You scared me there. Why did you just sneak up on me like that!" I say, calming down from Sal's little jump-scare

Sal smirked at this "Oh but your face!! Its utterly priceless!!" he said, now laughing his head off.

I sighed, knowing his antics all too well. "You sure love stirring up chaos on deck, huh? You're just gonna make our captain more irritated than he already is at this point." I say, shaking my head in exasperation.

His smirk just widens at this. "Oh, you know me so well..." he said with a hint of dramatics

Great. He's being all teasing and dramatic. As always. Classic Sal... "You just have to be dramatic, don't you?" I sigh with slight irritation. "Anyways, yes I think I did see a rope down in the sleeping quarters, I'll go get it." I say, going downstairs.

Sal nodded, a small smirk on his face. "Oh, thank you ever so much, your help means a lot to me..." he says, trying his so called charm - more like lack of charm - on me.

I sighed again. "Yeah, yeah, thank me later." I chuckled at his dramatics, finding it secretly amusing as I go down to the sleeping quarters of the ship.

I climbed downstairs and then noticed Matthew speaking to the captain from the corner of my eye. The captain looks.... worried? I wonder why... I decided to eavesdrop on them.... What? I'm a curious lady....