Past Pirate Ship

Chapter 11

Danny's P.O.V.

I woke up with a start.

A shadowy figure was looming over me and reached out. Thinking the worst I recoiled and shrunk deeper into the hollow.

"Shh, Darling calm down. It's just me." a familiar voice said soothingly.

It was dark now and I was struggling to see properly. There was a shadow covering the silhouette's face, making it more difficult to see who it was.

Squinting my eyes, I cautiously asked, "Dariela?"

"Yes, it's me sweetheart." She reassured me.

"What happened? Are you okay? Did he hurt you? What did he want? How-" I frantically began to question the poor woman but luckily she quickly intercepted me, "Calm down, dear. He was looking for my daughter."

"Oh"

I relaxed back against the tree and gave an exhausted sigh, "How long was I asleep for?"

"Well that depends."

"On what?" I asked inquisitively.

"When you fell asleep of course." She said with a boisterous laugh and my face turned a bright red.

Dariela moved so she was now sitting next to me and gave a thoughtful look. Her eyes had a glazed look in it and she had her fingers on her lap, snapping them ever so slightly.

"Hey Dariela?" I called, trying to grab her attention.

"Hmm?" She hummed, moving out of her daze and turning her head to look at me.

"Why do you keep snapping your fingers at random?" I questioned curiously, while turning my head sideways at her.

A happy smile came onto her face and she looked out in the distance - it looked as though she was reliving a memory, "My mother used to do the same thing and when I was little I used to ask her about it and she would answer, 'Every time you snap your fingers, you bring a little joy into the world and if you snap your fingers three times - you bring a smile onto someone's face.' She would then proceed to snap her fingers three times and on the third snap of her fingers she would pull the most silliest of faces at me, which caused me to giggle at her silliness and bring a bright smile onto my face. The first time she told me that, I wouldn't top snapping my fingers for a week." She turned her head back at me, "I guess as I got older it became more of a habit than anything else and after I had Ariela, she started questioning me about it. I would give her the same exact answer my mother had given me." She gave a loud laugh, throwing her head back, "And then she began doing it as well!"

I gave an uncertain smile back and questioned, "Who's Ariela?"

"My daughter of course."

"Oh, yes." I said, noticing how their names were so similar.

It became quiet between the two of us then. Each one in her own mind, thinking about different things. My mind had begun to wonder how much my life had changed so suddenly. I wanted with all my heart to return home where my family was and where things were much more calming, but at the same time I didn't want to return home. I was having such an adventure, even though it scared me at times, and I had already met so many wonderful people - Dariela definitely being the strangest one. I really didn't know what I wanted anymore.

"Well, I think it is time we went on our way." Dariela said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

A thought suddenly entered my head, "Dariela?"