Adeline (Watty Awards Finalist 2013)

Innocence

Picture of Flynn to the right

The crew then destroyed all small boats and made their way off the sinking ship and back onto Flynn’s. The last thing I saw as we sailed away from Indie and his ship was his cold calculating blue eyes. They said one thing, “This isn’t over”

Indie’s ship sank quickly, him going underwater with it as well. I stared at the spot the ship had been in waiting for him to resurface but he never did.

Finally, we were sailing without any bearings on our shoulders. The men rejoiced with rum and haunting story telling of pirates who met their demise at the end of the world.

I listened to their extraordinary tales happily basking in the fact that no one was doing any work. It was as if we had a break for an entire day. That is until Loki and Sara found me.

“It’s an important lesson to learn Adeline. You’re a bloody pirate!” Loki said in a frustrated tone.

I shook my head stubbornly, “I’m not a killing pirate. I do not plan to harm a soul. I’d much rather just stick to my meager job of cleaning the deck. No one said anything about killing when I got this job” I remarked.

Loki groaned, “That’s because it was implied! Pirates kill and steal and such!” he yelled. Sara giggled in the corner earning a glare from Loki.

“Oh Addie please! It will be fun” Sara begged. I wanted to smack her. She had killed before, I hadn’t. I’d seen enough death for a ten lifetimes. I had no intention of killing anyone.

“Sara I’m sorry but it’s just not something I want to do.” I said with finality.

“Why would you not want to learn to defend yourself?” Loki asked annoyed.

I scowled at him, “Stabbing someone in the chest is not the only way of defending oneself” I muttered.

“We’re not saying you’ll have to kill anyone Addie, just learn, if not to kill, then at least to defend yourself.” Sara pleaded.

I sighed in defeat, “Fine”

Had I known sword fighting would be this tiring, I would’ve declined. Loki made us do all sorts of silly things such as dodging potatoes as he threw them at us and balancing books on our heads as we moved and did the steps given to us. The steps were nearly the same as a dance I had learned as a girl.

By the time we finished, I was drenched in sweat; “I’ll see you girls tomorrow for lesson two” Loki called out as he left us.

Lesson two? Surely we had learned everything that we needed to know. What more could there possibly be? Swing the bloody sword and dodge.

I turned to Sara with a look of pure annoyance, “I will never listen to you again” I said in between pants.

She gave me an apologetic look, “I had no clue it would be so difficult and tiring” she muttered.