Stowaways And Stolen Ships

Chapter: 3

     "April. Wake up." I hear James say softly as he shakes my shoulder gently. I open my eyes and look up to see James. Realizing I'm laying on his lap, I sit myself up and rub my eyes.

     "Is the ship here?" I whispers as I take my hands away form my eyes. I feel myself being pushed to the ground, landing on my back and looking up to see James. He has his pointer finger pressed to his lips as he stares down at me. I nod softly and we stay in that position, his body barely hovering over mine. He lowers his face next to mine slowly.

     "They're searching the beach. We need to get back to the cave." He explains in a soft whisper that tickles my ear. I nod slightly before he rolls off of me quietly. I roll onto my stomach and keep my head close to the ground. James and I start crawling in the direction of the cave, careful not to draw attention to ourselves and attempting to stay quiet. I can feel my heartbeat in my throat as I think of the horrible things these disgusting pirates might do to James or I. Looking up towards James, he's much farther ahead of me, but has also stopped near the cave.

     "YOU IDIOTS!! FIND WHOEVER ELSE IS ON THIS ISLAND!!" A gruff, angry voice shouts from what seems to be the cave. I stop myself and can see James slowly backing up out of the corner of my eye. As the gruff voice continues to shout, James gets up, runs over to me, picks me up and starts running with my hand in his.

     "What are we doing?" I ask softly as we run through the forested island.

     "Escaping." He answers flatly. "We need to bored their ship without being caught. From here on out, we're stowaways." I stay quiet as we continue to run in the same direction. Eventually, we end up on a beach. Standing there and listening, there's no other sound but the heavy breathing coming from James and I. Looking around, it's still dark and the moon, big and brilliant, is shining brightly on the ocean. I take a deep breath in before looking around once more.

     I see James standing further away from me than I thought, looking out onto the ocean with his hands resting on top of his head. From the side, I see his chest rising and falling much slower than before. Quietly walking over to him, I assume I caught his attention from the corner of his eye, seeing as he turned in my direction as I approached him.

     "So now what are we going to do?" I whisper softly, as I look up at him, the reflection of the moon on the water illuminating his face. He smiles slightly.

     "I guess we wait. They're going to comb through the island for a while to make sure no one is on it near where they hide their loot." James answers as he lets his arms flop to his sides. His smile is slowly fading as he looks back out on the ocean. I watch him as he watches the ocean, looking as though he is deep in thought.

     "Is everything alright?" I ask his softly as I take one step closer, our hands accidentally brushing against each other. I fold my arms across my chest so it doesn't happen again. Once more, I'm glad it's to dark for him to see my blush. He glances over at me, before smiling back at the ocean.

     "I'm alright. It's nothing really. Just remembering family." He answers softly, keeping his smile. I smile with him, also remembering my family as I look out onto the ocean.

~18 Years Ago~

"You can't move that piece there, April." My father tells me sweetly, chuckling as he moves the piece back.

"I don't get it papa!!" I shout angrily as I flop back into the chair and cross my arms over my chest angrily. He chuckles again slightly before moving the piece properly. "Why can't the horsey just move forward?" I whine to him as I lean over the chess board.

"Because it wasn't made to be moved in that direction." He explains before moving one of his own pieces.

"Well... Why not?" I ask impatiently as I look at all of the differently shaped pieces scattered across the board. I have the white pieces, my father, the black.