A Pirate's Dream

Chapter 1 Lost and Found

"Izzy, stay close now, we don't want you getting lost." Her mother says watching the young girl.

"Yes, mama."

As her mother collects berried and other plants Izzy does more playing around than helping her mother, and any four-year-old would. She and her mother spend all afternoon collecting the different plants. "Oh, good this is just what I wanted to find." Her mother says kneeling down. "Izzy, why don't you go try to find some berries, but make sure you don't wander too far away. You know which ones to pick." She wants to keep Izzy busy.

"Of course mama. I know which ones. I'll stay close." She says putting what she has in her small basket into her mom's big one.

She doesn't have to go very far before she finds a bush. As she finds more she wanders a further distance away than she planned, before she remembers what her mom told her. She tries to follow her path, but as she does, nothing looks familiar, and she starts to worry.

"Izzy, Izzy where are you?"

Izzy turns and runs towards the sound of her mother's voice. No matter which way she turns, she doesn't seem to get any closer. As is starts to get later, she starts to panic. She can no longer hear her mother calling for her, which frightens her.

It's starting to get dark and all she can think about are the stories that her parents told her. The stories that were made up to keep children from wandering in the woods alone. That doesn't take into account her mother losing her in the forest.

She keeps going knowing that she shouldn't stop, currently because of the stories. She wants to get out of the forest. She wanders until she sees a light and she goes towards it.

She emerges from the forest quietly crying and shaking. A man spots her and walks over to her, from a group of men. The light she saw was the light of a fire.

"What is a young lass like yerself doing out here at this time of night?" he asks crouching down to her level.

"I- I'm lost." She tells him, wiping away some tears.

"Are ye from around here?"

Izzy nods her head. "Me and my mama were out in the woods collecting berries and I lost her." She sobs.

"Oliver, I just picked ye up from here, do ye recognize her at all?"

Another man comes away from the fire towards her. "I do Captain. I know which family she belongs to and I think I know where she lives."

"Good. It's late through. We'll return ye, tomorrow lass."

Izzy nods her head, not knowing what else to do.

"What are you going to do with her for the night Captain?" One man asks.

"I'll take her to the ship. Jack can have some company for the night. It's not very often that he gets to see other young children. I'm going to take her back to the ship."

He offers to pick Izzy up, and she accepts. He picks her up and turns to his crew. "Don't be out too late. We leave tomorrow." A mummer goes through the men saying 'yes captain.'

He turns away with Izzy in his arms. He notices the basket of berries in her hands. "Are those the berries you were picking?"

"Yes, Mama wants them."

"I think ye can eat them, they'll be bad by morning."

Izzy starts eating the berries after not eating since that morning.