A Pirate in Time (Completed)

27

I was falling, and somehow, I weighed a ton and was weightless at the same time. I couldn't see anything as I fell through an empty darkness, nor could I hear the wind rushing past my ears, but I knew. I knew because of that sinking feeling you get in the pit of your stomach and the lurch of panic just before you hit the ground.

I didn't hit though. I didn't splatter against a sidewalk or slap against some miraculous pool of water, I just stopped. No pain, no scream, no splat.

The darkness around me began to form shapes, and it didn't take me long to figure out I was in Neptune's Palace again. The soft glow of bioluminescent creatures hung above my head, and monumental artworks draped across the walls. 

I glanced in both the directions the hallway lead, but neither had an end in sight. Following a gut feeling, I chose the stretch to my left. Sooner or later it had to lead somewhere, right?

I walked for what felt like hours but could've only been minutes. I passed door after door, each more beautifully crafted than the last, but there was still no end in sight. Even though my feet carried me forward, I felt as though I was moving back.

I stopped, somehow knowing that walking forever would not help me escape this endless loop. Before me stood a massive mahogany door, to my left was an elm, and to my right an oak.

"Choose," a shapeless voice echoed through me. I scanned every inch of visible hallway for another being, but the only other creatures out here were the ones lighting up the ceiling. 

"Choose," it said again. I hesitantly looked at the doors in front of me, searching for any hint at what the best choice might be.

I felt unmistakably drawn the the oak door. It was lighter in color, and was carved intricately around the edges. I stepped forward and reached my hand out to trace the details, but before I could make contact, it swung inward.

Bright light blinded me, and as I blinked the world back into focus, I saw that the door lead to a place with green grass and large, healthy, maple and oak trees. With one last glance down the hallway, I stepped inside, or rather outside.

The sun was warm against my skin, and the weather was just perfect for spending a day out of the house. It was only when I noticed the group gathered in the distance that my happiness began to fade.

They were all dressed in black, and everywhere around them, grey stones stuck out of the ground.

It was a funeral, I realized, but I couldn't help but wonder for who.

I found my feet were moving of their own accord, guiding me to the group with a certain inexplicable purpose. They wound their way through the rows of headstones  until I found myself at the rear of the group.

My heart sank when I started to recognize some of them.

Near the back, with a solemn expression on his face and his hands buried in his pockets, stood my old History teacher, Mr. Norman. Bunched up at the base of a tree, with puffy red eyes and a distant stare, sat my younger cousin, Adeline. 

I pushed myself deeper into the crowd, afraid that my growing suspicion was correct.

There were my parents, standing side by side with their fingers interlocked. They were trying to stay strong, that much I could tell, but I knew they had already broken down just by the looks on their faces. I studied them for a few more moments before glancing to the small group of my friends huddled behind them. 

They'd also been crying, and even Jacob Cox's eyes were puffy as he pulled Emily into a hug. They looked so different from the last time I'd seen them. They were no longer spilling alcohol out of red solo cups as they cheered on their captain. They were no longer grinning drunkenly as they stumbled over each other. They were mourning, and I was almost certain that I was the one causing that grief. 

"It was all my fault," a familiar voice muttered behind me. I turned to see Danny kneeling in the grass before a freshly carved headstone with his hands in his hair, "I'm so stupid. I'm so, so sorry, Liz. It's my fault. It's all my fault. I can't take it back. It's my fault you're not coming back."

I looked up at the headstone, and sure enough, it was my name scrawled across the top.

In Loving Memory of Elizabeth Anne Proctor.

May her soul rest in the sea beside the heart that never left it.

1990-2008

I traced the engraved letters tenderly before looking back at everyone who had come to pay their respects. There were so many people I didn't even realize had loved me. Friends, family, teachers, even some of my neighbors had come.

"It's not your fault," I whispered to Danny before the image started to fade. I tried to reach out for my family, but the dark engulfed me before I could get to them.

Slowly, I became aware that it had all been a dream, and as golden sunlight shone through my eyelids, I forced myself to open them. I was confused, however, as to why I no longer felt sand beneath me. Had Jay moved me?

I sat up and looked around, unexpectedly coming face-to-face with an impenetrable barrier of native islanders. They watched me in silence. They didn't move, they didn't speak, and I'm fairly certain they weren't blinking. Though, neither was I.

Well wasn't this just peachy.