Not All Treasure is Silver and Gold...

Chapter 9

Elizabeth was pushing Jack up against the mast, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, kissing him passionately. And Jack wasn't pushing her away, their bodies and hands entwined as he responded enthusiastically.

I watched them for may have been a few moments or an eternity, I have no idea. Blinking back tears, I stumbled away blindly, trying to be quiet, to act as though I hadn't seen it, but then I crashed into several barrels of rum and sent them rolling loudly across the floor, several of them leaking over my shoes. Jack looked up immediately, pausing his kiss, and caught sight of me, dripping and staring at him. We both froze for a split second, before he broke free of Elizabeth, tripping over the barrels as he ran towards me. I hurried through the crowd of sailors, feeling like my insides had been turned to lead.

"Rose! Rose, wait!" I heard him call from behind me but I kept on running until I reached the edge of the ship, eyes burning with hot, salty tears at the unfairness of it all...at Elizabeth's cruel behaviour that Jack was still blissfully unaware of. It hit me that I now had absolutely nowhere else to go, no way of escape.

"Rose...it's not...that wasn't what it looked like," Jack protested lamely, as he arrived breathlessly in front of me, clutching a stitch in his side. The cold rain seemed to have woken him up from his drunken state. I glared at him.

"Oh, right, you kissing Elizabeth couldn't possibly have been what it looked like!" I cried sarcastically. Then I snapped, "Let me off this ship!"

"What?! No!" Jack said, eyes wide in horror.

"Let me off this ship." I repeated furiously, my voice growing louder.

"You're not leaving! Listen to me-"

"Let me off this ship or...I'll...I'll jump!" I cried wildly, though I had no real intention of jumping.

"What? Don’t be stupid, Rose, I don't-"

"Alright then," I cried and before I knew what I was doing I had stepped over the side and was falling...falling...

I hit the icy waves and gasped, unable to catch my breath, feeling like an iron fish had closed around my heart and lungs, suffocating me and cutting off my airways. I began swimming frantically, my flailing limbs turning numb. There was a sudden splash beside me and a pair of muscular arms grabbed me and pulled me above the water.

"Jack, what are you doing?! Leave me alone! I'm fine!" I hissed, knowing how ridiculous i sounded. Of course I wasn't fine!

"You think I'm going to let you drown love? Well I'm not. Savvy?" Jack panted, pulling me through the freezing water.

"They haven't even noticed we're gone!" I gasped as the Pearl grew distant, struggling still, but Jack's hold was strong as he gripped me around the waist.

"They will..." Jack said, but I detected the note of hesitancy in his voice.

"We're...going to die...and...It’s...my fault!" I cried suddenly, and tears began pouring down my face, mixing with the salty seawater.

"You're...forgetting something...love..." Jack panted, "I'm Captain...Jack...Sparrow..."

I had no idea how that sentence had possibly helped anyone, but remained silent, growing unbelievably tired. I saw Jack look to the side of us and notice a small island on the horizon.

"That's...not too far...away," he gasped. "Come on..."

We began swimming towards the island, swimming for our lives, though my freezing bones were weighing me down, and I longed to just give up and sink under the bitterly cold ripples of water. Pretty soon it grew bigger and bigger as we got closer and closer to it. My head began to feel heavy and I felt exhausted, letting Jack drag me along. I couldn't bear it any longer, and I began to close my eyes peacefully, drifting...drifting away...