The Life of a Stowaway

Chapter 1

Back and forth. She scrubbed the deck, mopping up the blood that had already started to stain the wood. She dropped the mop into the bucket and slashed the water around the edge. She let out a small groan as the blood refused to be cleaned.

It's not too late, I could still jump over board. Those sharks will be better than cleaning… I sound spoiled… I am. Life cleaning or death by sharks… sharks. Just an endless dark void of -

“So, what's ya name~?” A voice chimed out, knocked her from her thoughts of what the afterlife would be.

She stopped the moments of her mop, and looked up to meet a pair of ruby eyes. They belonged to a young man with a rounded face, it quickly dawned on her this was the young man that had burst through the captain's door earlier, the one who had first seen her aside from the captain.

“Oh erm, Scar- erm Lettie. Just call me Lettie.” She smiled. The young man front of her seems to have such a happier aura. His smile gave of an era of cheekiness and a bit of hope of this ship of mardy looking pirates.

“I'm Luke… But most of 'em 'ere just call me Tate” He said, “It's nice to meet ya, Lettie.” He lowered himself down, and peered at the blood.

“I need something rough to scrub it with if you want the blood out.” She said as she lifted the mop and rinsed it out over the side of the ship. Her eyes never left the kid. He was a few years younger than her, it was clear to see he hadn't finished growing, and he his face wasn't a result of fat, but a baby face as his body was skinny, almost just skin and bones. His hair still in its heart shape over his forehead, she was starting to think he almost styled it like that.

“Nah, this deck used to be a sandy colour. Now look at it.” He chuckled as he jumped back up onto his feet, he reached out and grabbed her wrist, his thin fingers wrapping around her skin tightly as he grinned, “Come on Lettie, let me introduce you to the crew since you'll be stayin’ 'ere”

She shook her head and pulled against him, “I should really mop, I think I'm in enough trouble with the captain…”

The boy shook his head, “It'll be fine. I always cleaned the deck this morning. Come on!” He cheered, pulling her from the ship's edge across the deck to the stairs. She dropped the mop along the way with a rattle a she wooden pole hit against the old old of the deck.

Luke lead the way, leading her down the stairs and into the kitchen, where a couple of pirates sat eating what looked like stew for breakfast. The minute she entered the room, all eyes were on her.

She felt unnerved and uncomfortable as Luke pulled her down the gally into the kitchen itself, “Pete!” The boy shouted, catching the attention of a older male, he wasn't much older than the captain, but looked to be in his late twenties, his eyes tired looking and his skin far more tanned than the others.

“Luke… What do you wan-” The male turned to face the boy from looking down at the chopping board only for his eyes to fall into Lettie.

“This is the new girl, Lettie. Captain found her this morning. I thought she might like to been shown around, so I'm starting with you.” Luke smiled happily. Does his cheeks ever hurt from smiling so much?

“I… See.” Pete was almost frozen to the spot. His chocolate eyes looking the female up and down quickly, taking in her beauty before he took a breath, realising, he had actually stopped breathing, “Wel-Welcome aboard. I think I saw you crawling out the gally this morning before those pirates showed up.”

“You were on watch them?” Her blonde hair fell forward and curled around her face as she nodded her head. When she looked up, her eyes finally met with his.