The Truth About Never - Book One

Chapter Two

Peter looked around at his friends faces. Tootles had his fist in his mouth and Curly ran his chubby hands through his brown hair and kept glancing at Peter with his soft brown eyes. Slightly and Nibs just stared out the carriage window, pondering what the future had in store for them. They were the definition of desolation. All hope seemed to be lost for those five boys, especially for Peter, who would never admit it. Never showing his fear or sadness, Peter always put on a strong face for his friends. They looked up to him, and he would never let them down.

"I wonder when we'll get to the ship," Slightly wondered aloud, for they had been riding for what seemed like hours upon hours. Never had Peter felt so much despair, and he'd felt despair a lot. It was basically the only emotion allowed at the orphanage.

A few lengthy minutes later, the carriage came to an immediate halt. The mysterious man unfastened the carriage door and snatched Peter. Four more men came along and grabbed the other four boys crudely as well. The man's grip on Peter's shoulders tightened as he led him towards a bulky, darkly colored ship. Across the ship were fading words written The Wanderer.

Enormous white sails were hung up with several ropes all across the ship's deck. People dressed in drab colors scuttled all across the ship and port. Some were carrying heavy cargo chests; others were saying goodbye to loved ones. Peter and the other boys were quickly, yet reluctantly, led upon it.

There were many men dressed in raggedy clothes and many, strangely enough, were missing teeth. They glared at the boys as they entered and stopped whatever they were doing. One man seemed to hiss at Peter and he flinched at the hostility, avoiding their prying gaze.

"Where are you taking us?" Peter demanded.

The man answered, throwing off his cloak with dramatic flare, "My name is Captain Wes. Everything on this ship belongs to me, and that means you five as well. You're going to help clean and take care of The Wanderer. So, to answer your question, I'll be taking you to your room now. This is where you'll live until, well, until I don't need you anymore."

"But you can't!" Peter screeched at him, and he flinched at the fear in his own voice.

He was immediately thrown to the ground. His face hit a plank of wood on deck and he could feel his lip pop open. Blood began dribbling out. He licked it, tasting copper.

"You want to try saying that again, boy?"

Finally, Peter had the chance to completely see the Captain's face, which was contorted in a permanent sneer, glaring at Peter with every kind of unpleasantness. To his surprise, he was young, probably in his late twenties or early thirties. He had shoulder length black, greasy hair and eyes were gray as a stormy evening sky. He roughly grabbed Peter's arm and wrenched him upward. Peter tried to wipe the blood spilling from his lip on his shoulder but the Captain shoved him towards a short flight of stairs leading to the lower deck. The other boys hastily followed.

Leading them to a small door, the Captain said, "This'll be your room." He heaved the five of them inside and slammed the door. Peter heard a faint click of a lock.

He turned away and gaped around at the room. There was dirt and dust smeared every which way on the walls. A few ratty blankets were thrown in the corner, along with a bucket full of water. There was another empty bucket. Peter didn't even want to think about that one.

"This is supposed to be our room?" Curly muttered furiously.

"It can't be!" Nibs shrieked.

"I can't believe this is happening!" Tootles and Slightly plopped down on the blankets as all of them began to panic.