The Attainment of Evangeline

Chapter 5

Evangeline's eyes fluttered open against her will; she did not want to even contemplate waking up, for she was too exhausted to contemplate anything. Yet, her eyes opened anyway only to find the barrel of a pistol not a few inches from her face. She gasped and jumped quickly, the pistol following her. Captain Sparrow stood half up, doubled over, one hand clutching his bare stomach and the other holding the gun. His face was deep red with concentration and utter pain, she could tell, and he struggled to stay standing; for he was wobbling back and forth.

"Mr. Sp-"

"Don't speak," he said with labored breath, through gritted teeth.

She didn't dare look at the gun or his face, so she kept her wide eyes on the window, and noticed it was still raining. It was not as it had been last night with terrible thunder and torrents of rain. It was only a drizzle now.

"Who are ya?" he demanded, the gun shaking a bit from the intense pain he was suffering. She slowly looked to him, her heart beating against her ribcage, and spoke.

"Evangeline McKenna," she said, barely above a whisper, yet he heard her.

He grunted with pain, the bandage around his midsection was wet with blood. He muttered something foul under his breath.

"Where the hell am I, and what did ye do to me?"

Evangeline tucked a dark curl behind her ear, nervously.

"You're in Folkstone, and you're in my home. I did not do anything to you sir, except bandage you up last night," she replied.

He peered at her, the black beneath his eyes was smudged, and to her he looked a tad bit frightening, especially when he had a gun pointed at her. There was a moment of silence, as they both looked at each other, and finally she dared to speak.

"You need to lie back down, Captain," she stated, making a move toward him and expecting to be threatened again. But he let her come close, nearly collapsing in her arms as she used all her feeble strength to lead him back to her bed. He sat on the plush blankets with a grunt and took a sharp intake of breath as Evangeline helped him to get his legs up. He shut his eyes tight against pain and again whispered, "bloody hell" through his clenched teeth.

"Are...are you alright?" she asked, stuttering a bit.

"Shit. Do I look like I-" he stopped to take a deep breath "am bloody alright?"

She blushed, pretending to smooth the wrinkles from her skirts, knowing it was an imprudent question. From out of the corner of her eyes she watched his face as it contorted with absolute pain. She bent over to take a look at his wound, but Jack brought the gun to her face again and she put her hands up.

"I only want to help you, sir. Your bandage needs to be changed or you will get infection," she said quietly.

He thought about it for a moment and then nodded his head slowly, giving her permission, but he did not move the pistol away.

"First though, you're gonna tell me how this happened," he said nodding his head in the direction of his abdomen for emphasis.

"I don't know, sir. You showed up at my door in the middle of night, and you were already wounded. I suppose you have no recollection of what occurred."

"Of course I don't, else I wouldn't have asked ya!" he barked.

Evangeline excused his open rudeness due to his torn stomach. After a second Jack sighed and set the gun down by his side, allowing her to tend to him. She smiled shyly and cautiously approached him.

"May I?" she asked, holding her hand up.

Jack scowled at her, but nodded his head. Geline placed the back of her hand to a spot just below where his bandanna laid across his forehead and he closed his eyes against her touch. He was excessively warm.