The pirates life for me

Chapter 1

                             The year was 1698, a healthy baby girl, dark eyes, dark hair, dark skin. My father took one look at me, seeing I wasn't a boy, was filled with disappointment. He decided to give me to the nunnery, the place I used to call home. The nuns were peaceful and quiet except when they were reprimanding the children, then it was five lashings, and extra chores. My eighteenth birthday was coming up and I was itching to get out of there, I would finally be rid of this horrid life and be my own person. The first day outside those cold, heavy wrought iron gates, and now I am free... or so I thought... when the gates slammed icily behind me, the sky felt bluer, the air cleaner, the colors more vibrant. I was finally out of that place, that prison. My first day outside those lonely walls was the hardest it ever was. I had no money, nowhere to go, nothing but a sack of my old hand-me-down clothes from the kids before me. I was tall and lanky, my long dark hair unkempt, my skin a savory sand brown, eyes as dark as coal, my face sharp and angular with high cheekbones, almond eyes, and plump lips. I never fit in with the other girls at my age at the orphanage, I hated wearing dresses and would instead wear trousers and a blouse with plain boys shoes. My hair was always cut short, even though the nuns would scold me and give me lashings for it. The day I left and set out on my own I wandered the marvelous city, gawking at statues and towers taller than I had ever seen before. I found a barn to stay the night in. I found a lantern and lit it but made sure to keep the light low, I found a piece of polished metal and a pair of shears and got to work snipping away at my knotted hair. Clumps fell to the ground around my feet, I cut my hair to chin length and swept it back into a short ponytail, changing into my stained dingy whiteish grey nightgown and crawled onto a pile of scratchy hay, besides the constant flees jumping and crawling around and on me, the hay was warm and fragrant. I fell asleep to the quiet sounds of the animals and the occasional cart or carriage passing by. Within the next year I changed my identity so many times I could hardly keep count anymore, my current alias is John Edwards, I am going undercover on a ship called the Nightmare, my plan is to turn the crew and mutiny the captain. I've been watching this ship closely for over a year and a half, I know everything there is to know about this ship. Captain Henry James is a conniving immoral man, Henry has never went on shore to loot, or take towns, like a good captain should. Henry walked the dock surveying the new lot, looking us up and down, examining us like livestock, he stopped in front of me looking me over particularly hard. "I don't know about this one." Henry said with slight disgust in his voice, "Sir I will work ten times harder than anyone else on this ship, Sir." I said straightening up broadening my shoulders making myself look more masculine. "Name, and purpose." Henry said getting close enough to smell the rum on his breath, "John Edwards Sir, I'm here to do what needs to get done, but I excel at repairing and making ammunition Captain, Sir!"  I said standing at attention puffing out my bound chest. Henry gave me one last glance over before moving down the line to the man next to me. Captain James squinted then drew his sword, screaming traitor and obstinacies and gutted the man, I can only assume the man was a spy or had wronged Henry before. The wet splatter of his innards hitting the deck and his lifeless body hitting the water below sent a shutter down my spine. "Gods be with you." I whispered to myself, Henry's head snapped facing me, "What was that?! Mind saying that again boy?" He barked at me, "Nothing Sir, no Sir." I said flinching slightly at his surprisingly loud voice. "Secrets are for women boy, you speak out of tern again and it'll be yer tongue boyo." Henry said pointing a crooked finger in my face. Henry stalked towards the ship, slamming the door to the captains quarters, then we were all filed onto the ship and ushered below deck where we would be sleeping, I chose a cot that was nearest to the bow of the ship.