Bloody Waters

Chapter 3 : Buying a Dead Girl

When the man had finished, he walked off the stage. At this point, Elizabeth's eyes were welling with tears and as she blinked, the tears rolled down her pretty face. Will took a hankercheif and softly wiped the tears away, then rested his hand on her shoulder, which gave her little comfort as the first large man raised his hand to begin the countdown.

He raised three fingers calmly, and the audience excitedly yelled out the number.

   "Three!" they cheered.

   "Will," started Elizabeth frantically, "we,we, let's- we have to help her Will! Let's j-just go up to the man an- and tell him, well, do you suppose..."

Two fingers.

   "Two!"

   "I-I don't care, maybe if we bribed him quickly, er, no- yes-"

One finger.

   "ONE!"

   "Will, she's only a child-"

The hand dropped.

And so did the wooden stage.

*                 *                        *                   *               *                *                  *               *              *

The sharp snaps of many broken necks could be heard at once, but many didn't die as fast and struggled, kicking around frantically until they too, fell still. But there was one who was still kicking and screaming and writhing around on her rope.

It was the girl.

She kicked and writhed around so much that she managed to get the sack off her head which fell to the stage below. Her face was contorted with pain and tears, and her shrill screams rang out in the still, crisp and salty ocean air.

Her rope was pulled on harder at an attempt to finally finish her, but it only succeeded in hoisting her up higher and higher. Elizabeth was now shaking with rage, gripping Will's shoulder with white knuckles. She looked up again to see the girl thrashing around in pain, screaming for the agony to stop, screaming for it all to end.

But it didn't.

Finally, Elizabeth couldn't take it anymore, and she herself screamed at the man in the suit, who leaned against the stage, looking bored.

   "I'LL TAKE HER!"

   "She's not for sale." the man said, not looking back.

   "Elizabeth! You don't know what you're doing, we shouldn't have gone here in the first place, let's go back to the ship and-" Will started, walking in front of her, placing his hands gently on her shoulders, but she pushed him away.

   "Ten pounds!" she yelled.

   "She's not for sale." he said once again.

By now, the young girl was swinging back and forth on the rope, her body shaking furiously, still quietly screaming for mercy and sobbing uncontrollably, every few seconds weakly striking out with a leg in an attempt to free herself. Most would have already died, even with their nooses tied wrong, like the girl's, but her will to live was too strong, she wouldn't give up fighting.

   "Twenty pounds!" Elizabeth pleaded.

   "She's NOT for SALE!" the man yelled, losing his temper.

   "..FIFTY POUNDS!" Elizabeth screamed hysterically.

   "She's NOT for-..." the man stopped.

   "Elizabeth! That's all Jack gave us for supply money-" Will started whispering, but stopped as the man in the suit turned on the spot and strided towards them.

   "Fifty pounds for the dead rat, you say?" he inquired.

   "Yes, fifty pounds for the child. I have it right here." Elizabeth hurriedly said. She took out a small pouch of gold coins, dropping it onto his pudgy, open palm with a satisfying jingle of the contents inside. After what seemed like an eternity of him counting the money, he grinned a yellow-toothed smile, turned around and yelled, "DROP 'ER!"

Suddenly, the girl's rope was let go and she fell a bone-breaking twenty feet, landing limply on the stage below.

She didn't move.