The past few days have been without sleep. Everytime I let my eyelids droop closed, images of Truman’s pained face begin flashing by. Whenever I couldn’t sleep, I’d rub my fingers over the surface of my locket. Now the habit only made things worse. I had tried to wash the blood off, but there was still some left in cracks that were impossible to wash out. The blood reminded me of Truman and the boy I’d killed. They were such painful memories, and the thought haunted me and made me feel as though I were having a thousand swords plunged through my chest.
“Laddie, ye alright? Does killin’ people still bother ye that much?” I flinched as I heard a kind, gentle voice coming from beside me.
“Jus’ when it be someone I know or a child,” I muttered and clenched my jaw in an attempt to stop the tears from flowing down my cheeks. A few tears managed to escape and slide slowly down to my chin.
In the corner of my eye, I saw Amin shift before I heard his confused voice ask, “When did ye do that?”
“When the Redcoats attacked. Me oldest friend was one of ‘em. I didn’t recognize ‘im ‘till it was too late.”
“I see.” For the first since I met the man, Amin had nothing to say--neither advice to make me feel better, nor a funny comment to make me laugh. A cold silence drifted between us, and it made the pain even worse.
“Amin, please say somethin’.”
“I know ye look up to me and think I’m pretty amazin,’ which I am, but I don’t have all the answers ye need,” he said in a lame attempt at a joke. I just stared at the ground between my feet and unwillingly let the sorrow wash over me.
I heard Amin sigh. I felt a firm hand grip my shoulder before turning me around. Amin lifted my chin up with a single finger. “C’mon, Kid. I hate seein’ ye like this. Ye be like family to me, and I hate seein’ family sad.”
“Sorry, Amin. I’d be happier if I could, but all I feel is a pain in me chest,” I spoke with a hollow voice. I felt so empty, void of all emotions apart from remorse.
Amin was silent a moment before speaking, “Yer sad ‘cause ye killed ye friend. Ye killed ye friend in obedience to Nero.” I was shocked by the fact that he called Captain Latro by his first name. No one dared called Captain Latro by his first name; that included Amin. I now knew he was calmly furious.
“Amin,” I started but was unsure how to finish that sentence.
“Laddie, I wanna tell ye somethin’. I never told this to no one. Not one soul,” I was shocked by Amin’s words. He was unusually serious, and it made me nervous.
“I won’t tell a soul; I give ye me word,” was all I could think to say.
“I wanna tell ye how I become a pirate.
~
“I be from a high class family. I spent me days with me twin brother; we two were never apart, always together. Any classes we had, we done together. We took fencin’ as lads. We were only lads when we become pirates.
“In the middle of the night, me home was attacked. Pirates stormed the house and took everythin’. They killed everyone, save me and me brother. Me and me brother watched the cap’ain kill our parents.
“Me and me brother didn’t go down without a fight, no we didn’t,” Amin let out a humorless laugh and shook his head with his gaze keeping watch on the floor. “We fought the cap’ain, tried to beat him we did. We just be lads and stood not a slight chance to ‘im. We sure amused that ol’ ninny. That was only thing that kept us ‘live. Cap’ain Eduard took us as his apprentices. That be the first time I set foot on Bloody Mary. I fell in love with ‘er and the sea--soon ‘nough the crew too. When ye are ‘round things fer so long, ye pick up habits. ‘Cause I was such a young lad, I started talkin’ like men ‘round me. ‘Fore long there be nothin’ left to change.
“‘Twas near three years gone that Cap’ain Eduard passed. Redcoats invaded and bested the ol’ man. As his dyin’ wish, he made Nero new cap’ain of Bloody Mary. The crew ain’t changed much since. Ye be the first new crewmate to join since Cap’ain Eduard’s passin’.”
I was silent for a moment, allowing all this newly found information sink in. “And ye brother?”
He looked at me in a puzzled way, “Aye, what of ‘im?”
“Where he be now? Is he still alive?” I asked as curiosity took over my mind and mouth.
Amin chuckled and shook his head, “He still be alive. In fact, ye met ‘im already.”
“He be a crewmate?” I was utterly confused. I didn’t recall meeting anyone who would be Amin’s twin.
“Me brother be Nero.” Those four little words shocked me to the core of my soul.
Things suddenly made more sense. The few things that oddly reminded me of Amin. The fact that he seemed to trust Amin more than anyone else on the ship. Though it made perfect sense, it still shocked me to silence.
I stood dumbfounded in front of Amin before Captain Latro called me to come to the captain’s cabin. I snapped out of my frozen state of mind and quickly made my way to the captain’s cabin. I pushed away the thoughts of all that Amin had just told me. I couldn’t let Captain Latro catch on that something was on my mind.
I walked in and saw Captain Latro sitting in a chair behind a desk, which he had his feet propped up on. He had his hands folded behind his head. He looked at me and motioned to a chair that was in front of his desk. I began walking towards the chair, but I froze where I stood at the words that came out of his mouth, “Have a seat, Girly.”
He laughed at my reaction before standing while saying, “Ye honestly thought no one would find out yer secret. I’m just surprised it took this long for anyone to say anything. The fact that Amin didn’t suspect a thing is hard to believe. Unless he kept it a secret. He did, didn’t he?” He laughed again before continuing, “He be too caring to let a girl be killed. He still be quite chivalrous.”
Before he could go on torturing me with his words, we heard crewmates yelling about Redcoats.
