Angel At Sea

Comfort

You know, the rest of The Captain's family lives here too." She said; I paused, he had a family? I had forgotten, in those strange days, that he had a family too! He had to be a baby at some point, he had to have a mother and father take care of him, maybe even a sister or brother to play with him. But, I hadn't really given much thought to that, I just figured he kind of popped out of air as he is and never aged.

"He does? Is that why we're ported here?" I asked, the woman smiled.

"I don't know; I actually think he ported here so you could meet me. You more than likely don't see it but, he's actually the best, most observant person I know of; he knows when people are sad, or angry, or happy and that's why he's such a great captain, he knows how to keep his crew happy." She replied, I nodded. "I believe he saw that you were depressed and needed to talk to another female of around your age; to get things sorted out, for, it seems everything's been so tangled lately in your life, I don't know how you do it!" She cried, laughing; I smiled.

"Me too" I said and we both laughed; whether he meant it or not, I felt quite relieved to open up to someone else besides purely men. To have someone to empathize with me; it was wonderful. There came a soft knock and the woman said for, whomever it was, to come in and there stood the Captain; as per usual, leaning on the doorframe.

"Come, Anna, we've got to go" said he in his usual, smooth tone.

"But...we've only just ported" I said, I didn't want to leave my new friend; I didn't know how I would fend without her!

"I know, but...we've just...we've got to go" said he; the woman grinned.

"Mummy here?" She asked and he gave a deep sigh.

"Isabelle" He hissed, pausing. "Yes" he answered after a few moments of silence.

"Oh, let Anna meet her!" The woman beside me said.

"You've gone mental" the Captain said, lighting up a cigarette. The woman glared at him until he walked into the room and through it out of the window. "Happy?" He hissed.

"Perfectly" she answered. "Now, why won't you let Anna meet her? She said not to return without a woman and here you are! A woman and everything!" Isabelle (the woman who sat beside me) cried; a smile enveloping her features.

"No" he said, tapping the windowsill. "We have a mutual hatred and she can cry about me in her grave" he hissed; Isabelle sighed in exasperation.

"You don't mean that"

"Damn if I don't!" He yelled at her, he looked to me and sighed. "Come on, Anna, we need to leave" he said very calmly; I stood from the bed and waved goodbye to Isabelle.

"Thank you" I said to her; she nodded and the Captain grasped my wrist, pulling me out of the room so fast my feet could hardly keep up with my legs! He ran with me to the boat and I could barely keep up. "Slow down! I can't really run in these!" I cried, motioning down to the large heels I was stuck in; he sighed and lifted me into his arms, bridal style, and ran to the boat.

Setting me down upon the bow where he grasped the wheel and barked orders for us to get away from port. As we pulled away from port, however, I turned and saw an oldish woman with greying hair and wrinkles all about her face; she wore a lavender dress and hat and held a charcoal black pistol in her hand. She, originally, held a sour expression on her face, but, once she caught sight of me her expression lightened and she placed the pistol back in a small, lavender purse that swung on her left arm. "Who is she?" I asked; looking from the Captain back to the woman, the Captain turned from the wheel and stood beside me.

"My mum" he replied, disgust contorting his already disfigured features ever more.

~~ Thankfully, the Captain allowed me into his room once more, where he picked out the smallest of his clothes and gave them to me; he stood in the threshold and stared at me as I held the clothes. "Aren't you going to change?" He asked, smoking a much needed cigarette.