Succumbed was his mind, draining all faith from the eyes, that carried the acts of retribution. Let the soul guide, he who dares to be alive, the psyche ruled by a sickening version of a self made constitution...Roaming the seas, Megara sailing with ease. How can those that call themselves sick, be the only ones that manifest the existence of a spiritual disease, called internal fear, birthing deadly delusions. They all fear seclusion, still death gives birth for new entities during humanistic collusion.
†††
His eyes opened. Ears catching the sound of the sea water being splashed around with a heavy yet semi-slow paced force. Water rising up then dropping down. He turned his head around suspecting the sound of wood was oars.
He got up slowly and walked silently across the room trying to grab his coat. The coldness of that night was frosting. Penetrating the flesh so unforgivably as it struck the bones. Henry and Grace were asleep. He opened the door as fast as he can. But still he frowned as the wooden door always made a creaking sound.
He stepped outside into the main deck. Eyes looking left and right. His eyes starred at his own ship with confusion and fright. Physically Downing was calm, but the psyche sensed something wasn't right.
This is the first time I don't feel safe on my own ship. My own home.
As he looked around him a small dimmed light in the distance caught his eyes. Moving up and down syncing with the motion of the young waves. He narrowed his eyes, as he struggled to see through the dense fog surrounding Megara. He ran quietly up to the ship's helm. Grabbed Simon's telescope and guided himself back to the main deck. Body rising up the jacob's ladder. He tangled his left arm through the ropes. Eye squeezed through the telescope, trying to identify the anonymous figure in the darkness.
A greyish beard. Old man's skin. He pushed the glass away from his eye. Breathing silently as water vapour escaped his lips. He looked at the entrance to the upper gun deck then turned his face straight again, continuing to look through the glass.
"Simon?"
The glass rose up from the water's view towards the main deck. Confusion and mystery filled Calico's head. As Simon suddenly appeared to be walking on the main deck of an unknown ship in the short distance.
Calico climbed down the jacob's ladder, and leaned forward on the ship's edge. Hearing a voice in the distance, coming from the unknown ship.
"Joan? Joan are you hear?"
"What the hell is he doing? He'll get us all killed."
Calico rushed towards the boats. Dropped one down and jumped behind it. Landing on top. The moment he did, something felt strange. Hands and feet shivering. The splashes of the salty water, didn't waste time rolling down his skin. Instantly freezing on his flesh.
He started rowing the boat, getting closer and closer to the strange ship. Hands moving in a circular motion, but the movement stopped sooner than expected. As he struggled to move the water around. It felt thicker than normal. He heard a voice coming from the inside of his head;
Captain Calico Downing. What an honour my love. I love Pirates.
The sound of a young woman spoke, so softly, so Innocent. His body froze. Hair strands covering his sight, but it didn't bother him. He kept looking down on the boat, avoiding to look around. Arms stayed inside the boat. The moment he had the courage to start turning the boat around. His eyes went black, hypnotized. Then the voice spoke again;
This is not where a human belongs...Suffocating under the water, suffocating in life, drowning in your own sad truth you keep inside. All types of things watching you as you hold on to your last breath...Nobody is around you, that feeling where you don't know If hands or teeth or...or just your soul willing to desert you for the pity human you are! You gave your life away to desires that make you feel like you're wanted in this life, desires that make you feel happy... That feeling where you're about to die and you realize that there is no going back...That moment of death where you know you can drown in the place you like to call home, the life you choose to live safely...But you still open your mouth fully not to scream...But to ask forgiveness from your maker or whoever you care to believe in, that never even cared about you fully to even speak to you or show it or himself and all those sleepless nights you cry and ask for help, what a shame!... you think you're powerful? That you're strong? Nothing can scare you? You're an adult now! Walking around with self-esteem and confidence aren't you. Well let me ask you this...Can you? Can you imagine yourself dying a horrible death...Can you imagine yourself suffering? Can you imagine yourself screaming in agony for your lord to save your helpless soul? Can you imagine the faces of those that you love seeing blood coming out your mouth and not even caring? Can you feel it...That feeling of being watched, being stared at? That feeling on the back of your neck that makes you hair stand up, that makes your blood rush in your favourite vein, the vein that will give you all that hopeless power to runaway... That feeling of misery...How you die a meaningless death in a life where you tried to become a definition of something that matters... now your body is just another corpse waiting to be ripped apart and infested on by some insects that you used to stomp, now everything that was always smaller than you feels more powerful, what's wrong... feeling disturbed? As everybody that you know doesn't care for you... they all follow their own desires... Are you disturbed? Are you disturbed by the fact that you are not desired by anybody that you desired from the deepness of your sad heart... Are you disturbed to the idea of being unwanted by everything that you've given yourself too in life? Are you disturbed by the idea that your death and your birth are the same? Your death had more of an impact, since you felt something when you're about to die...but sadly when you were born you were already a walking corpse with neither heard nor seen pain. Watching everybody around you live their lives fully but you...You watch and watch how every face paints a smile...Not yours sadly...Yours is just to hide the pain away! But every time you try to feel happy life stabs you in the back! What a shame... Why do you care? Why do you fight? When you can end all of this misery by closing your eyes and knowing you won't see another night...Death scares you doesn't it...Pity but I can't blame you! That's human nature after all, you all live your lives trying to run away from death, but you try to hide it...How weak humans are! They live their lives running away from death but sadly none of them ever realized they were never alive. They made a god out of a man.
It won't stop, the voice won't stop talking...It sounds so high pitched I can't make out what it is. I'll kill this bastard when I see him, to hell with him and his daughter. She can rot with her husband. I'm getting closer to the ship and my eyes just stare at it. Silence...complete silence, I don't hear anybody on board! I need to find a way to get up there.
Maybe if I row to the back of the ship I can use the windows to climb them, it would be a shame if a pirate captain didn't know to get up a ship.
I row to the back of the ship and see the windows, the sea is high today all I need is to reach out and I'll grab the edge of the window, I try to climb as slow as I can, the wood doesn't feel steady and it's like the whole back side of the ship is falling apart and the idea of falling into the pitch black water tonight doesn't really sound like a great idea. I can feel the wood being pulled off with every grab. I get on top of the ship and get down to the quarter deck. There's a strange dark greenish liquid that's on the floor, I can feel my feet sticking to the ground with every step that I take. The masts of the ship seem untouched but the sail of the mainmast seems to be torn off, as rips and holes are damaging it. Maybe it was the storm since these couple of nights, were strangely cold. I walk to the captain's cabin and open the door slowly. And I freeze...The room is pretty dark and my bloody lantern wasn't helping that much. It just looked like a small entity of light being eaten by darkness. I try to look deeper into the room, the more I look inside the more my vision becomes blurry. I enter the room slowly and I realize the books, chairs, even the table they're all on the floor, like someone flipped them over aggressively, I don't see anybody here. It's completely silent and lifeless. I can see a strange flag on the wall symbolized by strange colours ; Green and red.
Where the hell did everybody go? Did someone try to rob them? No we would've heard sounds coming from here...But what's more strange is...I still don't understand how none of my crew members saw this ship!
The voice wouldn't stop. Dark words being said, but still the voice seemed seductive to his ears. Lips smiling without conscious. Part of him didn't want her to stop. Didn't want the moment to end. The last minute the voice spoke. His smile got wider. Pain expression on his face. Hands covering his ears. The voice became high pitched, which made his ears feel like they're about to bleed. He shook his head in a rapid motion. Looked around him, to realize that his beneath the strange ship. Fog surrounding him. He quickly grabbed the edge of the ship's windows and climbed up. Looking at the water as he went up. The ship's wood felt moist. He turned his head to the side, nose despising the scent of the wood. The wood made him anxious, as pieces fell into the water. The whole ship seemed to be in a bad condition. Calico took a heavy breath and climbed faster. Muttering Simon's name with anger and threats. His body froze the moment a sound of strange water movement was made, but quickly reached the surface of the ship.
His eyes widened at the sight of the ship. The masts were bent to the side. Sails had holes ripped through them. Bird feather's all over the main deck. The more he moved around the more he struggled to coordinate his movement. Feet getting stuck on the deck. He looked down and stopped in his place. A strange green liquid covered the surface of the deck. But it had no smell. The texture seemed strange.
Calico walked to the edge of the ship, trying to get a glimpse of Megara. But the fog blocked all the view. As it seemed to increase around this ship, in a strange manner.
He looked around him, inspecting the ship cautiously. The emotion of slight relief filled his heart upon seeing Simon's lantern.
"That's his lantern, but where the hell is he?" Calico whispered.
He picked up the lantern, moving it around, in-front of his face. The lantern turned around until his eyes aimed at the captain's cabin.
Before walking closer to the cabin, he stopped and tried to hear any movement around the ship.
The whole ship seem to be abandoned. Why the hell did he come here. Does he really think Joan might be here?
He opened the cabin's door, but kept his distance. The whole room was pitch black. His lantern did no justice. As the light seemed to be a small ball in-front of the dark room.
He walked forward slowly. Opening the door more with his leg, chest still leaning backwards. His arm extended towards the room, trying to fight against the darkness.
The room felt dreaded. Dark and silent was devouring the room. The greenish liquid was mixed with blood, covered certain spots on the room's floor. Books, chairs, different objects were all turned upside down, thrown around the room. He shun his lantern against the walls. Scratch marks. Pistol cartridges filled different spots on the walls. He walked closer towards one of the walls. Finger tips rubbing against the cotton on the walls.
Calico looked at it, trying to study the colours, "What is this flag? Green and Red.. Strange."
He headed back outside and walked across the main deck. He lifted up one of the sails, revealing the entrance to the ship. He jumped down. The moment his feet hit the ground, his back stood high quickly. Eyes teaming with the lantern heavily. Inspecting the interior of the ship.
"Where did everybody go?" He walked forward slowly, "Simon? Can you hear me? Simon." No answer was heard.
The deck was filled with the smell of dead fish, dead birds, everything released the scent of death. The more steps he took forward, water kept splashing around, forming small waves. Reaching his knees. Behind the sound of water, there was a second strange sound, followed by his feet hesitating to walk more. With every step that he took a cracking sound can be heard. Calico got down on his knee. Raised his arm in the air next to his face. Took a heavy breath and put his arm into the water, sensing what's hidden beneath it.
He grabbed something round. The object fit the palm of his hand. He raised his arm slowly, leaning himself away from his hand.
He wanted to apply a slight pressure, but feared not the object. He feared to see what might be inside of it, "Fish eggs?"
He shun his lantern again around the deck, dropping the fish egg back into the water. This time the next steps that he took, legs were all covered by fish eggs. The cannons were all covered with the strange greenish liquid. Sea algae covered the cannons and the walls. Cannons were filled with fish eggs too.
Strange structures were all on the walls and the ceiling. He tried to get a better view, but kept his distance.
"Simon? Simon are you—"
Calico's leg shook with a reflex behaviour. And after looking down he jumped in place. Marine worms, blood worms and different types of insects were all rushing towards his leg. He started to hit his feet together.
I can feel them inside my pants.
He started to rub his feet next to each-other. Feeling of fright kicked in as a leach came out of his shirt. Rubbing against his neck. He started to hit with his feet and leg. The sound of insects being squished attacked his ears, making his skin crawl. He can feel their blood on his body. Freezing on his skin. He grabbed his stomach tightly. Covered his mouth with the hand that's holding the lantern.
"Over here. Over Here Calico."
A voice seemed to come from the deck beneath.
"Simon?"
"Over. Over here Downing." Simon said.
Calico sprinted across the deck, but before heading down. The door to a room opened. It made him stop his movement. He stood in his place and shun the lantern towards the room.
Inside the room in the darkness, there was a figure sitting in the corner.
He turned around to head to the lower deck, but something made him stop again. He looked at the figure in the darkness. The figure for some reason seemed familiar.
He approached the room and walked inside. The moment he did, he covered his nose, turned around his head to the side.
Veins covered the room's floor. Fish eggs were scattered all around. The smell of diseases, body organs, decomposed skin filled the whole room. Attacking his lungs insanely. He walked closer towards the body. The instant that Calico's eyes revealed the person's identity, he walked backwards in disbelief.
"P...P...Peter?"
Peter's body seemed to be dissected in a strange way. Flesh still in contact but the body was just flesh. Empty from all the organs. Empty from bones. Only half of a skeleton. Spine and skull. Fish eggs filled his stomach.Worms crawling in and out of his eyes and ears. There was a strange long tube connected to Peter's private part. The tube seemed to be filled with the strange green liquid. But it seemed to be sucking the liquid out of his body. No matter how much worms tried to consume his flesh, the skin seemed to be still untouched.
"Over here Calico." The voice spoke again.
Instead of going after the voice, Calico turned around and sprinted back to the entrance. His eyes widened. Fingers moving his hair back, away from his eyes. The entrance was gone. Just wood covered the whole ceiling.
"Calico save me."
Calico turned around and walked forward again across the deck. Looking left and right. The open parts of the ship, that allow the cannon fire were all closed with wood. The moment he reached the middle of the deck. He heard movement coming from the lower deck, he tried to listen to the movement. But suddenly the wood beneath him cracked open. Calico rushed forward but was stopped by the amount of worms and leaches dropping from the ceiling on him. The whole deck was falling apart. He lost control and dropped down to the lower deck. Water splashed all around him. Body diving down deep.
He swam back up, trying to catch his breath. But quickly dove back down. He looked up and fear consumed him as the hole he fell from was covered back in wood. He was in complete darkness and the water seemed to increase in height slowly. Filling up the whole deck. Different thoughts roamed his psyche; No Simon. No strange woman either. He was all alone on the strange ship, only accompanied by Peter's dead body.
He can feel strange insects biting his legs. Crawling inside his pants. Inside his shirt. Crawling around his skin, climbing up his neck, approaching his ears. He started to hit his body with a force. Not knowing what to do, he dove back down. And moved his body around in a circular motion, turning around, trying to fight them off. Calico opened his mouth with a scream as something pulled him down. All the insects went inside his mouth. He swam back up, coughing and avoiding to swallow. Feeling the insects positioning themselves inside of his throat. Scratching his whole throat.
The water started to get thicker. He felt the green liquid around his whole body. The water was now filing the whole deck. His whole body beneath the water. Holding his breath. Throat being scratched. Eyes burning. Feeling strange bites around his skin, all over his body.
Her voice spoke again, and still it was clear as ever;
Are you disturbed yet Captain Downing? He who doesn't listen carefully will meet the consequences silently, same way a person treats himself and those around him, will get a taste of the consequences that awaits for him ahead. Are you disturbed? Are you disturbed by the idea that your death was revealed to you and you still couldn't escape it? Are you disturbed that—are you disturbed Calico?
Are you? Calico. Calico. Calico why you didn't let me drown with my daddy? They killed my daddy Calico. Why you didn't save him?!
Why you didn't save my daddy?
Does she remind you of someone Mr. Downing? Is that why you saved her? Does that little Grace remind you of someone that's dear to your heart big boy? Or maybe she's dear to the person that Catherine didn't see the day she died! What a pity. Are you disturbed yet Captain? All the horrible things you did. All the innocent lives you killed. And all the dark things your heart will desire till the end. I'll forbid you from enjoying the desire to be dead. Why do you hide your true side Captain? Why do you lie to people about who you really are...Should I blame Catherine? No, why should I? You made that poor woman suffer enough didn't You. Oh? What's that, you're angry Captain? Why are you angry? Do you fear hearing the truth about yourself? What a shame! I hope Captain you—
The sound of cannon fire filled the whole deck. All the wood around him was collapsing. He felt that the whole ship was sinking slowly. One of the cannon balls hit the lower side of the ship, reaching Calico and blowing a hole in-front of him. Forming a plan of escape.
Calico quickly swam out to the open sea. The water was strangely lit up by the big ball of white up in the sky. All the insects seemed to have let go of him. He kicked his legs, moving his arms quickly. Swimming back up to the surface. He struggled as the water strangely started to get dark. Feeling strange heavy, powerful movement around him. The more the movement increased the more he swam faster. The movement seemed to be stronger than a shark's movement. Stronger than anything he ever seen before. His lungs felt pain. Strong headache. He felt multiple movements around him, getting closer. Swimming around him in a circular motion. Every-time he was about to reach the surface, something pulls him back quickly. He fought against it, pushing his body with all power trying to reach the surface again. This time a hand grabbed his feet again, pulled him down more. Then before the instinct of survival kick in for the third time, a loud high pitched scream, like a siren filled his ear. Everything went black, eyes closing, passing out. Still part of him felt his body floating around.
†††
"Is he awake? Nicholas is he awake?"
"He isn't moving."
"What happened out there?"
"Luke. He saw one of our boats missing. He went to tell Calico—"
" And out dear smart captain wasn't in his cabin. Where the hell did he think he was going?"
"Who knows. The captain is always doing strange things. His behaviour isn't normal these days."
"I can see. Where did that ship come from?"
"...Oh...I see."
"But. What did this to him?"
"I have no idea. There's nobody on that ship."
"Let's get out of here, before he wakes up."
"Don't tell Luke anything."
†††
His eyes opened. Ears hearing the sound of water waves splashing around Megara's wood.
He lifted his head, but quickly dropped it back on the pillow again. Huge waves of pain attacked his bones. Spreading all across his body. He couldn't lift his arms without a deep effort. He lifted himself up, sitting on the edge of his bed. Whole room dancing around him. Vision blurry. Ringing sound in his ears. Arms and legs shaking. He tried to swallow his saliva, but stopped as his whole tongue felt strange. He stuck his tongue out, and touched it with his fingers tips. He quickly swallowed his tongue, and curled his fingers. Whole tongue had a stinging sensation. Which gave him an unpleasant feeling. He rolled his eyes, looking around the room. Everything in sight was spinning around, slowly. He tried to get on his feet, but his body dropped down on the bed. He tried a second time with all his power. He lifted himself up, but before even taking a second step, he tripped and fell but quickly grabbed the edge of the chair. He walked around the chair and sat down. Grabbing the pipe and lighting it up. The fumes spread across his lungs, chest inflating. Exhaling slowly, whole chest shaking. The fumes danced around him, changing the atmosphere in the room.
His eyes traveled across his table, examining the items laid on it. His eyes stopped at the sight of an old wooden box. Extended his arm, but brought it back closer to him. Starring at the ground. He tried to remember what happened to him, but every-time he tried he closes his eyes. And clutches his fist. As a strong headache fills his head. He can only remember the words, but couldn't remember the voice he heard. If he tried to remember the characteristics of the voice, all he heard was a high pitched sound.
He finally grabbed the wooden box. His fingertips left marks on the box. He lifted the box to the level of his lips and blew slowly on it. Dust scattered all around the air, flying around him in a peaceful harmony. The box was light in weight. He sat the box down on the table, opening the lock on it, and lifting the lid up. He raised his pipe again and inhaled deeply. This time putting the pipe down as he exhaled.
He reached his hand to the inside of the box and took out the piece of paper that was laying dead inside. His eyes glanced at the words covering the white parts of the paper. Silence filled the room. Only the sound of his breathing touched his hearing. He lifted the letter and opened it. His expression seemed uncomfortable. Face painted with signs of sadness and regret. He fixed the letter in his hand and looked at the words. The eyes read;
The 9th of January, 1568.
Birmingham, England
Dear Calico, I hope you're doing well, I've missed you. It's been a long time since we spoke, since we saw each other, but it's okay. I hope the sea offered you everything that I couldn't, I hope you're doing well, and I'm happy to hear that you're a captain now! I know from the deep of my heart that you didn't forget about me! As I've never forgotten about you! I'm sorry you grew up the way you did! I tried my hardest but, this is life after all, maybe we'll meet again someday, or maybe, we'll see each other in the afterlife...You're an amazing man, brave, and I know you have a kind heart. We miss you and we hope to hear from you soon my child.
Catherine Downing.