Of Rubies and Diamonds

Chapter 1.1

A little turn of events

"Captain!" came the distressed voice of a strong man from somewhere on the ship, panic very evident. The sky that was clear just minutes ago was now as dark as the deepest depths of the ocean, anyone could barely see the tip of their nose. The warm sun was now replaced by murky clouds, them not being happy and little at all. The Captain, too, wasn't very calm but for the sake of his crew kept it all in and tried not to show it on the outside. After all, he was the only thing they could rely on in such a difficult situation.

"Wake everyone up!" came his first order, not really thought over, just something that came to his mind right away, knowing that he needs all the help he could get and who else can you count on while on a ship. The man nodded his head and listened to him like the reliable worker he was. Soon, the whole ship had men spread all around all waiting for any command coming out of the main man's mouth. So he did. Yells were now the only thing heard, just sometimes accompanied by loud thunders and water splashing, followed by heavy grunts of exhaustion and fear of the unknown. The first big wave came, but the skilled Captain was able to turn the ship around, so they got out with just a bigger shake. Wiping the invisible sweat off of his forehead he continued working his way around the helm, trying to help as much as he could.

"Water is coming in, Captain!" his trusted man, Harford, told him as he came from behind, his body swaying from right to left with the force put on the ship. Captain nodded in understanding while he was already coming up with solutions. Giving the man orders, he was gone once again, spreading the Captain's words.

"Cap-" but the words got interrupted as a big wave came crashing to the ship. The skilled Captain, of course, saw that one coming, so the ship was more than ready for such an impact. What he didn't notice, with the lack of a second pair of eyes on the back of the head, was another wave coming from another direction. Thankfully, that one wasn't so big.

"Three men over the board Captain!" Harford reported. This made the Captain silently pray to all the gods he's never believed in. Just hoping for them to survive.

"Continue getting the water out!" he ordered again, standing behind the helm trying his hardest to protect as many men as he could while keeping a cool head to give proper orders. Everyone ran around the deck with buckets full of water they were attempting to return to the ocean where it belongs. Deciding to trust the crew a little, he started focusing on his job alone so the chances of them making it out are higher. Maybe he didn't trust his men completely, but at least Harford was there, and he was a very skilled deck worker, what he lacked in wit he had in strength.

"Captain! Clay is feeling very sick!" he could hear a heartbeat in his ears, only now realizing the weight of the situation. Everything is somehow fine now, but anytime soon they will all start getting tired and having a hard time keeping up. The adrenaline they all have acquired when the panic first started will begin running out and that's when even the prayers won't be enough.

"Cap-" a big one right after the previous, smaller wave.

Black.

+++

Opening my eyes, I lifted my head up to look around, my neck cracking loudly in the process but I didn't care at all. It was dark and very quiet, too quiet. My head was empty of any thoughts which is the reason why I didn't realize the situation at first. It might've been my empty head, but I just kept wondering while I can't even hear birds. But later, I had decided to look at my body because something seemed out of place. I had both arms, both legs. When I started counting my fingers, I noticed half of my ring finger missing, on my arms because the legs were covered by my boots. The finger was bleeding, yet I couldn't feel any pain from it. Shaking my head I sat up properly.

"Har...ford?" no one was around me and I was laying in the middle of a field full of planks, cloth, and what looked very close to the remaining of my ship. My breathing got heavy, my heart beating over two hundred beats per minute and I could feel the panic attack coming. I probably killed them all, they're all dead because of me. I am no captain, not only have I allowed my crew to die but also didn't fall together with my ship. My vision started darkening as I tried to decide what to do. I am nothing without my crew and ship, I am no one therefore I should just jump into the water and kill myself. I've always had a connection to it, so why not.

It wouldn't be a punishment if you were to die to the one thing you love.

Before I got the chance to throw myself in, even when it made me very guilty, I heard a gasp from behind. My head quickly looked at the place where it came from. There, near the line of trees stood a child, no older than 12, a big basket in hand. Maybe it was fear from both of our sides, but we just kept looking at each other, no one making a single move. Probably flabbergasted so bad that we couldn't believe the thing in front of us was real.

"You're a pirate! Are you a pirate?" I nodded my head after she stopped for a second, "a real-life pirate!" she probably didn't mean it, but her words brought me a lot of pain.

"I was actually the captain of my ship," my correction caused the young girl to widen her eyes and smile just as big. The basket was on the floor and I heard footsteps, the next I know, she is standing in front of me her eyes inspecting me like I am some prey.

"You do look the part. Now, where is your ship?" after saying so, her eyes moved to the ocean searching for the said ship. My heart broke once again.

"Here," I said and pointed to one of the planks on the beach floor.

"Silly! That's just a piece of wood, you can't sail the oceans on that!" she laughed, now looking around again very sure that I was just kidding. Or maybe she started thinking that I was not mentally okay, not like I was, and thought that that was, in fact, my ship.

"It's what remained of it," my head fell and I couldn't stand to look at her. I closed my eyes, because once again, why am I allowed to see the light of the day while the others don't.

"What do you mean?"

"There was a terrible storm yesterday, we didn't make it,"

"A storm? Yesterday? The last storm had gone four days ago,"

"Four days? Have I been here for four days?" I was so surprised I didn't realize I raised my voice a lot.

"I don't think so, I passed by here every day and I didn't notice you until now," she said, covering herself behind her arms. I silently apologized for being loud and scaring her.

"That's even worse," she put her hands down, calm once again, "wait, where are we?"

"You're on Ponomeuse [pono-moose], of course! The island in the middle of nowhere,"

+more in chapter 1.2+