A Pirate's Life for Me

Chapter 19: Do You Fear Death?

Chapter 19: Do you Fear Death? Do You Fear That Dark Abyss? All Your Deeds Laid Bare, all Your Sins Punished?

Nora stared up at her ceiling, lifting her arm, finding her MagicBand on her wrist. She'd fallen asleep with it on. It was comforting, like a watch, or a phone, or a house key—having it meant you had options. That you wouldn't be locked out, or stranded, or forget the time.

Her other hand stayed buried in Daisy's fur as she dozed. For a Border Collie, she seriously lacked energy, which was fine by her.

She should really be doing homework and she'd promised Maddie she'd meet up later that day since she felt like Levi's meeting with Oliver they'd scheduled would go fine, but right now she was too busy thinking about Jack.

Did she even like him? Things had gotten so weird lately. He didn't seem to want anything to do with her, constantly saying no. But at the same time, it seemed like he was always excited to see her, concerned for her wellbeing, and possibly spreading rumors that she had a crush on him?

She didn't understand why he was so against her knowing his identity but, at the same time, it felt like the mystery kept nagging at her, like she was supposed to know it, not even for a romantic reason. Just because he was whoever he was and they were supposed to know each other.

It sounded ridiculous.

She really should have asked Oliver about who he was. She'd been stupid not to. Maybe whatever Oliver would have to say would give her some clarity.

Brook came into her room without a knock. "What, are you and your boyfriend Mickey having problems?"

Nora turned so that she was facing the wall, cuddling into Daisy.

Brook scoffed.

Of course, Brook didn't leave. She wanted attention, to lord it over Nora that she could get whatever she wanted, that she loved walking right over her. She made herself at home at Nora's desk, scrolling through TikTok.

After a few minutes, she recognized Oliver's voice.

Nora turned again to watch Oliver, even more charming than she remembered, singing some sort of made up song with a six year old. She had lighter hair than his, but their blue eyes were strikingly similar. She sang along, both of them having the time of their lives, before he kissed her all over her face and tickled her, causing her to squeal. The next one was them baking together. Oliver obviously went through a lot of effort making sure they had matching costumes, putting his acting dramatics to good use. The next was a compilation of funny moments, Oliver's laugh peppered in whenever his sister, who he called Sarah, did something especially sassy or cute.

He clearly loved her like she was his own child.

"He's a local celebrity. He just reached a million followers the other day," Brook said in that superior tone of hers, as if for some reason this information was too glorious for Nora to understand.

"Is he?" Nora mused. "Seems stuck up."

A potentially stuck up guy that she could message and ask if he knew who Jack Sparrow was.

"He's not." The phone was shoved into Nora's face, videos of Oliver doing great things. "Do you know how much volunteer work he's done?"

"Right. Because he didn't do it for the views."

"He did it for the awareness of organizations."

Nora, who had actually hung out with Oliver, didn't know if he did or didn't, which meant that wasn't something her dumb sister could know. "You don't know his heart behind it, Brook. He's just some guy you've never met."