The Family Business

3

Sleepily, I opened my eyes. It took me a minute to remember where I was, but then it all came flooding back. I squeezed my eyes shut again. Just then, the door clicked open. I sat up, my eyes adjusting to the light coming from the single window in the room. Will and Sam stepped through the door.
"Get up," The shorter one said. I still wasn't sure which one was which. "It's time for breakfast." I clumsily got out of bed and the pirate walked over to me. I flinched as he reached for my arm. His voice softened. "Relax," he said, "I'm just trying to untie you." He slowly turned me around and freed my wrists. I rubbed them, trying to get the ache out. The two men led me out of the room and down a long hallway before entering a dining room. There were a bunch of tables, too many for three pirates. Food was set up buffet style in front of the tables. Will and Sam sat down at one of the tables and began to eat from already prepared plates. I walked up to the buffet and looked at all the food. It looked delicious, but I wasn't that hungry. I spotted some boxes of cereal at the end of the long table and walked over. Picking up a box, I couldn't help but laugh as I saw that it was Marshmallow Mateys, knockoff Lucky Charms.
"What's so funny, Princess?" I turned quickly, started. Jefferson was looking down at me, an amused expression on his face. I showed him the box and he chuckled. "Ironic, isn't it?" He asked. I laughed, relieved that he was in a friendly mood this morning.
"A bit," I replied, looking at the little cartoon pirate on the front. "It's actually my favorite cereal."
"Mine too." He smiled. "See, Princess? We have something in common." I scoffed and poured a bowl of the cereal. I walked over to an empty table, sat down, and began to eat my cereal, picking out the little anchor pieces and dodging the marshmallows, which I would eat last. I heard someone sit down across from me at the table. I looked up and saw Jefferson with a bowl of Marshmallow Mateys and a giant plate heaped with food. I raised an eyebrow at the ginormous amount of food. "What?" He asked, looking confused.
"That's a lot of food," I commented.
"Aye. I'm a pirate," He said simply, a small smile on his face, as if that was enough to justify his enormous appetite. I went back to my cereal, shaking my head. "How did you sleep?" He asked casually. As if he cared.
"Despite the nightmare, pretty good," I replied.
"Nightmare?" He asked. "What was it about?"
"I never said it was a dream," I answered, not looking up. I traced the wooden pattern of the table with my fingertips. No- it wasn't a dream. It was a reality. My reality. I had gone on vacation to get away from everything at home and now here I was, dragged once again into something I didn't want to be a part of. Jefferson reached out and placed his hand on top of mine. I finally looked up at him, startled, and he looked back at me, his eyes full of sympathy and compassion.
"I'm sorry," He said. "I didn't mean for this to happen. But I promise you, I will get you home safely, as soon as I have what I came for." He pulled his hand back and continued eating.
"Why are there only three of you?" I asked, trying to change the subject.
"There were more of us," he said, "but the rest decided to get jobs that paid a little better, and were less dangerous. Will, he's the smaller one; well, smaller-ish. Anyway, him and Sam are the only ones that stuck with me." He looked sad. He must miss the others.
"So, if there's only the three of you," I started," then who made all this food?" He chuckled.
"I did," He said.
"You can cook?" I asked, amazed. And here I thought he was just a good-for-nothing pirate!
"Aye," He replied. "It's not the best food, but it's not bad." After that, we each went back to our breakfasts.
After a few minutes of silent eating, I looked up and saw that Jefferson's bowl, like mine, contained only the marshmallows from the cereal. We had both eaten it the same way. Who would have thought that the pirate who kidnapped me had the same favorite cereal as me?

After breakfast, Jefferson took me back to the top deck. We had eaten the rest of our food in silence, much like Will and Sam, who hadn't said a word all morning.
"You can stay up here if you promise not to do anything stupid," Jefferson said. "I can get you home, but that would be a little hard if you jump off my ship and die. Don't you agree, Princess?" His face was stern, yet his eyes betrayed him. They were full of wonder and compassion and adventure. Not hate and deceit and coldness, as would be expected of a pirate. I nodded. He led me over to the railing and looked out at the horizon. "We need to get back to Berkeley," He said. "Once we're there, we can get the girl I want and you can get back to your life." My life. I had wanted to get away from it so badly. Everyone telling me what to do and how to act and how to dress. But now, I wanted it more than ever. The safety and comfort of home. "Lana?" I shook myself out of my daydream and looked up at Jefferson. He had never called me by my name before. "Not thinking about jumping, are you?" I shook my head and looked back out at the water. No, I wouldn't jump. I wanted to go home. "Good," He said. "In that case, I need to go steer us back to Berkeley." And with that, he turned and walked away.

I stood there for a while looking out at the peaceful calm of the ocean. I heard someone come up beside me and looked up. Will was standing next to me, Sam on his other side. Will dug around in his pocket for a second before holding his hand out to me. Inside it was a penny. I smiled, chuckling a little, and took the penny.
"Do you think he'll really let me go home?" I asked.
"Did he say he would?" Will countered.
"Well... Yes."
"Then yes," He said. "If the Captain says he'll do something, he'll do it."
"How long have you been with him?" I asked.
"About 12 years," He said. I looked around him, at Sam.
"What about you?"
"Sam doesn't really talk much," Will informed me. "But he's been here for as long as I have."
"Oh," I said. "So how long has Jefferson been a pirate?"
"Around 13 years, I guess. We joined him about a year after he started."
"Why did he become a pirate?"
"No one really knows. It's kind of a sore subject for him." I nodded and we fell into a comfortable silence. Of all the things they could have been, why did they choose to be pirates? Pirates haven't been around for centuries. Maybe I'd never know. Jefferson joined us at the railing once again.
"We should arrive at Berkeley tomorrow morning," He said, looking out at the ocean. "When we're there, you need to stay close to me. There are people there who don't particularly like me and it could get dangerous. Here, take this." He handed me a small blue pocket knife, which I hesitantly accepted and shoved into the back pocket of my jeans. "I'm trusting you not to run away, Princess." He continued, looking down at me. "I'm also begging. I really need this girl. I'm not going to hurt her, I just want to talk to her. So please don't run."
"I won't," I promised, thinking back to what Will had said: If the Captain says he'll do something, he'll do it. All the same, I began to get very nervous about this little quest.

After a good night's sleep, more or less, and breakfast (Jefferson made very delicious pancakes), we docked back in Berkeley. I had no idea what was about to happen, and it was terrifying. With any luck, I'd be back home by tomorrow, having decided to cut my vacation short after recent events. But that wasn't very likely for many reasons.
"Ready?" Jefferson asked, standing with me next to the gangplank leading down from the ship. I nodded. "Hey, don't look so nervous, Princess. Everything's going to be fine." I looked up at him. He seemed so calm, as if every minute of this was planned out and he could see exactly what was going to happen. Except that what he saw probably wasn't what was going to actually happen. He led me down to the dock and into town. Will and Sam were staying behind to look after the ship. It was just me and him. The pirate out of his time.
There were many narrow roads in Berkeley, and as we twisted and turned down road after road, I began to get a bad feeling. I didn't know what it was, just that it was bad. As we reached the end of yet another road, a man stepped out from around the corner. He took one look at us and pulled out a gun.