The Pirate's Treasure (#Wattys2017)

04. Subconsciously Saved (Revised)

My shoes fill with water as my dress pulls me down into the depths below. The salt water stings my side wound as I try desperately to swim to the surface, but with only one free hand and an extremely heavy gown, luck is not in my favor. I'm forced to release the cutlass, allowing the ocean to consume it. I can't hold my breath much longer as I try to undo the back of my dress. Struggling causes me to loose more precious air as my mind begins to panic. The dress is causing me to sink faster, and faster into the darkness of the oceans depths.

     Something suddenly enters the water close by as my arms search for whatever or whoever it is in the water. I feel something with my hands and latch on to what seems like human shoulders. Thoughts begin to fade in my mind as I forget and inhale water into my lungs. My limbs slowly become useless as I can feel whoever is down here with me desperately try to undo the back of my dress.

I start to believe that my life is going to end here, but feel an arm tightly wrap itself around my waist. If there was any breath left within me, that would have certainly squeezed it out of me. I open my eyes as the salt water stings my eyes badly until they adjust. White clothing is all I can see as we break the waters surface. I cough up water as my eyes shut themselves. The raging waves cause more water to enter my mouth as I hold tightly to the wet clothing. Something is cutting through the front of my dress as I suddenly feel it be torn off. I'm left in my under dress, which is luckily almost a dress in itself. The gun wiggles in my garter as my hand reaches down to hold it in place.

My eyes weakly open as I'm met face to face with the pirate in the white hood. His blonde hair hangs over his face as he secures my arms around his neck. He switches his position and my body rests against his back, my head resting on his shoulder.

"Keep your head up!" He orders gruffly, his voice causing a strange feeling in my stomach.

He swims with me on his back until his arm tightly holds onto my waist once more as we're lifted up into the air. My eyes open as my body hits a wooden floor. I've never been so happy to be on a ship before in my life, until I hear men speaking among themselves and the smell of foul odors. I start coughing up water and breathe quickly as I lay there, the side of my face pressed against the floorboards. My chin is suddenly lifted from the floor by a cutlass, the blade nicking me slightly. The crew mumbles as my eyes look upon them hazily.

Am I really alive? Reality suddenly sets in as I stand to my feet and look upon the half a dozen men staring at me. My legs shakily force me to back away from them as my backside collides with another railing. I hold onto the railing and try to regain my stability. I can feel the headache arousing in my head as my eyes spin from nausea.

"A woman on our ship?" One of them question with concern, throwing his arms up in the air. "Has he finally lost his mind?"

My hand reaches underneath my under-dress I pull the pistol out of my garter and point it at the men. My chest moves out and in as I exhale and inhale deeply. They all stare at me as I'm able to speak, "Where am I? Who are you?" My lips quiver from the cold air.

The men stay quiet for a moment before erupting into laughter. Each of them now pull out their swords and begin to move in toward me. " Hasn't anyone ever told you never to cross pirates?" Inquires one of them men as he lifts his cutlass towards my chest. My pistol is almost touching his forehead as my eyes narrow into his own.

"Stop!" The voice of the man who had saved my life not once, but twice, rings out in the still air. "Leave her be."

The crew make a path as the man, soaking and dripping wet, approaches me. My pistol now points towards him without hesitation as I try to keep my hands from shaking. He keeps coming closer even though my gun could fire at him. He stops a few feet away, his hood still covering his facial features.