34. Payback

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I'd beg the moon to light up your life, since mine has long been too gloomy

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I'd beg the moon to light up your life, since mine has long been too gloomy.

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It had been some days since their venture at Turkey and now the Black Pearl was close to the coast of Spain. The plan was to sail to the Canary Islands, from where they'd be back at the Caribbean in no time thanks to the trade winds. One particular night, Jack was once again trying to establish a course on a map and arrange a plan under the dim candlelights. Every day, he would spend hours working on this, but it seemed impossible. The compass was open on the table, he tapped it gently to get it to show a heading, but it refused to cooperate. After several attempts, the needle suddenly pointed to a nearby bottle of rum. With a heavy sigh, the pirate tiredly picked the empty bottle and turned it upside down, only to see a few drops of liquor fall to the table.

He arched an eyebrow and muttered to himself "Why is the rum always gone?" After looking around and seeing no more bottles in his cabin, he got up on his wobbly feet and replied to himself. "Oh, that's why." He really needed more rum. He needed to distract himself for a few more hours, to cloud his mind away from his issues. To forget. Alcohol had always been the only thing to rely on and share his darkest thoughts with, until Narissa showed up. But recently rum had became once again the only thing he had, his best friend; his only true friend who had never left him.

The moment he put on his hat and headed to the door of his cabin, Narissa entered through it. The room stunk of rum and she scrunched up her nose. "Where are you going?"

"To get more rum."

As he leaned in to peck her lips, she stepped back and pressed her hands against his chest, keeping him at arm's length. His breath held a strong smell of alcohol. "I don't think you need more rum."

"I disagree." He walked passed her and left the cabin, heading down to the stores. Narissa rolled her eyes. Lately, Jack drank himself to oblivion almost on a daily basis. At this point, they had almost run out of rum. It worried her, it only confirmed her thoughts that something really bad was going on.

With the intention of writing her next letter for Will, Narissa walked to the table. She was looking for a piece of paper, eager to write some words to her friends, but her eyes landed on the numerous maps that Jack spent so many hours with. She saw some notes and doodles scribbled on them, but she couldn't tell what they meant or where they were heading to. When she noticed the compass that Jack had left next to the empty bottle, she totally forgot about the letter. She grabbed it and focused on what she really yearned for: it was not treasure, nor bringing her father back, nor Jack himself. What her heart truly wanted was to help him with whatever mess he had gotten into, despite not knowing what it was. She needed him to be himself again. After some seconds staring at the compass, it suddenly changed the direction to a completely different one. With wide open eyes and a slight feeling of hope, she sat down and grabbed the navigation divider with her free hand to start a course, following the compass' will. She hastily scribbled some notes and directions on a piece of paper with the little knowledge she had about charting. She grinned proudly, she couldn't wait to show Jack her contribution, hoping it would help him and ease his mind a little.

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