A Pirates Life for Me
an excerpt

Arissa woke to a light rocking feeling. She was disoriented and groggy. She knew she was not at home, but she was not on the streets, or in the bordello either. Confused and dizzy she saw golden blonde hair hanging from above her. She squinted at it and suddenly remembered the previous nights events. She sat up quickly just barely missing hitting her head on the bunk. Arissa stood and made her way weavingly to a door that luckily led to a bathroom. She looked in the mirror and saw a pale face with a mess of dark hair coming down from her up do. Her green eyes were exaggerated thanks to the paleness of her skin. She turned around and felt a head ache coming on.
She walked out of the bathroom and made her way to the other door. She was going to have a little talk with that Scorch guy. She could remember him hitting her on the head and then everything went black. Considering her surroundings she figured she had passed out. Arissa tried to turn the door handle, but it would not budge. She tried again and found it was locked.
“Aw come on, we are on a freaking ship. How could I escape? I would not throw my self over the edge. This will probably be better than the street life I have led for the past year. Idiots,” She said going to sit on her bed and try to think of a plan.
“Wha . . . where am I?” Caliope said putting a hand to her throbbing head. Her mind felt foggy. “What am I doing here?”
“I think we are on a ship. I think it is a pirate’s ship considering we were kidnapped and I don’t think the British Royal Navy kidnaps high society women.” Arissa said informing Caliope of their current situation. It took a moment for Arissa’s words to sink into Caliope’s drugged mind.
“Wait, we’re on a pirate’s ship did you say? Like, a real pirate ship?” She was trying to get this straight.
“Yes, a real pirate ship. I think it is kind of exciting.” Arissa said with a small smile. Who knew where they were headed. Maybe this would not be so bad after all. She could have exciting adventures in exotic places.
“Oh my gosh, what am I going to do. I can not live on a pirate ship. Even if I ever do get back to my parents no man is going to want to marry me. They will think that the pirates had their way with me and I am not a virgin anymore. This is terrible.” Caliope moaned falling back on the bed melodramatically.
“The whole world is not about getting married to a good husband you know.” Arissa said disgusted at this girly girls fake fainting spell.
“Your world may not be all about getting married to a good husband, but mine is.” Caliope retorted angrily. “I am part of a legacy.” She said smugly. “I need to marry a good man and have children to carry on his name. That is my job as a woman.”
“Your views are so screwed up. You should not marry anyone you do not want to.” Arissa said raising her eyebrows at Caliope’s skewed out look on life.
“I would not marry a man I did not like. I would not marry Nathan. He propose to me and I said no. I just want to have a husband to take care of. I do not understand people’s obsession with love. I think it is over rated and hard to find.” As Caliope said this they both heard noise outside. Arissa ran to the door and started pounding on it.
“Hey, let us out of here. You can not keep us here in this cabin forever. You have to let us out to get sunlight once in a while. It’s not like we are going to throw ourselves over the edge of the ship.” Arissa shouted continuing to attack the poor defenseless door.
“Yep, they are awake.” She heard Scorch say to an unknown person. She could tell it was Scorch. She would know a voice like his any where. He was the person who had ripped her from happiness and family. She was just getting back to her family. She was going to have things and people around her who cared and Scorch took it all away. “You bastard let us out of here.”
“Such strong words for a lady.” He said taunting her through the door. “I am afraid I can’t let you out. Captain’s orders,” she could hear the smug look on his face.
“Let me talk to your Captain. I could convince him to let us out of here. He is probably smarter than you.” She said throwing any insult she could think of at him. Little did she know she had hit a sore spot with Scorch. He hated the new Captain. This Captain was younger than Scorch. He thought he should be Captain, not this Casey kid.
“I will see what I can do,” he walked away not intending to get the Captain at all. “Stupid jerks, I can not stay in this freaking box forever. I would rather watch the ocean from the deck.”
At this point Caliope was truly realizing how bad her situation was. There were two of them though, and they could probably get out of here if they strategized.
“Arissa, how about instead of pounding on that door, and my head we figure out a plan to take them by surprise next time they come by. They have to feed us eventually. When they do let’s have a plan to get out.” She said thinking logically despite the drugs still in her system.
“That is a good idea, just a second. Let me go in the bathroom and fix my hair. It looks a total wreck right now.” Arissa said going into the bathroom and pulling down her hair. She tried to comb it a little with her fingers and it kind of worked, but not really. She went and sat on the lower bunk where Caliope had come down to sit with her.
When Arissa came out of the bathroom with her hair down Caliope suddenly realized where she had seen her from, and it was not a good memory.
“You are the whore . . .” Caliope gasped with tears already stinging in the corners of her eyes. She jumped back up to the top bunk. She needed to get as far away from that girl as possible.
“Even in a fancy dress people still think I am a whore. Do I look that much like a whore with my hair down?” She asked hoping Caliope did not know about her whoring about. She only did it about once a month when she really needed the money. How could Caliope know about her?
“I followed Nathan one night when I saw him in the street. He went into a whore house. I looked in the window and I saw him kissing you . . . and I saw something else too.” Caliope said turning a violent shade of red.
“What did you see,” Arissa said, her voice becoming so icy Caliope shivered.
“I saw . . . him, he was, uh . . . his head was in your . . .uh yeah,” Caliope could feel how hot her face was. She was as red as the brightest tomato. She would never put into words what she had seen. It was disgusting to her first of all, and second of all it was a vulgar act that no words could describe.
“So his name was Nathan, well, let me tell you something about Nathan.” Arissa said with a cold fury that frightened Caliope. She had seen part of what this girl was capable of, she could take out a full grown man. “Do you see this?” Arissa undid the corset she was wearing and pulled down the front of her dress to show her stomach. Caliope gasped in horror. On Arissa’s stomach was a large black and blue bruise. It looked recent and painful. Arissa breasts were also bruised and she rubbed the make up off around her eyes to reveal a dark spot around her eye. Made all the more prominent next to her pale skin. “He beat me, and I did not even get paid for it because my contract was up and the pimp did not tell me that. He wanted me to sign a contract binding me to the bordello and then he would pay me. He wanted me to sign myself over to almost daily beatings like this.” Arissa said bitterly pulling up her dress and lacing up her corset. “Do you really think you should have married Nathan. If you had not seen me with him you would have married him and he would have beat you. I did you a favor and now you are going to be mad at me. I don’t think that’s very fair.” Arissa said lying down biting back tears. How could this happen, every where she went she was followed by memories of being a whore. She hated it She did not mind the giving of her body freely, it was the improper use and abuse of it that she hated. Because the men were paying her they thought they could violate her body in any many they wanted. Some were not too bad, but others like Nathan were the worst. She again wondered how she had sunk so low and wondered if the love she was waiting for it was worth the pain and suffering she had to go through to find it.
“I am sorry that he beat you, but why did you whore yourself out like that. I would never be able to give any man my body. I will only ever give my body to the man I marry.” Caliope said quietly with tears streaming down her face. She was crying because Nathan had used this poor girl who was Caliope’s age. How could he use this girl and then act like he was a perfect gentleman. She was so angry that her father would marry her to a man like that. Of course he did not know what Nathan really was, but he should have found out. He should have done research about Nathan’s charcter and past, but no he just looked at how much money Nathan had. He did not care about his daughter. He just wanted to get rid of her on some rich guy.
“I only gave myself out like that because I needed money. It would not have been so bad if those idiots had not thought they could just abuse me because I was a whore, but I am not a whore anymore. I have no contracts and if I do give myself to anyone it will be because I love them.” Arissa said angrily. She was not going to let this stupid high class little princess see her cry. Both girls laid on their beds thinking about how to get out of this situation.
* * * * * * *
Kinsey awoke that morning with a stiff neck. He did not mind too much because it was better than having a sore bum and everything else being bruised. He heard pots and pans banging around and did not know what to do. If he got out of the barrel they would see him and who knows what they would do to him. He did not even know what kind of people were on this ship. They could be pirates or part of the Royal Navy.
He peeked out of the barrel to see what he could see. There was a large man banging around the kitchen slamming things down in an angry manner. This man was obviously a cook. Kinsey sat back down in his barrel and thought. How could he get out of here without being seen. He sat and thought for a while and just as he was about to try something he heard crashing down toward the kitchen. It sounded like a stampede of elephants. Kinsey peeked out again and saw a whole bunch of men and gasped. They were pirates. If they found him on the ship he would probably walk the plank.
“Hey, who is going to take food to the two captives.” One man yelled out. There was an eager shuffle as that person was picked. It turned out to be Tiaret.
Kinsey decided that as soon as the kitchen was completely empty he would try to get out and hide somewhere less used. If he stayed here he would eventually be discovered. He decided that the best thing to do would be to stay alert, and if need be he could always roll the barrel somewhere less noticeable.
* * * * * * *
Arissa was getting tired. She kept pounding on the door, but no one came or could hear her. She slumped down against the door and sighed. Why would the not let her go around the ship. If she swore she would not jump off the side of the boat would they let her out?
“Just give up, it is of no use. They are not going to let us out.” Caliope said coming out of the bathroom fixing her hair. She had a plan if they were ever going to be let out.
Arissa went back and laid on her bed. She was so sick of everything, maybe she would throw herself off of the side of the boat if they let her go out. It was not like she had anything to live for. She had no love, no family now that she was on this boat. What would she be losing. ‘The chance to have all those things.’ A voice inside her own head answered back.
The door opened and Tiaret set a tray with food for two on the floor. Arissa was absorbed in her own suicidal thoughts, and Caliope had gone back in the bathroom to fix her hair and clothes . . . again. Neither of the girls noticed the door open, close and relock. Only when Caliope came out of the bathroom ten minutes later did she notice food.
“Arissa, you didn’t hear the door open. You might have been able to get out. What is wrong with you? It isn’t like you were even doing anything.” Caliope said angrily. She wanted to get out of this stifling cabin too. She wanted to feel the cool ocean air on her face. This was an adventure for her, and probably the only one she would ever have and she wanted to enjoy every aspect of it.
“I was lost in my thoughts. It’s not like you even have any.” Arissa said angrily. She hated this girl with a passion. Why was she so mean? It was a mistake. They will have to bring us food again soon. They would not leave them here to starve.
Arissa and Caliope took their equal shares of the food and sat as far away from each other as they could. Arissa sat on her bunk scrunched in the corner near the wall. Caliope sat in the other corner diagonally from Arissa on the floor.
They spent the rest of what they thought to be the day in these positions occasionally getting up to go to the bathroom. Caliope yawned and climbed into her bunk. Arissa laid down, this had been a trying dare for her. She had spent all of her energy trying to get some one to open the door. They both fell asleep plotting for tomorrow.