On My Deathbed

I have seen much suffering in my life, heck I've created most of it. But nothing compares to what I see here on my deathbed. I dont know if its the fact that its my own crew standing there being slaughtered or if the navy are the incarnation of feirce and heartless brutality. My ship is slowly sinking from a hole bored by the cannons of those navy scum and I have been given the honor of going down with her. An arrow peirces my stomach, a pain only imaginable to those who have suffered such things. I have two choices at this moment I can leave the arrow and suffer or remove it and undoubtably die, I have decided to suffer, ending my own life would be too hard on my pride and if there is an afterlife I would forever suffer there also I need to let my memory live on, let people know the hell i am living at this moment.

Blades clash and the noise echoes into the night, my crew fight valiantly in the sure face of death, they kill as many as their blades can touch before they swim with the sharks. A select few accept their fate, realizing the futility of fighting and let themselves die, they dont derserve to have felt the gentle rocking of the waves on my 'Maybeth'. The cabin boy has been drowned in my own blood, the pool in which i lay, the one that the arrow has made for me. The poor boy, a naval boot held his face down until his struggle ceased, he was not even a teen, far to young to have ever felt a true loving embrace, instead death shall hold him forever in its cold winding halls. Just weeks ago I taught him how to steer 'Maybeth' and taught him how to use a cutlass, that knowledge was useless this night and it hasn't served him as it should. Tears are as uncontrollable as death, they fall from me at this moment upon such reflection of the boy, incase you care his name was James, more important to me than my ship, for he was my son, he always will be and soon (if not already) he will be with his mother in the ivory halls of heaven as I will soon lay rotting in the dark halls of Hell.

The crew is all gone, the navy is leaving but I feel in a new sense of awareness, the sound of the waves and the cawing of the gulls is all I hear, a shining light appears before me and my Maybeth stands before me, James in her arms, she beckons me to the light from which she came and I will follow, wherever it leads for she is my love, my life and my death, forver and ever, to the ends of time we will follow eachother, remember these words and the truth will be yours to see.

The light fades and I am alone once more, free from painful dillusion but much more awake to the death around me. I see my friends laying in their own blood, blades still clasped tightly in their hands, they fought well and will soon be one with the ocean, the most beautiful mistress any sailor should behold. But the ocean never held such a luster in my eyes when i stared within her depths I saw Maybeth her everlasting beauty held a shining torch in my mind, one that will never extinguish. My ship is fall into the sea but still I am unready for death, for she can hold me another day, this night revenge will poison the air and blacken the sea, none will stand between me and it's burning halls of death and flame.

I have boarded the lifeboat and plan my voyage to Fort Sorrow, those within it's walls will know it's namesake better than it's creators. The ocean gently rocks my boat and my thoughts drift to the better days that brighten even my worst nightmare, the days when James, Maybeth and I were together, James was only a child then, barely old enough to speak but he still charmed Maybeth to a smile with every word. Her smile could purify the greatest darkness, if only she could give me one last smile, one last kiss, one last touch.

As my memories slowly left my thoughts I saw the dock of Fort Sorrow, the surrounding village, once my home, still oblivious to the crimes of the navy. They must have been made to forget the words of Maybeth and Isabel, Isabel was Maybeth's sister, she was killed shortly after Maybeth. I thought of staying the night but quickly ruled it out after remembering the arrow still lodged in my stomach, if that wouldn't arouse suspicision I don't know what else could. Instead I came to one descision, the only way I could fulfill my vengeance upon those worthless sacks of entrails would be to hunt them down now, leaving them no chance to discover me before my plans for each of them were finished. I snuck to the back of the fort and slowly made my way to the front entrance where I swiftly and quietly killed the gatekeeper, with his keys I made my way inside. Quietly killing those who were watching the halls that marked my path they should be thankful that their death was as painless as it was, the others would face much worse. As I began checking rooms I found one that deserved every torture I had been imagining, it was his boot that had suffocated my son and it was mine that would cause him his most painful experience. I quickly grabbed a rag laying on the ground and snuck behind the bastard. I shoved the cloth in his mouth before stabbing my cutlass partly through his back, a stifled moan echoed from his mouth enough to make me cringe, even through my hatred of him. I then held him down as i sloly cut him up in ways so horrible I dare not descrbe them to you in fright of constant nightmares. Then as his blood rippled on the floor I held his face to it until his breathing stopped, why I did such things to any man I will never know.

As I walked through the halls making my way to the captain, the demon who took away Maybeth's life I heard shouts from a room not far behind me, they had found a body, they were closing in behind me, I knew they would catch me but I kept going, desperate to fulfill what I had began. I made no effort to keep the deaths silent or intricate anymore, I simply wanted the captain, the others could live for all I cared. When I finally found his office I revelled in my victory and held my blade tight in my hand, if he killed me atleast i would know that I had tried something, not let myself die, not let such a thing go.

I walked into his office, he was waiting, but alone. He threw a blade at me in desperation for his life, he feared me though I had done little. I kept walking toward him, he threw quills, vases, and other objects at me as I neared him, when my blade was close enough to hurt him he drew his own. We duelled for awhile but I knew it had to end fast, lest his guards strike me from behind. I kicked him in the groin and his blade hesitated to block my next strike, it hit him in the neck and he fell. I then crawled into the corner and began writing. The footsteps are nearing me now and I know my death will not be quick if they find me, I have nowhere to run so I will remove the arrow, ending my life but bringing me to my family, a fair trade.