Chapter three

I am going insane but here it is

   Lingering memories

                                  Of all the times I

                                  Slowly lost it

                                  Then it’s all gone

Blood?

My ears are ringing, and the boat is rocking back and forth, but I can hear…

Yelling?

“Maurice! The blood! Ye just had to be holding a knife straight out while the ship was rocking, didn’t you?!”

“Aye, cap’n, ye were the one who told me to cut the rope!”

I blink, confused and starting to be uncomfortable, with Remy laying on my arm and all the bones in it feeling like aluminum foil.

“Ye’ could’ve held it steady, the blood might attract the sirens!”

“We’re a month away from th’ islands!”

I see Remy’s eyes blink open slowly. He shoots me a questioning look and I gesture to stay silent.

“Aye, but that storm could’ve blown us all the way there!”

At this point I stand up without thinking, to their surprise. “There’s no point in arguing! Aye, there’s sirens close but this would be what they want! To distract us from them by making us fight!”

They both stood there stunned, and Remy gave me a beaming smile, as if to say, Finally, someone told those two to stop bickering!

“As for the blood, bandage it up, you two are acting like this is the twilight zone!”

They both say something that I can't hear very well, and I sit down next to Remy, disregarding everything else to make sure he’s okay. He still looks shaken.

“Hey, you okay, Rem?”

“Yeah.” He says softly. Remy’s green eyes are hazed over in fear and I can tell he’s remembering when we found his mother. I hate remembering, but it must be a million times worse for him. 

I can see him shuddering.

A wave rocks the ship slightly.  

I hug him, putting my arms around him and his head on my shoulder.

I feel him relax, and I instinctively start humming softly.

I don’t even realize I’m doing it until he relaxes, and Maurice sits down next to me with a small, grateful smile.

I stop, slightly embarrassed, only to realize Remy is asleep. I smile softly at this. Well, no more panic attacks on board for now.

The whole ship seems to have quieted up, sitting next to each other, talking in a whisper. 

I can feel a pair of eyes on the back of my neck. I blink, looking around, to see-

Suddenly, the ship lurches and Remy jumps awake. My stomach is already twisted in knots from the wave, when another one comes.
“Hold onto something!” Maurice yells over the waves and howling wind to Remy and me.

Against all my better judgment, I try to stand, but I fall over, crashing into Remy. “Ow!” He says in surprise, but the ship lurches again.

***

Somewhere along the way I cut the edge of my mouth.

Maurice says I hit my head and passed out. Remy was worried sick.

I feel fine, though Maurice keeps telling me to rest. I’m laying on my bed, in my cabin. If I try to go out,Maurice will try to stop me again,so I just stay there for now. 

I soon get bored. I hear voices outside. Are my crewmates planning without me? Where’s Remy? Is he okay?

I shake myself and take a deep breath. I stand up and look in my gaudy, gilt-framed mirror.

My black, waist length hair is unbraided and crimped from how long it has been. The amount of freckles on my face has only increased, and my gray hazel eyes are bright. I look nice, but this isn’t a very good hairdo for sailing.

I run my fingers through it. 

Wait. Where are my weapons?

I look to my bed,and feel a surge of relief.

My sword,my katana,and my dagger are all safely stored at the foot of my bed. I pick my dagger up,and measure a good length of my hair.

When I’m done, my hair is just a little bit longer than shoulder-length.

It felt much lighter, that was a relief. I start braiding it tightly. This one should last a while,right? I take a string from my pocket, and tie my braid up with it.

The door crashes open,and Remy runs in. “I can’t find him! The-our new crewmate! He isn’t in his cabin, or anywhere in the ship that I can find!”

I find it slightly amusing that neither of us have asked his name, but I can easily tell this isn’t a laughing matter. I don’t trust that man.

I get up, and silently follow Remy down the halls and onto the deck. When we look around, I see somebody in the crow’s nest.
I nod to Remy, and we quickly climb up, tying ropes around our waists, not wanting to fall.

When we reach the top, The man is  standing at the top of the crow’s nest, muttering to himself. He has no rope tied around his waist, clearly thinking he doesn’t need one or not knowing that that’s a general rule here.

I have half a mind to shove him off, and see how he fares then, but I just abruptly say, “You need a rope,you know that,right?”

He yells in surprise,and says, “Great gods above, mademoiselle!”

I scowl at him in silence and he says, “I mean...A-Amara…?”

Remy laughs, and I can’t help a small smile, then my expression stiffens as I look at the man.

“You aren’t allowed to be up here without a rope.” I say, and he raises an eyebrow, not seeming sure whether he should be intimidated, confused, or annoyed.

Remy sighs,and hands a rope to him. “Tie it around your waist, and climb down, try not to do anything stupid again. Also, what’s your name?”

The man looks slightly offended, and mutters, “Emerick.” 

Before taking the rope and struggling to tie it before fumbling down, almost falling a few times, his eyes fixed on me, with an unwavering, strange fascination in them, which made me feel uneasy.

I was broken out of my thoughts by hearing Remy sigh slightly as he looked out into the bright blue sea and sky.

I know that there’ll be more storms soon, from the looks of the last one, but the bright, clear skies and blue seas just feel eternal in a way I can never explain, especially with Remy here.

I lean over the edge of the crow’s nest, next to Remy. The ocean looks beautiful, and the salty air never ceases to astonish me.

“I didn’t notice, but you look…different.” There’s an edge to his voice that I can’t explain, and that bothers me. I can usually explain everything about him.

I realize that I have to respond, and say, laughing slightly, “Different good or different bad?”

A smile broke across Remy’s face, and he cracked up to my confusion, and managed to say between loud laughs, “Good, I would’ve kept my mouth shut, if I didn't know you so well I’d think my clock would be cleaned for saying it looked bad!”

I grin. “Well, if you were Emerick, you might actually.”

He, still laughing,says, “Ah…knowing you, I actually believe it.”

I give him a mock glare. “Well, you better.” At this, we both laugh even harder.

When we stop, we’re both just looking over the edge in a comfortable silence that can only come when two people have known each other as well and long as Remy and I have.

We just stand there for a while,then I say, “We should go down soon. We’re supposed to gut the fish, remember?”

Remy looks disgusted at the idea, and says, “Well, let’s get it over with, I guess. Who’ll do the first one?”

When we’re in the kitchen,I start on getting the fish out while talking with Remy. As I grab one from the cupboard,he says, “Uh, Amara? You know how we’ve been friends for a while..?”

“Hey, hand me that knife, would you?”

Remy gags at the sight of the fish’s eyeball almost falling out, but hands me the knife and I start on gutting it. I hate gutting fish, but I prefer it over eating the guts and bones along with the rest.

After a few minutes of silence,I say, “What were you going to say?”

“Maybe later.” He says,shrugging.

I shrug back and continue to gut the fish,trying not to gag. I don’t really like doing this to a fish, but that's just the food chain.

The scent of its blood is so sour, and so salty that my mind is overcome for a second.

When I shake myself, I have a slight headache and my ears are ringing, plus I can feel my senses overextending.

Remy gives me a concerned look, and says, “You okay, Mar?” I nod, and say, “Just spacing out.”

At this, he laughs a bit, and I say, ”What?”

“Oh- nothing.” He says, still laughing quietly.

I shrug.

When we’re done gutting the fish, taking turns, we just walk around the ship for a little bit.

“You good, Rem?” 

He smiles. “Yeah.”

I have absolutely no idea what to say, so I don’t say anything,and we just stand there in silence. Neither of us really care, but it’s getting boring after a minute.

I sigh,and say, “Wanna have lunch?”

He nods.

After lunch,we just sit in my quarters and talk whenever it suits us. I’m bored, so I start doing sit-ups (Maurice makes me do 20 a day, minimum, annoyingly), and Remy says, “Bored by me already, huh?”

I sigh, and say, “You know it, Remy. Silence has never been my friend and never will be.”

He raises an eyebrow, and says, “Oh, should I start doing push-ups or something?”

I laugh, and say. “No. You suck at that. The only thing you’re good at with athletic things is running.”

Remy laughs, clearly caught slightly off-guard, and says, “Yep, you…you caught me, couldn’t do a push-up to save my life.”

We stay talking a while longer, and I think I could stay here forever.

It’s not in a romantic way, or, well, it might be, but I don’t care because that’s not really what I want, a romantic relationship.(plus, i’ve never understood romantic feelings, much less wanting them reciprocated)

I just want a good friend, and that’s what I have.

As long as I want a friend, he’ll be there.

Author's Note

Hey! I have apparently caught some sort of throat sickness, see y'all soon!