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I really need to get my shit together or this is going to be a messy fucking game.
Chapter Ten
Sara
My heart pounds a million miles per second as the sun sinks into the ocean. It’s a dark night and the flame from the fire is comforting amidst the palms and not so quiet jungle. Earlier in the day, it seemed the green was friendly and inviting. But here at night it’s more a scene from some horror movie with dark shadows and unforgiving screeching noises that sound both terrifying and melodic.
“Did you guys read all those pirate stories before you came out here?” There’s a grin on Colin’s face as though he’s trying to lighten the mood after a pretty quiet dinner but I’m not sure a scary story was the way to go.
“Please tell me it’s some cheesy joke,” Brad laughs, his hand on my leg.
“You mean like… why do they call pirates, pirates?”
Zane rolls his eyes as though he’s unamused while picking at the bone of his fish, scathing off the last bits.
I gather my hair to the side of one shoulder. “I don’t know, why?”
“Me either,” Colin jokes. “They just Arrrrrr…”
It’s so simple, I can’t help but laugh, but everyone else just stares back at him as though he’s just made a fool of himself.
“I thought it was funny, Colin,” Dean hollers from the tree line. Most of the time, I forget he’s there. Then he’ll make a comment or suggestion, or even sneak us a few crackers and suddenly the reality of someone watching us is right out in front of us again. I guess that’s why Jane didn’t want him talking to us. “I’m heading into the tent for the night guys.” He waves toward us through the darkness, and I still can’t help but wonder what he must be thinking. Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe I over-thought his involvement in other people. Having talked to him later in the afternoon, he seems more ambivalent than anything. Like he’ll listen to you, but he’ll do it with the baseball game on full blast so you’re not really sure if he’s listening or not.
“See ya,” we chime in near chorus as he makes his way in for the night.
“So what about these pirates?” Brad asks Colin, his arm now around my shoulder, holding me close to his chest. “I need something scary to keep this one close tonight,” he laughs.
“Well,” Colin starts, “I saw a documentary about this island. Apparently, it was an old hangout for pirates back in the day. They’d stop off here with their loot and make trades, or bury their deceased.”
“I thought pirates had water burials?” I speak through the shiver running up my spine at the thought of a pirate buried six feet under our bungalow.
“Not always,” Colin says. “They buried some, usually the most menacing of the group. They didn’t want their spirits haunting the sea.”
“So you’re saying Blackbeard is buried underneath us?” Brad grips me tighter.
“I think they put Blackbeard’s head on display or something. Maybe that’s just legend,” Colin continues, his voice moving into a wavy, playful spookiness as he stands to circle us. “Either way, the spirits of pirates passed reside on this island. Their souls for eternity, watching… waiting…” He steps behind me and grabs onto my shoulders playfully. I know he’s there, but I still jump as he scares me, forcing me tighter into Brad’s shoulder.
“Stop it!” I shout playfully, standing from the fire to chase him like a schoolgirl. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt this jovial, though I know in the back of my head that I shouldn’t. There’s still so much to worry about, so much to think about, so much I haven’t told another soul about. But when I’m with the guys, somehow all the rest of my thoughts drift away.
“Did anyone ever teach you two not to run around a fire?” Zane barks. There’s a playfulness in his tone, but he’s not kidding. He’s also not wrong and we slow immediately, our laughter so hard that we bend over and hold our stomachs.
“Man, you have a beautiful laugh,” Colin says, quieting the rest of the camp.
His face straightens when he realizes what he’s said and my stomach clenches. I like the way he’s looking at me. I like the way he makes me laugh. But right now, I feel awkward as hell.
“You do have a beautiful laugh,” Brad adds, breaking the tension.
“Not as pretty as Zane’s,” I say, trying to get him to smile. “It’s so delicate, I can barely hear it’s melodic tone.”
He glares up at me with a grin that says he’s both slightly amused and exhausted. “Are we done with all this? Is it bedtime maybe?” He laughs and shakes his head, heaving his large body up from the ground. “If you three aren’t coming to bed, at least keep it down out here. There’ll be an old man asleep in the next fifteen minutes, guaranteed.”
“He’s not kidding,” Colin says. “And you don’t want to talk to him if he doesn’t get enough sleep!”
“I think I’m going to head in too,” Brad says. “We have a busy day tomorrow of God knows what. You guys coming, or are you staying out here for a bit?”
I look toward Colin. “I think I’ll stay out here for a bit, but you can go to bed if you—”
“I don’t want to leave you out here alone.”
