CHAPTER 1 – The beginning Justin was on deck of the "Endeavour", his father’s merchant vessel and watched the sailors working. It was a sunny day and the sea was calm. Justin sat on a chest and drew on a piece of paper. His model was the young sailor with dark curly hair, scrubbing the floor in front of him. Justin’s father was a great trader and now Justin had turned seventeen, his father had sent him with a loyal crew to the new world - America. Justin had never worked in his life before except assisting his father and now it was his turn to make his father proud by showing him what a great trader he could be. He watched the boy in front of him and tried to capture every single detail, so that his picture would be as perfect as it could be. Justin was glad that he didn’t have to work on ship because he loathed it more than anything. He actually liked to draw, so from time to time he just sat on deck and drew a member of the crew or the ship. Some of the crew members made jokes about him, because of his porcelain skin and his deep, blue eyes, laughing and calling him "princess." Justin was tired of the lame jokes but he wanted to be brave and he wanted to be respected by the crew, but he didn’t know how. Because of that, he was quiet except for when he gave his commands so he stayed most of the time below deck. Justin was engrossed in his drawing when a raindrop fell onto the piece of paper and mixed with the line Justin had just drawn. He looked up to see a slight breeze was coming up and Justin shivered while the heavens got darker in seconds. The breeze was turning into a storm, playing with the sails and the crew had their problems hauling in the sails. Ethan, the sailor Justin had drawn just moments ago, was now helping some men to take in the sail but the wind wouldn’t let go of it that easily. The sea was shaking the ship and Justin clung onto the railing. Vic Grassi, the oldest sailor on board was calling out for Justin to come below deck. ”Mr. Taylor! Mr. Taylor! Get below deck! It’s too dangerous out here for you! Mr. Taylor!” Justin wanted to run over to Vic, his old friend who told him when he was a little boy, more stories about the sea than anybody else could. He let go of the railing and stumbled a few steps towards Vic but then the sail struck him and before he realised, Justin was spinning through the air and within moments the deep, cold sea swallowed him. Justin struggled and tried to get on the surface of the water but he had no chance. The panic was rising in his chest and Justin needed oxygen but the sea held him underwater. He looked around for maybe something the crew threw in the water to get him back on ship but his eyes began to burn because of the salt water. Exhaustion was taking over Justin and everything went black. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ “Captain? We’ll be there in a couple of minutes!” Brian looked up from the map in front of him and nodded to the well-built man in front of him. ”Well, I’ll be out in a minute. Ben? Make sure everything’s ready” With a short nod, Ben disappeared out of the room and went on deck. After a strong storm they finally reached their destination. Brian slowly stood up and walked around the table. His hand was gliding over the wooden surface, liking the way it felt under a slight touch. Brian opened the door and also went on deck, watching his crew working. Since three weeks ago they were searching for an island - an island with a big chamber of rum. One of the crew members had heard of it and Brian remembered that his father had a map to an island that fitted the description. His father had often been drunk and used him as a punching bag but one day, he had taken him to the island and showed him several deep chambers under the sand, filled with bottles of rum. And now he, Brian A Kinney, was on his way with his crew to the forgotten island. Everyone talked about the island but nobody had set a foot on land since several years ago. Some said that the island was protected by a ghost with skin like porcelain and hair as pale as the moonlight. Others said that anybody who set a foot on the island would be burned alive because of a curse, but Brian didn’t believe in these stories. He never had. ********* Justin slowly opened his eyes and shut them as fast as he could, protecting them from the GRELLEN light. He felt the cold of the water, slapping against his body, and the warmth of the sun. Justin tried again to open his eyes and sat up. He felt the pain in his body rising but it wasn’t too bad, he was alive and ok. ********* Standing on the deck, Brian looked through a telescope at the isle, their destination. That’s when he spotted a pale body. Seven men climbed into a small boat and were rowing towards the island. Not much time had passed, when the first of the seven men also noticed the body. Then the men were hurrying back to the ship. ”Captain! Th…th…there is a… g…g…ghost!” Brian looked the way the sailor was showing. He took another look at the pale figure sitting on the beach. ******** Justin sat on the hot sand and looked at the water surrounding his feet. He closed his eyes and listened to the rushing of the ocean. He knew his crew was looking out for him and they would find him in a couple of days and he began to hum. He could hear voices coming towards him and he looked in the direction,where he thought the voices came from. That had to be some men of his crew, sending someone to find him or another ship had seen him and would bring him back home. He would have never thought they would find him that fast. He wasn’t even longer than a couple of hours on this island. He saw five men coming in his direction, in the ocean behind them was their big ship and Justin tried to take a look at the flag, that’s when he noticed what guys were coming towards him. Pirates! TBC