kingcsiszer

The rain is piercing the deck like knives as the waves came crashing down. All the men on board rushed about the ship, doing all they could to battle the storm. I stood at the quarterdeck, gripping tightly on the wheel. I took a deep sigh, I grip the wheel even tighter as a humongous wave pick up the ship. I see my crew members falling and barrels begin to wash off the side. Thunder begins to strike even closer to the ship now. As the ship reaches the top of the wave, it began to plummet. As the ship hit the bottom, the foredeck dives into the ink like water. By some miracle the ship resurfaces back without a problem.

           With a loud boom and a flash of light, something struck the top of the deck and the foremast collapses, panic ensues. The ship begins to tilt enough to let water sneak its way on board, the unrelenting waves beating the ships side. The boat begins to flood, and quickly gets weighed down. Crew members begin to jump over board, while others still cling to what’s left.

           I take one more deep breath.

           “Abandon ship!” I yell out. A majority of the crew stop in place and stare at me.

           “It’s no use, Poseidon won this bout.” I say almost to myself.

           “Aye captain!” My first mate says he ran to the edge and leapt off.

           “But captain, the ship can still make it,” The young cabin boy says as he runs to me. I turn to him and grab his shoulders.

           “Listen boy, we haven’t even reached the eye of the storm yet, and we’re already half under water.” I said.                

           “What about the chest?” The cabin boy says shaking my hands off him. I merely shake my head.

           “There’s more gold out there,” I say as I take my hat off and walk over to the guard rail. I look back to see the cabin boy run towards my quarters. I can only shake my head once more.

           I leap into the black abyss, which greets me by violently tossing me around. Dizzy I lose which way is up. By some miracle my head pokes above water. A blast of lighting, strikes the main mast which sets the whole ship ablaze, I could see fire burst out in the in port holes and the figure head began to melt. It doesn’t take long before the ship is engulfed in flames and turns into a large ball of fire. The hull of the ship erupts, and the ship is split in two.

Everything turns black as I sink back underneath the water.

---

           I open my eyes, the bright sun shining nearly blinding me I could feel the white sand of the beach stick to my body. I grab my head and feel dried blood. I sit up and wrap my arms around my rib cage. Each breath is take are little knives stabbing my lungs. I painfully climb to my feet and limp to some shade created by a tree and some rocks. I sit and stare out at the vast blue ocean and see the calm waves wash broken pieces of wood and destroyed barrels ashore.

           Several hours pass and the sun, once on top of me is somewhere behind me. The beach was now covered in shade. I slowly ease myself up, taking small short breaths. I steady myself by holding onto the wall for support.

           Before I can I take my first step I hear a clicking nose and look out on the beach. Their stood a man with an all too familiar face, grinning coyly at me; he led a group of men over to me.

           “Sunk another ship, have you brother?” The man speaks in a very posh voice. He pointed his pistol at me. The rest of his crew stood behind him and giggled as he spoke. Behind them the cabin boy clung to the chest as if here it would float away.

           “Is this little bilge rat yours?” My brother said as he motioned for one of his crew member to the boy forward.

           “The little shit pulled a knife on me when we found him.” My brother says, he shoves the boy down. He lands a foot away from me. He stares at me, the corners of his mouth turn down at the site of me. I can only stand here, useless to do anything. I try to speak but all the air my body is being stolen by the knives in my lungs. Without blinking, he pulls the trigger and with a flash and a bang the boy lays on the ground lifeless.

           My brother turns his attention to me.

           “And now, what should we do with you?” He says pulling out a second pistol.

           “Parley, parley,” I said, choking.  

Before I knew it the door opened and I fell on my back. I managed to turn and saw Luke, he stood over me, his eyes like daggers.

           “You have one chance to make this right, or I’m leaving,” He said as he pushed his way past me and sat on the edge of the bed. I get up and sit next to him on the bed.

           “I love you, because I would be miserable without you.” I said.

           “What the hell does that mean?” He asked, he crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

           “It means, that all of those men, don’t matter. I’m scared.”

           “Of what?”

           “Of not being good enough for you.” I said. Forcing myself to cry, but I couldn’t muster a tear.

           “That’s it? That’s the reason?” Luke shook his head, and got up. He walked over to the closet.

           Hidden underneath a blanket was his suit case. He walked over to the room, tears still streaming down his face.

             “I loved you, but I can’t handle this anymore.” Luke said. He took off his ring and threw down between us. “My mom is outside, you can expect the divorce papers in a week.” Luke left the bedroom.

           I picked up the ring and ran after him, before he could reach the door I grabbed his arm.

           “Taylor let go of me.” He said, as he struggled against my grip.

           “Please give me one more chance, I still love you!” I yelled out.

           “Taylor you’re scaring me. Please let go of me.” He cried out.

“What are you thinking about?” He asked as I rubbed my hand on his chest.

           “Nothing too much, just my trip to the store today,” I said staring out at the lawn.  

           “Oh? That creepy bagpipe guy was still there?” He said. We chuckled together, as the sun finally set, and the crickets began to chirp.

           “He was. But that’s not what was interesting,” I said finally looking at him.  

           He sat up from my lap. He sat next to me still, but we held hands, our fingers interlocked. His palms were sweaty, they always were. We stared out the porch for a bit in silence, neither one of us looking at each other.  

           “Then what was so interesting?” He said finally.

We looked at each other.

           “Just a rude person at the store that’s all.” I said back.

           Luke looked down at our interlocked fingers.

           “Why aren’t you wearing your wedding band?” He said, as we stopped holding each other’s hands.  

“I guess I must have left it in my pocket.”

           “Bullshit! You were hitting on someone again, weren’t you?” He said.                                           I turned away from him and frowned. I looked off in the distance.  I turned back to him, his face was red and his hands covered his mouth. I could see tears beginning to form. I reached my hand out, but before I could touch him he stood up and ran to the door. I could hear stomping the upstairs and he slammed a door. I sighed as I tried to call after him but beside to let him go.

  I finally got up and went inside. I set the ukulele on the counter, and walked upstairs. On the way up the stairs I paused as I looked at the pictures of us. Each one a portal to a different memory. I got to the bedroom door and I could hear Luke’s voice talking to someone inside. I try to push my ear to the door, to listen in, but all I could hear were muffled sentences and what sounded like sobbing. I tapped my knuckles on the door a few times. “Luke. Are you ok? I’m sorry.” I said. The talking stopped and I heard some movement. Luke opened the door, tears running down his face, his phone in his hand. I could see the number on the screen, it was his mother’s.

           “Go away,” He said, trying not to sound choked up.

           “I didn’t mean it, I…” I said my voice trailing off.

           “Why do you always do this?” He said, as he hung up the phone and opened the door all the way. We walked to the bed and sat on the foot of the bed.

           “I’m not sure.” I said.

           “Are you not attracted to me anymore?” Luke said wiping his face with his hands.

           “I am. It’s just hard for me. I’m not used to being married, or even in a long term relationship.” I said slowly and looked away from him to avoid making eye contact.

           “Then why marry me?” Luke said as tears began to run down his cheeks again.

           “I’m not sure.” I said. My chest began to get tight.  

           “That’s what you said last time,” Luke said standing up again.  

           We fell silent. I look all around the room but not at him, I couldn’t. I glanced past his paintings that he did for the room, at his dresser, with pictures of his parents, and friends, but in the center was a picture of me.

           “Remember, when you got your ukulele?” Luke added “You were so excited.”

           “Yeah, that was that was when I wanted to play the guitar,” I said. I was staring at the back of his head, his perfect brown hair, which looks like he had just combed it; it always looked like that, it was remarkable. I began to smile a little.

            I remember this as the week we moved in together. My smile slowly faded. Before I could turn away, Luke slowly turned to me. He stared at me with his big brown eyes.

            “Yeah it was, I always thought that guitars were a cliché,” Luke said. “I know that sometimes I can be dramatic-“He began, but I cut him off.                                                                                               “It’s fine, I like how dramatic you are, and you wouldn’t be the same if you weren’t,” I said, looking for more words to say.

           He sat down next to me, we stared into each other’s eyes, I could see an outline of my reflection in them.

           “I think, I know why I love you.” I said, slowly as I held his hands. “I’m afraid to be alone.”

           He let go of my hands, “That’s it? That’s why you love me?” Luke said in disgust. He stood up and walked to the bathroom. I got up and tried the knob, but it was locked.

           “Now this time, you can fuck off!” Luke yelled.

           “That isn’t what I meant.”

           “Then what did you mean?”

The sky was gray and the clouds blotted out the sun. The sidewalk was wet, and large puddles began to form on the edge of curbs; careless drivers would be obliged to splash people on the sidewalk if they’re not careful. I walked my usual route to the grocery store. Across the street, I heard the squeal of a bagpipe player, which played an awful rendition of the song from Star Wars. I continued to walk until I could no longer hear the bagpipes. Eventually I reached the front of the grocery store.

            I entered the store, I grabbed a cart, and began to head towards the produce section. I stopped dead in my tracks when I see him. A young man, around twenty years in age, he was wearing a large oversized sweater with a cat on it. His hair was a fire red and perfectly curly. His glasses sloped down to his nose as though he was focused on an important task. He was standing in front of the tomatoes, weighing them in each hand. I wiped the front of my shirt and used my fingers to loosely comb my hair and for extra measure I chewed a piece of gum. As I began to make my way over to him, an absurdly large lady pushed a shopping a cart in front of me, cutting me off from my route. I decided to go another away but he’s gone before I get to the tomatoes.

           I continued to shop in the usual fashion, produce, cereal, and then bread. I entered the bread aisle, and I see him again. He was no taller than my chest. He was thin with poor posture, his knees were locked and his feet in a v-stance. He was standing in front of the tortillas, holding corn and flour in each hand. I swallowed then began to walk down the aisle. About half down the aisle, a group of children run past me and began to rough house between us, causing a scene. He looks at the children, then took one of the tortillas and left the aisle. I grabbed my usual bread then, sighed and resumed my shopping trip.

            On the last aisle, I looked through all the frozen foods. I grabbed the normal frozen pizza, and frozen dinners. When he reappeared at the end of the aisle, he grabbed the corn dogs, but now can’t choose between frozen waffles or pancakes. I can’t decide on something witty to say so I decided to walk to him without a plan. About ten feet from him, something tripped me and I fell face first; I could feel my nose hitting the ground and my hands stung from a failed attempt to catch myself. By the time I look up he’s gone. I look around and see that my own shoe laces had tripped me. I tie my shoes, then get up and walked back to my cart.

           I get to the check out and set my items on the conveyor belt. About halfway through I, noticed that he’s in front of me. I awkwardly shuffled next to him and he looked at me. I gave a smile that he seems uncomfortable to return. I took my ring off and slipped it into my pocket.

           “Hi,” I finally say, “I’m Taylor.”  

           “Okay,” He said, as he pulled out his wallet. I messed with my fingers a bit.

           “So, what’s your name?” I asked.

           “What’s it to you?” He said.  

           “Well I was wondering what you were doing later? Maybe we could get a coffee?” I asked.

           “Look I get you’re interested in me, but do you mind?” He said as he takes his change.

           “What do you mean? I’m just making conversation. That’s all.” I said.                                           “I saw you put your ring in your pocket.” He said flatly.

I froze, and swallowed hard.

“Yeah, cheating on your spouse isn’t cool man.” He shook his head as he grabbed his groceries and left.

Then it’s my turn. I checked out and began walking home from the store.

                                                             ---

 A warm summer breeze tickled the back of my neck as I sat on the porch strumming on my ukulele. I stared off into the distance, the trees creating perfect lines of light from the setting sun. The grass was dry and lacking its natural green pigment. There sat a large oak tree. Its leaves fell to the ground as its branches begun to hang low. Luke lay with his head on my lap we stared at each other, as I played aimless notes.

“Wanna give me some attention?” Luke asked.