She opened it slowly to see a number of objects stuffed into it. “Hey, could you grab one of the lanterns and bring it over here?” Cassandra nodded and removed one of the lanterns from the wall and brought it close.

There were various things inside the chest, all seemingly pirate themed. It took a few seconds for the gears in Scarlet’s head to start churning and grinding. Her eyes lit up. “No way.”

Cassandra tilted her head and looked in the chest. “What?”

“This... I think this is my dad’s stuff!” Scarlet shouted with a smile on her face. She started to take out several things now and Cassandra could help but feel like she was watching a child open up presents on Christmas day.

The very first thing that was yanked out was, of course, the rum. Scarlet pulled out a bottle called “Southern Seas” which was a blue tinted bottle with a seashell sitting at the bottom that was too big to escape the bottle. Scarlet look conflicted between indulging in it now and simply waiting so she could keep digging around for more.

Alas, her curiosity got the better of her. She said the drink aside and continued to dig deeper. A hefty sack of coins. A bundle of maps to several places. An inkwell and a particularly fancy looking feather. A box of cigars. A Journal. A--

“A journal...?” Scarlet murmured under her breath, jumping back to the find. She held it up to the light to which Cassandra spoke the title written out loud.

“Bryce Norfleet’s Journal...” It was her father’s name. The two girls glanced at each other before hungrily reading it. Tales of his travels. His personal thoughts. Doodles. Illustrations. They were all written down on the papers in between the leather coverings. Scarlet flipped one more page to find an even more interesting entry with a creature drawn at the very top of the page.

“Basilisks. A legend far from fake.” Scarlet began to read out loud. She stared at the creepy beast drawn onto the old sheet of paper and down to the description of the image below it. Her mind was buzzing with questions but the only way she’d answer them was to keep reading.

“I’m writing this journal as a doctor is stitching up my body.” True enough, there were blood spots dotting the page. “Basilisks are haunting and intimidating, not to mention deadly. They’re also vastly different from what people thought they looked like or what they’re capable of.” While he was right, it still very much displayed the same animals this chimera was allegedly comprised of.

“Locking eyes with this beast will not result in your immediate death. But you will be trudging up towards Death’s door. You’ll start to experience a variety of negative effects to you as listed below...” Scarlet skimmed through the large and scarily detailed list of effects on the body and continued with how he came about such information.

“After I had gotten into a battle with only two of these creatures, I managed to take it’s eyes. It’s powers still linger in the eye, well after it’s death. It’s supernatural abilities are priceless, so I’ll be keeping these eyes. Especially seeing as they don’t seem to rot or dry up...” The two would continue reading until the end, leaving Scarlet to silently close the journal in thought and wordlessly, she got up.

Cassandra curiously stood up as well, looking at Scarlet with concern. “Scar...? You alright?” To which she was answered by two hands grabbing her by the shoulders followed with an excited expression plastered on her face.

“Cassie! Don’t you know what this means!” Scarlet shouted, said Cassie being shaken back and forth.

“N-No! What’s so great about all this?!” She stammered out, her curiosity turning into pure confusion.

“All of this...! The journal, the alcohol, the maps--” She stopped mid thought and let go of Cassandra to grab the maps that he’d drawn and found a map to and of said place where these creatures lived. “All this stuff” She began again. “I can use it all to find my dad! A pirate besting a basilisk and keeping it’s eye? He has to be infamous!” She sounded just a smidgen out of breath.

Cassandra, while usually being the optimistic one couldn’t help but look at her with a slight pained expression. “Scar it’s been... At least like twenty years in between then and now...” He was probably dead by now. Is what she wanted to say but couldn’t bring herself to put that in her friend’s head. Scarlet, caught up in the excitement, misinterpreted the direction the comment was going.

“I know, I know, it’s such a huge gap in time, but I’m sure I can still find him!” She said dismissively. Scarlet glanced back at her dear friend to reveal she was actually tearing up. “I... I can find these things, take one of their eyes, and prove I’m his daughter...”

Silence filled the room as she spoke out loud. Seconds went by until Scarlet chirped up again. “Cassie?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ve decided... When I grow up. I’ll become a pirate. I wanna find my dad so... Will you become one with me and help me find him?” She asked to which Cassie barely even listened to the question before responding.

“Well duh. I’m not going to let you just go out there and get yourself killed.” She feigned cocky attitude with a frown before cracking a smile. “You know we’re inseparable anyways, you dummy.” Cassandra considered her answer only after it left her mouth.

She really didn’t have anything to leave behind here besides Scarlet’s mom. She may have lived here her whole life, but never once was it a place she’d ever call home. Becoming a pirate with Scarlet meant a new life away from this place.

Scarlet gave a toothy grin and hugged her best friend. “Thank you...”

After a few more seconds passed by, Scarlet let go and changed the subject for now, taking the moment to put away her dad’s belongings. “I guess we should finish cleaning up, huh?” The awkwardness of the question left Cassandra to giggle and agree.

“Yeah... But if anything crawls out of any of anything, I’m leaving.” Her friend’s insistence on steering clear of creepy crawlies was enough to make Scarlet giggle back in return.

“Pfft. You’re such a scaredy cat.” She’d quip back. Cassie frowned and pouted trying to excuse herself and sound more just in her decision, but Scarlet would allow it, teasing her at every chance she’d get.

The tales of the basilisk were very much true and there was still a lot of the journal and entry Scarlet hadn’t read but she was sure she’d get the chance to read more later. Perhaps when she wasn’t in the middle of doing a chore.

This was just a quick little story thing I felt like making. Truthfully, I’d love to write a new adult novel on her story. But I don’t feel like I’m ready to write anything like that yet. So I’m reading more and I’m doing my best to learn more about writing so that when I do decide I’m ready, it’ll come out great.

Thanks for reading.