The Eyes of the Sea Sequel to Turning a Blind Eye

It takes three days to reach Port Royal. We arrive around the middle of the day and I was led from the ship, and further into the town. Elizabeth was constantly at my side, but I couldn’t speak to her. Over the last few days I had learned that Jack and the Pearl escaped as I dove into the water. Elizabeth had informed me that Jack had howled with fury at my escape. That the crew were forced to hold him back from attacking as they steered their way out of the blockade. Jack screaming my name until they vanished in the distance. Elizabeth had made Norrington keep his word, and for that I was grateful.

I couldn’t speak to her at all after she told me about Jack’s escape. She made it sound so wrong, and in my mind’s eye I could almost see what really happened. I’m glad the crew made the decision to run and fight another day. Jack wouldn’t have. He would have stayed and died. I know that. Though, I can’t help but feel hurt...no, I feel devastated by it. I suffer the pain of abandonment. I know it wasn’t Jack choice, but that doesn't make it hurt less.

After a short walk we arrive in what must have been the governor's house. I don’t really know it very well, since I’d only ever been in the entrance hall. I feel so lost and so bloody blind for the first time in years! Jack never made me feel like that. As we arrive, Elizabeth suddenly shouts for someone.

“Will!” The name surprises me because I‘m standing right here next to her. Then with the pounding of small feet down the stairs, I finally understand. A child runs up to us and flings his arms around his mother.

“Mother!” he cries joyfully and Elizabeth laughs.

“Will, there’s someone I want you to meet.” I hear her set the child down, and from the dark and light outlines I could make out his small figure standing before me.

“You blind, sir?” he asks cheekily. I feel a whoosh of air blowing before my face and I know he’s waving his hand in front of me. I catch his arm making him gasp.

“Yes, but not entirely.”

“Will,” Elizabeth scolds. I let the boy’s arm go.

“Will this is my old friend, William Turner.”

“Hey, you have my name!” Will cries, “That’s no fair!”

I laugh at the innocence of the boy and decide that we are going to be friends after all.

~*~*~*~

The introductions to the staff are awkward. I don’t like being on dry land and I hate the house. It’s so confining and there are so many dark shadows and black corners everywhere that it kept confusing me, making it almost impossible for me to get around on my own. I long to be back aboard the Black Pearl. At least the deck keeps swaying and I know her decks like the back of my hand. I miss the ocean, but I miss Jack more.

Elizabeth arranges for me to have my own room, and has dinner brought up to me. I thank her, but I can’t say more. She’s hurt me too much and I feel far too bitter to even try to explain why. I know she would never understand Jack and I. That we are lovers.

Will’s another subject entirely. The boy’s constantly moving around and asking all sorts of questions. I answer as best I can. As soon as he learns I lived aboard ship he never shuts up, and has to be dragged away at bedtime by his governess. I’m sure he’d have talked forever if they let him. So passes my first day back at Port Royal.

~*~*~*~

The next few days of confinement in Elizabeth’s house fell like I’ve been imprisoned for an eternity. I’m completely lost without Jack, unable to find my way around and constantly badgered by Commodore Norrington. He certainly doesn’t believe Elizabeth’s story of my being held captive against my will, because it wasn’t true, but I play along for the moment. I need to discover, catalogue and dissect my surroundings. When I have learned how to get around without aid, I can make an escape plan.

Elizabeth, however, is my biggest problem. She never leaves me alone, constantly there and guiding me around like a two year old. In so many ways I’m beginning to feel sorry for her. That young carefree girl has turned into an embittered wife and mother. Her wild independence has been tamed and she is resentful of that. To top it all of I fell sad, almost regretful for her, that if I hadn’t have been blinded her life would have turned out very different. She might have been Mrs Turner, and I think she believes that too. I might once have considered it might be true, but then I’ll picture Jack in my mind and I know no matter what, I’d always have loved him.

The boy, Will, on the other hand is the one person that keeps me sane. The young six-year-old reminds me so much of Jack. He’s intelligent, wild too almost hyper, and completely besotted with tales of pirates. Especially ones about the Black Pearl. He spends as much time as he can with me, and I tell him everything about my life, Jack and the Pearl. He wants to grow up to be a te, te, which constantly irks Norrington.

As the days past, I grow more and more wary of the Commodore. He rules his household with an iron fist and I become fearful of stepping out of line. He’s caught me more than once trying to work out the distance of the garden, to the gate, to the house and beyond. I believe he knows I’m planning my escape and keeps a more watchful eye on me.

Two weeks after my arrival at Norrington’s house, my patience with Elizabeth finally snaps. I can’t stand listening to her put Jack down, or tell me how terrible my life has been for another second. I’m too angry to be sensible and I snap.

“Oh Will, we must surely do something with your hair. It makes you look like that Jack Sparrow, all knotted with trinkets,” she starts to finger my hair, pulling at a row of pearls that Jack had pierced and strung my hair through. “It must have been terrible; every day spent a prisoner on that ship.”

A prisoner! Once upon a time she would have thought it freedoShe’She’s changed so much over the last seven years that I no longer know her.

“Leave it,” I snarl finally, smacking her hands away from my hair. “I’m so sick and tired of your complaining Elizabeth! It’s not my fault your life hasn‘t turned out as you hoped! And I was never a prisoner! Jack and I were lovers!”

*Not* the right words to say. Elizabeth cries out in shock and I hear soft male laughter at the door. Blast!

“So Mr Turner, I can charge you with piracy *and* sodomy.”

I‘ve really let myself in for it now. If only I had kept my cool, but Elizabeth had pushed it too far. The way that Jack had done my hair was so special to me. It was the first time he’d touched me, to plait my hair out of my eyes and tie a trinket at the bottom. And with Elizabeth constantly going on about my being a prisoner and her lack of freedom - it finally broken me. I had lost my cool and now it was going to cost me dearly.

And cost me it does. Before I know what’s happening, Norrington has me dragged away to the Port and imprisoned with the other Pirates awaiting their appointment with the hangman. Elizabeth screams and begs for me not to be taken, and I realise how much she’d been hurt. Life had turned out the worst possible way for her. Yet, I couldn’t wish for mine to change. I never regretted choosing to love and life with Jack all these years. I wouldn’t even have exchanged my blindness for sight if it meant losing him.

~*~*~*~

It’s at nighttime when Norrington’s men drag me down into the cells of the port. I know there would be no trial, and not even Elizabeth can change the bastard’s mind. It’s so dark as they heave me down the steps, and I become lost and unable to see the shapes before me. Fear rises up and turns to terror as a voice calls out.

“Well, well if it isn’t Captn’ Sparrows littl’ whore.”

I tense at the sound of the male voice, instantly recognising it. Over the last few years the English Navy had put its foot down with the pirates on these waters, and in retaliation many of them had bandogetogether to create their own little naval force. These pirates cared little for treasure, taking only what they could survive on. No they yearned - lived - for bloodshed. One of their leaders, the man with me now, was called Captain Elvin Black. He was a vicious man, uglier than an octopus or so Jack said. He had approached Jack on many occasions while we were in Tortuga, trying to get him to join his warlike brotherhood. The Black Pearl had gained a name that instilled fear, and her Captain was considered clever but little barmy too. Jack had always refused and it usually led to a fight. In the end, Jack would leave Black lying bloodied on the floor with an arm around my waist and telling him to leave us alone. Off course, I was seen as the main reason why Jack wouldn’t join them. I’d made him a love sick, weak fool and had to be gotten rid off.

I didn’t answer to Black’s call, but instead slowly made my way to the corner of the cell and sat down.

“Ya sure are a pretty boy,” Black growls, and for a fearful moment I wonder if I’m in the same cell as him, yet no one made a move on me. “What they hangin’ yer for? Letting Jack stick his big dick up yer ass?”

I shiver at the words but I don’t answer. In the end, Black gives up calling me a whore and sodomite, and everything is once again quiet. The cell is cold and damp, making my bones ache. I’ve never been on land so long over the last seven years. I’d always lived on board ship, moving from one place to another, following the warm winds of the Caribbean. I miss that more than anything. The sway of the boat. The warm sun on my face. Jack’s hands on my body. My throat tightens and I feel a sob rising. I fight it back, I can’t cry in front of these men. I’m sorry for Elizabeth and how badly her life has turned out, but I cannot change it. Mine was hard too when I first became blind. It was hard falling in love with Jack. It’s been hard relearning so many normal things everyone else takes for granted - like dressing, shaving, even eating. It’s hard to hear men call me a whore, or a woman, or something else along those lines, yet, I wouldn’t ever leave Jack. I’m sorry for Elizabeth, I’m sorry I couldn’t be a husband to her, but fate happened, I became blind, she deserted me, and Jack found me. Jack breathed life back into me. Now I just have to find a way back to him.

The next day in my cell looked to be hard, cold and long. The other men have taken to jeering at me too, but thankfully I find myself in tiny cell on my own. Thank god for that! They laugh as they called me whore, shouting at me about who I spread my legs for. It hurt, but I don’t bite back. I couldn’t - hell, it was all true! I have to turn my mind to more important objectives, like getting back to the Pearl and Jack.

Towards the end of the day, a visitor arrives - Elizabeth. Everyone is silent as they listen into our conversation.

“Why Will! Why did you leave me!? Why did you leave me with Norrington?” she sobs out her words, grabbing hold of my arm through the bars.

“Elizabeth, I’m sorry for your life. But we never belonged to each other. Even if things were different...”

“No! You lie to them, tell them you aren’t a pirate, that Jack kidnapped you. Please Will, and we’ll run away together. Just you and me. Please,” she whines as she weeps into my hand.

“I can’t,” I whisper back. I won’t lie to her. I won’t betray Jack, ever.

“Hey Lady, yer need to go find a real man!” Black laughs from the next cell, “Not a pretty boy who spreads his legs for any a man.”

“Will! Tell them it isn’t so! Tell them,” she begs, trying to hold on tight. Trying to change the past and find herself again. My heart goes out to the broken woman before me.

“I can’t. It’s true; I am Jack’s bitch. Willingly.” Maybe sharp words will convince her.

“No! No! Tell them, Will. Tell them were running away together. Tell them you love me!”

Oh, Elizabeth. How far you have fallen. I let go of her hand and back into the far wall. “I’m so sorry, Elizabeth.”

“No! Tell them, Will. Tell them you love me...please! Please!” her whines grow into sobs as she rattles the bars.

Where is the girl I once knew? The light, bright spark of a woman that looked death in the face and fought on. The girl who had more courage than the whole of the English fleet put together. What happened to her? A marriage to an over-bearing, jealous and hateful man. I want to weep for the girl with the wild spirit who has turned into this frightened, broken woman.

Suddenly, a sharp, bounding blast of a pistol is heard. It’s so loud that my ears ache and the smoke burns my nose. I hear a panting and a cry. A body falling to the floor.

“Traitor,” Norrington snarls.

Oh God, no! NO! I crawl across the cell, my knees feeling weak. No, please! My hand touches something warm and soft, just inside the bars. A hand. I hold it tight, feeling the small womanly fingers curl around mine. No.

“I’m so sorry, Will,” Elizabeth manages to pant, her words distorted with a gurgling sound. “I didn’t see...I shouldn’t have brought you here. I was so jealous...”

Her words trail off and the panting stops.

“ELIZABETH!”

~*~*~*~

Elizabeth is dead. The young girl I loved is long gone, and now so is the woman she grew into. I sob for her, holding tightly to her hand until they take her away. At least now, with her parting words I can understand her a little more. Why she took me from Jack, just as she believed Jack had taken me from her. She forgets that she couldn’t accept me as a blind man. That Jack was the only one who was there for me. Now we’re both separated from our loved ones. Her from me by death, and me from Jack by...death. I swallow hard. Norrington is going to hang me in the morning and nothing is going to stop him.

My heart is heavy with the loss for Elizabeth, and I worry for her son. Though now I can do nothing to help him. If only Jack were here. I curl into a ball on the small bunk, my body shivering not from the cold, and try to sleep.

Sleep doesn’t come and I lie awake all night awaiting my death. There will be no sudden rescuer. I know that. Jack won’t risk coming back here to Port Royal, and I can’t escape on my own. Black, the other prisoner, won’t help either.

At dawn they come for us. Rough-handed soldiers grab hold of my arms and drag me from my cell. Black is screaming profanities at them, but it does nothing to prevent them from dragging us into the courtyard of the barracks. People jeer as we come out into the early morning daylight. It feels as if there are a thousand voices screaming for my death. Hands pull at my clothing and spit covers my face. My guards have to drag people away from me until finally I reach some steps. The steps that will take me to the hangman’s noose. I feel sick.

People are calling me whore, bitch and pirate. I don’t really mind their words, the hands that reach out for me now, scare me more.

“He’s blind,” the executioner exclaims.

“You don’t have to see to be guilty of sodomy, mate,” one of the guards sneer.

I almost wish that Black can be first, but I don’t think my courage would last through him gagging to death. I feel sorry for Jack the most. He’s the one who’s really losing here. I wish him well, and I hope he knows how much I’ve always loved him. Even with Elizabeth, even with her kidnapping me, I couldn’t stop loving him. She did nothing to awaken those old emotions within me. I never loved her again. It was only ever him.

A rope is lowered around my neck and the executioners hands tighten it. I swallow back a sob, and whisper, “I love you, Jack.”

The rope tightens. The crowd tenses as the executioner grabs hold of the lever for the trap door beneath my feet.

Any moment now...

TBC