Mother Nature is quiet tonight. Her dark blue, gentle, yet poisonous waves rock back and forth in an entrancing, enticing rhythm, brushing against ancient Captain Malaney’s ship, _Francesca. _

__

They_ _shield_ s_iren’s yellow, hungry eyes that watch the every move of my fellow drunken sailors, who are dancing threateningly dizzy.

__

_Lap, lick, smack. _

__

Why does water insist on sounding like a nagging dog begging for attention? Above me, stars twinkle innocently.

Hah, Dad, if only you were here.

“_How completely ignorant, willfully, blatantly dangerous, living with pirates! Trying to die? Desiring death? Forgetting your life?”_

No, dad.

I’m learning to live.

***

(Another draft that I’m getting out before I start anything new :). Yo-ho-ho-ho a pirate’s life for me. Using different words for 100 of them was a lot harder than I thought..)