p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" People passed by Anne as she made her way through the busy port. Around her, workers had been fixing up what had happened days ago. Pirates had in fact destroyed the port, looking for God knows what. She was just lucky that the orphanage wasn't hit, considering it was on the other side of the island. As she walked she looked at the ships. She had a plan, she was going to sneak on a cargo ship that was leaving for Tortuga, in about thirty minutes. Surely the plan wasn't necessary planned out very well, but she needed to see her father. Sheem needed/em answers./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" She felt her black hair burn her scalp, from the hot afternoon sun, as she made her way around the port. She took out the water stained parchment again from her pocket. It was a letter her Mother gave her, before she passed of sickness. Her mother had taught her to read at an early age, considering she was apart of the wealthy class—until she ran away from her family./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" Anne crinkled her nose at the letter as she re-read it. She had lost count on how many times she had read it, at this point she hardly needed to glance at it to know what it had said. However, she thought if she read it enough times, she would finally believe it. But she couldn't. The letter read:/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em My dearest Anne,/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em I have hidden something from you for quite some time now. /em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em For your whole fourteen years of life, you have been living/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em a lie. Your Father was not a sailor for the Royal Navy, but a sailor/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em of other sorts./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em You see, my dear Anne, your Father is a pirate./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" Those words seared behind her eyes. She couldn't believe it. Her own fact of disbelief, however, was taken over the boiling rage that took over her. Her father was indeed a pirate and the piracy did infact run through her veins. It made her feel vile./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" Pirates only cared about three things, rum, sex and treasure. Everyone knew that. Her cheeks puffed as she read the letter once more./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em He did love me, or at least that's what he led me to believe. I'm/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em Sure there are moments that was indeed truthful, except when it came/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em to rum. I had a fine time with him, I spent a month with him, at sea and/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em that month was the best month I had in my life, before I had you. Yes,/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em your ever frail and sick Mother had once traveled with pirates and/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em looked for loot./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em Please do not hate him, dear child, he did not know you were/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em born. It is not his fault, but mine./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" She folded the letter again, a little too harshly, and shoved it back in her breeches pocket. She didn't need to read the last of it, for that it was really telling her who her father was. He was named Jack, something or other, water that spilled on it had smudged the black ink./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" It made her angry that her mother had never told that man she existed. So he had lived his life in piracy, never thinking about her mother or the fact he had left behind a child with her. She thought back to how her Mother had said the month with that pirate was the best she ever had. Anne thought that was a load of horse dung, how could living on a ship be fun? Wouldn't that make ya sick to your stomach? She just couldn't wrap her head around it. Surely the adventures were dangerous too, no she wouldn't have any part in that./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" When Anne looked up, a cart was headed her way at a furious pace. She felt her eyes widen as the cart came close to her. She wondered if she should have taken that as a sign, not to go looking for her Father. She dismissed the feeling. He had to know that she existed. Plus, he was her only living parent. She had lived in the orphanage so long, because of her Mother's sickness, she just wanted to know how if felt like to have a parent./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" "Get ou' of the way boy!" shouted the man on the cart. She stumbled out of the way, fuming with anger that already had resided in her./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" "I'm not a boy!" she shouted back at him, her fists at both her sides. She then scolded herself, remembering the fact she was pretending to be one. She had the lanky, boyish figure for it. So much so, that she got coined the name 'Chicken Legs' at the orphanage. Also, she had no rump and hardly any breasts, she already passed like a boy as it was. Anne had rubbed dirt on her face and wore boyish clothes. She had also put her black hair into a braid and tied it with a rather shabby ribbon. She was grateful that her disguise actually worked. She did this so she could pass as a cabin boy and get a free ride to Tortuga./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" She rearranged her tricorn hat, a nervous tick that she was now getting accustomed too. She found that she had gotten quite fond of the hat, she had stolen it from one of the boys at her orphanage. Along with the clothes. She knew stealing was in fact wrong, but maybe it was the piracy that ran through her veins that convinced her otherwise./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" As she walked to find the cargo ship that would be heading its way to Tortuga, she focused hard on having a boys swagger. It was rather difficult for her, she could feel her face twist up in an odd expression as she concentrated./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" She stopped in front of the ship, wondering if she should even continue. Crew members hustled about on deck, following orders from the captain./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" "You!" he shouted at Anne, his voice was rough and loud. She felt her face run pale, she had started to regret getting on this ship. She regretted looking for her father. The voice came from what appeared to be the captain of the ship, he had on a red frock with gold thread in the embroidery./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" "Yes?" she said in a rather girlish tone, but then she cleared her throat and tried again, making her voice sound more boyish, "Yes, sir?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" "Well? Why are you standin' here? Go and scrub the decks, cabin boy!" Anne was relieved that he thought she was apart of the crew. She was about to do what he asked, however she didn't know where the supplies would be. "Don't tell me you don't know where the scrubbers and buckets are."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" She shook her head slowly./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" The captain let out a groan and said under his breath, "Good fer nothing cabin rat."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" He let out a sigh, after he rubbed his temples of course, and then pointed in the direction of where the supplies would be. "Well go on! Make your self of use!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" Anne nodded, running off to where he pointed./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" em That was close/em, she thought to herself as she took the bucket out and started to scrub the decks./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" She felt her black hair burn her scalp, from the hot afternoon sun, as she made her way around the port. She took out the water stained parchment again from her pocket. It was a letter her Mother gave her, before she passed of sickness. Her mother had taught her to read at an early age, considering she was apart of the wealthy class—until she ran away from her family./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" Anne crinkled her nose at the letter as she re-read it. She had lost count on how many times she had read it, at this point she hardly needed to glance at it to know what it had said. However, she thought if she read it enough times, she would finally believe it. But she couldn't. The letter read:/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em My dearest Anne,/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em I have hidden something from you for quite some time now. /em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em For your whole fourteen years of life, you have been living/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em a lie. Your Father was not a sailor for the Royal Navy, but a sailor/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em of other sorts./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em You see, my dear Anne, your Father is a pirate./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" Those words seared behind her eyes. She couldn't believe it. Her own fact of disbelief, however, was taken over the boiling rage that took over her. Her father was indeed a pirate and the piracy did infact run through her veins. It made her feel vile./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" Pirates only cared about three things, rum, sex and treasure. Everyone knew that. Her cheeks puffed as she read the letter once more./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em He did love me, or at least that's what he led me to believe. I'm/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em Sure there are moments that was indeed truthful, except when it came/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em to rum. I had a fine time with him, I spent a month with him, at sea and/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em that month was the best month I had in my life, before I had you. Yes,/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em your ever frail and sick Mother had once traveled with pirates and/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em looked for loot./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em Please do not hate him, dear child, he did not know you were/em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"em born. It is not his fault, but mine./em/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" She folded the letter again, a little too harshly, and shoved it back in her breeches pocket. She didn't need to read the last of it, for that it was really telling her who her father was. He was named Jack, something or other, water that spilled on it had smudged the black ink./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" It made her angry that her mother had never told that man she existed. So he had lived his life in piracy, never thinking about her mother or the fact he had left behind a child with her. She thought back to how her Mother had said the month with that pirate was the best she ever had. Anne thought that was a load of horse dung, how could living on a ship be fun? Wouldn't that make ya sick to your stomach? She just couldn't wrap her head around it. Surely the adventures were dangerous too, no she wouldn't have any part in that./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" When Anne looked up, a cart was headed her way at a furious pace. She felt her eyes widen as the cart came close to her. She wondered if she should have taken that as a sign, not to go looking for her Father. She dismissed the feeling. He had to know that she existed. Plus, he was her only living parent. She had lived in the orphanage so long, because of her Mother's sickness, she just wanted to know how if felt like to have a parent./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" "Get ou' of the way boy!" shouted the man on the cart. She stumbled out of the way, fuming with anger that already had resided in her./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" "I'm not a boy!" she shouted back at him, her fists at both her sides. She then scolded herself, remembering the fact she was pretending to be one. She had the lanky, boyish figure for it. So much so, that she got coined the name 'Chicken Legs' at the orphanage. Also, she had no rump and hardly any breasts, she already passed like a boy as it was. Anne had rubbed dirt on her face and wore boyish clothes. She had also put her black hair into a braid and tied it with a rather shabby ribbon. She was grateful that her disguise actually worked. She did this so she could pass as a cabin boy and get a free ride to Tortuga./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" She rearranged her tricorn hat, a nervous tick that she was now getting accustomed too. She found that she had gotten quite fond of the hat, she had stolen it from one of the boys at her orphanage. Along with the clothes. She knew stealing was in fact wrong, but maybe it was the piracy that ran through her veins that convinced her otherwise./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" As she walked to find the cargo ship that would be heading its way to Tortuga, she focused hard on having a boys swagger. It was rather difficult for her, she could feel her face twist up in an odd expression as she concentrated./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" She stopped in front of the ship, wondering if she should even continue. Crew members hustled about on deck, following orders from the captain./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" "You!" he shouted at Anne, his voice was rough and loud. She felt her face run pale, she had started to regret getting on this ship. She regretted looking for her father. The voice came from what appeared to be the captain of the ship, he had on a red frock with gold thread in the embroidery./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" "Yes?" she said in a rather girlish tone, but then she cleared her throat and tried again, making her voice sound more boyish, "Yes, sir?"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" "Well? Why are you standin' here? Go and scrub the decks, cabin boy!" Anne was relieved that he thought she was apart of the crew. She was about to do what he asked, however she didn't know where the supplies would be. "Don't tell me you don't know where the scrubbers and buckets are."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" She shook her head slowly./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" The captain let out a groan and said under his breath, "Good fer nothing cabin rat."/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" He let out a sigh, after he rubbed his temples of course, and then pointed in the direction of where the supplies would be. "Well go on! Make your self of use!"/p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" Anne nodded, running off to where he pointed./p
p style="margin: 20px 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Trebuchet, sans-serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" em That was close/em, she thought to herself as she took the bucket out and started to scrub the decks./p