My first attempt at a POTC fanfic. Be kind. I love constructive criticism and praise (of course) but no flames if the story and Rebecca suck. Break it to me gently! And enjoy!
Light UpPrologue
The last thing I expected was to wind up in a weird parallel universe on the night of my 18th birthday.
I mean, honestly, all I had wanted was a cold slice of chocolate cake at 11:56 at night.
Is that really so much to ask? Apparently so.
Call it bad luck, bad timing or just plain stupidity but I was feeling sorry for myself so I decided to re-light a candle on my delicious double chocolate cake. My birthday had been somewhat of a disaster, which wasn't out of the norm at my house. Being one of four obnoxious teenagers tends to make anything hectic. However, I felt I deserved a birthday wish. One half of my cake had fallen victim to our lovable, if drooly, St. Bernard, Bonaparte. I had been going through a history phase when we got him and thought it would be clever to name our gigantic, dopey dog after a petit conqueror. Only half of this aforementioned cake survived and my older brother Sam said something insulting to me, which caused me to storm up to my room and slam and lock the door. I always went for the dramatic exit.
As I lay in bed, alone and brooding, I decided it was wrong to punish myself over what had been my family's fault.
It was my cake, damnit! And I wanted a slice.
I silently padded down our stairs into our newly furnished kitchen. I opened our fridge and found the cake saran-wrapped with a note tapped to it. Make a wish. I easily recognized Sam's messy scrawl and decided I would accept his peace offering the next morning. I unwrapped the cake and stuck the candle that had been lying on the plate into the deep chocolate heaven. However, I did not have a match. I found a box and despite my fear of lighting up flames I managed to get the candle to catch. Sighing, I plopped down on one of the chairs by the island and stared morosely at my cake.
What was there to wish for?
I was doing pretty well this year school wise so wishing for better grades seemed lame. I wasn't unpopular as far as everything went. I had a nice group of friends and we had fun while being ourselves. My parents were faring well mentally with a 19-year-old, 18-year-old, 15-year-old, and 13-year-old as kids. And admittedly, we were a bit bratty. I was comfortable and in a good place in my life. I would probably go off to a nice college, wind up teaching, and lead a fairly average life. It was safe and boring as hell.
I had never been one to like average. I always read adventure books, watched the loud blasting James Bond movies.
I wanted excitement but I did nothing to get it.
I glanced at the DVDs strewn across the kitchen table and saw A Walk to Remember and Pirate's of the Caribbean. A sappy cliched story or an action packed romantic adventure for your life? Personally, I wanted the action and maybe even some romance. I concentrated hard on Jack Sparrow's kohl-lined eyes and Orlando Bloom's sweet brown ones. And then I blew the candle out.
Excitement. I want Excitement and Adventure. I just need the monotony to end. Any change is a good one.
And then the room started shaking. Not exactly what you expect to happen upon making a wish. I could hear the glassware chinking together and the bowl of fruit on the island fall to the floor with a crash. Suddenly my chair flipped over and I found myself on the floor with a lovely view of the window.
"Holy. Shit."
I generally managed to curb my swearing but what was happening in the sky was absolutely freaky.
The stars were shooting every which way and lighting up the sky. It was by far the strangest and most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. There were balls of light streaking through the sky and I was on the ground in a very uncomfortable position lying dumbstruck.
And suddenly my kitchen started dissolving and the stars seemed impossibly close. So close that I almost believed if I reached out I could touch them. Being the awesome person that I am, I did. Just as my fingers brushed the black sky my whole body jerked and I went flying. I let out an extremely loud scream but maintained my composure as I tumbled through the air.
Alright, so I'm lying.
If my memory is correct I was shrieking like a banshee and flailing like a cornered turkey. I'm sure I was a frightening sight.
The only thing I can remember while falling was a sense of pure terror and regret that I didn't even get to taste my cake. And then suddenly the blackness ended and there was a loud splash.
Little did I know that I was going to have my wish granted, whether I wanted it anymore or not.
Happy Birthday to me.