Free Land
About fifteen years later, George, who is now a young man with brown eyes, darker skin, and black hair, wakes up remembering his past, as he drags his feet across the floor putting on his rags and walking up to the spar deck.
"GET UP HERE! Wash the poop deck! You woke up late which means before bed twenty-seven lashes for the twenty-seven minutes of work you missed!", yelled Captain Duggan the Grey.
George now had gotten back a spark to his step that he had lost eight years ago when he first stepped on this boat. He was stripped of his shoes and gowns, so his feet are cold and hard. He has lost feeling in them after the first year. George walked like a zombie to grab the broom, this was his normal walk as he had become a corpse when he lost his feeling in his feet. When he got to the poop deck he noticed a man dead on the floor bleeding out and a dagger shooting out from his side. George turns around and Duggan is stalking his every move since he moved off the spar board, yells, "If you had gotten up earlier he wouldn't have bleed out that much!", Duggan maliciously starts to laugh. George walks over to the man's arm and pulls him toward the side of the poop deck. George stops and pulls the knife out of the side of the man which slides out of the stomach easily. George gags as the smell of rotten flesh hits his nose he throws the knife to the other side and pulls the man up, then throws him overboard into the sea. George walks down to the spar board and throws the water bucket, connected to a rope, overboard. He hears a person walking up behind him then turns around, a hand hits him across the face, he loses balance and falls down.
"What are you doing, boy? You are not allowed to drink except during breakfast and dinner, but you missed breakfast.", said a crew member harshly.
"I am getting water to clean the poop deck.", George says as he looks up at the man. The man looks directly at his eyes and brutally kicks him in the stomach. The man spits on his face and yells, "Clean faster slave boy!". George rips off of part of his rag and slowly whips off his face. He pulls himself off using the side of the boat. He pulls up the rope and a splash of cold salt water hits his face, he smiles and whispers to himself saying, "Only three more years and I will be off of the stupid boat.". He feels an arm crawl across his throat, looks up and sees Duggan.
"I see you slacking off! Then you are talking bad about my ship! If you're feeling lucky today you want to say that again?", as Duggan starts to tighten his grip on George. George tries to bring in a gasp of air but he can not and tries to let out a sound. Duggan smiles and says, "What's that boy I can't hear you.", as he tightens his grip again. George's face turns almost completely red until Duggan loosens his grip. "Now listen boy. You are a slave, nothing less, nothing more, if you want to stop doing your job now because you're 'bout to be free in three years I might as well stop my job as a captain and just let us sit out here in the ocean. Right?". Duggan completely loosens his grip and steps on his ankle. George tries to get a deep breath in and lets out a gasp, "Yes.", once he gets enough air in his lungs he then finishes, "But I will continue my work.". Duggan grins and says, "Good. But that is not good enough for me.", Duggan pulls a rag from his back pocket, and a dagger from his belt. Duggan looks down at George and says, "I am going to make sure you never talk for the next three years.", Duggan then ties a knot in the rag and wraps it around George's head viciously. "Now if you slack off again I will stab your arm.", said Duggan.
George finished pulling up the water bucket and there is a winged fish in it. George quickly runs to his room and throws the fish under his bed. He rushed back up to the spar board and felt an odd static like pain to the bicep then he felt a river of blood rush down his arm. He looks behind and sees Duggan's glowing yellow eyes piercing through the dark. "Now would you like to get back to work?". George rushes back up to the spar board and quickly unties the water bucket which is now full of salt water. George pours the water upon the blood on the poop deck. George finishes up cleaning up the blood when he looks over the port to the horizon and he sees land for the first time in a couple months, but this land was no ordinary land, it was freedom.
Later that night dinner was ready and George went under the quarter deck where dinner was being served. The ship was always dark during the night, the cold breeze swept along with the fishy smell of the ocean. George approaches the dining room, he sees Duggan's piercing yellow eyes, from across the room. "Slave boy, come sit.", Duggan says as his eyes become intimidating George takes down the rag in his mouth and replies, "I am not hungry tonight.". Duggan starts to laugh and says, "Fine you'll just die sooner. Then get the hell out of here! Get that rag back in your mouth!". George quickly puts the rag back into his mouth then scurries back on top of the quarter deck and goes to the ladder that leads to the lower wale. As he climbs down the wooden ladder he cautiously looks up and down checking for crew members when suddenly he feels a sharp point go into his foot. George stops for a moment and lets a tear fall from his cheek, this tear of gratefulness sets realization upon his thoughts that he could be free in two days and his heart starts to jump. George get's to the bottom of the ladder and pulls out a small wooden stick, throws it on the ground and continues his quest to the kitchen. Under his rag clothing he pulls out the fish that was in the bucket. He searches the hallway and the dark room ahead, where there is no one. He starts a fire in the furnace and puts the cauldron over; he fills it with clean freshly boiled cooking water and lets the fish cook. He uses a spoon to fetch out the freshly baked wing fish, and bit into it. This fish was the best meal he had in eight years. He saw a flame from the corner of his eye approaching the room and hid in the closet next to the door. The person that was approaching stopped, pulled out a cooking knife and said, "Hello? Is there anyone here?". George slowly opened the blinds that showed the man's face looking in the direction of the furnace and due to the flame the man's face was contorted with shadows. He runs to the flame and puts it out with the cooking water. Then the voice of Duggan was heard from above and he ran back upstairs. George walks out of the closet and down the hallway. He sees a room with the candle in it lit and walks to it. Hears a voice from the corner of the room he can not view.
"Hello there, footprints I do not recognize. Who are you?", says the voice which sounds exotic and ancient.
George pauses for a moment and tries to stay silent. "I know you are still there, I still smell you.", says the exotic voice. George takes a step into the room, looks to the left and sees a figure in a cage, but it is too dark to see anything else. The eyes of the figure open one is a blue like the sky and the other is a deep dark purple. George takes down a huge rag in his mouth and with an unsettled voice says, "I am George.". The eyes look down at the ground and then the voice replies with, "So you're the slave. Would you like to be free tomorrow?", the voice became tempting. George becomes intrigued and more nervous as he walks closer toward the cage. "Of course I would.", George tries to say quietly, masking his excitement and joy. "Well then all you have to do is open the cage.". Thunder crackled from the sky as the storm that was just approaching moved the ship back and forth. George's heart starts to run quicker and quicker through his chest, the figure says, "I can hear your heart, you might think it is weird and you may be nervous but don't fear. I am your friend not a foe.", said the voice as the voice became vicious and ancient. George's heart nearly burst out of his chest, a wave hit his throat, a wave of uncomfortable feeling. George shakily walks towards the cage when the voice quickly says, "Stop! The cage is locked so you must get the key from over there on that desk and while you are over there grab the blue orb on the desk as well.", so George glanced over at how far away the desk was from himself. Being clouded with fear, George walks backwards to get the key from the cage. The winds from the storm enter the room as George hears the sound of flickering candles, then suddenly the room is cold, dark, and damp. The hairs upon his neck and arms began to raise slightly and the goose bumps came swelling across his arms. He keeps slowly backing up until something sharp and hard hits his leg, he jumps as he starts to realize this sharp feeling was the edge of the desk. He turns around and sees the key next to a paper with scribbles he could not recognize. He sees the orb and inspects it deeply, then puts it in a pocket he made in his rags. He slowly grabs the key as his palm starts to sweat, trying to pick up the key it first slips out of his hand, he then brings it over to the cage. He stops in front of the bars and gets his first gander at the full figure which had fangs as teeth, claws as nails, and dry gray skin. He throws the key in, the figure swiftly catches the key and unlocks the cage. Another burst of wind comes through this time blowing the cage door open and the figure slowly crawls out then limps its way towards George. Frozen in fear George suddenly feels a warm breath next to his ear, then the exotic and ancient voice from earlier commandingly says, "Now George you're going to go into your room, get your lashes, wake up tomorrow morning and pretend that I bit you. Do you understand?". George closes his eyes and his frightful shaky voice comes out, "Yes I completely do.", Then he feels a cold dry hand on his cheek which slightly pushes him to the door.
George lays in his bed waiting for Captain Duggan to give him lashes. George pulls up the back of his shirt and feels the scars from the same whip that Duggan will use in a few minutes. George's heart jumps when he hears a cluster of footsteps approaching his room, he realizes that the crew is going to watch him get whipped. "Aye boy are ye ready for them.", says Duggan with his cruel laughter. The crew behind him nearly pushes Duggan over when they crowd the doorway. Duggan steps up, pulls back his arm, then throws his arm forward and the whip cracks then hits George on the back. "Oh sorry George, my slave boy, I didn't hit you as hard as I could have.'' Duggan starts cruelly laughing again then repeats the same motion but then George is hit hard by the whip which meets his back with a slap then the whip cracked. The crowd watching says in disappointment, "Hit him right Captain!", so Duggan looks back, gives an evil grin, swings his whip back then whips it forward, this time with more speed, it meets George's back with a crack, and he screams. Duggan starts his cruel laugh again and says, "Bite your lip, I don't want to hear your screams.", so George bites his lip and Duggan continues on with George's lashes.
George, not being able to sleep from the horrible pain, gets off of his front gets up and realizes the sun had already risen. George quickly hears footsteps charging to his room, so he quickly lays back on his stomach. Duggan bursts the door open and yells, "Why the hell aren't you up!", George is shocked into remembering what the figure said the night before and so he replies with, "I think I was bit by one of your crew members, but they had fangs.". Frustration morphes Duggan's facial expression, "Damn it! The hell is that thing doing out of its cage?", Duggan looks under George's bed and sees a hole that leads to the storage center. Duggan quickly says "We'll have to send the boy overboard.", the crew members behind him say, "He'll have to walk the plank!". Duggan develops an evil grin, cruelly laughs and shouts, "Wonderful idea!". George next has an old wooden shield to his head and he succumbs to darkness.
George wakes up with a dagger to his back forcing him to the edge of the plank. George tries shifting around but he is tied up by strong ropes. He is so close to the edge that he feels the salt water stroke his face. The dagger in his back is starting to pierce into his skin as the knife slowly slides deeper, he hears Duggan in his ear, "Boy, your choice is to die and bleed out on the poop deck like that man or jump into the ocean two miles from the land.". Before Duggan can react George quickie jumps into the sea and spins around, as George glares at Duggan. George feels a cold liquid sensation hit his foot. George finally sees a blare of Duggan leaving his life. Irritation fills his back and foot, from the salt water entering his wounds. George violently rips his body around to get the ropes loose, as he falls deeper into the ocean's depth, Duggan's ship leaves his vision. The ropes come loose and George rips out the rag in his mouth, swims up and tries reaching for air when suddenly his head emerges from the water, and a breath full of life hits George's lungs.
George slowly swims to the coast, conserving energy, as he is two miles from land. George reaches around fifty feet further than when he started when he just began to float. He can not quite see the sky as a bunch of White Long Tailed Skipping Drakes clogged his view. He stares at the drakes as they look like stingrays with strong legs on their bottom sides. He looks at their waving white tails as they flow back to the top of the wave and back into the sky. George then takes a breath and dives down into the sea. He sees tea sipping turtles and fantastic flax colored fish. George starts to swim quicker and quicker when a rush of cold water hits him and when he looks up sees a small school of flying fish leap into the sky. He follows them up to the surface and right as they start to flap their wings, he takes a deep breath.
George ventures under the water finding more fantastic creatures and sees the docks only fifty feet away. In a final effort George glides through the water, he begins to become tired and sore, makes a final reach in which his hands dig through the rough sand. George crawls through the damp dirt like sand, as he goes further up the beach, sand starts to enter his wounds. George reaches dry hot sand, he turns to his back, falls on the beach. The sand enters the whip wounds on his back, but George no longer cares. He looks up at the clouds in the sky, reaches for the clouds, and exhausts his energy by forcefully swinging his arms into the ground, a cloud of sand clouds his vision. When it dissipates and he sees the blue sky he creates words he never thought he would hear, "I am free."