Written by user melaniepatrick

I instantly knew something was amiss. The moment I stepped onto the boat I could sense the danger as if the water was trying to warn me of the peril that lay ahead.

On normal days, when I could see ten feet in front of me, I felt at peace whenever I was on the water, but something was different. I could feel the boat vibrating as if the water was trembling in fear.

I squinted and gazed ahead, but it was impossible to see anything. Nothing that was in sight, which wasn't much, looked different than normal. I sat down and put my head in my hands as I tried to figure out how I had gotten onto the boat in the first place. Typically I would not be stupid and go boating when you could only see a foot in front of you, due to the thick white fog.

I shivered even though it was humid out. When the fog touched my skin I felt tingles as if my skin was absorbing it and the fog was trying to get inside of me, it wasn't normal fog: it seemed to be alive.

I got up again and looked down at the normally crystal clear, blue water, but it was gray and murky as if it was sick. I clenched the railing so tight that my knuckles were white.

"Em, are you still there?" My sister Sapphire called as she snapped me out of my daze.

"Yeah, are you sure this is a good idea?" I looked over at Sapphire and even her dark blue eyes were almost invisible in the fog.

My parent's seemed to have a thing for gem names. My full name was Emerald, but I preferred to go by Em. They had named Sapphire and I because of our odd coloured eyes. I had bright green eyes, nothing like ordinary green eyes; they were the colour of an emerald; bright green. Sapphire's eyes were a midnight blue, so blue and dark.

"Of course it is. Mom and Dad will never know. They're gone all day golfing and Jasper won't tell them a thing." I wasn't so sure that mom and Dad would be gone all day, due to the fact that no one could see two feet in front of them, which wasn't a good thing for golfing. Then there was our brother Jasper. He was two years older than us at seventeen years old and was named after a stone rather than a gem.

Sapphire, Jasper, and I had an understanding due to events that had happened in the past and agreed to turn a blind eye whenever one of us did something against Mom and Dad's wishes. Normally it was nice that we could do things, but I was definitely regretting the agreement.

"What about the fog?" I sighed again as I continued to try and figure out how I had let Sapphire convince me to join her on the boat. It was probably because we were twins and I always felt bad for letting her do stupid things on her own, because she would have to be punished alone. That meant I normally got convinced into going with her and sharing the punishment.

"Come on, lighten up this is just fun. Don't be such a worry wart." I ran my long thing fingers through my brown hair, which was a habit I had picked up from Dad.

"I guess no one else would be stupid enough to go out in this weather anyways," I muttered. I glanced past Sapphire's jet black hair and gasped as I saw a flash of black and white.

"Stop the boat," I screeched and ran over to Sapphire who was driving. Thankfully Sapphire trusted me enough to slow down and stop the boat. Once it was no longer moving she turned around and glared at me.

"Why did I have to stop the boat? So help me if you just wanted me to stop because you're too scared to keep going. I'm not turning around and if you want to go back sometimes than you can jump out and swim back."

I quickly shook my head, but I wasn't focused on Sapphire. I scanned the area for any traces of movement, but everything was still as if nothing had ever happened. "No, I saw something, over there." I pointed in the direction that I had seen the colour and shook my head.

"Em, are you feeling okay? There's nothing there. I would've seen something out of the corner of my eye if there had been something. Maybe we're close to the shore and you saw a house or something, but there is nothing there."

I glared at her and shook my head, "No, there was something there. I know I saw something. I don't what's happening, but something is definitely wrong."

"With you maybe," Then she turned around and went back to the controls. "I came here to have fun. We're on vacation, at the cottage and Mom and Dad told us to have fun. They can't get mad at us if we're trying to have fun so if that's what you're worried about then stop worrying."

"Sapphire, stop the boat," I pleaded, but she wouldn't listen. "This is not fun, you could get us killed."

"If I die, at least I had a fun time living unlike you."

"So you want to die? Is that what you're saying?" I demanded. I quickly glanced around and saw that the waves were quickly growing. Some so large they were splashing onto the deck of our boat.

I couldn't explain how I felt to Sapphire, because she would think I was just trying to get an excuse off the boat, but I could feel something coming. The water almost seemed to talk inside of my head; warning me to leave while I could.

My heart was a drum, a loud one. I couldn't catch a breath, but couldn't breathe. Sapphire didn't notice and sped up the boat just to make me angrier.

"Emerald Danielle Clemons, of course I do not want to die. How many times do I have to tell you that I'm not turning around? If there was a hurricane blowing in, I would not care. I will turn this boat around when I want to." I winced when she used my full name. I hated when she did that, because she acted like she was better than me.

I was about to yell at her, but I never got the chance. Out of nowhere I saw a flash of black and white and a massive ship cut us off. There was no way Sapphire would be able to stop us in time, we would hit the boat. I ran over to the railing, but I was too late. Our boat hit the ship and I flew overboard. My head hit something and I felt searing pain as the blackness slowly closed around me until everything disappeared and I began to sink beneath the waves.

When I opened my eyes I had no idea how long I had been sleeping. I tried to look around the room that I was in, but I couldn't see anything since I was surrounded by blackness. I assumed it was nighttime, or I was dead.

I heard quick footsteps above me and ruled out the fact of me being dead. I tried to sit up, but something cool dug into my arms, legs, stomach and neck. I tried to pull my hand up but I felt something holding it down, bounding it to whatever I was laying on by my wrists. I shook my hands and heard a clanking noise.

"Hello?" I called out. I hoped someone would hear my voice and come to help me escape my prison. I felt surprisingly calm considering I had just got thrown off a boat, separated from my sister, and was tied to something, unable to leave my cell.

I hoped Sapphire was okay, and had somehow escaped the accident. Maybe she was already home and apologizing to Mom and Dad. Maybe she was looking for me. Despite how hard I tried to be hopeful, I knew Sapphire hadn't escaped the ship. My gut was telling me she was in the same situation I was.

"Sapphire," I called out into the blackness, "You there?"

After waiting a few minutes I concluded that Sapphire was definitely not in the same room as I was. I waited a few more minutes and as everything around me was silent, I decided to use a different technique.

"Help! Someone help me! Get me out of here," I screamed as loud as I could and as desperately as possible.

I heard laughter and I smiled as I heard the voices coming closer, hopefully approaching my room. I tried to listen to the conversation, but the voices were getting lower and quieter. The hope left me, but then I realized they were whispering right outside my door. "Young lass...awake....friend..." I heard the other voice hush him and a lock clicked.

I heard creaking and I closed my eyes as the light flooded the room. When I opened my eyes I quickly took in my surroundings. There was nothing really in the room I was in. It was made of wood, and I was lying on a wooden table. Beside the table, the chains that bound me, and the handcuffs, the room was empty.

I saw two men approaching, smelling like they hadn't showered in weeks and I could smell alcohol on them, but they seemed perfectly sober. My eyes followed one of the men, who had long hair that was in a ponytail and was salt and pepper colour. He had a red bandana on, but it was faded by the sun, with a long black coat that reached his knees and had no zipper. There was a matching black vest underneath his coat and a white shirt underneath with dark pants.

I felt something nagging my mind as I put all the pieces together. Wooden ship like from a movie, long coats, and the alcohol. I was aboard a pirate ship, which meant I was as good as dead.