– 28 –

Had the confirmation of the Captain, we have shared a quick look at the floating ship, and we have glimpsed all the pirates who have leaned to better watch what was going on.

But what they have seen were only some shadows in movement in that one that the pirates have called “concrete sea” and some far chattering.

We decided to go up again to warn everyone that everything was okay, as we had planned before, but in a way we had to warn the whole crew that we were not alone. Someone was waiting for them to land.

Once on the lifeboat again, Luke whistled, and in a few minutes, we have got on board.

In the ship, the first to come closer to us, it was AL and jumped on a wooden barrel next to a cannon, he has looked at us, and without saying anything, he has shared a look in which there was that silent question.

“Everything ok Al…” but that tone of Luke’s voice has left him to understand something more.
Knowing that Luke would not have said more, Al looked at me and waited a few seconds, then I spoke.
In those seconds that I had gained time, I looked around me, thinking about how I could tell him that his captain had found a way to overcome the dream dimension during the attack, and that is why he did not die.

We knew that those minutes were very important for the crew, especially for Al.
Even for us it was a shock to see the captain alive in the Sam Pub, but we did not have to show it to Al, and so in short, I had collected all the information that Al had given us about the map and the journey to the east, and at the end I said: “Your captain was able to take you exactly where he wanted to take you, and just thank Al that we are here now, and maybe that dead body that Gareth thought was the captain was not the captain!”

Gareth stood up and approached me, asking: “What do you mean?”
Seeing my difficulty, Luke stepped in and said: “We saw the chaos after the attack. Unrecognizable bodies all around, and in that chaos someone could have taken a lifeboat and gone away, but he did not do it for meanness, on the contrary”.

Al was thinking about what we were telling them, and as I looked into his little face, he was thinking, and when he raised his eyes, he said: “You’re right. The first lifeboat disappeared just before the second attack sank the ship. And you, Gareth, told me that you weren’t sure that the body you found belonged to the captain, but it was very similar in size to his. So what are you trying to tell us?” asked Al.

We were just about to answer when someone outside the ship shouted Al’s name in its entirety.
Nobody in the ship was that far along, and nobody would have the courage to make such a joke at a moment when everything was becoming clear to little Al.

In that scream, everything stopped. An unreal silence had fallen around these pirates, and we could feel this silence becoming more tangible as a shiver ran down our spines.
“Where is my clever Almond?” The Captain repeated.
He knew that he had shocked the entire pirate crew. Only the real captain of this ship could call Al like that.

He waited a few minutes with his head towards the ship’s side, and when Al shared a quick look with us, we could feel his heart beating like crazy, but when he leaned out to see who was calling him, he remained breathless.

In that indistinguishable shadow, Al had immediately recognized the silhouette of his captain, and only when a car light had illuminated the shadow for a second, the small creature had looked at him, then he looked at us, and we had slowly nodded.
Meanwhile, Luke had told the rest of the crew to prepare for another descent. Al could hardly breathe, he was so excited, and one by one the pirates had to leave the ship to get used to this new dimension.

And however they had decided to make descent Al first, and when they have put down the lifeboat, Al has looked at all around astonished, but when his look has met that one of his captain, his behavior has changed. He didn’t wait neither that the lifeboat was next to the concrete because he jumped off and he ran towards his captain who welcomed in his arms.

From that moment on, we understood that we had done everything we could, and when even the other pirates disembarked, the ship disappeared.

Only when Sam let them into his pub, their new life was just beginning.
When the door was about to close, three little creatures came out and reached us while it was starting to rain.
One of us told everyone: “Let’s go home!”
X.

Daria

Listen to it🔉⤵