Black Anne Rose

Chapter 4: Broken Promise Mary and Lily's daily duties were cleaning up the mess Anne and her father made during their fights. Mrs Black was suffering hardly under it. The doctor predicted she would be living no longer then two months anymore, and if Anne and her father didn't stop fighting, she'd be no longer then a month. They both tried their best, but it always got to a fight eventually. "I already told you why you're not allowed to marry him, Anne!" Anne's father shouted. "He is no-" "You never gave him the chance to proof himself!" Anne shouted back. "Anne, I re-" "I hate you!" Anne finished the fight, and she slammed her door shut. Exhausted Anne's father sat down in his chair. Anne sat down on her bed. She cried, and looked up at her window. She had placed the box with rose leafs next to her other rose, which was surprisingly enough still alive. Or again, as she has to call it. She then noticed the leafs were exactly the same. The leafs in the box actually looked familiar. She looked back at the day James left, five years ago. She picked a rose that day and... No, she thought. I picked two roses! She suddenly remembered. Could that be...? No... It can't possibly be the same rose. But he did find them in sea... And the other rose came alive... But didn't the rose die when James left? That means... Yes! Oh Lord, let it be! If the rose IS magic... Then James is meant to come back! She stood up, put on her robe and walked outside, ignoring her father calling her. No matter how happy Anne was, and how nice she suddenly was to her father, eventually, mrs. Black died. Mary and Lily were broken. They cried everyday. Marty had no idea. He was always away trading cacao beans for Anne's father. Anne thought it was cruel of her father to do that, but he would not fire Marty... Summer came late that year. It was March, but still snowing heavily. In between the snow storms, Anne walked along the docks. The two roses by her window had not died yet, and so Anne still had hope. There was a group of white pigeons that flew when Anne came closer. But they didn't leave all. There was a black one left... dead. Poor guy, Anne thought. The black pigeon was lying on the white snow, with some very dark but bright red blood dripping out of his little mouth. You have my prayers, little buddy, Anne thought to herself. The seasons passed by, and the roses never died. Anne was about to become 17, and her father had found a good candidate to marry her. Anne swore she'd run away if her father forced her to marry him. Reynald and William were good friends and always supported Anne when she needed them. They mostly took care of the 'candidates' for Anne. Those who were taken care off fled in terror to other cities. Reynald and William always made Anne laugh. Reynald was twenty, and William was as old as Mary and Lily, 14. William, Reynald, Mary and Lily and all the other old 'gang members', such as Isaac and Ivyrn, bought her all together a huge gift: they had gave her a portrait of her. Anne was very happy with it. It was nicely painted, and she knew it was expensive. But she knew it wasn't expensive enough to empty all their pockets. Later she found out they had secretly bought her a second portrait, showing her and James on it. To avoid trouble with her father, they had not tell Anne or her father about it. But still Anne had hung it in her room, next to her portrait. Just a few weeks after her birthday there came three black sloops with black sails in Jameson. Just a day after the sloops ported, a big black grant frigate ported. Anne became curious. Suddenly the frigate looked familiar... She ran back quickly to her room and saw the rose had never been so bright as it was then. When she looked out of her window, she saw a lot of sailors, probably crew members of the ship, carrying all sorts of things on and off the frigate. Then she saw a man with a long red coat and a big fancy hat with a feather came off... "Anne!" James ran to her when he saw Anne. "Why have you come back?" Anne asked. "What?" James asked. "You’re not happy?" "Yes... I am..." Anne answered. "It's just... my father..." "I really don't care what your father thinks," James said. "All I wanted is to come back, to you." They hugged, and James gave Anne a kiss. "And I came to ask you..." James said. "Ask what?" "Will you join us on our journey?" James asked. "Get away from here, your father... your, erm, possible fiancé." Anne laughed. "Reynald and William told me." James explained. "Must have been hard." "No." Anne said. "Because I thought of you every day." James smiled. “But will you come?” he asked. “Reynald and William are coming too.” “They…? I…? You…? We…?!?” James laughed. “Yes Anne, we.” he said. “I don’t know…” Anne said. “It’s a big decision. Leaving everything behind…” “I left everything behind too, five years ago.” James said. “I left my family, my friends and you behind. I don’t want to leave you behind again. I took quite a risk getting back here. Especially with the entire navy around here.” “Why would that be a risk?” Anne asked. “You’re just merchant sailors.” “I-I’ll explain that later Anne.” James answered. “If you come…” Anne looked behind at her home. She saw her father leaning on his walking stick on one of their balconies. She looked filled with hate at him, and he looked back. She turned back to James. “I’d love to join,” she decided, and she and James got onto the grant frigate. Anne looked back and saw her father was gone, and as far as Anne knew probably on his way to the docks. And yes, after some seconds, there was a loud voice to be heard at the docks. “Anne!” Everybody present at the dock seemed to quit doing whatever they were doing and looked at the old man with the walking stick. “Come back here, you ungrateful child!” he said, while waving furiously with his stick to Anne. “I have raised you on my own! Seventeen bloody cursed years!” Anne and James leaned on the railing of the ship, watching Anne’s father desperately to retrieve Anne. “You are already promised to Gi-” “No!” Anne shouted back as a response. “I will not marry against my wil!” “You WIL marry him, Anne!” Anne’s father shouted. “And you!” he shouted, while looking at James. “You will be arrested!” “For what, sir?” James asked in a surprising polite way. “It might not be very nice to break a promise, but it certainly isn’t against the law.” Anne’s father began to shout abuse to them and the men on the docks laughed uncontrollably. James guided Anne to his cabin, grabbed two chairs, sat down on one and told Anne to sit down. He told what happened in that tiny year he had been gone. Shepperd and he got more, bigger and more serious fights. It sometimes came to a physical fight. One night Shepperd got blinded by his fury and pulled a sword. In his reflection James got his pistol and pulled the trigger before he even realized it. When Johnson Shepperd fell dead on the floor, James panicked. What had he done? What to do now? He decided to just throw Shepperd overboard, and clean up the mess in the cabin, so nobody would know he had killed him, though it was an accident. The next morning everybody wondered where their captain was, and asked James, who acted like he knew nothing of it. They all assumed he had fallen overboard. James became captain of The Mermaid and he never got unmasked. Until one morning. He couldn’t handle the pressure anymore and confessed. He expected his crew to kill him, torture him or something else, but instead of hating him, they admired him for his courage to confess something like that, and they totally understood. They never liked old Johnson anyway. He was too cruel. But they were worried about James’ faith, when he would reach shore. They weren’t sure if the would believe ashore that he actually just fell overboard, without being in any storm. They decided to take another path. They became pirates. They would set sail to Jameson to handle some old cases, and then go pillaging. And now… the formal Mermaid would now be called: The Black Death. James got named “the Black-Hearted Boy” or, “the Black Beast”. He would have great adventures, had a crew that was more loyal to him then angels to God and he would take his true love with him. This story could not become anymore better for James. “Are there still properties at home which you really need on our journey?” James asked Anne. Anne thought. “Nothing really, I think…” Anne said. “No wait, there is something.” “Ok, I’ll get us some guards,” James said. “And we will sneak in your house at night, and you quickly get the item.” Anne agreed with the plan. The night rob went quick and smooth. Anne had never thought she’d break in her own house. She went to her window and got the rose and the rose leafs. James was surprised when she returned. “So quick?” he asked. “What did you get?” Anne showed the roses. “Rose…?” James asked not-understanding. “I’ll explain later.” Anne promised James, and they went back to the Black Death. With the full moon risen at the sky, the Black Death, invisible by it’s colour, set sail to the unknown…

Well, I wasn't able to readall the 586 jokes, so maybe this one is already posted somewhere, but ok... Two unemployed Chinese come to find work in England. They try it everywhere, everything. Loyer, salesman... they can't even succeed at the supermarket. Then they come at a mine. "Erm... well... I might have some work fer ye guys..." the mine owner told the two Chinese. He points to one of them. "Ye is going te dig down that hall over there and look fer any gemstones." The Chinese man got to work. "And ye," while pointing to the other Chinese man. "Ye takes care of th' supplies." After two days, the mine owner comes to check up at the Chinese again. He finds one of them at the end of the hall, digging for gemstones. There is a good gemstone-filled kart next to him. Then he goes further in search of the 2nd Chinese man. He searches at every storage, checks every supplies... but can't find his newest employee. Then, suddenly, the man jumps out of a corridor and shouts: "SURPLISE!"

The gouvernor's daughter... originally it's "captain's daughter" wich was supposed to be a way of torture... but i wonder who it tortures the most, the cap'n or the gouvernor's daughter?

Wich reminds me, actually... he finally got his "mar-i-age"

^Save, definitly. So you can look back on it < Finally able to write another chapter of dead rose. V Biggest dream? (except for becoming ruler of the seas )

Chapter 3: Shattered James and Anne were walking through Jameson. "Tell me what happened," Anne said. "I want to hear the whole story!" James smiled. "The WHOLE story?" he laughed. "Well, let's find a place to sit then. What has become of the local inn?" "Reynald ownsit now," Anne replied. "Together with William." They entered the Musketier's Inn. Reynald was standing behind the bar and William was serving drinks. When the door opened they both looked exactly at the same moment to the door. When the saw James, Reynald began to smile and William forgot hihs costumers and ran towards Anne and James, leaving his astonished customers behind. William guided them to a nice table, told Reynald to come and sit and orderd one of the waitressesto take over their job for a couple of minutes. "James!" Reynald smiled. "You Black Beast! I thought you was never coming back!" James smiled, orderd some rum and began to tell. "Well, we setted sail to India on The Goldfish. In the beginning it went well. I was a hard-worker and they admired me for my sailingsskills. I became a navigator's student and he taught me almost everything. My lessons were almost over, and I'd be the only non-officer who completly knew how to navigate. It felt good. Nobody hated me, most of them really admired me! But then after a year facing all kinds of trouble, espacially piracy, and always surviving them, there suddenly came a storm, and The Goldfish sunk..." They kept silence for a moment. "But i thought fish floated." William suddenly said. Everybody looked at him, and he turned red. Anne couldn't help it anymore and she bursted out in laughing. Then Reynald and James laughed too. "Yes, that's exactly what our captain thought too," James grinned. "But turns out not to be. Anyway, we got shipwreck. I've been floating on a piece of wood for days, hungry and exhausted. I was lucky when there was just an innocent fish swimming by my legs who wasn't prepared for my quick tailor's hands. I was so hungry I ate it raw-" They all shivered. "- but I couldn't eat it different ofcourse, seeing I was floating on a piece of wood." "So you did flo-" William started, but was interrupted by Reynald giving him a box on the ears. "Yes, I floated." James smiled. "After I think... a week or so I got picked up by a ship. It was a black Grant Frigate with black sails... I was afraid it was a pirate ship, but had no other choice then to board the ship. But they turned out not to be pirates. It was a disguise so others would leave them alone. They were innocent merchant sailors with letters of marquee. But the sailors on The Mermaid, as so the ship was called, were much more experienced sailors and weren't really astonished of my skills. Though, when the first mate died, Captain Shepperd, who still is my captain, named me first mate. Johnson, Captain Shepperd, became a good friend of mine. Ah, Johnson. A good guy. Though we sometimes disagree if it comes to navigation, we're very close friends. He'd never betray me, and I'd never betray him." They kept silence. "But, how could you possibly stay away four years?" Anne asked. "If that's all what happened, then that Shepperd guy must be having a very slow ship." It came out a bit more insulting than she had wanted to. But James wasn't insulted at all. He smiled. "The Mermaid," he continued. "was on her way to Singapore. They gave me the choice to return home when we got there, but they were heading back to England, and they promised me some more salary if I'd come with them. So I did. But because of a small mistake of the second mate, we sailed to the Caribbean." "And nobody knew it?" Reynald asked. "I did. But Johnson didn't believe me. As I said before, we don't always agree..." James kept silence. "He finally believed me when we set foot on land. Only it was a bit too late. O well, our way back to England went great, and so I got home." Everybody was deeply impressed by James' story. He drank his beer and then asked: "What has become of my mother? And Marty? And Lily and Mary?" He looked hopefully at Anne. "They ran out of money," Anne sighed. "and now they live at my home. Father was only willing to offer his house to them if they'd work for him. Mary and Lily are our... maids." James looked at Anne. "I'm sorry James... My fath-" "It's ok Anne." James said. "I was expecting it a bit. Just didn't hope that... O well, it doesn't matter." “And your mother… she’s very sick.” Anne applied. “Dying, actually… But she lies in a good bed with a nurse taking good care of her. The town’s doctor visits her once a week.” They all kept silence. Though, Anne was not a mind reader, she knew he was thinking of his father. “Do you know... what the disease is called?” James asked. Anne shook her head. It was quiet for a couple of moments. After a while, James quickly hid one of his tears. Then he suddenly brightened. “Let’s think of something else.” he said. “I came back not to be reminded to all the sad things in the world.” They all drank a lot of beer and rum. The evening was falling and the Inn was about to close. But just a couple of minutes before closing time the door swung open. Reynald stood up. “I’m sorry sir, we’re clo-” Anne’s father came in and looked around. His eye fell on the table they were all sitting at. Then he saw James. He became a bit angry. Deep inside he was furious. “You…” he whispered. “Hello sir.” James said. “… you!” Candles were flickering. Servants were walking in and out with plates with loads of delicious food. Two of the three people were eating quietly. The other one was observing one of them with a slight touch of anger in his eyes. James tried to be as polite as possible, but though Anne’s father had done a lot for him and his family, he knew Anne’s father was deeply disappointed he had come back. That made him angry. He was doing his hardest best not to insult him. But he didn’t do it. For Anne. He had thought every day of her. He missed her so… The room was awfully quiet. “Ehm… James got promoted to a very high rank.” Anne said after a moment. “Oh yes, I saw your black ship at the docks.” Anne’s father answered. “But why black?” There was a painful moment when James and Anne were looking at each other. “Well, I a-actually I don’t own the ship.” James answered. “I-I’m first mate. Not a captain.” “Ooh, not sorry very high ranked then after all” Anne’s father said with a mean tone in his voice. “Father!” Anne said angrily. “But I don’t believe it was the answer to the question I asked.” Anne’s father continued. “Why black?” “Many reasons for that, sir.” James answered. He began to explain it was a pirate disguise, and that they would be invisible at night, so they could sail through enemies’ areas. “We escaped the French many times at night.” James said. “All because of our black ship.” They discussed many things that evening. James was being very polite against Anne’s father, and Anne was very proud of him. But her father kept being mean to James, and sometimes he even ignored James when he was talking. After the dinner, James got to stay in his little brother Marty’s room, who went to London to trade cacao beans for Anne’s father. When Anne’s father went to bed, Anne sneaked out of her room to James’ room. It’s like James read her mind. He just came out of his room. They went to the main balcony and sat there, looking at the moon. They talked the whole night. Memories, and stories. The months that followed were the best of Anne’s whole live. James and Anne spend much time together, and they fell in love with each other more each day. James was asked by Captain Shepperd to go to Bristol. He had an appointment there and proposed to James to buy some nice things and supplies there for the ship. James promised to come back in less than a month, and then he galloped away. Anne’s father saw this as a good opportunity to bring her another youngman. There was twice a week a prom, and Anne was sent there every night. She danced with for her feeling the whole town. On the 8th prom a group of girls came in giggling about two hansom youngmen that came in Jameson by horse. Oh great, Anne thought. New victims. Fresh meat. She was told they were wearing long red coats and big chew hats with fancy feathers. They were might even on their way to the prom! And yes, after hearing the noise of hooves, two youngmean with long red coats and big fancy hats came in. Anne was still finishing her dance with Micheal, one of the boys she was meant to fall in love with. She took a spin, when one of the men took her hand. “May I have this dance, milady?” he asked. Anne sighed and danced with him. She didn’t even take the effort to look at his face. Maybe she could please here father by dancing with as many men as possible. “Is something wrong?” the man asked. Suddenly Anne recognized his voice and looked up. “James!” James smiled. They danced all night, and just before the end of the prom, James took Anne to the back. “Anne,” he begun. “I should have told you right from the beginning.” There was a moment of silence. “I love you.” Tears were swelling up in Anne’s eyes. “I love you too.” Anne answered, and then they kissed. But just a corridor away, Anne’s father was watching the new couple, with hate in his eyes. Two or three weeks later, Anne and her father were playing a card game. It has been a long time since Anne and her father played a game together, as a close father and daughter. Anne got her glass rose in her hand. The door suddenly swung open and James came in. He kneeled for Anne. “Anne,” he said, and he was searching for something in his pocket. “Will you marry me?” And he held up a ring for her. Anne’s father was shocked. Anne was so happy. She looked at her father. “Can I, father?” she begged. Anne’s father sighed, thought for a while and then he said: “No Anne. I want you to marry a descent boy with a descent profession and not just some sailor!” “Father!” Anne shouted angrily. “And I don’t want you to see the boy ever again, or I WILL disown you!” Anne’s father applied, as if James wasn’t in the room. Astonished and sorrowed, Anne dropped the glass rose and it shattered on the floor… Just a few days after the incident, James was setting out with John Shepperd on The Mermaid and promised Anne’s father never to come back. But just before he left, James gave Anne a box with deeply red rose leafs. “I found them floating in sea… They have got such a unique colour. Like they’re magic…” Anne took the box and said goodbye. The Mermaid slowly set sail…

^i TRY to go with the flow... not always works though XD <is surprised how much red cat jenny posts in this topic (this is not critic ) V how's your weather today? :)

aye, a pirate's life fer me!

^five star, i love luxury < Way too busy to write a new chapter of dead rose V fav colour?

^peanutbutter and chees *yum* <I personnaly hate lemonade, maybe tastes better with rum. I don't know. But I must saybreezers are good V smoker?

^ Got asleep in class yesterday < Has to broom the school for a week long for falling asleep V lemonade, tea or rum?

when i showed it to my mum she thought he really was acting like jack, and was on the set. she like: "well, he isn't very jack-like now. never thought jack played guitar" XD

Thank ye, gives convidince ^ Oh yeah, already broke till march, spend it all on summerclothes < Just started a self-portrait in 17th century style: I'll show it when it's finished V Why are you interested/addicted/obsessed (like me) by piracy?

^overreacted, like i always do when ppl laugh at me... >.< i got a trauma since i was bullied by mean kids since i was a lil' lass < isn't called 'slut' today by the 'evil' new kid at school. yay! (sorry if i cant say that word on the boards V have you or are you being bullied at school/work/whatever?

Nice flags all, i really like yers, tall paul mine is this one: or not waved, but no name:

Blushes deeply flattered Thanks, I shall

Me name is all related te me story. Anne is just th' name, Rose 'er last name, and Black could be just the colour, or James Black. Don't know it meself either. Ye may choose XD

^Adventurer (Arrr!) XD <Didn't saw that topic till a minute ago VWhats yer fav smiley here? (mine is " " )

whahahaha imagine Jack Sparrow in a dress ... hehe... That'd be somethinglike this:

Mine is me flag :) ye cant really see it well, but here it is in large: or not waved, but no name:

AWEsome get it? AWE, at world's end...? hehe... XD uhum, sorry i got some pics too:

What'll we do with a drunken captain, Earl-aye in the morning? Lock him up with the gouvernor's daughter! Sling him in the long boat till he's sober! Take the Baby and call it Bo'sun! Take 'im and shake 'im, try an' wake 'im! Well, what shall we do?

Chocolat Instead of me parents giving ME breakfast in bed, I have to bring them breakfast in bed... >.>

sorry lad, just te warn ye all Smiles in a VERY evil way... then puts away pistol. Well lads and lasses, i be happy te join the pub. lifts mug o' rum cheers!

^As much as needed, if i really like the hobby < Just posted a new chapter of the Dead Rose V Why and/or how did ye chose yer current username?