Steps in the Opposite Direction

Ping. Another pebble strikes the windowpane, and I push it open and glare down at Will. He looks up at me innocently and smiles broadly. His eyes twinkle in the darkness like stars, and for a second my irritation dwindles.

“Give me a second to put on something decent, would you?” I hiss down at him and pull the window in again.

Padding across the room to my door I press my ear against it and listen intently. The house sighs and creaks with the wind, and next-door Charlotte snores. Nothing seems out of place or amiss. Checking the lock, I bend down and pull on my boots. Throwing a shawl about my shoulders I make my way back to the window.

“Are you ready now?” Will whispers up to me. I wave at him in answer and toss the faux rope down after securing it to the bedpost. Will takes a step back and watches as I shimmy down and drop when I am less than a yard or so from the ground. Dusting my self off I take William’s offered hand.

We are at the backside of the house nearest to the beach and beyond that, the ocean. Will leads the way in silence as we push through the thick foliage that has grown up around the paths leading to the sea. Several times he looks back at me, and once he squeezes my hand. The stars and the moon above flit in and out of sight between the silhouettes of branches and palm trees.

We stumble out onto the beach and survey the peaceful scene in front of us. Frogs and other nighttime creatures croak quietly behind us in the cool darkness of the jungle, whilst before us lays an expanse of white sand and a frothing ocean. Still hand-in-hand and clutching my shawl about me, we shuffle through the cool sand till we reach the waters edge.

I look down at the tiny grains of sand being pulled around my bare feet by the force of the ocean current. I glance at Will then and realise that he is still holding my hand. I tighten my grip and stare back out into the darkness, as new understanding washes over me, an understanding I have never experienced before. Suddenly, with William Turner standing beside me at this precipice, I realise that the difference I had been searching for between us is not there. It never existed. All at once the utter unfairness of life seems to dissipate in an instant with the tide. Will meets my gaze, and I feel something odd, a premonition of sorts.

Fate was at work when it sent me William Turner, and I am convinced right now that we are meant to be together. When I open my mouth to tell Will this I find that I do not have the words. We walk back up the beach to drier sand and sit down with our legs out in front of us. I let my shawl blow in the light wind and close my eyes savouring the feeling of freedom from the chains of class and distinction that had bound me for so long.

“You’re the best friend anyone could ever have, Lizzy,” Will says into the darkness.

I look up and smile at the stars above, happy that he has said so, but disappointed that he doesn’t feel more. I suppose that I should give him time, after all, we are only 14, and there will be many more nights like this one in the future. At least I hope there will be.

“I couldn’t have been blessed with a better friend either, Will,” I say back, and then I remember something I have been longing to ask him since we found him floating upon that broken board of wood. “Do you mind if I ask you question?”

Will looks at me with that twinkle in his eyes. “You know you can ask me anything.”

I nod, “How is it that you were still alive when we found you the day we first met?”

Will’s eyebrows come together and his forehead wrinkles in thought. He stares off at some fixed mark a few feet away before opening his mouth to reply.

“I don’t really know rightly,” he says slowly, pondering his answer, “It was all luck or fate or something. I just jumped at the right time I think, and the rest was up to your ship.”

Another question comes to mind, “Can you imagine us not being friends?”

Will looks at me as though I’ve committed the worst crime anyone could ever imagine. “No, of course I can’t!” he cries, “To be honest, I think I’d be dead without you.”

Tears well up in my eyes, and I lean against his shoulder so that he cannot see them. I can hear his heart beat through his skin, and putting my hand to my chest I match it to my own. When I can finally speak again it is in a whisper, “Well, I’m certainly glad you’re not dead William Turner.”

“So, am I,” Will says, he means it somberly, but just hearing him agree lightens the mood between us. I close my eyes and breathe the sea air in deeply. It feels wonderful just to be next to him when we must usually be kept far apart in normal circumstances.

“Elizabeth!”

“Hmm, Will, did you say something?” I ask, opening my eyes and peering up at him. He looks down at me, confusion in his eyes.

“No, I didn’t say anything at all. But, did you hear that? Someone is calling your name.”

We stand up then, ramrod straight, and turn toward the wall of shrubbery as the call goes out again. Suddenly out of the foliage behind us James Norrington appears, pale and panicky. His eyes immediately lock onto the two of us standing straight ahead of him. Turning, he cups his hands to his mouth and yells loudly, “I’ve found her!”

Other voices, more far away and impossible to distinguish, make their way towards us on the wind. James, now looking more tired than anything else, pushes his hair out of his eyes and walks down to meet us. He places me on one side of him and Will on the other side. I have never seen him look so upset before. His brow is furrowed and a vein throbs in his left temple. As we walk at a brisk pace back through the trees I try talking to him, “James, I-“

“Don’t call me that!” he snaps, “Don’t you have any sense of propriety in your head?”

The way he says it is sharp and stings like a slap to the face. Tears burn my eyes again. Will struggles slightly against the hold that James has on his upper arm.

“Hey, don’t talk to her that way!” he growls.

The young lieutenant shoots him a stony look that sends him into silence again. “Don’t start with me, Mr. Turner. I will speak to her in any way I please as it will be a thousand times more congenial than her father will speak with her tonight. I suggest you keep your head down if you want to keep it at all.”

We march up to the house in silence and enter through the back doors into chaos. Servants are running every which way in a hubbub of yelling and clattering. In the centre of it all is my father, pacing the floor. I hang my head when I see him, a knot of anxiety twisting in my stomach. More than anything I wish I were back in bed where I belong.

Everything ceases as soon as we walk into the room. I can feel every eye in the room gravitate toward us, and they burn me to the core. James lets go of Will’s arm and steps back to stand behind us.

Papa stares for a few moments, unblinking “Leave us please,” he says in a whisper that echoes through the hall, “Except James. Stay here a moment longer.”

When the last clattering of footsteps on the tile and hushed whisper can no longer be heard Papa starts in on us. I wince as he turns his gaze first at me, a gaze that I have never seen look so terrifying.

“What did you think you were doing?” he asks. I had expected yelling, but instead he whispers and it unnerves me all the more. “Do you understand how dangerous that was? No one knew where you were. Poor Charlotte thought perhaps you’d been abducted, and God knows that could have been the case. I am not as angry as I am ashamed of your conduct. Have I taught you nothing of using your head and thinking before acting? You did neither tonight, and you have jeopardised everything your mother and I have worked for.”

I shrink under his gaze, and when he is finished I fear I have been reduced to nothing. Then he turns on Will, who gulps, but straightens defiantly. I wish he wouldn’t.

“I am most ashamed of your behaviour tonight, Mr. Turner. Have we not provided everything for you since the moment you came under our care? And this is how you repay us, by taking my daughter without permission and without accompaniment? You can be rest assured now that you will most likely never see her again if I have anything to say about it. You may be able to wield a sword, but you are not invincible.”

“It is very lucky that Lieutenant Norrington was so good as to assist in the search. He knew that you liked to frequent the beach, Elizabeth, and thought that was the best place to begin. I am grateful to him for that, and for bringing you back in one piece.”

I turn my head slightly and see James nod out of the corner of my eye. His lips are turned upward in a slight smile that borders on smugness. Furious, I turn back to face my father once again.

“Now then, we must put this all behind us. Elizabeth, you will go to bed, and James, you will accompany Mr. Turner home. If I find that you have been seeing each other again I swear to you, Elizabeth, that I shall have you shipped back to England. Perhaps a boarding school would do better at teaching you some common sense and propriety than I have done.”

I burst into tears then and gathering my nightgown into my hands I run up the stairs and into my room without saying good-bye to Will. Charlotte knocks on my door some minutes later.

“Go away!” I scream and bury my face in my pillow. I will not see William Turner for a long while, and I convince my self that till then every day will be a living hell.