The Twilight Sorrow

The water hit Jack like a cannon ball. His head throbbed, the taste of salt and rum thick on his tongue. Rubbing his eyes from the assault of the water and the light, he slowly started to focus on unfamiliar surroundings. A ship’s hold, but not one he remembered boarding.

 

“Get up, lad,” a gravelly voice called.  

 

“Captain wants all hands on deck.” 

 

Jack scrambled to his feet, following the hunched figure up the ladder. The deck that greeted him was shrouded in mist, the wood beneath his feet grey and weathered. Around him, crew members moved quickly about their duties, their forms flickering like candles in a breeze.  

 

“I don’t understand,” Jack stammered. “Where am I?” 

 

The old man who’d woken him cackled, his laugh splintering the air around them like wood.  

 

“You’re aboard the Twilight Sorrow, lad. Don’t you remember signing on?” 

 

Jack’s brow furrowed. He remembered a tavern, a game of cards, a brawl, something about cheating, and then, nothing. 

​

“I.. I don’t remember signing on to any ship,” Jack muttered. 

​

The old sailor’s eyes glinted. His smile wide.  

 

“No. No one ever does” he said simply. 

 

Jack stumbled across the deck; his legs unsteady beneath him. The mist swirled around his ankles, thick and cold. He reached out to steady himself against the ship's rail, it felt wrong somehow, like smoke beneath his fingers. 

 

A flash of memory - a tavern door swinging open, a gust of salty air. 

 

"Best get your sea legs quick, lad," the old sailor called out. “The Captain don’t carry passengers!”  

 

Jack blinked, trying to focus on the crew around him. Their movements were fluid on the rolling deck. Some seemed to fade in and out of view as they worked, their edges blurring into the mist. 

 

Laughter echoing in his ears, the clink of coins on a worn wooden table. A stranger's voice, low and enticing,

​

"One last game? Winner takes all." 

​

"You! Check the rigging!," a voice called from above. Jack looked up to see a figure balanced impossibly on the highest yardarm, its form translucent against the grey sky. 

 

Swallowing hard, Jack made his way to the main mast. His hands grasped the ropes, but they felt insubstantial, as if woven from sea foam rather than hemp. 

 

The feeling of cards in his hands, edges worn smooth by countless games. The stranger's eyes, dark and fathomless as the ocean. "Are you sure you want to bet everything, boy?" 

 

As he climbed, the air grew colder. The ship below seemed to stretch and distort, the distance to the deck growing impossibly vast. Jack closed his eyes, fighting a wave of vertigo. 

 

"Open your eyes, boy," a voice whispered on the wind. "You signed up for this." 

Jack's eyes snapped open. He found himself back on the deck, the old sailor watching him with an amused grin. 

 

"Having trouble remembering how you got here?" the old man asked. 

 

A final hand of cards laid out on the table. The stranger's smile, revealing teeth sharp as a shark's. "Looks like I win."  

 

Jack looked down at his hands, seeing the misty air moving through them. 

 

"I... I lost a bet?" he whispered, the memory trickling back. 

 

The old sailor nodded solemnly. "Aye, lad. And more than you knew." 

 

Jack remembered the stranger's eyes now - deep and dark, like ocean itself. How they had glinted and seemed to look straight through him as he shuffled the deck. 

 

"I thought... I thought I was clever," Jack said, his voice hollow, as the realisation came to him. "I thought I could win." 

 

"Many have tried, lad," the old sailor said, his voice softening. "Many have tried." 

 

The mists parted, revealing an endless expanse of dark, roiling sea. The Twilight Sorrow sailed on, carrying its ghostly crew towards an eternity of restless voyaging. 

 

Jack turned to the old sailor, a question forming on his lips. 

 

The old man smiled, a mixture of pity and understanding in his eyes. "Aye, lad. Welcome to the Twilight Sorrow. You'll be with us for a long time to come."