Captain Tory

Just to tell you that I haven't written in a while so I might be a little rusty. My story is inspired by The Mysteries of Harris Burdiick (< I couldn't spell it right because of the system) by Chris Van Allsburg Captain Tory.

------------------------------------------------------------
Captain Tory


Mist filled the air in the dark, dead silent night as two shadowy figures silently trudged over to the narrow dock. The taller figure seemed to be carrying an oil lit lantern as it pulled the smaller figure along with it. As they reached the end of the dock, the moonlight shone on them and showed a glimpse of their faces. One of the figures, the taller one, looked like an elderly man, wearing an old worn out fisherman's jacket and his eyes looked as if they had sunk back into his head and under them were dark bags, looking like he hadn't slept for a while, you could have mistaken him for a ghost if you ask me. Next to him was a terrified, scrawny looking young lad, he also had the same dark bags under his eyes, but his skin was as white and pale as delicate white icing on a cake. "You know too much boy," the man muttered to boy as he waves his shriveled old finger at the young lad. " I can't have you spreading it all around and have you telling everyone in town, " he laughed sourly, " If only you hadn't been so nosy and not poke your head around there, we all wouldn't be in this mess, but that's too late now." He muttered some curse words, ran his fingers through his white hair and took a deep sigh. Shivering with fear, the young lad tried to plead to the elderly man, and tell him that not a word would be spoken from his mouth and about what he had seen, but he knew better now. It was too late. Slowly the man held the lantern up high, he swung his lantern three times and slowly the schooner appeared from the smog....


Now you might wonder how an innocent scrawny young British lad from a poor family, would cause such a catastrophe. Well, Gerard Hauntley wasn't a normal villager boy, he was always nosy, poking in places where he's not supposed to and causing mischief all around town. Gerard Hauntley was also a responsible child who helped support and serve food to his family's table. He would pickpocket rich foreigners, steal food at the market, beg, hunt or work for people at the marketplace for food or at the harbor for some fish. One day Gerard and his family were in need of food badly that he tried everything he could do to get some food to help his father, who worked as a fisherman, who tried to keep some fish he caught for the family instead of selling them. The boy was sneaking into the dark, mischievous part of the town where anything can happen. He followed one of the richest men in the town, Captain Tory, who was famous for his voyages to foreign lands. Captain Tory turned into a dark alley where a person in a hooded coat was standing waiting for him.

"I need more time, I just need to sell some things to pay you back but I promise I will," the person inside the hooded coat slowly pulled down the hood and inside it was a young woman.


"No! I gave you enough time, I've given more than what you asked for and you know what happens when our deal is broken," Captain Tory growled at the woman. At the back of Gerard's mind he knew he should have left and tried pick pocketing someone else, but he knew he needed whatever he got from this old man badly to support his family.


"Please, I need just a bit more time to pay you back, I promise I will. I need it for the sake of my family, please I beg of you sir. Plea -."


"No. The deal is done, now you have to repay me with what you've promised" the captain said as he reached for the woman. His eyes turn white and his grip tightened on the woman's arm as she tried to pull away and shriek. A white smoke like vapor came out of the woman's mouth and into Captain Tory's. The woman had dropped to the ground, her eyes also turned white, her skin pale as snow and body not moving as if she were dead.

Captain Tory clapped the dust from his hands and looked like he had regained some flesh on his cheeks and looked much younger than before. Gerard gaped at the man, and gasped so loudly that captain Tory had heard. The old man was fast; he whipped around and saw Gerard hiding behind the wall at the corner of the alley. The captain smiled hungry for another victim's soul. "Come now boy, I can't let you go now that you've learned about my secret. I can't have you spreading it to all the villagers, now can I?"


Gerard ran as fast as he could but he kept tripping in his path back to his home. He couldn't lead the ludicrous old man to his family; he'd eat their souls too, so Gerard ran to the harbor to hide in some of the ships. Running as fast as his feet could, he ran and hid behind one of the most biggest ships there. His heart was racing and he was scared to death now. Wondering why he decided to pick pocket an old man in the night instead of the day and also wondering what might happen to him. Would he die? Would he get away from the man? Or would old Captain Tory eat his young soul too? The young lad had lost time in his thoughts wondering of how he would die that caused him to forget about the old man.


"Well, well, what have I found here? A sneaky, mischievous young lad who knows the old captain's secret, huh? Well, that won't do, no, no, no." Captain Tory whispered from behind the boy. ???I can???t take your soul now, like what I did with the girl because people have already seen me chasing after you in the dark, so it would seem suspicious that someone would find you lying here dead like the girl and I know they would suspect me first. I???ll just say that I took you out to teach you how to use a boat at night, where it???s not as crowded and busy. Then say that I left and you wanted to stay out longer to try what you???ve learned out by yourself. When they find your body floating in they water I???ll tell them that. Villagers here aren???t going to suspect an old crippled innocent man of eating a soul of a young child, now are they???? The captain laughed and hauled the boy up and dragged him to the narrow dock. Gerard tried to pull away from the crazed man but the grip on his wrist was tight, too tight to pull away from.

Captain Tory pulled Gerard along with him to the dock that misty night. Gerard heard many stories of an old ghost that used to live in his village that once ate everyone???s soul, and Gerard knew that it must have been Captain Tory. The captain was so old he looked like a 200 year old man with his wrinkles but his skills were still sharp. When they both got to the end of the dock Captain Tory slowly held his lantern up high and he swung it 3 times and slowly the schooner appeared. Gerard thought that he could outrun the old captain but Captain Tory held to him tight and hauled him onto the small boat.





On the boat were seats for two, the captain???s lantern and two oars for rowing the boat. Just at that moment Gerard stared and got a clever way of using the oars instead of rowing the boats. When Captain Tory got on the boat, he started to row with one oar and told Gerard to row with the other. Minutes later, Gerard knew that they weren???t as close to land any more so he needed to save some energy for later on in his plan.

Captain Tory told the boy to stop rowing and told Gerard to stay still and not try any funny tricks on him, but he should have known better that Gerard Hauntley was never a boy that did what someone told him to. So as swift as he was, Gerard grabbed his oar and hit the captain on the head making him topple over into the sea. Quickly, the young lad started rowing as hard as he could and away from the ludicrous old man and rowed back to the shore.

Though Gerard was still young he was also weak and scrawny, so he had to take a little break from rowing now that he knew he was far away from Captain Tory. He kept glancing back, his heart still pounding as he didn???t notice a smoky like vapor appear in front of him. There was mysterious figure in the smoke, which smiled, its teeth gleaming in the night reaching out slowly to the young lad. Gerard cried in horror and from that night on he was never seen again. Now his family still wonders where and how he could have died and Captain Tory always told them and the others the same story over and over again.