We came bursting through the cabin door so violently that the slammed against the wall, making a loud thump as it did so.

The three guests that me and Buggy had brought back were still there, gathered around the kitchen table. The sound of our entrance caused them all to be alarmed, horrified looks of fear spreading across their faces.

"Who are they?" Asked one of the clowns, pulling it a long blade. "Get out or we'll kill you."

They didn't argue, gathering up their stuff as quickly as they could.

"Wait! Are any of you doctors?" I asked, desperately.

"We're not going to let strangers work on our captain," a clown spat at me, in a cold and venomous voice. "You shouldn't even be here yourself, Betty."

I wasn't going to allow this to happen. I felt rage pumping through my veins. These clowns hated outsiders, so much so that they'd happily allow their leader to die rather than have a stranger work on him.

"Shut up. None of you are trained to deal with this. Under your care, he'll die."

"Who do you think you're speaking to?!"

"She's right," said the red and orange clown, placing Buggy down gently in front of the fire.

His body was so limp. Part of me really feared that he was already long dead. All I wanted was to cuddle into him, forget today had even happened. I couldn't though. He needed medical attention.

"I'm sick of her."

"Be as sick of me as you like," I replied. "After this is all done, you can throw me from the ship or kill me or whatever. I don't care. Just let me help Buggy first."

"Whatever."

With that, a bunch of the clowns left the cabin, seemingly done with arguing with me. I turned my attention back on the three people.

"If any of you are doctors, please help him."

"And why would we do that?" Asked one of the women, nonchalantly. "He invaded our village. He can die for all I care."

I saw red. I finally knew how Buggy had felt when I had almost died. I grabbed the largest knife I could find and stormed at the woman, grabbing her roughly by the neck.

"If he dies, I'll kill all three of you. I'll make it painful, too."

"I'm a doctor," the man finally said, meekly. "Just put the knife down and I'll help your friend."

My anger melted in an instant. I felt like a monster. I put down my knife. I felt tears spill out of my eyes. "I'm sorry, I just... he can't die."

"We'll have to strip him of his wet clothes."

"Oh, we'll wait outside," one of the remaining clowns said as soon as the topic of stripping Buggy came up.

I guess they didn't want to see their captain naked. I just told them thank you for their help, and they left. As did the two remaining townswomen.

With just me and the man remaining, we got to work. I began to pull his jacket off.

"Be as gentle as you can."

I was trying to be. It was hard when he was so limp and lifeless. His clothes were stuck to his skin, as if they'd been glued.

As I worked the jacket up, I asked, "What's your name?"

I thought if we could become friends, or he could at least see how nice I was, he would be more likely to actually try to save Buggy.

"Henrik."

"It's nice to meet you, Henrik. I'm Betty."

He gave me a modest smile. This man had almost a mouse like quality to him. He was small and wide, but soft and cute looking.

"To take off the rest of his clothes, I'd use a knife to cut them off."

"Why?"

"He probably has hypothermia. If you move someone with it too harshly, it can cause them to go into cardiac arrest."

My heart began to go crazy from panic. I didn't know what any of that meant - what hypothermia was or cardiac arrest but I could tell from his tone that they were serious.

So, I grabbed the knife from the kitchen and began to cut off his clothes. I peeled them off, as gently as I could. This was definitely easier than just pulling them off without any cutting.

When his chest was bare, I could see it move. The movement was subtle. It was shallow breathing. I didn't even care that it was so shallow - I just cared that he was alive.

I pressed my head gently to his chest, listening for his heart beat. I began to sob when I heard it.

"He's breathing?" Asked Henrik.

I pulled back, feeling silly for doing that. "He is, but it's weak."

"And his heart beat?"

"Slow," I confirmed, as I cut off his trousers. Now, he was just in his underwear.

"Cut that off, too."

I wasn't even embarrassed to do it. This situation was so medical that the fact that Buggy was naked didn't even register. I cut off his underwear, throwing them to the side.

Henrik handed me a stack of blankets. It was the same ones that me and Buggy had slept with last night. How drastically things had changed since then.

"Cover him. Don't rub him with them, though. Be gentle."

I did exactly as I was told, placing the blankets gently over him as the doctor put his head to Buggy's chest. He was doing what I was doing, listening for a heart beat. Except he knew what he was listening for.

So, I sat there in silence. Waiting for my next command from him. It didn't come. Instead, the doctor seemed panicked.

"What's wrong?"

"His breathing is too shallow. He'll die if I don't give him CPR."

Die. That word was like a thousand pound weight being dropped on me from above. It made the room spin, my stomach churn and my palms become sweaty.

"Please, do what you need to save him," I told the doctor, through sobs.

"Have you ever seen someone give CPR before?"

"No."

"It isn't the prettiest sight. I'll be pressing pretty hard on his chest and blowing air into his mouth. It's crucial you don't stop me, even if it looks like I'm hurting him."

I just nodded. Henrik began the CPR. He was right. It wasn't a pretty sight. The chest compressions were super heavy, heavier than I'd thought they'd be.

He had been so adamant about me being gentle with him that seeing him be so rough with Buggy sent my protective instincts into overdrive.

Everything in me screamed to protect Buggy, to shove Henrik away. I knew that was stupid. I needed to let the doctor do what he knew to do.

The breathing into Buggy's mouth was even stranger looking. The worst part of it all is Buggy wasn't reacting. You'd think he'd wake up from what was happening to him but he was completely still.

Is he dead? I wondered, wishing I could press my head to his chest again and hear his heartbeat. I knew I couldn't interfere with the CPR, though.

As I watched, I thought about how much wasted time we had. If he died now, I'd never forgive myself for pushing him away so much.

That was going to be my biggest regret. I should have just said to hell with my morals and been with him. There was a million times we could have kissed, we could have been together but hadn't. Because I had prevented it.

It felt like an eternity. The CPR went on and on, but suddenly, Buggy moved. He more than moved.

As Henrik's mouth was on his, Buggy coughed up a ton of water. Henrik sat back, looking relieved.

Buggy continued to cough like crazy, more and more water coming up as he did so. I didn't want to smother him but jumping on him, so I just took a hold of his hand tightly.

When I squeezed it, it squeezed back. That motion was what finally caused me to completely break down. I was a sobbing, hysterical mess. But more than anything, I was overjoyed.

He was alive. I hadn't lost him.

🤡

hi so just to say that my editing of this book is going really well! I think by bulking up the chapters I have both improved the pacing and improved the characterisation! the first couple of chapters were way too quick, but now they're a lot better!

I have also changed the pirates who left the maps at bettys home - it was now shanks and his crew who did it! i thought that was a better idea! plus, who knows, maybe they'll come looking for the map/betty 👀

Reads: 107k
Published on 22 November 2023