The Sounds of Battle | Teen Ink

The Sounds of Battle

October 10, 2016
By SatyaKethineni BRONZE, Dublin, California
SatyaKethineni BRONZE, Dublin, California
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

The ocean was vast and calm, it’s blue water shining brightly under the bright sun on a friday afternoon. The temperature was super high today. The huge wooden ship sailed in the deep waters swiftly and sharply through the days of the voyage. The boat was on its way to the Bahamas on a trading mission. We started from Portugal, a country that borders Spain and the Atlantic Ocean. I was slowly eating salty crackers on the promenade deck, sitting in a rocking chair while watching the flying fish and dolphins swim around the boat. It felt very relaxing not doing any of the chores Captain Falcon always told me to do. Carly was also doing the same thing but walking around the boat looking outside. I peeked inside the Captain’s cabin, as usual he was sitting there, smoking a skinny looking cigarette and reading a well detailed, black and white map.
The ship was already 25 days into its voyage, which means we are approximately about ½  of the way there. The ship slowly crept its way through the water, and kept creaking sharply. I got bored of sitting on the deck so I went inside my cabin and laid on my bed, wondering what the other side of the world is like, the land, culture, people, etcetera. Soon, I fell asleep. It was about 8:30 PM when I woke up, which usually was dinner time. Everyone was at the table at the upper deck, yelling and chattering super loudly. There were cans of beer and other beverages. Carly was sitting on the farthest left side of the table, calmly eating a spicy cooked chicken leg with salted potato fries and a metal cup of lemonade. I went to check on Captain Falcon. As usual, he was calmly eating a tomato soup with chopped, cooked onions, and green bell peppers, raw. Steam from the bowl arose into his face while he was still examining that same map. I decided to leave him to it and went on my way to the upper deck to see what’s up with everyone else who were partying, except for Carly of course. I sat right next to her where there was an open seat.
“So what’s up?” she asked.
“Eh, nothin’ much,” I replied.
“Are you gonna’ eat something?”
“Yeah, maybe some chicken wings and some chocolate milk, should be good for me,” I said hungrily.
We both continued eating along with loud noises and distractions coming from everyone else, who looked like they were having a fun time. Just casually you know I was looking out at the ocean behind me, feeling the nightly chilly wind by the rails of the upper deck, until I spotted this blackish, grayish in the distance. I couldn’t really make out what it was so i ignored it.
“You looking at something in the ocean?” Carly surprised me from behind. She slightly giggled when I turned around suddenly from the scare.
“Nah, I saw this thing far in the distance in the ocean and I tried to see what it was but I couldn’t. I can’t ask Samuel to go up to the Crow’s Nest and take a look ‘cause he is sleeping right now, plus none of us know how to use the magnifying scope, so yeah. I guess we can see tomorrow,” I explained.
“Alright, you gonna’ sleep soon?” she asked.
“Yeah, in a little bit,” I said yawning after.
I walked down the stairs from the upper deck of the ship onto the lower one, turning around to the entrance of the crew’s cabin. First you had to go down a small flight of stairs and then you open up to a long straight hallway. It still reminds me how big of a ship we are on, it was one of the world’s finest, “The Wooden Journeyman” we called it. It was basically a journey ready ship with lots of storage, capacity, and also defense mechanisms. It had cannons stick out from the left and right side of the main deck along with lots of cannonballs and gunpowder beside them.
I walked to my room which was on the far end of the hallway and to the left. Carly’s room was directly opposite of mine. My room sometimes made me feel claustrophobic. In the middle of the room towards the back, there was a small bed and a miniature night stand next to it, which currently had to a match lit lamp and my diary, which had a black, hardback cover. I jumped into my bed, put out the lamp and turned to the side of the window that looked at the vast ocean. It reminds me of home, how far away I am from Mom and Dad, but also how close I am to a land I have never been to. My eyes started to slowly droop, and I fell asleep. I wake up in the middle of the night, not understanding why. The time was around 2 AM and it was really dark outside, the only visible things were the ocean and the moon. I roll to the left of the bed, put my feet on the floor, only to feel it shaking abnormally. I rub my eyes and my ears sharpen. I can hear the voices of people yelling, screaming. It sounded like they were panicking. I put on my moccasins and rushed down the hallway, almost slipping and falling on my hands and feet, turned and bolted up the stairs. I came onto the deck and the crew men were running everywhere and yelling. Carly was just standing there looking so confused and worried. Captain Falcon was standing outside of his room and looking out into the ocean, worried. I saw Samuel looking through the scope intensely.
“Captain, it's an enemy pirate ship!” Samuel yelled from above.
Captain Falcon dabbed his forehead with a cloth, which was full with sweat. “Alright, come down from there before they shoot you down,” he said to Samuel directly. “Captain, everything alright?” I asked him, looking at the mysterious ship. “No Wardell, we might be in grave danger,” he responded. His voice for the first time was not firm and confident, but shaky, “We must be very cautious and smart about this, this pirate ship is no joke, those menacing evil brats on that ship have come to steal our goods… and they will not hesitate to kill us all,” he advised. My stomach was filling with butterflies by the minute. The pirate ship was a gray, blackish, color and had a wooden structure, like the thing I saw right before I slept! It was fairly small but there were lots of dark cannons sticking out of it.  Maybe that was what I saw… “EVERYONE CALM DOWN!” I yelled my hardest to grab everyone’s attention. Luckily they heard me and walked to me. “Everyone go and ready up the cannons, we might have a fight go down!” I commanded. About 3 people went to every of the 4 cannons on each side of the deck while Carly and Captain Falcon stood, assisting and also ordering.
The pirate ship was gaining distance on us, it was slowly coming up from behind us, but a little bit from the east side. Then suddenly, there was a massive boom sound coming from a distance. It made me jump when I heard loud big splashes of water on the west side of the boat. The pirates were firing cannonballs at us!
Captain Falcon yelled in a really deep voice, ”Everyone ready?”
The Crew responded,” Sir, yes Sir!” while the enemy ship was slowly getting in level with us on the east side.
“Sir, shall the east cannons fire soon? The pirates are pulling up into level with us,” I explained to our Captain. Carly was next to me nodding in agreement.
“That should be a good idea,” Carly stated.
“And also shall the west side cannons turn to the east and fire above?” I added.
“Well yes, sounds like a nice plan Wardell!” Captain Falcon exclaimed, “East cannons, get ready to fire! West cannons, turn around and fire above!”
The old heavy metal cannons turned to the east slowly, making a really squeaky sharp, irritating metal sound. The pirate shot another volley of cannonballs. There was a loud whizzing sound, like the sound of deep whistle but over your head. I was thinking to myself, Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic. The enemy cannonballs ripped through the giant white sails of our ship and proceeded to land in the water, again with a loud splash. The speed of the projectiles were so fast it made my hair try to fly with the wind. Carly screeched from the surprising sound. I think the enemy were locking onto us, each shot was getting closer and closer to a more impactful hit. Now it was our turn to fire.
Captain Falcon yelled, ”East, prepare to fire. When I say fire, fire! West, fire on the second signal, alright?” Both boats were pulling closer and closer to each other. They were only about 75 meters away! I can hear those dumb horrific pirates yelling chants and swear words at us. I couldn’t wait another second for our cannons to fire. It was now early morning, around 4 AM. The ocean water was still surprisingly calm and the sun already came out to shine. Seagulls were flying about in the sky, probably entertained by the action between the ships. Then suddenly, Captain Falcon yelled, “FIRE!” A massive synchronized boom came out in front of me. The power of the cannon was so much that the ship even rocked, almost making me and Carly fall onto the creaking wooden floor of the main deck under our feet. Captain yelled fire again and the cannonballs flew above my head, giving my hair another attempt to go fly with the wind. I watched the black objects fly through the air, hoping they would hit on target. They were on their way down and then a massive, wood destroying sound wave rushed at us, followed by another one. Slight explosions were going off in the distance, bright yellow and orange lights came from the ship as it was slowly descending into the water. I can hear the sound of panic, fear, hopelessness now from the sounds of those ill-mannered pirates. Soon, the ocean was calm and quiet again, nothing else but bright blue water to see.


The author's comments:

This piece was inspired by my own love for water, that is why the setting of the story is in the ocean. I hope people get to understand the dangers and beautiful things that can occur from the ocean.


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