What You Wish For

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

In his fantasies there had been gold doubloons, flashing steel, and adventure on the high seas -- not the gurgling noise his father made as he was run through, the sound of his mother screaming, or the smell of charred wood and burnt flesh.

There shouldn’t be so much blood, running slick along the decks -- his hands leaving sticky red prints on the railings. It was supposed to be fun.

Silently he watched, from his new life, as his old one sank, burning, into the ocean.

No tears though. He was a pirate now.