| STORY 2 Page 15 |
| She looked down at the ring in her hand and slipped it on, smiling softly and wondering if Jonathan was thinking about her too, and hoping that he was smiling. Penny ([email protected]) January 9, 2003 Back on the ship� Four pair of eyes frantically scoured the surface of the water, for the teenager. "THERE!" Jonathan pointed. "HE'S THERE!" Kit fought the waves, bobbing more than swimming. The water seemed relatively calm, there was no real wind to speak of, but for some reason the water looked choppy all around him. Something was wrong...terribly wrong. Rick watched intently as the boy continued to bob in the water. Kit jerked, went under and surfaced again, barely crying out. As Ardeth quickly brought the WaSi about, Rick and Jonathan saw the movement at the same time. The water was alive with dark shapes, swimming just under the surface, circling the boy. Kit's body jerked violently and the water turned crimson! SHARKS! JESUS SHARKS! Again Kit's body jerked and disappeared below the surface. Confused, frightened eyes shot open as Rick sat straight up in the bunk, his heart thumping painfully in his chest. Strong arms gently pushed him back down. "No ahi. Lay back until I finish." Still disoriented, he stared up into the face of the warrior. "Lay back now," he repeated softly. "Where's the kid?" he cried raggedly. Ardeth dabbed at the bruise on the left side of Rick's temple. When Ardeth didn't answer as fast as Rick thought he should, Rick grabbed a fist full of black cloth and jerked Ardeth forward. "WHERE THE HELL IS THE HE?" Ardeth suddenly looked old and tired to Rick. It was true then he thought. The kid was gone. Rick slumped back into the bunk, his emotions going in a thousand different directions all at once. He had known the kid had been lying. It didn't take an Oxford grad to figure that out, especially when Rick had asked Kit on four different occasions, during their talk what Kit's sister's name was and had gotten four different answers. He wondered if Kit even had a sister. He doubted it seriously. He did manage to get out that his mother and father had been killed by the same man. Who he didn't say, except that he was going to kill the bastard when he found him. Then there was that bullshit about them needing HIS help and that they were too EMOTIONAL for his taste! Damn kid had more balls than a major league! Then his curiosity got the better of him and he'd asked Kit about his mother. What was her maiden name? Where was she born? Did she have any brothers or sisters? Where were her parents? What he got he hadn't counted on and it only went to prove, you didn't need the BOOK OF THE DEAD to raise a ghost from the past. "What?" Kit sneered. "Just cause I got Richard O'Connell in my name, you think you're related to me? Better think again, you slob. My uncle's dead. His whole damn garrison was wiped out by Tuareg warriors! Mom said he was a hero and YOU SURE THE HELL AIN'T NO HERO! I wouldn't have your dumb ass as my uncle, if they paid me all the gold in China! BIG DUM FU..." THUMP! THUMP! Kit had come up out of the chair so fast, Rick had to side step him. "You touch me one more time and I'm gonna introduce my knee to your nuts!" Rick in a move that was just as fast, reached out, jerking Kit half off his feet and slammed him back into the chair. "Yeah and if shit was music, you'd be an orchestra, O'Malley! Now sit there! Now you're gonna answer my questions! Remember? My boat, my questions! Now, where was she born?" "Who?" "Your mother?" Kit tilted his head and the hair slid sideways into his face., causing Rick to feel the hairs on his neck stand at attention. It was almost like looking in a mirror, when he was a kid. Kit sneered up at him. "She was born in a hospital, cause she wanted to be close to her mother, Stupid." Rick glared and thumped him again. "If the crap in here was any deeper, I'd need waders and a shovel, Smart Ass! Now where was she born?" "Is that your real face or were you hit by a double decker bus?" Rick popped his knuckles and took a step closer. "Do it," Kit dared. "I'll cream ya like corn!" "WHERE, O'MALLEY?" "CHICAGO, O'CONNELL!" "Her parents names? What were they?" "What are ya doin', writin' a goddamn book?" When Rick advanced closer, Kit had put up his finger, shaking it back and forth. "Ut-uh! I'll hit you so goddamn hard your friends will feel it!" "Who were they?" Kit looked at him suspiciously. "Paddy and Margaret O'Connell." Rick walked over and stared out the porthole for a few minutes, silent, lost in his own thoughts. "What was her name Kit?" he asked quietly. "Caroline Anne, but they called her..." "Carrie Anne," Rick finished. Kit frowned, "How the hell do you know what they called my Mom?" "Cause I gave it to her as a nickname," he said sadly. "I couldn't say Caroline, when I started talking. All I could say was Carrie." "LYIN' SONUVABITCH!" As Rick turned toward the young man, a fist crashed into the side of his head. Before he blacked out, in the corridor, he remembered Kit running for the steps to the deck, screaming and cussing, saying he'd rather be eaten by sharks than spend another damn minute, with a damn lyin' bastard. As Rick lay on the bunk, he realized, Kit was the only link he had left to Carrie Anne, and now sadly, that link was gone. Ardeth said something, bringing Rick back to the here and now. "What? What Ardeth? Sorry, didn't hear you. What'd you say?" "I said, Jon said to let you know that when you feel up to it, you can go Round Two, with your nephew. Until then, Jonathan says he will keep him locked up in the hold." "He's not dead? Ardeth, he's not dead?" Ardeth looked at him with worried eyes, feeling the lump on the side of his head. "No, he's not." "The sharks didn't eat him?" "Nooooo." Rick sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bunk. "GOOD, CAUSE I'M GONNA KILL THAT DAMN NEPHEW OF MINE!" Rick marched out the door, leaving a bewildered Med-Jai in his wake. Outside the hold he found Jonathan sitting in a chair. He looked at the side of Rick's head and remembered the bruise and lump on Kit's. "I say, Rick. You two are a matching set if ever I saw one." "Yeah, great. Unlock the door Jon and let me in." When Rick walked into the hold, he found Kit dozing on a pallet. Hearing Rick slam open the door, Kit raised up and sighed heavily, "Shit. If I throw a stick, will you leave?" |