"Everybody in?!" yelled the captain of the boat before turning on the engine.
As the ship started to move, I sat at the edge of the second floor and while holding on to the safety fences, I rummaged inside of my new backpack.
My hands came across what I was looking for after a few seconds, so I pulled it with all my strength to bring it out. Due to the brute force that I was using, some stuff fell to the water. "Guess people won't know who I am if I die," I sighed as I watched my wallet submerging into the water.
While watching the water dragging down my stuff, a hand reached out to my shoulder. I turned around to see a tall, muscular man smiling gently at me. "No weapons allowed" he said while pointing at Dom and Axie.
I took out Axie with my right hand and handed it over to him. Then, I did the same with Dom and right after he got both of them in his hands, I told him "Be careful with them. That's an order by the way."
The man nodded and walked to the captain's booth, putting Axie and Dom in a pile of weapons that he took from other passengers. I turned around to keep doing what I was trying to do before, but the man touched my shoulder again, pointing to my hands and saying "That isn't allowed here either."
I looked at him weirdly and said "These are chains" while raising my hands to show him. He also gave me a weird look and answered "Exactly. Just as I said before, no weapons allowed."
The chains shone under the sun as we talked about them. It was a shine like no other, almost dazzling. That shine reminded me a lot of the one that Axie and Dom had, so I got attached to the chains at the same level that I did with my axes.
"Ugh, fine… Here you go." I said while placing the chains on his hands. I then added "But put him with the axes, I don't want to lose any of them". The man nodded again and left just like the first time, opening the door of the captain's booth with effort and banging it loudly.
I let out a sigh after seeing how my weapons were dragged away. I didn't mind too much about the fact that I couldn't defend myself, so the thing that was bothering me was the fact that I couldn't keep going with my investigation…
I tried to clear up my mind by watching the water, but after a few seconds of looking at it, the big man returned and touched my shoulder once again. "The captain wants to meet you," he said as he pointed to the captain's booth.
"Look, I already gave you my weapons. Just leave me alone now!" I responded while making a gesture to try and make him go away. He raised his eyebrow and then got closer. "Captain said that I have the right to throw troublemakers overboard, so I suggest you comply" he threatened.
I grunted and flipped him off, putting the backpack on and walking to where the captain was.
I opened the booth's door and as soon as it was open, I was slapped by a thick cloud of smoke. My ex always told me that I smoked a lot, but the person inside of this place surely outsmoked me.
"Hello, young man! It's been a while!" a raspy voice said from inside of all that smoke. I cleared some smoke out of my face with my hand and got close to the silhouette of a man. "Do I know you?" I asked him from behind.
The man let go of the rudder and turned around to see me. Even with all that smoke messing with my view, I was able to identify some characteristics of the man: A trimmed, yet not long bear; a tray of ashes on his shirt, probably because of what he was smoking; a sailor hat like the one that my ex's favorite anime character wears; and the most important and distinguishable thing about him, which was the fact that one of his eyes was completely blind.
"Do you not remember me, child?" he said while pointing at a brooch in his shirt. "You made this," he then added.
I shook my head from side to side, telling him that he got the wrong person, and once he heard my words, he kept insisting. "Do you not remember this brooch? It was the first piece of metal that you did!" he claimed while pointing at his ornament again. I took a close look at the brooch, trying to see why he talked about it so much.
It was nothing special, just an anchor-shaped piece of metal with a little heart right in the middle. However, after inspecting it closer, a faint shine appeared on its surface.
"Where did you get this?!" I asked while pulling on his shirt. He looked at me disappointed and answered "Don't you remember? You made this."
I wasn't sure what he was talking about. Maybe he was mistaking me with someone else. But whatever it was, I just had to play along and get some answers out of him.
"I'm sorry, I must've been so young at that time that I completely forgot about it" I told him, hoping that he would buy it. The man looked at my eyes and after raising his eyebrow, he went back to the rudder, talking as he took control of his ship again. "Well, it's odd that you don't remember, but I guess that telling you won't hurt anybody," he said while swaying the rudder lightly.
"It all began when I went to meet your dad so I could get something that would represent my love for navigating," he said with a nostalgic tone. "Your dad was busy with other projects, so you were the one that opened the door for me," he added.
" "Hello sir! What can I help you with?" you said nervously as I started to tell you what I wanted to do. Your eyes shone just like this brooch here the moment you heard my request, and you ran to your dad claiming that you had the perfect idea for it." he told me before making a question. "Does that ring any bells?" the captain asked. "Kinda… Maybe if you tell me more I'll remember." I answered.
"After a few minutes, you came back while holding the hand of your dad, who started to explain the paying methods as you drew some sketches in your notebook. As soon as we finished talking, your dad told me to get back in a couple of weeks to get my brooch finished, but you suddenly jumped on his back and whispered something to him. Aww, you were so cute back then, you looked like a little penguin compared to your dad," the captain told me.
"After you discussed something with your dad, you got in front of me and told me that instead of waiting 2 weeks, I'd just have to wait for 2 days to get back since you were the one who was gonna fulfill my request. I smiled at your eagerness, responding that I was excited to see the results of your work later."
"The days passed and I went back to your dad's smithy, eager to see your work. With a shivering smile, you showed me this brooch I have right now and then you placed it in my hands. Your father told me that since it was your first commission, it could've had some problems in it and that he would refund me if I asked him to. I looked at the brooch and smiled at him, looking at a faint shine that resembled the shine that your father's pieces had."he said as tears started to fall from his eyes.
"Just like right now, I got emotional seeing your work. Even if it had some tiny dents on it, since you made it out of your pure love for blacksmithy, I decided to keep it, giving you a tip and telling you to keep the good work" he finished telling.
"And that's it?" I asked him after listening to him. "You still don't remember me, Jacob?" the captain asked me after hearing my question.
To be honest, more than getting some answers or clues from his story I just got more doubts. To begin with, I apparently had a present and loving parent; then, it seems like me and him used to work as blacksmiths; and last, and the most confusing one, apparently my name was Jacob…