Lately Anemone was seeing children everywhere she went. She seen them in the school yard, and she seen them in the park. She seen them in the store and in the streets and in her head. It was weird. They were weird. Why were they so small? Why did they look like that? Anemone didn't understand because she had never been a child, or at least she had no memories of being one. Did it matter though? To her, not memories or proof of such an existence was the same as not having one.
She did have one though. Theodora was the youngest daughter of three, born to a Naval Officer and his Wife. She didn't remember them but they definitely remembered her. She had been missing from their lives for over a year now, and memories of Theodora was a constant reminder of her existence to them. Perhaps a reminder not all of them wanted but it was hard to erase memories once they exist, despite what Anemone might think on the subject.
Perhaps on the other side of the world her mother was recalling a time when Theodora was only seven years old. She wanted to grow a beard like her grandfather, and she wanted to become a pirate just like him too. Was he actually a pirate? Of course not! The imagination of a child was priceless, and a little bit hilarious. They denied all accusations that her grandfather was a pirate but that didn't stop the child. She thought maybe that's just what they told her. Maybe they were hiding the truth from her?! WHY DID NOT ONE WANT THEODORA TO KNOW THAT HER AMAZING GRANDFATHER WAS A PIRATE? PIRATES WERE AMAZING.
She told everyone she could. All her friends at school, the neighbours, and even a stray cat down the street. She wanted everyone to know just how amazing he was, and that she was going to be just like him because her name was Theodora, the Great Pirate Child of Theodoros! All of the adults laughed but the younger kids were all amazed. They wanted to be pirates too! It didn't take long before Theodora had her own crew, a group of kids around her age that all pretended to be pirates.
Theodora was their Captain, of course, and every day they would meet up in the school yard and take over the playset. It was their ship and everything left inside was theirs! Of course, this meant that sometimes they stole other children's backpacks. It happened on more than one instance that Theodora had been caught leaving school with several bags. She was a pirate though, this was what they did!
She found it, and she wanted to keep it! Unfortunately, her parents made her give them back but that didn't stop her crew from giving her part of their share. After all, what was theirs was also hers. It was the rule! They were required to share all the loot they found with their Captain, and they would bring any sort of treasure they found to her. Some of the items were expensive things that her mother forced her to give back but others were simple things found on the beach.
A simple seashell that her mother still had perhaps. A token of a precious memory of a day when she still had her baby. If only Anemone could just remember. It always felt like it was on the tip of her tongue, and it was almost lost to her. She was missing something. She was missing everything. It was all gone, stolen by a pirate princess.
