Accidental Pirate - Part 1

This is the only piece of fiction (so far) on the blog.  It's the first part of a short story.  I'm posting with the hope that feedback (good/bad/all) will point me towards the end of the story or away from fiction.

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This has gone too far, I thought.

My car and I were idling in the high school parking lot a few blocks from home. My thighs were sticking to my jeans, and my jeans to the car seat. The sweat on my forehead was serving a dual function as coolant and calming agent. My heart and mind were still racing wildly as if trying to out-pace each other.

I wondered how long I had been sitting there. The large lot was empty and I was parked firmly in the middle and facing the school gymnasium. From this angle, I would see them coming from any angle.

My brain was reprocessing the events leading up to today. When I was 10 years old, my family and I had a summer outing to a nearby water amusement park. We were ambushed by a band of pirates soon after we arrived. Granted, they attacked us with balloons and songs, but I was clearly effected by the incident for I suffered from pirate-phobia ever since that day.

A few months ago, my wife suggested that we plan an Alaskan cruise and recommended that I get therapy for my phobia which would otherwise prevent me from enjoying the trip. My mind had already started imagining icicle-wielding bandits hiding in the glaciers. Last week, after several weeks dissecting my phobia, my therapist discussed exposure therapy as a possible way to overcome my fears. We created a hierarchy of pirate attributes that triggered my anxiety. From least to most provoking, the list looked like this:

Peg Leg

Hook

Walking the Plank

A Talking Parrot on the Shoulder

Eye Patch

Pirate's Outfit

Pirate Language

Ambush and Surprise

It was a complete surprise when I arrived at her office and she was wearing a cheap Halloween hook on her hand and a contraption that gave her the appearance of being peg-legged. Although I knew that it was irrational, I immediately tensed up and experienced the early signs of a panic attack. We slowly worked through my aversion to the pirate garb. By the end of the session, we had discussed the unlikelihood that I would ever encounter a one-hooked, peg-legged person again. Once I was calm again, she had me walk the plank. The plank was actually a cinder block wall along the office driveway. I didn't actually walk off the plank and I was relieved to know that she couldn't actually find a real plank.

I unclenched my fist damp with anxiety, revealing the note that I had received only moments ago. when delivered to my door by a courier.

Or was it hours ago?

With one eye closed in disbelief, I read the note again.

"Wear it all day."

I crumpled the note again, lowered the window, and threw it as far as I could.

I could wear it all day, but the pirate's eye patch was still in the delivery box in the garden. The container didn't have a return address. But, yesterday's events had made me cautious. I had carefully pulled out the note, read it's horrible message, and launched the box into the marigolds. As my tires squealed on the driveway as I reversed into the street, I caught a glimpse of the black eye wear which had been partially ejected from the package.

The trees that surrounded the parking lot provided a sense of security. However, the longer I sat in my car the more the parking lot felt like an ocean with yellow lines in a perfect yet broken pattern of waves that seemed to bring the trees closer. The pine trees, with their tall masts and broad leafy sails, were floating towards me.

It was 3:00 in the afternoon and I was getting ready for my job as the evening supervisor at the clinical testing lab at the hospital when the package had arrived.

To Be Continued