Dear Fate

Olivia was on the verge of slumber when she heard a soft knock on the outside door. Figuring Holly would get it, she rolled back over and tried to go back to sleep. The knock came again and the door opened.

"Miss Hamilton?" a soft voice called.

She sat up in bed and blinked in confusion. She climbed out of bed and put her dressing robe on over her night dress. She opened the door to her bedroom to see a young steward peering around the suite.

"Can I help you?" she asked, pulling her robe closer around her body.

"Ah, yes, I've been told to ask you to please put on your lift belt and come up to the boat deck," he said, walking over to the closet in the corner room and pulling several life belts down from the top shelf.

"Whatever for?" Olivia asked in confusion as he brought them over to the couch.

"Just a precaution. It is quite cold. May I suggest a top coat?" he asked.

"Oh, yes, of course," Olivia said as he walked back over to the closet and grabbed her black fur overcoat.

He handed it to her and bid her a good evening, stepping out of the door and closing it behind him. Olivia hurriedly pulled on her overcoat and went over to the other bedroom.

"Holly?" she called, knocking softly on the door, "Holly, I know you're still mad at me, but our presence has been requested on the boat deck. What for, I don't know, but we must go."

When there was no reply, she gently opened the door and peered inside.

"Holly?" she called, a little more worried as there didn't look to be anyone in the room.

She reached over to flip the light on and her suspicions were confirmed. The room was completely empty.

"Now where did that stupid girl go?" she asked herself, walking out of the bedroom to leave the suite.

When she reached the boat deck, Olivia was surprised to see no passengers there, only crewmen getting the boats ready to be lowered into the ocean.

"Excuse me," she said, stopping the nearest steward, "I was summoned from bed to be up here on the boat deck, and now that I am here there are no other passengers around?"

The steward looked at her in surprise, obviously having not expected her before he replied, "They were asked to step inside, ma'am. It is far too cold out here."

He showed her to the door that led inside and opened it for her. She thanked him and stepped inside to see hundreds of first class passengers milling around, all looking bored and rather tired. She looked around for an empty chair on the top floor, but saw none so she decided to descend a floor or two to look for one. When she reached the bottom of the first set of stairs, she saw Mr. Andrews talking to Mr. Hockley and his fiancée Rose. She started to walk over to them, sure he'd know what was going on in this fiasco. When she'd almost reached them, she noticed the stricken looks on all of their faces. Mr. Andrews turned and walked away from the two of them quickly. Olivia watched him pass before finishing her walk over to the two first class passengers.

"What is going on? It seems like a madhouse around here," Olivia said, looking around at all the people.

Mr. Hockley turned to look at her with a troubled look on his face, while Rose stayed facing forward, her hand over her mouth in shock.

"What is it?" Olivia asked Mr. Hockley, a look of worry crossing her face.

"It appears the ship is sinking," he said quietly.

"I'm sorry?" Olivia asked in shock, not daring to believe the words that had just come from his mouth.

"I can scarcely believe it myself, but I've just heard it straight from Mr. Andrews himself, and I can think of no reason why he wouldn't know, or why he would lie," Mr. Hockley said, a look of disbelief still on his face.

Olivia watched as he and Rose walked away, back over to Mrs. Dewitt Bukator. She didn't know what to do or believe. She had no reason to doubt Mr. Hockley, but this ship couldn't sink. It was impossible. All the papers had said that it could not sink.

She spent several minutes standing in the same place on the steps, people bustling past her and knocking into her, but she couldn't bring herself to move. She decided that it simply wasn't true, that Mr. Hockley must have merely misheard Mr. Andrews, and decided to make herself comfortable in one of the available chairs.

After perching herself in the chair, she let a serene smile grace her features as she looked around at all the other first class passengers. Some seemed rather worried at being woken up in the middle of the night and asked to come to the boat deck in a life belt, others looked simply annoyed, and others still looked indifferent, as Olivia herself was. True, she was a little worried about where Holly could possibly be, but honestly, the girl was probably with her officer friend, so there really was no need to worry.

She saw Michael Haim across the way with his father, a bored look gracing his handsome features as his father talked to John Jacob Astor. His normally slicked back hair was slightly disheveled from sleep, and if anything, it made him all the more handsome. Any passerby would see him as the beautiful rich man that he acted like, but Olivia could see right past the handsome visage. She turned her head slightly and pulled the collar of her coat up to try and hide herself from him so he wouldn't come over here. She knew he could do nothing to harm her in front of all these people, but she did not want to run the risk, just in case.

After about 15 minutes of sitting in the hall, the crewmen started calling the passengers back out onto the boat deck. Olivia peered over her shoulder to see Michael go ahead with his father before she stood herself and walked out. She watched him follow after Mr. Hockley's party, so she went in the opposite direction, toward the bow of the ship. She felt herself walking at a slight angle, but thought nothing of it, figuring it was sleep deprivation.

She could hear the band start up somewhere behind her, and coming from in front of her was a voice calling for the passengers to step towards him. She walked a little bit further and beside the man talking was Harry Lowe. She couldn't pay attention to a word the other officer was saying, and when he was finished, she tried to call out to Harry.

"Mr. Lowe! Mr. Lowe! Harry!" she finally called, waving her hand above her head.

He looked up in confusion before he spotted her.

"Miss Hamilton, if you and Holly will please step this way," he said, reaching over a few people's heads out towards her.

"Harry, what is going on?" Olivia called back.

"I think you know the answer to that, Olivia," Harry said gravely, gesturing down to their feet.

She looked down, and sure enough, there was a steady decline of the ground below them. She looked back up at him in horror.

"So it's true? It's really sinking?" she asked in a shocked voice.

"I'm afraid so," he said quietly as he finally pushed through the crowd to get to her.

He looked around for a second before turning back to her.

"Where is Holly?" he asked in confusion.

"She- she wasn't in the suite when I woke up," Olivia answered.

"What do you mean she wasn't there? I told her to stay put when I left her," Harry said in anger, though at Holly or the situation Olivia wasn't sure.

"I have to go find her. She must have gone off to find me when she realized I wasn't there. I have to go find her," Olivia repeated, turning around to go back into the ship.

"No, Olivia, wait! You must get on a boat now," Harry said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back.

"No, no I have to go find her. She could be in trouble," Olivia replied, trying to shake his hand off.

"No, you don't understand," Harry said, pulling her back and turning her around to face him and looking around before leaning in and continuing quietly, "there are 2,200 people on board this ship, and there are only enough life boats for half that amount."

"What are you saying?" she asked, fearful of the answer.

"Half the people on this ship are going to perish tonight," he said bluntly, a grim look on his face.

"Well I will not let Holly be one of those that do!" Olivia shrieked, clawing desperately at his hands that were gripping her upper arms.

"Listen, calm down, will you?" Harry called out, shaking her slightly, "She was probably just clearing her head on the promenade. She is most likely on the other end of the ship, getting into her own boat by the stern, alright? And if you try to go down there and look for her, you will most assuredly miss one of those boats, and I cannot guarantee that a place will still be available down here. So you should just get on a boat now, and you can catch up with Holly later, alright?"

Olivia looked up at him, tears in her eyes, not wanting to leave without knowing Holly was safe, but not wanting to miss a boat either.

"Do you promise she will be safe?" she asked him, her voice cracking slightly.

"Olivia, you know I cannot make that promise," Harry said softly.

She looked down, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks slowly.

"I cannot leave without her," she replied just as softly, looking up at him.

Harry shook his head before he lifted her off her feet. She shrieked in surprise as he carried her over to the boat. She screamed at him to put her down as he set her in the boat that was already going down.

"I'm sorry," she saw him mouth as the boat was lowered.

"I hate you! How could you do this to me? I can't leave her! How could you let me leave her?" Olivia sobbed, trying to stand up and make her way back over to the ship.

The lifeboat was already several feet down so all she managed to do was to rock the boat a bit, causing the other passengers to shriek and pull her into a sitting position. She looked back up at the ship to see Harry gone.

Olivia dropped her head into her hands and sobbed, not caring who saw or heard. She vaguely felt someone pull her into them, and she instead turned her face into their shoulder and sobbed, thankful for the human contact for one of the first times in her life.