Status: Complete
Saving Amelia
Saving Amelia
The screaming is deafening. This life coat is itchy. The music is annoying. These were the things I was thinking about to not think about the fact that my life could be over sooner than I expected. I used to think I was going to live to be old with children and grandchildren. Now I’m thinking I’ll be lucky to get out of this alive.
Mother fell overboard. She had somehow dropped little Amelia into the water, and tried to retrieve her. That was the last Father and I saw of them.
“Women and children first!” screamed an officer I met a few days earlier, Mr. Lowe. He had been put in charge of lifeboat number fourteen. Father told me to go, so I went. I was the last in before Mr. Lowe, for he was to be in charge of the steering. I looked up at my father as the lifeboat lowered, him still sipping his brandy and smoking his cigar as his wife and two-year-old daughter didn’t just fall off of a ship and I wasn’t all alone with nobody to take care of me.
Our lifeboat hit the water and we took off. I tried not to look around, for I was afraid I would see my mother and sister in the water, lifelessly floating like I knew so many were. And if they were alive, I didn’t want them to see me knowing they were there, not being able to do anything to help them.
We were out to sea, with another boat right beside ours. I could still hear the band playing hymns and the screaming of the people desperately wanting help from the cold water. Beside me was a little girl, no older than eight, I’d say. Her mother rocked her back and forth and she cried. On my other side was a window cleaner from the top deck whom I’ve only seen a few times before.
We were floating there for quite some time before I saw the lights of the ship go out and heard shrieks of fright and surprise. The music stopped. All of a sudden, the unsinkable ship started tipping faster. It broke in half. More yelling was heard. The front half of the ship was submerged under water and the back was bobbing up and down. I watched in terror as people helplessly tried hanging on the railings. Some were successful in holding on. Others weren’t so lucky.
The back half of the ship stayed for a minute or two. Then it sank. The RMS Titanic was no more. After sitting there for a bit, with no one saying a word, random cries for help were heard. A man yelled, “Help!” Then I heard a woman scream, “Please! Save us!” I tried to drown out the screams and the noises. Until I heard the cry of a baby.
“We have to go back,” I said as I stood up, making the boat rock a bit and some women scream from surprise.
“Have you gone mad?” said a man behind me. “They’ll swamp the boat and we’ll all be dead.” The boat beside ours agreed. I looked at Mr. Lowe pleadingly.
“Alright then!” Mr. Lowe yelled, using his best commanding officer voice. “Here’s what I want. Everyone from this boat into that one. There’s plenty of room.” He was right. The lifeboat was only half full. There were some cries of protest, but everyone eventually did as they were told. I was still standing in the boat when everyone else but Mr. Lowe was off.
“I’m going with you,” I said. He was going to protest until I said, “My mother and my sister are out there. I’m going to save them.”
“They’re probably dead,” shouted a man from the other boat. I never took my eyes off Mr. Lowe’s as I said, “I have to try.”
A few minutes later Mr. Lowe, another officer who was rowing, and I started reaching people and yelling for people to respond if they were alive.
“Don’t touch them,” Mr. Lowe commanded. We made our way through the people slowly, while the steering officer tried not to hit the bodies with the ores. We rowed a few more times before I heard again the cry of a baby. All three of our heads shot to our right.
“That way,” I said as I pointed. We made our way through. We got closer to the noise which was dry and ragged from being out in the cold water for so long. Then we reached her.
The baby was alive, crying, in the arms of her mother. But her mother was not my mother. This was not Amelia. I crabbed the baby from her mother’s cold, dead arms and hugged her. I took off my jacket and wrapped it around her. I looked at the woman’s body, her eyes open and staring. I kissed my fingers and touched her head as my mother had done to me so many times.
We found three more people that night. But never my mother nor Amelia. They were lost in the sea somewhere.
The Carpathia came and took us all with it to New York, me wondering the whole ride how I was to take care of myself and a baby, whom I would keep to be my own. I named her Amelia, after my sister whose spirit will never be forgotten.
“We will live somewhere in this new city,” I told the baby, who was now asleep in my arms, warm. “I will get a job. And I will find a husband to take care of us.”
“How about a cup of tea first?” I turned around to see Mr. Lowe standing there in his uniform, his arms behind his back. He smiled and held out his hand. And I grabbed it.
“Tea would be great.”
Mother fell overboard. She had somehow dropped little Amelia into the water, and tried to retrieve her. That was the last Father and I saw of them.
“Women and children first!” screamed an officer I met a few days earlier, Mr. Lowe. He had been put in charge of lifeboat number fourteen. Father told me to go, so I went. I was the last in before Mr. Lowe, for he was to be in charge of the steering. I looked up at my father as the lifeboat lowered, him still sipping his brandy and smoking his cigar as his wife and two-year-old daughter didn’t just fall off of a ship and I wasn’t all alone with nobody to take care of me.
Our lifeboat hit the water and we took off. I tried not to look around, for I was afraid I would see my mother and sister in the water, lifelessly floating like I knew so many were. And if they were alive, I didn’t want them to see me knowing they were there, not being able to do anything to help them.
We were out to sea, with another boat right beside ours. I could still hear the band playing hymns and the screaming of the people desperately wanting help from the cold water. Beside me was a little girl, no older than eight, I’d say. Her mother rocked her back and forth and she cried. On my other side was a window cleaner from the top deck whom I’ve only seen a few times before.
We were floating there for quite some time before I saw the lights of the ship go out and heard shrieks of fright and surprise. The music stopped. All of a sudden, the unsinkable ship started tipping faster. It broke in half. More yelling was heard. The front half of the ship was submerged under water and the back was bobbing up and down. I watched in terror as people helplessly tried hanging on the railings. Some were successful in holding on. Others weren’t so lucky.
The back half of the ship stayed for a minute or two. Then it sank. The RMS Titanic was no more. After sitting there for a bit, with no one saying a word, random cries for help were heard. A man yelled, “Help!” Then I heard a woman scream, “Please! Save us!” I tried to drown out the screams and the noises. Until I heard the cry of a baby.
“We have to go back,” I said as I stood up, making the boat rock a bit and some women scream from surprise.
“Have you gone mad?” said a man behind me. “They’ll swamp the boat and we’ll all be dead.” The boat beside ours agreed. I looked at Mr. Lowe pleadingly.
“Alright then!” Mr. Lowe yelled, using his best commanding officer voice. “Here’s what I want. Everyone from this boat into that one. There’s plenty of room.” He was right. The lifeboat was only half full. There were some cries of protest, but everyone eventually did as they were told. I was still standing in the boat when everyone else but Mr. Lowe was off.
“I’m going with you,” I said. He was going to protest until I said, “My mother and my sister are out there. I’m going to save them.”
“They’re probably dead,” shouted a man from the other boat. I never took my eyes off Mr. Lowe’s as I said, “I have to try.”
A few minutes later Mr. Lowe, another officer who was rowing, and I started reaching people and yelling for people to respond if they were alive.
“Don’t touch them,” Mr. Lowe commanded. We made our way through the people slowly, while the steering officer tried not to hit the bodies with the ores. We rowed a few more times before I heard again the cry of a baby. All three of our heads shot to our right.
“That way,” I said as I pointed. We made our way through. We got closer to the noise which was dry and ragged from being out in the cold water for so long. Then we reached her.
The baby was alive, crying, in the arms of her mother. But her mother was not my mother. This was not Amelia. I crabbed the baby from her mother’s cold, dead arms and hugged her. I took off my jacket and wrapped it around her. I looked at the woman’s body, her eyes open and staring. I kissed my fingers and touched her head as my mother had done to me so many times.
We found three more people that night. But never my mother nor Amelia. They were lost in the sea somewhere.
The Carpathia came and took us all with it to New York, me wondering the whole ride how I was to take care of myself and a baby, whom I would keep to be my own. I named her Amelia, after my sister whose spirit will never be forgotten.
“We will live somewhere in this new city,” I told the baby, who was now asleep in my arms, warm. “I will get a job. And I will find a husband to take care of us.”
“How about a cup of tea first?” I turned around to see Mr. Lowe standing there in his uniform, his arms behind his back. He smiled and held out his hand. And I grabbed it.
“Tea would be great.”