Stardust

Part 9

April 15 1912

Chapter 9

1:30

1300 miles away from New York

Pov Ymir

After the mother, came a series of events. The lights of the Titanic had gone out leaving everyone in complete darkness. Noone knew who the person next to them was, nor what was happening. The only light was the shine of the stars above.

They held onto the outside of the ship, as the bow of the ship had become torn apart from the stern and slowly got lost in the waves. But the back of the ship, now stuck vertical bobbing in the water, facing the sky. More and more people threw themselves off the side of the boat in despair leaving it up to fate to decide their ending. A hopeless sight.

Nhan and Ymir grasped tightly at the bars surrounding the outside of the stern. Their knuckles white from the grasp, her hands numb to the frostbite.Ymir cried. She cried at the feeling of water splashing her face, fighting with her father, watching the child and mother throw their lives away. Her cries mixed with the echoes of wales that surrounded them.

Nhan took his left hand one hand off the bars to rub Ymir's back. As a last effort of comfort.

"It'll all be okay," said Nhan, throwing shivers. "The lifeboats will come back for us."

"No they won't," said the man next to them. "We're as good as dead."

Ymir turned. To her left. A familiar face, she almost thought it was Nhan.

"Hua!" Nhan shouted. "Brother you're alive!"

"Not for long, See them..." he pointed at the lifeboats. "They're sailing away. We're goners."

"You may be right," said Nhan. This made Ymir cry out even more. "But I really really hope you're wrong. And if you are wrong. I want to say I'm sorry. You're my brother. Always and forever."

Hua smiles. He takes his right hand and reaches over ymir. Hua ruffles Nhans hair. As if it wasn't messy enough.

But he slips.

His left hand, after losing its feeling, slips from the bar causing his balance to be thrown off.

Hua falls. Ymir heard Nhan scream something in vietnamese. But it was too late. Huas head hits a wooden door frame leaving a red splatter. His body tumbles down, smacking and slapping each pillar, and piece of furniture in the way. Before landing head first in the water.

Nhan screams. "No NO NO!"

Ymir felt hopelessness. Ymir tried to think of any possible solution. But there were none. All the lifeboats were full, and the two of them were about 10 minutes away from plunging deep into the atlantic with nothing but a lifejacket.

Overwhelmed by the despair, she stopped crying. Ymir looked at Nhan.

"I'm letting go." she said.

"No you're not." Nhan wrapped his left arm around her waist.

"There's no point!!" said Ymir. "If we follow this ship into the water we're dead anyways."

"There must be a way," Nhan argued.

"I'm sorry , my love.. "

Nhan sighed. He took his right hand and placed it on top of Ymir's left hand, holding the bar.

"Then we'll do it together," he said. "I promised I'd hold your hand forever and I don't intend on breaking that promise."

Ymir smiled.. The water slowly got closer and closer to them. If they waited, they wouldn't die by the time they hit the water. "On the count of three," said Ymir. "we'll let go, together."

"One"

"Two"

"Three"

. . .

The fall was rough. Ymir and Nhan hoisted themselves backwards off the stern of the ship. Nhan tucked Ymir into his chest and hit the water first. Under the water, bits of things were thrown about in every direction. Ymir tried to hold on but in the midst of the chaos, lost Nhans grasp. He slipped away. The stern of the ship went down as well, sucking people and luggage down in its gravity. To Ymir, it was like electrocution. A stabbing cold that pierced her every muscle. Was it water that stabbed her? No, it was something else.

Ymir's head breached the sea water. She coughed, icy water escaped her lungs. She was alive? Ymir felt her whole body was frozen, but could still feel as if a bolt of lightning had been struck at her side..

Nhan had protected her fall. But Nhan couldn't have protected her from the piece of wood that had pierced her. The water around her turned a dark blue as it mixed with the blood. However in the darkness, the water all looked black, you couldn't tell if you were bathing in blood.

Ymir grabbed the wood from her left side and pulled it out. She looked at it, the piece was the leg of a wooden chair, her fathers chair from his suite.

"Nhan, where are you?" she cried out into the darkness.

"I'm here!" she heard him yell back. "I found something, you have to swim."

Nhan pulled Ymir to a mattress floating in the water, a twin sized bed. Barely big enough for one person. However the two of them would have to make it work.

"Hop on," said Nhan. He pushed her up onto the mattress, before climbing on himself. "We have to cover the whole surface area or else it'll sink."

Ymir felt her blood pour out onto the mattress. She showed Nhan. Who gaged at the sight.

Nhan ripped off his sleeve and tied it around her waist to try and stop the bleeding.

"We're alive," said Ymir. "The world is so cruel, to prolong our suffering even more."

"Don't say that." replied Nhan. "The world granted us mercy, and a mattress."

"How much longer..?" she felt her heart pounding in her ears. The loss of blood and hypothermia, Ymir couldn't keep her head up. She slumped over on the mattress. "I'm so tired." She closed her eyes, and couldn't bear to keep them open any longer.

Nhan layed down behind her, he tucked her head under his chin and wrapped his arm around her side as a blanket. "Once the sun goes up, it'll be warmer. They will send a search and rescue team I'm sure."

Together, the two of them fell out of consciousness and accepted the cold in its embrace.

. . .