100 Years Between Us

Chapter 2

MARIA (Titanic; April 11, 1912)

Maria woke up in a strange room. It was small enough that she could almost touch two sides of the wall without moving. She realized there was someone knocking at the door, and as she stood up dizzily, only then did she notice that she was in a silky, pale pink dress with a slightly darker pink ribbon tied around her waist and white slippers with a little heel. She was, of course, wearing a corset under the dress, judging by the clothes and the ache in her body, and her brown hair was in loose curls. The knocking continued, so Maria walked over, unbalanced in her new shoes, and opened it to a young man with dark hair.

"Miss Phillips?" he asked. Maria nodded in reply. "I am Henry, your assistant on this ship. Miss Phillips, our captain wanted to give his sympathy to you for the loss of your grandmother." Maria guessed this was her backstory as to why she was wherever she was.

"Ah, yes, tell him thank you. I woke up slightly dizzy, and I can't seem to remember where I am at the moment. Would you happen to be willing to tell me?" Maria tried to look confused, but she knew it was easy to see through.

Henry nodded, "Yes, I understand how you feel." I seriously doubt that. "You are on the Titanic, traveling home to your family in New York for your grandmother's funeral. I understand you were on a trip before you received the news?" Maria nodded once again.

"Yes, thank you. I was with a few friends who invited me to come stay with them for part of the year," she replied. "That part I do remember," she added.

Henry flashed her a big, goofy smile. "Well, if you do need anything, I'm always available. Have a nice day!" He walked away, down the hall. Maria decided to wander the ship for a while. She caught sight of a little bag on her bed and opened it. Inside was a note from Master.

Maria, you are on the Titanic. Obvious now. I have left you with a first class ticket, a map of the boat, and some money if ever needed. This was a surprise to Maria. Usually, Master didn't leave her with anything for Traveling. However, you have a second class stateroom. It's not that important to your Travel. - Master H.

Maria grabbed the map and looked at it. After memorizing the places she wanted to visit, Maria left her room and started to walk towards the stairs. She wasn't very far from the top deck, so she walked up and immediately felt the cool sea breeze as she stepped outside. Little kids were running in circles, and Maria had to stop every now and then to avoid running into them.

Once she was free of the little kids, Maria walked to the side of the boat and looked into the blue ocean in front of her. She tried to memorize every word to describe it in her journal.

A girl about Maria's age walked to her side. "Hello," the girl said.

"Oh, hi, I'm Maria," Maria replied, smoothing her hair down slightly after looking at the girl's flawlessness. The girl smiled and said, "Hello, Maria. I'm Ruby. I saw your dress and wanted to know where you got such a beautiful thing!" Maria looked down at her dress. "Oh, my grandmother made it for me," she said, hoping her reply was believable.

Ruby nodded. "Well, she is very talented. Would you like to join me for a card game with some of the other passengers?" Maria nodded and followed Ruby to a circle of seats with some other people handing out cards.

"Well, look what we have here! Two little girls want to play?" The men in the circle laughed. Maria didn't even see the boy until he told the rest of the men to shut up and deal them in. He had dark hair, tan skin, cobalt blue eyes, and was wearing clothes Maria thought second class people would wear, but didn't mention anything. He caught her looking at him and winked. Maria couldn't help smiling and tried to cover her pink cheeks with her cards.