A New Beginning

Chapter 3: Night of Terror

Chapter 3: Night of Terror

It's a beautiful night out on the deck. The stars are out, the moon is as full as it can be, and the water is as still as glass. The rhythm of the ship is quite soothing, and the decks are empty, meaning they have complete privacy. The air is brisk but comfortable. Emma and Peter carry Sybil along for her to see the ship, they hold hands and stare up at the sky.

"They're like diamonds. So beautiful," Emma says smiling. She can remember the nights when she would lay out in the field behind her house for hours, watching the moon rise and the stars come out. The quiet atmosphere often caused her to fall asleep and wake up just in time to watch the sunrise if her father had forgotten to carry her into the house and to bed.

But tonight, Emma no longer feels sad about her parents. It is about Peter and Sybil, not herself. They are here now, looking forward to the future, not the past. The night is so perfect that not even sadness could ruin it.

"Yes," Peter says. "But none of them are as beautiful as you."

Emma puts Sybil down at her feet for a moment.

Peter takes Emma into his arms and holds her close.

"I love you," Emma whispers, her face flushing, and her heart racing in her chest. Happy tears fill her eyes and a wide smile spreads across her face.

"I love you too," Peter smiles.

Before Emma can kiss Peter, a strong wind suddenly sweeps past them and the ship begins to shake violently. The couple tries to remain standing, but the jolting motion of the ship and the waves splashing the rails and the deck, making it difficult for them to do so. Emma sees out of the corner of her eye that her sister crawling towards the edge of the ship as if the violent and sudden storm has not affected her. Sybil reaches the bars of the rail and doesn't realize there is a gap between the deck and the sea. Her tiny hand goes out...

"Sybil! NO!" Emma screams. She rushes towards her sister, tears burning her eyes and her throat is closing up. She trips over her own shoe, land in a puddle of water, and watches in complete horror when a large wave comes and seemingly grabs her sister from the deck, she can hear the baby screaming the entire time...

"NO!" Emma yells through tears. She turns to see if Peter will help her... there has to be a chance to save Sybil, but Peter has vanished and the lights on the ship have gone out, leaving her in darkness. Even the stars have extinguished their light and the moon is under dark and angry clouds. The wind takes her hair and clothes, whipping them around in endless circles.

Emma gets to the edge of the deck and peers through the railing, tears streaming down her face as she desperately looks for her baby sister. She no longer had any family left. She could hear her sister's cries for help, but the dark water has consumed the tiny child entirely and most likely killed her. Emma has failed her parents and broken the family vow. She looks down at the dark water, black as night, almost like a tomb, which now had claimed her sister. The water seems to be extremely hungry as if lying in wait for its next victim. Emma can see her disoriented reflection in the waves. She no longer seemed to have eyes and her lips become blood red, smiling grimly. It then lets out a horrific laugh that makes Emma's blood curdle.

Suddenly, a giant wave comes up over the rail, the demonic face still apparent, laughing harder than ever before and splashes Emma, entering her nose and mouth. She tries to scream but the cold water is suffocating her, the fluid getting into her bones and even her soul. She can feel the waves trying to drag her out into the water. She tries holding onto the bars of the deck railing, to keep the demonic water from taking her too, but losing Sybil has left her with little strength left. Her hands are cold and stiff, slipping ever so slowly from the cold metal bars.

The dry laughter fills her ears again as the last finger lets go and the wave drags her down deep into the water. The salty water begins filling her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose as if to kill her in every possible way. Suffocate her to the absolute limit. It wants to consume her... There is now silence under the water, a small relief from the demonic voice, but her air level is dangerously low, making her lungs feel like they are on fire. The cold no longer matters, nor does it extinguish the burning of her insides, she's numb on the outside, with little feeling left at all.

Emma does her best to fight for the surface, do anything to keep this dark water from killing her. She swears she can see the Titanic's hull, so massively huge beside her. She tries her best not to look down, for if she does, she really will die.

A tremendous boom shakes her all over and the massive dark hull breaks in two right in front of her. There are sparks and parts of the ship begin to flow out of the gash, a mangled and twisted as the bottom half of the ship breaks free and starts sinking ever so slowly into the darkness below her. A stronger force, much stronger than the waves begins to pull on her helpless body. The suction of the hull is pulling her down. Emma does her best to fight, but in the end, she is pulled deeper and deeper...

...

Emma jolts up in bed in a cold sweat, her breath heavy and laboured. Her heart is racing at an alarming pace and her head is throbbing. She checks her body and nightgown, she's dry, except for the sweat on her forehead. She gets up quickly and goes to Sybil's cradle. She breathes a slight sigh of relief to see the tiny tot nestled deep in her blankets, sleeping peacefully. She inhales again, and she realizes that her throat is dangerously dry. She goes to the sink and slurps up some cool water. Her heart rate decreases and the throbbing ceases slightly.

It seems to strange that this water was out to kill her just a few minutes ago and now it's calming her down. She squints in the dark and can see Peter fast asleep, breathing contently beside the crumpled mess of covers she'd left behind. It amazes her that he had slept through it, she thought she might've woken everyone in the ship up, she had been screaming and rolling around in such a frenzy. Maybe it wasn't as violent a nightmare as she'd thought.

Emma feels her way to the couch and puts her head in her hands. She lets a few tears crawl down her face and her breathing pick up again.

It all seems so real. she thinks to herself. I must be going crazy.

It all seemed so very strange, Emma liked the water, a lot. She'd grown up near it and had learned to swim at the tender age of 4. She'd gone fishing as a child and explored the creeks and ponds for all sorts of interesting creatures. Boats never scared her either. Her neighbour had owned a sailboat that he would lend to her and her father and they would spend many happy days exploring the lakes and rivers. Even on the trip to England and then Ireland after the funerals, she slept fine as can be, but why now were her fears of being on a boat so bad?

Had it been the telegram that Father Browne had told her about, GET OFF THAT SHIP? Could that have been some kind of warning? Was it caused by the stress and grief she had been experiencing due to her parent's deaths? The stormy sea might certainly explain that. Was she afraid of losing more people that she loved because death had already claimed a few? Was it because this ship itself was so massive that mother nature could easily drag her down to the depths of the ocean? Or that the White Star Line had claimed that Titanic was unsinkable?

Emma takes a few deep breaths and wiped the tears from her eyes. Whatever the reasons for the nightmares, it cannot be a good omen. Dreams were mysterious things and God also worked in unusual ways to warn people about what is to come. There were many things she could not understand and probably never would; her dreams and nightmares being one of them.

Could this ship really break apart and sink? Would she have set sail if she wasn't safe? Should we get off while we still can? Questions she knew could not be so easily answered.

"You're just tired and it's the middle of the night," she says to herself. There's a lot going on and your mind is telling you about it. This ship is perfectly safe and very beautiful, you should enjoy your time here.

Emma moans and her stomach knots up.

Just go to bed. Everything is fine and will be better in the morning, her mind reassured her.

Emma stands up and hobbles back into bed. She pulls the covers up around her to stop her cold shivering and curls up next to Peter. She lays her head near hers and closes her eyes.