A New Beginning

Chapter 11: Icy Omen

Chapter 11: Icy Omen

It wasn't long after Cal had broken into their cabin that the newlyweds, Peter and Emma come down the hall from a late dinner to check on Sybil. Their hearts are overjoyed by finally being united in holy matrimony. They had left Rose and Jack to find something to eat and promised to find them later. However, Emma couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding that is still plaguing her, even though this is supposed to be the happiest day of her life. She opens the cabin door quietly and creeps up to the cradle.

At first, she blinks hard and takes a step back. Perhaps she was just tired, and her eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark. She takes a deep breath and looks again. She reaches down, thinking her baby sister may have pulled the blankets over her face by mistake. When she feels nothing, she falls back against the wall in horror.

"P-Peter!" she squeaks out.

Peter comes from washing his sink in the basin and finds Emma clutching her mouth to keep herself from screaming.

"What's wrong?" Peter peers down into the cradle and gasps. The couple re-light the lamps in the cabin and search carefully. Sybil was going to start crawling; maybe she managed to climb out of the cradle and got into things she wasn't supposed to. Although how ridiculous this scenario seemed, the couple keeps searching. They check their beds, under the desk, even in the wardrobe for any sign of the child. Anxiously, Emma goes next door to the neighbour who was supposed to check on Sybil every half hour. Maybe the neighbour had taken Sybil to be fed. She bangs frantically on the door and the neighbour opens it up.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Whitman. Congratulations to you..." she then notices their worried faces. "What's wrong?"

"Do you have Sybil with you?" Emma asks breathlessly.

"N-no, she's asleep. I checked on her fifteen minutes ago."

"She's gone..." Emma squeaks.

"W-WHAT?!" the neighbour gasps. She too runs into the room and begins searching with Peter.

Emma can feel the tears welling up in her eyes and her throat seems to close up, killing her slowly. Her baby sister. The only family she had left, had been snatched by a thief in the night. She and Peter were planning to raise her as a family, just until the couple was old enough to have offspring of their own.

What kind of monster would abduct an innocent child? She thought to herself. She can feel herself starting to hyperventilate so hard that she has to sit down. This ship is so huge that there would be no way they could find her sister without getting lost themselves. They need to inform the captain. The thief can hide, but he can't run unless he's willing to jump into the freezing cold water to escape. When that thought enters her mind, Emma's knees began to shake and she wants to vomit. Her mind races as she curls up for a moment to gather her bearings.

That is until she finds a piece of paper that has been thrown from the desk in the search. She picks it up, unable to identify the handwriting. It is extremely messy, most likely scratched out at the last minute. The words, however, were readable.

To find the child,

Find Rose DeWitt Bukater.

Rose? What would Rose want with Sybil? Unless she and Jack came down and heard Sybil stir and took her up for fresh air and didn't want to disturb us, she thought.

"Peter" Emma says, standing up, finding her strength once again. "Rose and Jack may have Sybil."

"Why...? Oh, thank God!" The neighbour breaths a sigh of relief. "I did hear movement next door, they must have taken her for some fresh air."