A New Beginning

Chapter 19: Dark Water

Chapter 19: Dark Water

Where am I right now? Everything is dark...

Is this what it's like to be dead?

Dark and cold.

I can't really breathe... I must be dead...

It's not as painful as I thought it would be...at least I could see my parents...and Nana... They miss me... As I miss them.

Why does my arm hurt so bad? I really can't breathe...

Where is the light you see when you die?

What is that pounding? Do I still have a heartbeat?

My arm is stinging... I must be alive...

Where am I?

Where are Jack and Rose? Peter and Sybil?

Sybil!

Emma's eyes open and she sees lights of the sinking Titanic reflecting back at her. Emma pushes herself to the surface, fighting the unbearable cold and her sore arm. She breaks the surface and gasps for air. Her eyes and nose are burning. Her arm is killing her, and she can't tell if she's crying or not. She knows she must swim away from the ship...the suction will certainly kill her...just like her dream!

Emma kicks as hard as she can, going back to those days on the lake where her father and mother taught her how to swim. Keep the legs straight and use the arms...arm. The pain! It's so intense she must stop and gasp for air. Now she remembers everything. The gun! Someone shot her and she went over the railing... it wasn't an accident...

Emma snaps back to the reality at hand. She needs to get away, a ship as mighty as the Titanic will have a lot of suction.

She does side-strokes to give her wounded arm a chance to rest. She kicks desperately to get away, but the cold is slowing her down. She doesn't want to bear to look back any longer. All the people still aboard.

Something hard hits her gut and the cold multiplies it by a thousand. Emma turns to see a deck chair floating amongst the waves. It must've washed off in the chaos. She grabs a hold of it. It doesn't provide much buoyancy, but it can keep her head above water. She sits on it for a few moments, trying to collect her thoughts.

Please, God help me! Emma thinks desperately. Everything in her dream is coming true, the ship is going down...on its maiden voyage. This will be a story for the ages. She can't tell if she's crying or not, she's soaked to the bone and her hair is frozen stiff.

Don't look back! For the love of all that is good and pure... Don't look back!

Emma slowly turns her head, putting pressure on her shoulder wound. Through glossy eyes, she looks.

The mighty ship is tilting ever so slowly upwards, higher, and higher into the air. The lights are still burning brightly, above and below the water. There's a certain beauty to its appearance, the lights illuminating the dark waters and the staunch form of the ship, rising towards heaven. That could be something to draw...

Shame washes over Emma, seeing beauty during tragedy and death. She can see people struggling on the upper decks to stay away from the water. They look like tiny bees buzzing, trying to stay together. The ship creaks eerily over the screaming. Then four explosions can be heard within the ship. Emma watches, not knowing that ship is going to make her final plunge.

The lines snap and the second funnel falls into the water. Two of the Funnels of the massive ship has gone down, how much longer until the other two go? They are sinking into the sea and a terrible noise rips the cries for help as it collapses on struggling and screaming forms of people already in the water.