The Ship of Dreams

Part 2. Aboard the Ship of Dreams

The magical ship was set to leave the safety of the Southampton dock at noon on the tenth of April nineteen-twelve.
Lucille Martin was in raptures. The girl had never seen a ship of this size before and could hardly believe she was to board the mighty RMS Titanic.
Lucille stood beside her parents, watching the movements of the daunting queue ahead of her.
The Southampton dock was alive. People swarmed and bustled in the general direction of the sea.
After a lengthy farewell, Lucille broke free from her mother's embrace and joined the queue.

A young gentleman by the name of James Harrison saw Lucille unsuccessfully endeavouring to move her luggage and rushed to assist her onto the colossal ship. James admired the girl while hurrying to assist her.
She was attired in a simple lavender dress paired with a white tunic, matching her fair, porcelain-like complexion. Her signature champagne braids fell a little unevenly as a consequence of the coastal winds.
James' hair flopped over his eyes as he confidently took Lucille's luggage from her hand. Lucille subtly admired him in his act of kindness.
James was dressed in a white shirt, which was tucked neatly into a well-worn pair of corduroy trousers help up by seemingly ancient suspenders.
Once aboard the ship, the smell of fresh paint invaded their nostrils, jovial noise accompanied by faint classical music penetrated their ears, and scores of people their line of vision.

When they reached Lucille's cabin, E49, James put Lucille's case next to her bunk and bade her farewell.
"Stay," she insisted.
James was unquestionably pleased to hear that single word and took a seat.
They gave the cabin a cursory glance -it had two berths built into opposite walls, a shared dresser with a wash basin and a chaise lounge- then went off to explore the rest of the ship.
Lucille and James found their way to the dining room where they shared a pot of Harney & Sons black tea and fondly chatted for what simultaneously felt like a lifetime and a mere blink.
Within the unbeknown period of time, Lucille learnt that James was just shy of twenty-four and planning to move to the United States of America to work as a civil engineer. He spoke of his fascination of bridges and tunnels, stating he'd love to one day design and build them. When he mentioned he was working on the ship as an engineering officer, Lucille masked her disappointment of the news by inquiring how much leisure time the young man would have while aboard the ship. James assured her that he wouldn't be working any more than nine hours a day and there would be many a chance to meet again.

Four-thirty came quickly the next morning and James was due in the boiler room in just ten minutes. The boiler room brought on a hard day's work, with the first shift starting at four forty am and going through until two pm with a twenty-minute break between.
The atmosphere in boiler room 06 was humid, hot and dangerous. James watched on with angst as flammable fuels were menacingly close to the coal fire. James was christened the supervising coal trimmer upon arrival. The work was hard, the hours were long, and the wages were dismal, but James got through it with two things on his mind- his new life in San Francisco, and his next meeting with Lucille.

Lucille's day started later yet felt considerably longer. Drenched in boredom, she eagerly awaited her new-found friend to finish his shift in the boiler room.
The ship saw calm seas that day. Passengers and crew admired the sea creatures and the changing landscapes as the blue water met the distant horizon in contrasting hues.
"Astounding!" Lucille exhaled, glancing down at her old, eroding watch before extending her observations of the unknown; squinting her eyes and imagining all sorts of critters lurking around the sea-floor.
She was deep in thought when she heard a familiar whisper of her name. Awaking her body, she turned her head to find James.
"How was it?" Lucille asked expectantly, shifting her eyes in the direction of the first boiler room
"They had me in oh-six. It's hard work in there. I'm sure if I were there another minute I'd be roasted and ready for supper!" he joked
The couple of them exchanged details about their juxtaposing days before discussing dinner arrangements.
The following days were much the same. When James was working, Lucille could be found moping about the deck with a melancholy demeanor, which was often masked by her pretty smile.
When James wasn't working, the pair were inseparable.
Lucile and James were enjoying each other's company in the comfort of Lucille's cabin before James started his next shift -his last shift- when they felt it. The impact. The shudder. The square hit that changed many lives and ended so many more.
Rough seas, they assumed as Lucille waved James off to boiler room 06.
No one believed it at first. Not when they were warned, nor when they were marshalled onto the decks and lifeboats were being prepared. It was ludacris. No one believed that the ship was sinking until they saw it first hand. Only when water had begun pooling on the ship's lower decks did they believe it.

After that, chaos.

The band played on, keeping an artificially calm atmosphere.
Lucille rushed to the edge of the ship, watching women and children scrambling hysterically to get themselves onto lifeboats. She watched on, perturbed as the lifeboats left less-than-half full.
Crew members waved their arms, hats in hand, desperately trying to assert some sort of order among the uncontrollable passengers.
"WOMEN AND CHILDREN TO THE LEFT!" bellowed a tall round man.
"First class, first priority," declared a patronizing voice as a tall, brittle looking man pushed his way past a young mother and her child.
The sound of all instructions and means of assistance were swallowed by the wails of despairing people.
It was as if time was standing still. People were jumping. Taking their lives. Lucille watched on in a daze. She felt as if she were on the outside looking in, as if she were immortal, and in no danger.
"Miss, I suggest you get yourself to a lifeboat." said a crew member, breaking Lucille from her perplexed state as he gently tugged her arm in the right direction.
Panic arose from the depths of her stomach as she realised the severity of the situation. Desperately looking around for a sign of safety or familiarisation she began to hyperventilate.
In a state, Lucille found herself a wrecked deck chair, made of cedar and cane. After shortly assessing its ability to float, she climbed over the railing and vaulted off of the defeated ship, clutching the debris close to her body and bracing herself for the freezing impact.
A nearby party in a lifeboat witnessed her plummet, and paddled toward her in hopes of a successful rescue.
There Lucille laid, floating among the ice.
Closing her eyes, she reminisced the short life she had had. Satisfied, she let go. Her frozen corpse slid into the Atlantic waters, seconds before being pulled up by two strong arms.
Women and children rearranged themselves to make space as two women hauled Lucille's almost lifeless body into the boat and navigated their way to safety- away from the projectiles of the ship's priceless, once-regal materials.

James worked tirelessly through the unbelievably stifling heat in boiler room 06, incessantly moving and heaving coal into the furnace of the boiler room. All twenty-five of them did.
The team persisted through the foggy atmosphere, valiantly fighting to keep the RMS Titanic afloat. The brave crew proceeded to labour through the water that was beginning to pool in the confined space. As the boiler room continued flooding, the engineers exerted themselves, strongly working right until the ship submerged.
James felt a hollow sinking in his stomach as the ship began its descent and his impending death approached. He felt the immense pressure of the cold, cold ocean as it consumed him wholly, turning his skin to a soft shade of blue
Life peacefully ebbed from his body, teased by the gentle sway of the darkness that engulfed him.
With his lungs deprived of the precious air we breathe, the last thing on James' mind was Lucille and the life he could have had.
The epic ship took two hours and forty minutes to sink, and now lies at the depths of the Atlantic Ocean almost four kilometres, six-hundred kilometres from the nearest solid ground. Wrecked but peaceful, containing the lives of those whom tried so hard to keep her afloat.