"Unsinkable" I kept hearing in my head "unsinkable" The sound echoed painfully, over and over as I awoke in a strange room. I was nautious, sea sick it seemed. Harper was sitting at an antique vanity near the window. The decore of the room reminded me of great grandmas house.
"Well it's about time you came to. Dinner is to be served in the Dining Hall shortly." Harper smiled.
I groggily replied "I don't think I can eat just yet."
"Now come on, Eliza, you can't seriously expect me to dine alone. After all the bad food we ate on this trip you must be able to come have something." she said perfecting her perfectly outdated hair do. Why did she call me Eliza? I wondered.
"I suppose I can try."
"A bloody Mary surely will do the trick. Remember in Paris when we had that God aweful escargo! We were both terribly ill. The bloody Mary's the next morning put us right back on track. Oh...and Pierre! Paris was lovely wasn't it...Eliza?"
"Paris, oh yes of course. Could you help me choose an Evening dress?"
"Oh the red one you bought in Italy for sure. It is gorgeous. Minnie Vanderberg will be utterly green with envy when you show up to the country club in that one."
"Indeed" I muttered. Somehow, Minnie Vanderberg popped into my head as if I already knew her. Memories of Minnie along with Paris, Venice, Berlin, London and the rest of the stops along the way. Harper...not Harper, Betsy. Not my sister but my dearest best friend whom I had met in prep school in first grade. Betsy, whom I had went on my coming of age trip to see Europe. Father insisted I be cultured and well educated. He expected a girl of my caliber could marry a very wealthy young man, and I had several calling on me. None that had struck my fancy. I actually wanted to be a movie star. Mother would hear nothing of it but I always looked for ways to agrivate.
I followed Betsy's lead and became presentable. We headed down the walkways until we reached the dining hall. It was exquisit. The chandeliers, the spotless silverwear gilstened. The tink of crystal glasses toasting a beautiful maiden voyage. Getting a 1st class ticket on the RMS Titanic was a very pricey feat but Father said "Nothing but the best for his Eliza" We were seated at a table looking out over the water. It was cold out, the people on the decks were bundled up. The orchestra played the most beautiful melody but just as I began to relax and admire the Titanic and all her grander th e words UNSINKABLE resonated in my head.
Betsy flirted with the waiter and several young men seated near us. Normally I would be flirting and laughiing also but I couldn't seem to shake the uneasy feeling I had. Dinner was top notch, I had a night cap and retired to my cabin. Betsy preferred to stay up dancing and that seemed fine with me.
As soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep. "Unsinkable" Visions began to flicker in my head, life boats and vests, an iceberg, flares, A clock reading (11:40),a sleeping man near a radio, a gate closed and people beggin to be let out as water covered their feet, the Carpathia, freezing water, death. I was startled awake by the images. I had broke out in a cold sweat. I turned the light on, Betsy was not back yet. I looked to my watch, it was just after 10:00pm. I couldn't shake the feeling that my dream was more than just a dream. It felt omenous. The room felt errie and unsettling.
I took my long sweater from the closet and headed out to the deck. It was far more chilling outside than it had looked from the Dining Hall. I walked down the side of the ship. Some men were staring at me when I past by. I could smell whisky and cigars, they had clearly came from the smoking room. I decided it best to head off that deck, the nearest stairwell led to the second class deck.
The second class deck was nearly deserted. I sat down on a deck chair and quietly faded into the scenery and my thoughts. I don't know how long I sat there but long enough to not even notice the young man who had quietly stopped to light a cigarette. He was unlike the men I was accustomed to seeing. He was rugged and had long dark wavy hair. His clothes were that of a working class man. I felt somehow drawn to him. As if I knew him intimately.
"Where I come it's impolite to light up a cigarette in front of a lady and not offer one," I said as a matter of fact.
I seemed to have startled him. He turned, looked at me, and smiled, "Mam, where I come from it's considered impolite for a lady to smoke." I immediately knew why he felt so familiar, it was Sol.
"I suppose it's a good thing I'm not from where you are from" I replied standing up and walking over to him.
"Indeed" he grinnedm reached into his coat, removed a tin and box of matches, struck the match and lit my cigarette. " I'm Kellen"
I reached out and shook his hand, it was warm yet calloused and hard,"Eliza"
"So what's a lady like yourself doing out on this deck alone so late?"
"I had a nightmare. Have you ever had a dream so vivid you just couldn't shake the feeling it left you with?"
He nodded, "Doom"
I couldn't believe he had said that exact word. The exact word I was feeling. "Did...you...have the dream too?"
Again a nod. We didn't need to explain our dreams to one another, we just knew. This boat, the Grand Titanic, the Unsinkable, was going to sink and many people on this boat would not survive.
"Do you suppose it will happen tonight?"
He shrugged, "I have had the dreams since before we left. I pleaded with my parents to not leave Scotland on this boat. Mother said they had saved for too long to not go. America is suppose to be the land of opportunity. I pray we will see it. My uncle has a farm in America and we will work the fields. Are you from America?"
"I am. I have lived in New York City my whole life."
"It will happen at (11:40), I saw the clock in my dream."
He pulled out his pocket watch and stared at it..."it's nearly that time"
"there isn't enough life boats for the amount of people on this boat"
We looked over to the lifeboats we could see, I continued, "the radio person on the other boats will sleep through the distress calls. The flares will be mistaken for fireworks. and they will lock the gates leaving the lower class people to drown."
His face suddenly turned to panic. "The third class?"
"Yes. When the boat hits the berg, stay out of third class. But needn't worry about that, you and your family are in the second class quarter, right?"
He shook his head, "I must go warn my family."
"Kellan, bring them all back here. I have first class privalige will have priority on the life boats."
"Aye" he nodded.
He turned and headed to the stairwell opposite the way I was going. I ran up the stairs to the first class deck. I opened the door to the dance hall. Betsy was not there. I ran down the corridor to one of the parlor.
Luckily she was there playing cards.
She looked surprised to see me, "Eliza, is something the matter?"
"Um, yes, it's urgent. Could I see you outside please?"
Puzzled by my behavior Betsy got up and came out into the hall with me.
I wasn't sure how I would word this in a way that wouldn't make me sound like a mad woman. But then I remembered that this wasn't our first experience with the phenomanon of precognition. "Bets, remember when we were young and you knew Agnes was going to drown in that lake?"
"Well, yes but why?"
"I have been having dreams about this ship sinking. We will hit an iceberg and..."
"Eliza, they say this ship is unsinkable."
"Isn't that arrogant of them? Perhaps that is why it will sink. They haven't enough life boats we must be near the boats first thing. Betsy, people are going to die!"
"It's just a dream"
"It is NOT just a dream! I just know, same way you just knew about Agnes."
"Ok, ok when do you belive this will happen?" As she spoke those words the ship suddenly jolted us side ways into the wall.
"Now" I said in a terrified quiver. I grabbed her arm and we ran to our cabin where we knew there was life vests for each of us. We quickly threw them on and grabbed a few personal belongings and we headed to the deck near the boats. People were mingling and wondering what had startled them out of their slumber. Panic had not set in yet. Perhaps because they had the preconcieved notion that Titanic was unsinkable. We looked a fool in our vests but better safe than sorry.
"Bets, I need to go down to the second class deck for a moment. I must check on a friend I made and his family."
She shook her head okay and I ran down the stairwell back to the place I had met Keenan. he was not there. My heart sank. Had they already began locking those poor people up? Then I heard a yell from across the ship near the stairs.
"Eliza!" Kellen waved at me. A steward was standing atop the stairs and not allowing anyone to come up.
"Merely precautionary sir, I cannot let anyone move from lower decks to upper decks until we have assessed the situation thouroughly." The steward explained.
Kellen looked at me with desperation. Alone with him was five children, his brothers and sisters I supposed. More shockingly was the fact that they were our five children just at different ages and stages. The twins were babies, Alexis was a young woman, Sebastian and Griffen about five and four.
"Sir, excuse me but those are my siblings. I am a first class passenger, here look at my ticket." he took my ticket and peered at it closely. "I do apologize but they made a friend in thrid class and wished to spend the night down there. Mother though it would be beneficial for them to see how fortunate we are. Now Mother is beside herself with fear that they will be separated. Please allow me to take my siblings back up to our parents."
He looked at the children. Looked at me then opened the gate and let the children by. As he handed me one of the twins the steward replied "I'm sorry, sir. Third class passengers must still stay on their own deck."
Kellen nodded, looked me deeply in the eyes as if to stay, please take care of them. He knew he would not make it out of this alive and the only hope he had to live on was through those children.
"Mam, you really should be heading back up to your deck."
"Yes, of course. Thank you" I lead the children back to Betsy, I didn't seem to need to explain them any further. Life vests were handed out to the children and after a few hrs of waiting the began to load us into the boats.
I never did see Kellen again. when we were rescued by the Carpathia and brough into new york Mother and Father breathed a sigh of relief. They were so touched by the story of how I saved the children that they dopted and raised the children themselves. I died a few years later from the spanish flu. When I left that body ridden with fever and gasping for air Sol in spirit form took my hand and led me into the light. Just then I awoke.
I was back in Sam and Reubens bed. Harper lay sick and feverish in the bed next to me. Not of the spanish flu and not of drowing on that ship just sick from the Death Angel virus. Sol was at my bedside and I was feeling very hungry and weak.
"I had the weirdest dream" I murmerred..."I was on the Titanic..."
