April 10, 1912
She was running late…again. But this
time, no one could save her. The famous ship, the Titanic, that she was travelling
on, was set to set sail in exactly twenty five minutes and she was way behind.
Keeping her pace up was hard, especially when her shoes were untied, and her
long brown hair had just come undone.
She had spent all day fixing it, too.
She bent down to tie up her shoes.
The laces were slowly coming loose. Why does this have to happen now? Hannah
wondered with a soft groan, before she stood up and started to walk again.
She was only a few blocks away from
the docking spot at Southampton where the Titanic was docked…only for twenty
two more minutes, she noticed, staring at the stopwatch she carried in her
only piece of luggage that she had slung over her slender shoulder.
Four years ago, Hannah lost both her
parents in a boat collision. It was very hard for Hannah to take this trip,
but she needed to go to New York to make a better life for herself. Life in
England had been hard, especially the last few years. After her parents died,
since Hannah had no other family, she was left on her own. Most of the time
she slept on the streets, and looked for jobs during the day. But in England,
there were no job opportunities.
In New York she had been offered a
huge job offer with a highly successful firm, and she couldn’t wait to get
started.
At age 18, Hannah Jobane was gorgeous,
despite all her misfortune. She had gotten her mothers looks : Long brown
hair, dark brown eyes, and a slender figure. But the slender figure was getting
more slender everyday since she wasn’t exactly eating a lot. With no money
and no shelter, how could she get any food?
Hannah quickly glanced at her ticket
to board the Titanic, which was hanging just inside her jacket pocket. The
jacket and the watch were the only things she really had. The jacket had been
keeping her warm for God knows how long.
She had been lucky, Hannah thought,
getting the ticket. She couldn’t have possibly told the company that just
hired her that she was poor, and that she couldn’t afford transportation to
New York. Thank God Hannah’s only friend, Marie, had found out about her friend’s
situation. And knowing how poor and unlucky her friend had been lately, Marie
secretly bought a ticket and claimed that she couldn’t go because of some
engagement that had just come up. Hence, she offered Hannah the ticket. Hannah,
who never liked to take charity, believed Marie’s story, and reluctantly took
the ticket.
And now here Hannah was; running fast
with her long legs, praying that she would get there in time before the ship
left the port.
Ten minutes.
Hannah swore she almost stopped breathing.
She ran up the long corridor, that reached to the door where passengers were
being let in. She ran a hand through her hair, thankful she had made it. She
didn’t think she could do it.
The crew man greeted her with a fresh
smile. When he noticed Hannah was breathing hard, he put a hand on her shoulder
before taking her ticket. “You know you just barely made it,” he said, looking
over her ticket. After handing it back to her, he said, “just go in, and one
of the stewards will show you the way.”
Hannah smiled warmly. “Thank you.”
She jumped inside the ship, and made her way to room G13.
Hannah didn’t care that she was in
third class. When in her life did she have luxury? It was very nice, compared
to the dirty streets she’d been sleeping on the last few years.
Glancing around, Hannah noticed that
there were a lot of people. Little did she know how many people were actually
on board. She walked around third class, looking for a sign on the door that
told her G12. Once she found it, she pulled open the door and was greeted
by a young woman and her son.
“I’m Lisa, and this is my son, Johnny.”
“It’s very nice to meet you.” Hannah
stuck out her hand and greeted them both. “I’m Hannah.”
“You can have whatever bunk you want,”
Lisa said.
In their room, there were two bunk
beds. Lisa was sitting on the bottom of one, holding Johnny in her arms. Hannah
realized now that she wasn’t the only poor person on this ship. Lisa was
wearing a dress that looked much older than her, and her son was covered up
in a blanket. It was times like this that Hannah thought back to when her
parents were alive, and she was one of the richest girls in the world.
*****
“I can’t believe you dragged me on
this ship!” Lance muttered to his four friends.
They had just checked into their first
class suite, on A Deck.
“Hey man, we’re going to New York,”
his friend, Joey said. Joey was originally from New York, but had moved to
Florida a short while ago. He never missed an opportunity to visit his hometown.
“But it’s so damn crowded!” Lance
said. “Couldn’t we just take some other form of transportation?” He did not
want to be here. Sure, Lance was happy about the new recording contract him
and his four friends had gotten from a huge New York label. But it didn't
mean he had to like staying on this ship for six days, and have to deal with
the hundreds of people on it.
“No,” one of his other friends, Chris,
said. He was usually the funny one, but since Lance had been complaining
the whole trip so far, he wasn’t in the mood to be sarcastic or funny.
Lance, normally the quiet and shy
one, was being very talkative so far this trip. But his use of vulgar language
was starting to bother the four guys.
“Come on, man,” Justin said, unlocking
the door to one of the suites. They all had separate suites, except for Joey
and Lance, who were sharing one. Someone had to watch Lance, just to make
sure he didn’t jump off the back of the ship.
One look inside the room had all five
of them gasping. It was a lot nicer than they thought it would be.
“Dude, a mini bar,” Joey said.
Of course, that was the first thing
he’d notice, Lance thought, who had to admit that this might not be so bad.
The inside of the ship certainly looked a lot nicer on the inside. He wasn’t
trying to be grumpy about the whole situation, but after his breakup with
his girlfriend, he hadn’t really been in the mood. The only good thing that
came out of the breakup with Janine had been the many songs he had been able
to write within the last few months. And because of those songs, and the
talent that he and his four friends had as a singing group, was now providing
them with an opportunity of a lifetime.
JC, the sleepy one of the group, was
completely wide awake for a change and couldn’t wait to check out the rest
of the ship. But only because he had had loads of coffee on the cab right
over. “I say we check out the smoking room,” he suggested, which caused a
few raised eyebrows from his friends.
“You? The smoking room? Why would
you want to go there?” Chris asked.
“I heard some cool things about it,” JC
replied. “Anyone wanna come with?”
“No,” Lance said, shaking his head.
“I think I’ll just sit here.”
“Come on man,” Justin said. “Why don’t
we go out on the boat deck and watch us sail away from this place?”
“Good idea,” Joey agreed, who was
already chewing on an expensive looking piece of cheese.
Lance groaned. “Fine.” He was defeated
once the others all agreed on Justin’s idea. Even JC agreed to wait to check
out the smoking room.