CONVICTED
Chapter Five
I woke up the next morning when a
beam of sunlight shone in from a broken window.
"Jack…come on. It’s time to
get up," I said, shaking his arm.
He woke with a start and yawned
widely. He smiled at me and offered his arm. I smiled back and pulled him to
his feet.
"We’d better get
going," he said, heading for the door.
"Um…Jack?"
"Yeah?"
"Maybe I should go out
first."
He stopped at the door and laughed.
"Yeah. Probably."
Jack pulled a coat over his head,
like that was any use, and I went out the door. The Triplicate, our ship, was
already at the docks and loading people on board. This ship was about half the
size of the Titanic, but it was still filled with snobbish rich people who
didn’t seem to care about what had happened to the Titanic.
I tugged on Jack’s jacket and we
maneuvered through the crowd of people who were waving good-bye to their loved
ones who were going on the ship. Some were crying, as if they were terrified
that the same thing could happen to their loved ones like on the Titanic.
I shuddered at the thought and
pushed Jack up a ramp. Once we were climbing up, he pulled off his jacket and
we talked to one of the officers. I handed him our tickets.
"Have you gone through the
inspection queue?" he asked.
"Twice," I said, and
the officer nodded, letting the two of us on board.
Jack fixed his hair and we walked
through the cramped hallways, looking for our cabin. When we found it, the room
was completely empty, people wise. Jack jumped up on the top bunk and tossed
his stuff on his pillow.
"Oh, sure. Give me the
bottom bunk," I said with a smile.
"Last time you fell off the
top bunk. Remember?" Jack asked, laughing.
I rubbed the back of my head.
"Oh, yeah. Still feeling
that."
I placed my stuff on my bunk and
Jack and I went to the top deck. We waved good-bye to all the people and soon
the ship was setting sail. I went to the front of the ship and sat on the white
railing.
Jack sat beside me and took my
hand.
"Nothing will happen this
time. We’re gonna get to Maine and live good, happy lives," he said,
giving my hand a light squeeze.
"How can you be so
sure?" I asked.
"Because I’m right here to
make sure nothing happens."
"I can always count on you
to be my hero, can’t I?"
Jack puffed out his chest with
pride.
"Of course you can."
Slowly, the town began to
disappear once more, as I remembered it from the Titanic. But my heart was
filled with dread at being back on another ship.
What happened if something went
wrong?
I looked at all the lifeboats
stretched out along the side of the ship, and then at all the people who were
walking about merrily.
"Come Josephine in my
flying machine, going up she goes, up she goes…" Jack sang quietly.
I couldn’t help but smile.