CONVICTED
Chapter Seven
I didn’t even get a chance to
register my surprise before I hit the icy cold water of the North Atlantic. I
couldn’t move, the water was so cold. Jack won that bet; it does hit you like a
thousand knives stabbing you all over your body. I shrank away from the surface
and the only thing I could think about was the pain I was in. I shut my eyes
and waited for death to take its toll.
*****
Jack jumped onto the railing and
tried to reach for my hand, but missed. The rich man who had pushed me over looked
pleased with himself.
"You bastard!" Jack
roared, and tackled him.
After a moment, Jack stood up and
looked for a floatation device of some kind. There was one hanging on the side
of the ship. Jack took it off, tied the rope end to the railing of the ship,
and jumped over the side with the flotation device in his arms.
"Oh, shit!" he cursed
the freezing water.
Jack took a deep breath and dove
under. The water was clear, so he easily spotted me and pulled me up. He broke
the surface and climbed back up the side of the ship using the rope.
Moments later, we were both
onboard and I coughed up seawater.
*****
Jack was asking me questions, but
each word went in one ear and out the other. After a moment or so, I caught
most of what he was saying.
"Hang on. Somebody’s
coming," he said encouragingly.
I could only nod, but I was
frozen to the bone. A couple of stewards came and put some blankets around me.
"A man pushed her overboard!
I wanted him arrested!" Jack yelled, trying to warm me up with his hands.
"Sir, I’m sure it was just
an accident," one steward replied.
"Hell, no, it wasn’t a
bloody accident!" Jack yelled again.
"Sir, why don’t you go back
inside and keep her warm? We will handle the situation," another steward
suggested.
Jack fumed and reluctantly
steered me back inside. We went into our cabin, and by the time we got there, I
was warm.
"Thanks, Jack," I said,
climbing into the bottom bunk.
"Not a problem. Can I have
those blankets?" he asked, shivering.
I immediately tore them off and
wrapped the blankets around him. He shivered a bit and then stopped.
I fidgeted a little bit as he
smiled. He moved in a little and began to kiss me. Suddenly, the door was flung
open and a man ran in, yelling something in a foreign language. I was forced away
from Jack and we stared at the hysterical man.
"Okay, slow down and try
speaking slowly," Jack commanded, standing up.
The man seemed to talk faster,
and he disappeared down the hallway.
"Come on," Jack said.
We ran down the hallway until we
met with a huge crowd, both rich and poor, gathered in the main hallway. The
captain was about to give a speech.
"Now, nobody worry, but some
of our engines aren’t working properly, so we are turning back to
Ireland…" Before the captain could finish his speech, there were shouts of
outrage.
"Jack! We can’t go back!
They’ll arrest you again!" I said in a hysterical whisper.
A few of the stewards looked
panic-stricken. One of them whispered something in the captain’s ear. The
captain gave a nod and the men disappeared up the stairway.
"It must be done, ladies and
gentlemen. My crew has already begun turning around," the captain said.
I put my hand on my forehead and
sighed.
"Oh, no. What do we
do?"
The captain gave a speech for a
half hour, telling us how the procedure was going to go and that we would be
put on another ship to America. But suddenly, something happened. It seemed we
were picking up speed.
Before the captain could register
any kind of explanation, there was a loud noise of iron being crushed. People
suddenly began to panic and the captain raced up the steps.
"Everyone, please go and get
your lifebelts on!" a steward ordered, and ran after the captain.
People suddenly began to push and
shove past each other, all of them panicking.
"Jack! It’s happening again!"
I nearly screamed.
"No, Marie! No, it’s not!
I’m sure we just scraped some rocks or something!" Jack said, trying to
sound calm, but I could hear the panic in his voice.
One of the crew members walked
by.
"Sir, please, tell me!
What’s happened?"
The man stopped abruptly and
turned to me.
"A couple of our own crew
members steered the ship right into some rocks and ice and then took one of the
lifeboats off the ship. It crushed a lot of the bottom. The ship is going to
sink."