FINDING LOVE IN THE PAST
Chapter Ten
They turned to the door on their
left. The first thing Lily became aware of was the sudden drop in temperature.
It felt as if they had just walked into a freezer. She directed her gaze to the
sky. There were stars everywhere, but no moon to be seen. She ran into James,
which made her direct her thoughts back to the ship. The tilt of the ship was
now more distinct. She looked around. There were no signs of any passengers
from third class, just first and a small number of second.
"Lily, stay close. I don’t
want to lose you."
Lily nodded and took hold of his
hand. There were four lifeboats to their left. One of them had already left,
and one of the other three was just being uncovered. They decided to walk
farther down to find a lifeboat that was already taking on passengers.
While they were walking downward
toward the front of the ship, James hoped there would be a boat. He also knew
that he wasn’t allowed on. When he had summoned that book about the Titanic,
days ago, he had read that women and children were, at first, the only ones
allowed to enter the lifeboats. He had to make sure that Lily would get to a
lifeboat. He realized that if he wasn’t on one of the lifeboats once they were
all gone, his chances of survival in the ocean were slim.
"James!"
"What?"
"There are no more boats
down here."
James looked ahead of them. There
were no more boats toward the bow. They had just passed the band, which was
playing at the entrance to the gymnasium, when they heard a noise. Everyone
looked up and saw a huge signal flare light up the sky and then die down just
as quickly as it went up.
"Time is running out,"
Lily said.
"Come on. Let’s go back.
There were some lifeboats near the back of the ship." They took off
towards the back of the ship as fast as they could without colliding into other
passengers. On the left side of the ship there was only one boat that was
loading passengers, while the two next to it were being lowered.
They got in line for the
lifeboat. Lily thought that her nightmare of this night was almost over until
she heard the officer in charge.
"Women and children
only."
Lily gasped and looked at James.
"What does he mean by women and children only?"
James looked at her. "Well,
the rule is that women and children get on the lifeboats first. I’m sorry I
didn’t tell you sooner. I didn’t want you to worry."
"But he said only. That
means he’s not letting any men on." Before James could say anything, she
added, "James, I’m either going in a lifeboat with you or not at
all."
"Lily, you have to get in
the lifeboat."
"No. I won’t leave
you."
"I’ll get in another
lifeboat," James said reassuringly. "But you have to get in this
one."
Lily looked at James. "I
know how this story ends." She lowered her voice. "About how there
aren’t enough lifeboats. That’s why I’m not leaving you."
The officer shouted out again,
"Women and children only! Stand back, sir," he said to a man.
James said softly, "Lily,
please, don’t make this harder than it already is."
"Your turn, Miss." The
officer turned to Lily and held out his hand.
Lily looked at the officer, then
at James. "Don’t make me do this, James."
"Lily, you have to get into
the lifeboat. Listen." Lily faced him. "I love you. I’ll feel better
if you’re in the lifeboat where you’re safe."
"But what about you?"
"I’ll be fine. I’ll get into
a lifeboat. Don’t worry." James smiled and kissed her on the lips, then
asked, "Please, can you get in the lifeboat?"
Lily said, reluctantly,
"Fine. Your kisses are going to be the end of me."
The officer took hold of Lily’s
hand and helped her get into the lifeboat. Once Lily was seated, the officer
gave orders to lower the lifeboat.
James watched Lily as the
lifeboat was being lowered to the black ocean. "I love you, Lily."
Lily said out loud, "I love
you, too." Lily raised her voice and said, "James Potter, I’d better
see you again, or else…" The lifeboat was too far away and James couldn’t
hear the rest of the sentence.
When the lifeboat Lily was on
rowed away from view, James turned around and thought to himself, Now what
do I do?