SURVIVING THE HEARTBREAK
Chapter One
Adele looked out the window of the cab. There
were heavy clouds in the sky and it looked as if it was going to rain. Adele
smiled at the thought of rain and looked down at her simple black dress. It was
one of the only dresses she owned and was a bit shabby. But Adele didn't care.
'God, please help me to be strong,' she silently prayed as she sat, alone with
her thoughts. A sudden jerk of the car brought her back to present.
"That will be .30 miss," The cab
driver said, turning around. Adele pulled out the money and handed it to the
man. She got out of the car and it sped away. 'I wish I could do that.' She
thought. 'Go away and leave everyone behind.' But a thought came to her mind as
she thought of her father. He would be disappointed in her if she ever did
anything like that to herself. Adele put her hand over the heart shaped locket
that was handing from her neck. It was one of the only nice things she owned.
Her parents had given it to her for her eighteenth birthday last year. A month
before they set sail on Titanic. The locket had her parent's pictures in it.
The only reminder she had of them. She took a deep breath and started up the
church steps. Adele walked into the church and saw that it was about half full
already. She sat down next to a young man about twenty with dark blond hair. A
few minutes later, the priest came up and started talking. The church fell
silent.
"I want to thank you all for coming here
today." The priest started. He started going on, thanking God for bringing
all the Titanic survivors here and for the safely of everyone. Then he started
naming all the people who had died and lighting a candle for each one.
'God, I should have never come. This is too
hard. To many reminders.' Adele thought as she listened to the priest read off
names. 'So many people,' She thought sadly.
"…Mr. and Mrs. James Brower…" Adele
burst into tears. The boy next her looked over and saw Adele crying
hysterically. He put his arm around her.
"Shh. It's okay." He whispered over
and over. Adele was surprised at first, but then she leaned into him, accepting
the fact that he was there to comfort her. She cried into his shirt. The man
just keep repeating comporting words over and over to her. He looked around. He
could see other people crying and many people were getting up to stand in the
back because they were crying so hard. The man looked down at the girl who he
was comforting. She had dark blond hair and was a small skinny little thing. He
wondered what exactly she thought of him for just coming out of the blue and
being there for her and hoped she was going to be okay. The rest of the service
passed, but Adele barely noticed.
'I should have never come. I don't need this.
I thought I was free from this already. Why is this pain still so strong.' When
the service was over, Adele waited till the church was quiet before picking her
head up. She looked at the person who had come to her aid.
"Thank you." She said.
"You're welcome. I hope you're okay. You
gave me quite a scare. Now, what's your name?" He told her.
"Adele Brower." She told him
sniffling.
"Oh, so the people he mentioned
were…"
"My parents. God I miss them so much.
They were my only family." Adele told him and began to cry softly this
time.
"Shh. Adele. Tell you what. How about we
go get some flowers and do you have somewhere where some sort of graves
are?" Adele shook her head.
"No."
"Well I have an idea. Let's go get some
flowers and go down to Pier 54. Do you think you can do that?" Adele
nodded and then smiled.
"You are being so nice to me and I don't
even know your name."
"Oh I am sorry. It's Luke. Luke
Bradshaw. My brother died on the Titanic. My parents have been dead since I was
about fifteen." Adele was immediately sad for him.
"I am so sorry. You must miss everyone
terribly." Adele said. Luke gave a little smile.
"Yeah, I miss them a lot. But hey, I
thought we were going to go get flowers." Adele nodded and stood up with
Luke.