THE UNEXPECTED COINCIDENCE
Chapter Nine
For what seemed like hours, the
two clung to each other, the panic settling within their hearts as they
realized the magnitude of the situation.
"Come. We must think of a
plan," Daniel instructed, running a hand through his dark hair tiredly.
"Rose will go and get Jack, I am sure of it, so we don’t have to worry
about them," he added, pulling away from Keisha and starting to pace the
room restlessly.
"Well, we need to worry
about us, Daniel. They will not let a black woman on the lifeboats. I doubt
they will even let steerage on. After all, there aren’t enough lifeboats for
all of us," Keisha said, thinking logically, resting comfortably on the
crimson chaise lounge.
His mind seemed void of any
solutions to their predicament. He was not a stupid man. He knew the uproar he
would cause by bringing a colored woman on deck to wait for a lifeboat, of all
things. Their only chance was to try to wait for a boat to come to rescue the
survivors of the shipwreck. This seemed like a very shaky solution, as the
water was freezing and they would need something for them both to stay afloat
on.
Keisha was looking at him with
her large chocolate pools, waiting for him to present an answer to their
troubles.
"We will stay on the boat
for as long as we can. When the ship goes down, we will have to find something
to keep afloat with," Daniel said, noticing the skepticism in her eyes
when hearing his plan.
"Admittedly, it is not the
wisest course of action," Daniel conceded, watching as Keisha raised an
eyebrow at his statement. "But it is the only choice we have--to wait for
a boat to rescue us," he finished, wringing his hands together, praying
she would agree.
"Okay, then. But we must
dress warmly. In as little layers as possible. If we do go in the water, it
will not be good to weigh ourselves down," she said, standing up and
pecking him on the cheek with her lips before disappearing into her room.
It took several moments to
realize what he had to do before he could shake himself out of his trance. This
is no time to be daydreaming, he said to himself as he wandered into his
elegant bedroom, feeling a pang of sadness as he realized this would all be at
the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean soon.
Struck by inspiration, Daniel
reached under his bed to a small bottle of whiskey he kept with him just in
case he felt the need to forget about everything for a while.
Grabbing a sheepskin coat--and
slipping the whiskey inside one of the pockets--some fur-lined gloves, and a
white scarf, Daniel hastily walked into the sitting room whilst putting on the
said garments. Keisha emerged a few seconds later from the other room, wearing
a fully-covering dress and a brown overcoat.
Daniel grabbed her gloved hand,
leading her to one of the chaise lounges, promptly sitting himself down and
sitting the African beauty on his lap. There were no words spoken, just the two
of the cuddling against each other, ears straining to hear anything out of the
ordinary from the corridors and their eyes occasionally drifting over to the
elegant clock on the wall.
They both noticed that they were
starting to slant downwards, though they tried not to acknowledge it.
Ignorance really is bliss, he mused to himself, fiddling with a lock
of Keisha’s ebony curls, breathing her rose-like fragrance.
"It’s getting too dangerous
to stay in here," Keisha commented after what seemed like an eternity, but
the clock read 1:52 AM. The degree of the floor was now high, giving both of
them a sense of the impending doom that would soon befall them.
"You’re right. We need to
get to the deck, to try and stay above water as long as possible, and we can’t
do that if we are crushed in this room!" he exclaimed. The room itself was
starting to show damp patches along one wall, adjacent to the floor, giving him
a sense of urgency.
Propelling himself out of the
chair he was lounging on, Daniel grabbed Keisha’s hand and turned towards the
door, hesitating slightly before moving back towards his bedroom, ignoring the
confused look he received.
He came back into the luxurious
room carrying a wide-brimmed fedora hat that his uncle had purchased for him on
his many travels across the world.
Walking back over to ebony-haired
woman, he thrust the hat on her head, quickly undoing the plait she held her
glossy locks in so that her face was quite effectively concealed.
"Not everyone is so tolerant
towards colored people, I am afraid," he whispered to her, idly playing
with one of the tresses of hair. "This should help us avoid attracting
unwanted attention, though I can’t imagine many people being interested in
anything but their own survival tonight."
Keisha grimaced, but nodded,
accepting the necessity of concealment.
Walking into one of the closets,
he grabbed the lifebelts that were stacked neatly atop a wooden shelf, slipping
one on himself and passing the other to Keisha as he went back into the room.
With one final look at his
companion, he grabbed her gloved hand and opened the door, finding the
green-carpeted corridors deserted, the lights flickering out periodically.
Looking around the corridors, the
dark-haired man felt a pang of fear enter his heart before promptly ignoring
it, trying to focus on survival.
"Let’s go against the
slant," he stated, trying his best to keep his voice light. Keisha
snorted, both of them realizing that the humor was only a tactic to prevent
themselves form panicking.
Dragging Keisha along, Daniel
brought them to the end of the white-paneled corridor, wincing slightly as the
ship groaned again under the pressure.
Barely recognizing the corridors
in the failing light, Daniel maneuvered them so they entered the flooding first
class staircase, just as the lights flickered out for the last time.
Frightened by the cries of the
helpless and stunned by the feeling of animosity he held towards the failing
ship, he immediately rushed them up the marble stairs, not wanting to waste
another minute in the doomed interior of the liner.
Keisha tugged the brim of her
black hat further down and turned up the collar on her coat, hiding her face
from view even more. Together, they rushed to the deck.
They both gazed momentarily at
the star-studded sky, entranced by the burning balls of gas trillions of miles
away, wondering if they would join the departed souls in heaven tonight.
Shaking his head, he grabbed
Keisha’s hand again and dragged her towards the stern of the ship. Pushing
other people out of the way, they reached the white railing the bordered the
edge of the ship. Word traveled quickly that the lifeboats had all gone. The
sense of impending doom smothered the remaining passengers in panic.
"Come on. Let’s climb
over," Daniel said, noticing Keisha struggling to stay upright as they
rose further from the water.
He swung his legs over the rail
and forced himself against gravity so that he was leaning against the rail on
the other side, feeling slightly safer, even though he was dangling over the
edge of a ship.
"Come on, Keisha. You’re
next," he said, noticing the terror that entered her eyes.
He started to speak, but was cut
short as she was flung out of his grasp, pushed aside by a stout man dressed in
white, who quickly came to claim a space near him on the other side of the
rail.
He watched her grab the air
fruitlessly, attempting to come back to him. She slipped on the floor, looking
scared as she was forced back by the crowds.
She was gone.
Jack and Rose quickly joined him
at the stern, though he couldn’t find a greeting for them. His throat was
constricted with shock, unable to think of anything but the girl who was cruelly
thrown from his arms.
A sickening crunch distracted
him, causing him to clench the rail tighter out of his own fear. The ship
seemed to be splitting in half under the stress to the hull, he realized.
He cried out in fright as the
stern came rushing back down to the water, desperately trying to hold on.
His chocolate eyes widened in
fear as the stern rose once more, until it was vertical, surprisingly stopping
in mid-air.
"I guess this is the
end," he murmured to himself, withdrawing the bottle of whiskey from his
pocket and gulping down the amber liquid that set fire to his throat.
Shuddering as the alcohol fuelled
his body, he flung the empty bottle down towards the water, trying to ignore
the urge to vomit.
"This is why I hate
whiskey," he moaned, his alcohol-induced state not yet realizing that the
ship had started its final descent into the glossy water.
The cold hit him as soon as he
hit the water, yet he found it bearable, even though he was fully submerged in
the water now, the suction of the ship dragging him down.
Realizing he had to kick to the
surface, he pumped his legs ferociously, his lungs aching, in dire need of
oxygen.
He gasped in the crisp air as
soon as his head penetrated the surface. His ears were instantly assaulted with
futile cries for help by all those in the deathly cold water.
Sluggishly, he swam away from the
throng of freezing bodies, not wanting to be dragged down by panicked people.
His eyes focused on a piece of
floating debris in front of him, one that seemed to be awaiting him. Suddenly
tired, he hauled himself out of the water, thankful that he was out of the
freezing cold.
His eyes slipped closed into a
dreamless sleep, mostly due to the alcohol that was cruising around his veins.
*****
Daniel awoke as light hit his
face, causing him to blink repeatedly, wishing the offending subject would
leave him alone and let him sleep. A terrible headache had formed and the
torch, or whatever it was, only intensified the pain.
Still under its painful scrutiny,
he sat up on what he thought was the most uncomfortable bed he had ever slept
on, also confused by the water that was lapping so close to him.
The memories of the night seemed
to drive into his mind at once. The sinking, Keisha gone, the alcohol.
Groaning, he suddenly heard a distinct
Welsh accent calling out to him.
"It’s okay. We are coming
for you. Don’t panic."
He lay back down on the debris,
willing the pain to leave him.
A pair of hands suddenly grabbed
his soaked coat, causing him to squirm in discomfort. He suddenly realized he
was being hauled inside a boat and immediately covered in blankets before being
pushed down to a laying position, all the time being given reassurances by the
strangely familiar Welsh voice.
Daniel breathed a shaky sigh of
relief, realizing that he was, at last, safe.