The journey on Titanic.
A survivor's story.
The Titanic was the most beautiful thing I had seen in my entire life.
I had never been on a ship before and neither had Miss Eleanor. Of course, Miss Eleanor was complaining that the ship was not nearly grand enough, she is, sorry she was, a very ungrateful young lady.
The rooms were beautiful, decorated with crystal chandeliers and Mahogany banisters; I couldn't believe that the Heatherington family had allowed me to stay in a first class cabin.
The third class passengers were all shunted to the bottom to see their cabins. The staff showed us the dining room and it was wonderful. So fancy! I'd never seen anything like it.
I'd grown up in a very poor family who had scraped to live on what the Heatherington family had paid them for generations. I had only had a couple of years of quite poor education. I would have killed for the chances that Miss Eleanor had had. She certainly took her very generous opportunities for granted.
When we boarded the Titanic I was treated like such a lady and it was amazing, just because I was traveling first class they were such gentlemen.
As I entered my cabin I just kept walking around staring because it was so spectacular. The rich velvety sheets and comfortable carpet to scrunch your toes on, I couldn't resist slipping my shoes off (which were killing me) and indulging myself. I jumped on the bed and rolled around in the covers. Very unladylike I know but living in the lap of luxury is something that happens on very rare occasions.
As I waved to the coachman, I wondered what would be happening to me within the next few days. Whatever it was, I was sure that I was going to have a wonderful time.
We all had a meal that night which was a very enjoyable affair. Until, that is, Miss Eleanor shouted "ELIZABETH, I WOULD LIKE TO AUJORNE NOW", so of course, I had to go to her room with her and help her with her corset, and brush her hair, and basically everything else she asked me to do. I then snuck up to the deck to look at the ocean, it was spectacular.
I allowed the sea breeze to enter my nostrils, it was an exhilarating experience.
Later that evening, when the movement had passed, I got changed and allowed myself to slump right into my bed and hope to never come out of the wonderfully comfortable covers But I thought that in vain.
I was woken up the next morning by Miss Eleanor screaming that her luggage had not been taken care of properly. I got up, pressed her clothes and began getting dressed myself.
I found my way to the café on deck and had my breakfast alone. As I was finishing my pot of tea, a young lady came over and asked, "May I join you?" I said that she could and we along immediately.
But then I heard...
"ELIZABETH, WHY AREN'T YOU GETTING MY EVNEING CLOTHES?" and with that she stomped away.
"I must ...
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I was woken up the next morning by Miss Eleanor screaming that her luggage had not been taken care of properly. I got up, pressed her clothes and began getting dressed myself.
I found my way to the café on deck and had my breakfast alone. As I was finishing my pot of tea, a young lady came over and asked, "May I join you?" I said that she could and we along immediately.
But then I heard...
"ELIZABETH, WHY AREN'T YOU GETTING MY EVNEING CLOTHES?" and with that she stomped away.
"I must go", I said in a hurried voice, "I'm sorry Samantha bet her parents will be most cross if they find out".
"Why do you let her treat you like that?" Samantha asked in total bewilderment, "You deserve to be treated with respect as she is younger than you".
"Well", I said, "It's a better living than a lot of other people"; I walked away and started towards mine and Miss Eleanor's rooms. At once, she was complaining about my tardiness. I walked past her to the wardrobe and picked out the most beautiful dress I could have ever imagined. I heard a door slam behind me which told me that Miss Eleanor had returned from complaining to her parents about me.
"I don't want to wear that old purple rag! I want to wear the green dress", she said in disgust.
So, I put back the beautiful dress, the one I had loved since I first saw it, and got out the green one.
On our way down to the dining room I spotted Samantha and waved to her. Miss Eleanor slapped my hand down and gave me a stern look.
At dinner that night, I sat as far away as possible from Miss Eleanor. I ate in silence and returned to my room and put the 'DO NOT DISTURB' sign on the door because I needed some rest.
I couldn't even remember my head touching the pillow when I heard the familiar scream of Miss Eleanor.
"GET MY CLOTHES READY", she screeched, "because", shed added airily, "I'm due for a Luncheon with the charming Mr. Elliot Brigsbyworth".
"Yes, of course", I thought to myself, "Mr. Brigsbyworth, the only young man that could actually put up with Miss Eleanor, I mentally slapped myself for thinking such a thing. I trailed after Miss Eleanor all that day, I went to the restroom for a short breather and as I came out, I saw Miss Eleanor shouting at Samantha for standing on her foot.
"You tried to knock me over that's why I stood on your foot, by accident" Samantha screamed in outrage.
To which Miss Eleanor replied, "Why would I want to touch riff-raff like you?" She than stormed off leaving Samantha with her mouth wide open.
Samantha then turned to me, "How can you work for that... that witch?"
"My family has worked for her family for generations", I replied, "I couldn't break the chain now, and beside, my mother taught me never to complain because I could be much worse off".
"You don't realize how much you are taken for granted do you", she said in amazement.
"Like I said, it's a living; anyway, would you like to have Lunch together?"
So we had an enjoyable Lunch, I had grown quite close to Samantha in the two days I had known her, and I classed her as quite a good friend. I came back to my cabin and Miss Eleanor ordered me to clean her room, even though the cleaners on the ship would do it.
I decided to sit with Samantha that night at dinner, despite Miss Eleanor's contemptuous looks.
Miss Eleanor was most furious with me, but I didn't care because I had a wonderful time that evening. I danced and laughed something I hadn't done in years. Not since my husband had died, anyway.
I bid everyone goodnight and went to my room feeling happy and smiling.
I woke up with a start as Miss Eleanor was stomping around my room, shouting at me for not laying out her clothes for that day.
Once again, I helped (or did everything for) Miss Eleanor. I was very depressed by the time dinner came.
Miss Eleanor told me to get her dress out; I picked out the lilac one again because it was so beautiful.
"I've told you before", she screamed, "I don't want to wear that old thing!!!"
I finally snapped, "You're an ungrateful cow!!!" I shouted, "Your parents would gladly give the world and you'd just as gladly throw it back in their faces. You don't deserve any of this, you don't deserve anything!"
I couldn't believe I had said it, but I felt so much better for getting it off my chest. Miss Eleanor just starred at me in disbelief.
"You're all the same, you good for nothing peasants, just like your husband, he deserved to die".
"You don't know anything about me, my husband or my family, so you better shut up"
She then ran to her parent's room to scream at them about our argument.
I was so angry I grabbed the dress and stormed to the bathroom to put it on.
As I came out of the bathroom Miss Eleanor came into the room. She gazed at me with horror and amazement. I looked back at her with utter contempt.
Just as she was about to shout at me the ship gave a terrible wobble.
"What was that?" I asked in a hushed voice.
"I don't care", she said with a superior tone, "My daddy will sort it out"
I scowled at her, turned and left. I reached the deck to find Samantha there.
"Nobody seems the least bit worried", she said, "But we've hit an iceberg and I have a terrible feeling that something awful is going to happen, the ship keeps groaning and tilting slightly, I'm very worried Elizabeth".
"I'm sure everything will be fine, Samantha". But in the back of my mind I was quite the opposite of sure. In fact, I was extremely worried myself.
The crew of the ship was trying to get us to go below deck as it was very late. But there were some men on the deck who were playing football with pieces of the iceberg. I would have thought that grown men would take this a little more seriously.
Samantha and I made our way to her room to take our minds of all this and have a little talk.
I told her all about my argument with Miss Eleanor and she seemed most pleased with me.
"The problem is", I explained, "It's most likely that her parents will not be pleased at all, and then I could get dismissed, and that's something I certainly don't want. I mean, who else would have a worn out women like me?"
"I know", replied Samantha, "I could get my parents to hire you as my personal maid and, of course, I wouldn't make you do any work what so ever".
"That doesn't seem very fair", I said skeptically, "I have to do work to get paid".
"Not if you work for me", and before I could say anything, she said, "you deserve it after all of the hard work you have done throughout your life".
We carried on talking about our plans for a long time before someone burst into Samantha's room and shouted, "Man the lifeboats, woman and children first, put your life jackets on and go to the deck".
We got up as quickly as we could and grabbed two life jackets.
We approached the deck and I had never seen so much utter chaos in my entire life!
Men and women were shouting and screaming, children were crying as a result of getting lost. The crew was trying, in vain, to organize and separate people.
Women and children were crying because they were being dragged away from their husbands and fathers.
I suddenly felt Samantha's hand on mine, dragging me to a lifeboat were her mother and father were already seated waiting for us. We clambered in and sat waiting to be lowered.
I saw Miss Eleanor pushing her way through the crowd to get to a lifeboat. She got to the front, straightened her jacket (she didn't have a lifejacket on), she was just about to get into the boat when she saw Samantha sat nest to me and roughly tapped one of the crew on the back and said "I refuse to get into this boat if she's (she pointed with her thumb in Samantha's direction) on this boat"
The man simply said "Lady, either you settle your differences with this young lady right now or you go and find another boat" Miss Eleanor turned on her heel and stormed away.
The lifeboat quickly filled up and we were lowered into the Ocean. I looked up and saw Miss Eleanor frantically searching for another lifeboat.
"Shall we tall the crewman to go back for her" I whispered into Samantha's ear.
Samantha looked up in disgust "No", she said "let her find another lifeboat".
As we got further away, the screams got quieter and we heard loud groans from the ship as it tilted front ways. We could make out the dots that were people plunging into the sea to their icy deaths.
I couldn't believe my eyes as I saw the ship snap in half and sink into the ocean
"I can't imagine what I would have done if I was one of the people on the ship as it sank. It must have been terrifying for them. You can imagine how... how guilty I feel about Miss Eleanor after our argument that night, but I have a new life now with the Chadwicks. I know how lucky I am to be able to tell the tale of the Titanic.
The End