We separated, as we had to go through separate doors. Us the “lower class” or the “lovely class” as father always put it had to go through a health check. There was a man checking my head for lice and I told him firmly
“ We aint no ruffins you know we’re proper upper classers!”
Father poked me in the back but the man just laughed and told me to:
“Get on your way now.”
As we got on the ship I waved goodbye to Southampton. I wanted to wave to each and every seagull because they seemed to be sending us off I didn’t because I was so excited to get on the ship.
We ran through the corridors looking for room 304. We finally found it. I pushed open the door and with a
“Tah rah…” and what I saw. I saw two guys stood in our roo,.
There were two sets of bunk beds in our room. I presumed these were our roommates. Which is what they turned out to be. Their names were Andy and Pete. Andy was very tall with dark brown hair and sharp blue eyes. Pete had red hair and twinkly green eyes, like cats eyes.
The four of us got on really well, and Andy and Pete promised to be on best behaviour because a lady was among them.
The dinner that night was delicious, well it wasn’t but we pretended it was. We pretended that the walls were all brightly wallpapered instead of boring whitewashed. The floor was covered in carpet rather than just bare floorboards. We had buffalo tongue and roast beef. Andy and Pete joined in to, sat in cushioned high back chairs pretending to have chocolate ice cream. Instead of being sat on stools with no pudding at all.
As I went to bed that night I thought I was the luckiest girl in the whole wide world to be here right now.
We woke up fairly early the next morning and as father went to play mild cards with some gentleman Pete and Andy took me on deck. Andy was attracted to a very pretty lady with a large bust and he went off to talk to her. Pete took me to the railings and pressed me against them telling me I was the Queen of the World.
“If I’m the Queen, who’s my King? “ I asked.
“Whoever you want.” He replied. I couldn’t think of anybody at that time, but he quickly filled the role.
“I’ll be your King then!” he laughed.
“Yep you’ll do” I yelped as he tickled me to the ground where I was in fits of laughter. I was a most sophisticated lady, of course!
In the afternoon Andy took me up to the First Class level. We looked through the windows and we saw Mr John G Butler dining with a very posh man, who father later told me was a film producer called Mr Gilliam. We pulled faces at Mr Butler and he tried to keep a straight face. Me and Andy carried on pretending to be posh until we bumped into the busty woman, who he went off with. I was left to play with other children. I was not amused.
That night I went to bed with a quick kiss on the cheek from Pete and then all I could think of in the morning was how wonderful he was and how I might actually love him.
In the evening of the third day us “lovely class” had a dance. I danced with Pete so many times, even a couple of slow dances. Father wasn’t impressed. But he had been eyeing up some unsuitable ladies and I wasn’t impressed either.
I was very tired that night and we went to bed late and that’s when it happened.
A man came knocking on the door and I woke up immediately, I was a light sleeper. I could hear a lot of noise, voices calling. I got down of the top bunk and opened the door.
“ Everyone get up put your clothes on, lifejackets on and go up on deck.”
People were shouting at the man. I went back into the room and woke up father, he was grumpy, I told him what the man said. He told me to wake Andy and Pete.
We got dressed quickly and Pete helped me put my lifejacket on. I didn’t have time to flutter that he touched me; there was water already on the floor. We went into the main room; there were lots of people in the room.
As the time passed, more and more people crammed into the room. We still weren’t allowed up on deck. They locked the door. There was lots of pushing and lots of men were pushing at the door. Father went up to help, he left me with Andy and Pete. I squeezed their hands, Pete turned to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and gave my hand a squeeze and he went to help the other men. I was left with Andy, but he seemed distracted holding Emma’s hand tightly. Her eyes glistened, they were blue and twinkled she hair one tear running down her cheek.
We looked up to see a man standing at the door.
“Women and Children on deck.”
Andy stood pulling me and Emma up with him, the door was opened and all the men who were pushing at the door rushed forward as did everyone else in the room. In a rush me and Andy lost contact, there was much pushing and I couldn’t see. I fell to the ground in the hurry. The next thing I knew they had closed the door again and a new set of people were at the door. Pushing and shoving, I sat back down and realised the water was rising.
I was scared, the tears kept flowing, I couldn’t see anyone I knew, most of the people around me were strange men. I felt a hand on my shoulder, It was Pete.
“I came back for my main girl.” He laughed. “You didn’t think I would leave you behind did you?”
He wiped a tear away from my face. He pulled me towards him, placing me on his lap. He started to tell me a joke about an Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman when from the door heading to all the lower class rooms, burst through water. It was thick and fast. I held onto Pete, he kissed my forehead.
“Goodbye Cassie” he whispered.
The water hit us; it was icy cold and heavy. I sunk to the bottom of the floor. Andy held my hand but we knew there was no way we could survive. That’s the last I remember. The rest is a blur.
Where am I now? Good question. I have no idea. As I said my mind is warped I have no sense of time. Because where I am now, every second feels like a minute, every minute like an hour, every hour a day. Days become years and who knows what year it is now. For the date and time have no use when you’re just a spirit at the bottom of the ocean.
