April 10, 1912. Southampton.

The music.

That is what she decided to do with her life and that is why, on April 10, 1912, she embarked as a pianist on board the Titanic, in order to play in her prestigious orchestra.

Her name was Alysse, Alysse Wald. As a member of the orchestra, she was boarding the ship as a second-class passenger, she was not a crew member after all. She had been hired by the Black Talent Agency, a British agency. She did not yet know the other members of the orchestra. They were all scheduled to board today, and their first performance would take place in just over five hours. She knew nothing about them except that they were all men in their thirties.

Alysse wondered why the company had chosen her, because if she played well enough to be considered a professional, it was obvious that other people had to be much more qualified than her.

The queue to board in which she was standing suddenly advanced. It was soon to be her turn. She looked at her ticket. A piece of yellow cardboard paper with a special mention indicating her role as the ship's musician.

There was only one person left in front of her. A big lady dressed in a black feathered coat that highlighted her huge hindquarters and long neck that held her small flaccid head on which a white hat was placed. The resemblance to an ostrich was striking.

The fat lady moved away and Alysse was able to move forward to the recording table. The officer who was in charge of screening the passengers before boarding looked at her with a surprised look. She knew this would happen.

"You travel alone, Miss ?" asked the officer, looking for a man who could accompany her.

Alysse nodded and handed him her ticket. A flash of understanding appeared in the man's eyes when he read it. He smiled at her, stamped her name on the passenger list and wished her "Have a safe crossing Miss Wald" before calling the next person.

She approached the loading bridge with her suitcase in her hand. She was going to miss England horribly. Now aboard the ship, Alysse looked at her watch. Titanic would not leave the port for another 30 minutes, so the young woman had plenty of time to get to her cabin and put on her uniform before reaching a bridge to see the ship go to sea.

Alysse looked at her admission letter. It contained all the indications and recommendations that the young woman should know for the good of her journey and work. Her room was on deck E, aft of the boat. The musicians were housed side by side and had at their disposal a room where they could store their instruments. In the case of Alysse, a piano had been installed at the various locations of the orchestra's performances. In the room, however, there was apparently a small training piano.

She had been walking the second class corridors for many minutes. The green carpet and the walls covered with a pretty navy blue tapestry smelled good, to see if it would always be the case when a gentleman who had abused brandy spat it out on it.

She finally reached E-Deck, from where she could see the entire port of Southampton spreading before her eyes. As people looked so small, it was so laughable. The fresh air of this April made the bottom of the dresses rise and the hats fly away. Alysse was eager to take to the sea, she had never left the south of England, for her it was a great adventure that started here!

Room 187. She had arrived. She pushed the door open to arrive in a small room with a blue tint. A single bed with a very comfortable appearance was placed at the back of the room, near a large wardrobe. A desk and a chair were installed near the window. On her bed, carefully folded, awaited her uniform.

It was a pretty navy blue dress, tied at the waist with a white ribbon. Alysse put on her uniform and tied her hair with a blue ribbon.

"The uniform suits me" she thought as she looked at herself in the huge mirror on one of the cupboard doors.

He did not have much time left to reach the deck before the boat left.

April 14, 1912. North Atlantic Ocean.

On this evening of April 14, it was pretty cool but there was no wind, not even a slight breeze and the sea was very smooth. Some passengers were gazing at the sunset above the waves. The ship was speeding, hoping to win the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing.

Meanwhile, in the sumptuous dining-room situated on the second floor, a band was entertaining the first class travelers. The orchestra was playing to entertain the rich passagers. Alysse was feeling more and more tired, it was her ten performance since Titanic left Southampton.

The ladies were dressed up to the nines, with long sulky gowns. Their arms and necks were glittering with gold and precious stones.

Suddenly there was a terrible bump or maybe more a scraping noise. The dancers on the second floor stopped, the orchestra did the same and everybody looked at one other wondering what was going on. Then some news started to leak, the liners had just hit an iceberg. At this moment, nobody panicked since Titanic was said to be "unsikable".

After a few minutes, the travelers felt the ship plunging down sligthly. She was sinking. Unlike the other people who started to scream, to run away, Alysse didn't react. She was petrified with fear.

John Law Hume, the violonist, was working with the other members to the exit when he noticied Alysse sitting motionless on front of her piano. He shouted whitch rose the attention of Wallace Hartley, the conductor.

Both turned back and rushed to towards the poor girl, grasped her arms and tried to join the rest of the musicians group. They elbowed their way to reach the upper deck and there Alysse saw a sad scene: some people fighting to get away on life-boat, even some men were tryng to save their lives before women and children's.

Wallace Hartley pushed her to one of the boat. An officier caught her hand. Alysse let him do silently, fear had made her loose her voice. Despite the shoutings and the crackings of the ship, she could hear distinctly the voice of her conductor say:

"These people are terrified. It is our duty as musicians to appease them."

Looking at her companons who seemed to accept their funest fate, the call of duty made her leap out of the life-boat to join the orchestra. Her gesture triggered a new fight among those who were waiting for a place.

The musicians looked proudly ah her heading to the piano, she sat down and started playing a typical Irish music. John Law Hume and his violon was the first to join her, soon fallowed by the rest of the orchestra.

They played a long time until the ship sank into the black icy water.

Alysse was frizing cold, she was scared. But she continued playing.

April 15, 1912. Somewhere in Manhattan.

Lucy O'Connor, a middle-aged woman is walking back home, she has just left. Today isn't a day like all the other days…

She is very exciter since she is waiting for the arrival of a famous pianist. This young woman will stay with her until the Titanic leaves for a new journey.

She continues walking, lost in thought when suddenly her eyes get caught by the headlines of a newspaper. It titles: "Terrible loss of life as Titanic sinks". She was on board ! Her heart starts beating faster and faster.

"Ho God…" she said scared.

Titanic.

This ship must have taken Alysse and her music to the bottom of the ocean.