They called it the ship of dreams. It was a good name for it for it would take people closer to dreams than ever before. It was a ship that many people had spent years waiting for and on that day the ship finally docked at Paris, many people's dreams came true.
It was a beautiful ship, catering to both the rich and the famous, the highest rung on the social ladder, the elite, some would say and also the commoners, a more polite way of saying the poor people.
I hated that ship on sight. Hated it with malice. I saw it as my cage, my escape from freedom. Here in Paris, I had my boundaries but at least I was free to roam. Upon that ship, I would be forced to live out my life as my mother lived out hers. Rubbing elbows with the elite class, having conversations about meaningless things with shallow people whose only concern was how much money they managed to rake in. Upon that ship, I would no longer be Haley James, daughter of the late Jimmy James. I would be Haley James, soon to be wife of that dashing young man Lucas Roe.
Ugh, I hated him as much as I hated that ship. I knew that I shouldn't. After all, he's been nothing but … decent to me. Buys me appropriate and beautiful items, takes care of me and my mother. The problem was that I didn't love him. And as much as he would protest, he didn't love me either.
I looked at him as he solicitously helped my mother off the carriage. He was always so helpful, so kind, I thought to myself, then why do I hate him so? Is it because I see him as my mother's scapegoat from her financial problems? Maybe, but that isn't a stain on his personality, it's a stain on my mother's.
She looked so happy at that moment, on the arm of her soon to be son-in-law. She smiled up at the ship and at the many people around, playing the part of a duchess to the hilt even if she wasn't one. I rolled my eyes at her fake delight to be surrounded by the commoners. She hated every second of it. As soon as we reached our luxurious accommodations, she would take a long hot bath to wash of the smell of poor people.
"What are you thinking about, love?" my fiancée asked me as he and my mother came up beside me.
"Oh, nothing. I just thought the ship would be bigger" I said, airily, waving my gloved hand in front of my face. With that, I walked up to the ship with my servants behind me, carrying my luggage.
"Your daughter is extremely hard to please" I heard Lucas mutter to my mother as they walked behind me.
I rolled my eyes again, thinking that the one sure way he could please me was by leaving me alone. I scanned the ship, looking for any good places to hide from my pesky fiancée. I had to admit that the ship was beautiful.
I was so naïve and arrogant back then. All I was thinking about as I stood upon that ship, looking for the First Class Suites was how much I hated my very existence. I never knew what I would find during those weeks I would stay in that ship.
They called it the ship of dreams. But it was named Titanic.
