Land of Eternal Youth and Beauty: Chapter Two
"I'm thirsty, ma," whimpered Patrick from inside of his bed covers, still cradling Sean in his frail arms.
"Ah, well there'll be plently to drink soon, Pad, when this ship goes down." Olivia wore and tense, pain-stricken expression on her aged face, the wrinkles on her head pertruding out of her skin.
"You can't tell him that!" Mr O'Byrne begun at once. "How can you tell your son that? You've given up, haven't you? You can't give up - not now - not ever! We will not go down with this thing."
"What's going on, ma?" Patrick questioned again. The ten-year-old boy was oblivious to the current situation, his naivity controlling the world he presently lived in. They couldn't tell him, he wouldn't understand.
"Nothing, son. What about a nice bedtime story, aye?"
Patrick nodded, settling back down onto the springy matress below him. Olivia made her way to his bed, sitting down on the edge of the bunk and smiling at her son.
"Tir Na Nog, yes?"
There was a brisk, quick nod again from the eldest of the boys. Olivia breathed in and tried to hold back the tears from her eyes, threatning to spill.
"Once upon a time, many years ago, a man called Ossain lived in Ireland. Remember, that's where we live? Well, he was a handsome boy, son of Finn and Fianna. He had soft red hair and bright blue eyes, and was one of the tallest and strongest men anybody had every seen. One day, the whole family were cooking fish and singing songs on the beach, when they suddenly stopped in the middle of a word. They saw a young lady riding a pure white horse - it was one of the most beautiful women Ossain had ever seen."
"Ma, what was the lady's name?" Patrick asked, his voice waking up a sleeping Sean. Sean blinked and wiped away his arid eyes, looking at his mother.
"Are you telling a story, ma?"
"Tir Na Nog, love. And the beautiful lady's name was Niamh," Olivia replied. The young boys settled once again.
"'I have come to the Island of Tir Na Nog, the land of Youth and Beauty. I have fallen in love with Ossain.' On the little island of Tir Na Nog, everybody was very beautiful. Nobody was ever sick and everybody ate there favourite foods whenever they wanted to. They danced and sung the day away, and all of the children were very happy."
Olivia saw Michael then leave the room, his reddened face streaming with tears. He'd always been weaker than she had.
"So Ossain galloped to Tir Na Nog with Niamh for many miles. When he reached the beautiful land, he was happy for years. But one day, around ten years later, he started to miss Ireland. Just like you did, Sean, the first day we got on this ship?"
Sean nodded and smiled a toothy grin at his mother.
"But Niamh warned him that if his feet ever touched the ground, he could never return to Tir Na Nog. Ossain galloped back to Ireland as fast as he could, only to find that his parents were not there anymore, and nobody could remember them. He was very sad, but continued to gallop around. When suddenly, he fell off the white horse and begun to change into a very old man. And when Ossain did die, he was buried in Ireland, the land he loved the most."
Olivia stopped talking and watched the childrens' faces. They always had loved that story, always a favourite as soon as they had learnt to listen to their mother.
"When can we go to Tir Na Nog, ma?" asked Sean.
"Very soon, darling. Very soon indeed. In fact, in an hour or two we'll already be there."
The children buzzed in excitement in the beds, causing them to toss around a little.
"And can we eat whatever food we want, and dance, and sing? Can we do that, ma?"
Olivia smiled. "Of course, we can. I'll be better than you can ever imagine, and the food will be even better than Titanic's. We'll all be treated like Princes and Princesses there, too, and we'll all live happily ever after, all of us?"
"Is that where we're all going? Is everybody on this ship going to Tir Na Nog, all of us?" asked Patrick, his voice muffled by his pillow.
"Yes, darling, of course we are. So why don't you hush up and rest your little heads so we can get there even more quickly, eh?"
Both boys nodded, the excitement seeming died down and a hum of silence filling the room. Olivia turned off the cabin light and tucked the both of them back into bed.
"I love you, sleep tight," she kissed them both on the head.
"I love you too Mam, see you in Tir Na Nog," murmured a sleepy Sean, resting he head on his pillow and cuddling back up to Patrick.
Olivia sat down on her own bed, surrounded by the few possessions they had as steerage passengers. The bed sheets had slipped slightly, the gushes of water on the floor dampening them. She picked them up and folded them under the matress of the bed, wondering where her husband was now. Even at the hour of her death she was still very alone.
The bustling people on the decks and in corridors had still not ceased. A vicar outside said Hail Mary again and again as people clutched his hand and begged God for mercy. Children cried. Wives said goodbye to their husbands. Lifeboats were lowered, swinging and tipping, one by one.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
AN: Still one more chapter to write, so stay tune for Chapter Three, when Titanic says the final goodbye. I tried to create as much emotion as I could in this chapter, though it is very difficult as I've limited myself to only 1000 words per chapter, creating a 3000 word short story. This scene in the film, however short, will always be my favourite and makes me cry every time. I've tried to create convincing characters, hence the pooly written text in speech. I'm also planning on writing some one shots, as requested, based on the older couple who die sleeping in their bed, and the violinists who played until the ship went down. Enjoy, and I'm sorry for any SPaG errors as this has not yet been edited.