Night of One Thousand Stars

By: T. E. Coleman

:Chapter One:

     It all started with that stupid diary. Why did my grandmother have to leave it right under the pillow? You see, in our attic there is an old, moth eaten couch. It has several pillows on it that we sometimes use when guests need a pillow to sleep with. My grandmother had sent me up to get one for we were expecting company. So there I was, minding my own business in the attic when I lift the pillow and begin to walk off. But something underneath it caught my sight. It was a small, leather book. I set the pillow back on the couch and sat next to the book. I then read the inscription on it's cover.

MARGARET'S DIARY

R.M.S TITANIC

     I assumed that the diary had belonged to my grandmother. But why on earth did it say Titanic on it? I was soon to find out. Curiously, I opened the musty diary. The pages were old and yellow. I came to the first entry, and began to read:

Dear Diary,

   It's 11:45 in Southampton, Ireland. Mommy, daddy, George, and I have just boarded the Titanic, the greatest ship in the world! It filled me with such excitement the first time I saw it, It's so amazing! It truly is the ship of dreams.

Suddenly, the words began to fade in and out and A strange aura surrounded me. "Grandma!" I called, but there was no answer. Suddenly, the windows slammed closed and the lights flickered off. I cried out in horror as I watched the pages of the little diary glow in front of me. A huge gust of wind, as strong as a tornado at least, filled the room. I clenched the couch, trying to stay out of the wind's reach. But it began to pull harder and harder on me until I let go of the couch and found myself sucked into the diary, spinning into a world of darkness.

A strange vision filled my mind:

---There was a ship. A great ship. I was holding onto the railing. Then the ship split in two. I fell off. The ship began to sink. It went completely under. I was in the water, and I couldn't feel a thing. Thousands of dead, frozen bodies floated around me. I didn't understand.---

     One minute I was in my attic, fetching a pillow, and the next I was spinning back through time. Finally, the spinning stopped. I opened my eyes and found myself standing on the docks of some harbor, standing in front of the Titanic.