Chapter VII


We had been walking for hours, I thought, but still we weren't bored.

Ida's hands were blue, because of the cold wind...but she refused to leave.

"Are you still thinking about landing with that man when we reach to New York; it's not that I would be against it or anything." I asked, cutting the silents.

"Yes, I am...but I'm afraid - I try so hard not to let everyone's opinions hurt me, but still." she said.

"Then don't let them hurt you...if you love this man," I said, "what Edith thinks about that?"

"Yes, well...she is even too kind to me," she replied.

Although Ida was a generous and caring person, she sure wasn't the type to make this kind of sudden decisions.
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It was evening. I wanted to see the sun as it was setting into the ocean.

I walked to the bow. The wind blew through me, it was an unforgetable feeling, the feeling like flying above the ocean so deep.

Then, with no expectations to meet someone there...still, someone was there. That someone took my hand and whispered: "Sarah, don't you remember what I told you about wind, cold as this one."

"Excuse me sir, but I intend to ignore the wind this time." I said to that someone behind me, knowing it was Thomas.

It was the last time Titanic ever saw daylight.
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Back in the A-deck I saw Edith leaning against the railing.

"Good evening," I said.

She turned to me with a smile. " Sarah, so good to see you here...is everything alright?"

"Yes, everything is fine...but how about you, did you got your health back?"

She smiled, no trace of any sickness, what so ever. "I'm quite fine now...no worrying...so you met my maid, Ida, she is a wonderful girl and she told me you two were once good friends, is that so?" she asked.

"Yes, that's true...but do you know where she is now?"

"I'm sorry, but unfortunately I cannot tell you where she is. She left in the morning and didn't say anything."
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I rushed to the third class section, knowing that something could be wrong. I didn't had even a tiniest clue, where to find her. I just walked.

But when I reached almost into the third class dining room, I heard and also saw, how two officers and a woman came along the corridor. I couldn't believe my eyes - it was her. But what were these officers doing, walking next to her like that.

"Ida?" I shouted, running forward her and trying to understood something about the situation.

"Please, miss, this woman has done something really bad," said one of the officers.

"What?! This woman won't even hurt a fly," I said.

"She didn't hurt anyone, she stoled something."

"That's not true," I said, feeling how my face was burning and the anger growing inside me.

"Please, Sarah," finally she said something, and then turned to the officers. "Could we, at least, have chance to talk for some seconds?"

Then she turned to me; we got some distance from the officers and she began to talk with quiet words. "Don't be mad at me, Sarah, I had to do it - there was no other way to get out of it." I was confused, there was no possible way she had done something like that. And then, something just exploded.

"You took his blame, you took that man's blame!" I said, trying not to shout.

"No Sarah, don't took it like this...I just...I just had to help him," she said; I was even more confused about her calmness.

"This man is just using you, you must be mad to still love him," I said.

"Using me...don't say that. You don't know nothing about him," she said as her voice grew louder. "And that Andrews of yours...how do you know he is not just using you?"

Her rudeness just broke something inside me; friends don't hurt each other like that; I was just trying to help her and she stabbed me into the heart.

"Well, then... I can see that my help is not needed anymore," I said with a shivering voice and turned around to walk away.

I was not really over it, even when some hours had passed; I started feeling quilty for some reason; maybe I should have helped her. But my heart was still bounding when I thought about the things she said. I knew it wasn't right, but still....those kind of things just stay.

I was thinking about my own little thoughts that I haven't even noticed how Thomas rushed into the room and grabbed his blueprints. Suddenly I woke up from my thoughts.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Sarah, dear, please but on your lifebelt and go to the boat deck!" he said.

"But why?" I said and an awful thought came to me, no it couldn't be, it just wasn't possible. "Is the ship sinking," I asked, almost whispering the last part.

"We got hit by an iceberg, it just happened. It all was just so sudden. Sarah, you need to do what I told you," he said.

"No, I am coming with you...I want to know the real situation; I must stay with you," I replied.

"Alright then, but please, put on a lifebelt just for your safety."

And so I did.

We rushed across the deck.

When we got to the chartroom I noticed there many crew members, including Captain Smith, Ismay and also William Murdoch.

Thomas unrolled the huge blueprints over the table.

"When can we get underway, do you think?" asked Ismey, but noone paid any attention to his question.

"Water 14 feet above the keel in ten minutes... in the forepeak... in all three holds... and in boiler room six." said Thomas, while pointing at the ship drawing with his shaking hands.

"That's right," said one of the officer, mr. Lightholler.

"Five compartments. She can stay afloat with the first four compartments breached. But not five. Not five. As she goes down by the head the water will spill over the tops of the bulkheads... at E Deck... from one to the next... back and back. There's no stopping it." said Thomas.

"The pumps--?", asked Smith.

"The pumps buy you time... but minutes only. From this moment, no matter what we do, Titanic will founder," said Thomas, looking at Smith with his desperate eyes.

"But this ship can't sink!" said Ismay not really understanding the situation.

"She is made of iron, sir. I assure you, she can. And she will. It is a mathematical certainty."

"How much time? " Captain Smith asked.

"An hour, two at most." Thomas replied.

I remember the way Ismay eyes turned down; his illusions of the unsinkable ship seemed to vanish.

"And how many aboard, Mr. Murdoch? " asked Smith, turning to first officer.

"Two thousand two hundred souls aboard, sir," said Murdoch, holding back his tears.

"I believe you may get your headlines, Mr. Ismay, " said Smith, looking at Ismay.