Surviving Life

Leah let out a scream, her heart had completely stopped, and her world as she knew it came crashing down. Tommy's body collapsed against hers, and she fell to her knees trying to support his head.

"Tommy! Bastaldo!" Screamed his Italian friend.

Leah's eyes welled as Tommy's life began to slip away from here.

"Tommy, please don't leave me. Please hold on." She cried, but his eyes were slowly becoming lifeless. "I love you too." She whispered and gently kissed his lips. She could taste the blood on his lips but she didn't care. His lips kissed her back but a second later became still. She could feel his breath leaving him.

There was another gun shot and Mr. Murdoch fell into the water, apparently killing himself. Leah didn't care. She no longer cared that the ship was sinking, she no longer cared that there was panic and hysteria around here, she no longer cared if she lived or died. Her future was suddenly ripped from her. She no longer had a reason to live.

Leah and Tommy's Italian friend stayed with him, mourning the loss of their friend. And for Leah, it was the loss of her lover. Water soon began to spill over the front of the boat. Tommy's friend began to untie the strings of his life vest. As he struggled to put it on, he looked over at Leah.

"He would want us to live. Best of luck to you."

Leah shifted herself so she was to the side of Tommy. She rested her head on his chest as the water rushed around them. She didn't want to leave him, but he would want her to live. He wanted her to have a future life.

"I'll never forget you." She cried, kissing his cheek and lips once again. She fought against the rushing water, waiting until he had slowly drifted away. Once he was gone, she turned, with a new found determination to find herself a lifeboat.

Stumbling across a mass of people, she was suddenly swept into the icy water. She struggled to keep her head up as the air was punched out of her lungs. The water was so cold; she didn't know what hit her. There were panicking men all around her, crying in agony. She was struggling to swim and keep away from the men, who would surely push her under. If it wasn't for the life vest underneath the sweater, she would have been a goner.

She kept swimming, until she finally saw the tall upperclassman standing in a vacant boat. He was hitting men trying to swamp them, and there was a child crying in a woman's arms. Leah made it her goal to try and get to that boat.

She swam with all her might, with the boat in her focus. Suddenly, she heard a snapping sound behind her. There were several more snapping sounds and she watched with horror as one of the smoke towers came thundering down. As it did, the after effects sent an enormous wave her way. Leah tried her best to ride the wave as it sent her plummeting towards the boat.

Once she finally got to the edge, she gripped the sides and desperately tried to pull herself aboard. Two women and a male saw her struggling and aided her in climbing on. She shakily thanked them and she sat in between them, attempting to gain some kind of warmth.

"Darling, take off that sweater, it's absolutely soaked."

"No…thank you. I would like to keep it on if you don't mind." Leah chimed defensively.

So there she sat, huddled in between a group of people, in a tiny rescue boat, watching one of the most horrific sights you could ever imagine. Men who had climbed aboard were trying to paddle the boat away from the scene, but it would remain burned in Leah's brain. The screams, the splitting of the ship, the initial sinking, and of course, the love that she had lost.

The men pulled the boats further and further away. Soon a crewman ordered that more people join their boat. They thought it would be a last effort to try to save those still trapped in the water. All grew quiet and still. Leah shivered within the constraints of the boats. Her eyelids were heavy, but she couldn't sleep. The scene that was just in front of her would haunt her for the rest of her life.

There she sat, waiting for some kind of absolution for the life, that once again, she was ready to give up.