April 10th, 1912 – approx. 5:30am

"Evie, come on, get up. Evie... it's time to wake up, lass. Aoife, come on!"

I could hear Saoirse's voice, and I could feel her hands on my shoulders, shakin' me back to the land of the living, but my body simply did not choose to respond. It seemed as if I had only just closed my eyes and laid down my head, but then again, that's how it had felt every mornin' since the day I learned I was goin' on Titanic.

"Evie!"

I groaned in response and rolled over, covering my head with my pillow. Aunt Margaret had Niamh and I jumping through hoops like show dogs the past few days, preparing us for our voyage on Titanic. We'd been given a lesson in manners, since we had none, or at least that's what Auntie Marge insisted when she brought in her friend Monsieur von Claude, a white haired Frenchman to show Niamh and me the ropes of being first-class maids. He taught us how to speak to our 'mistress' – I'll be damned if I didn't roll my eyes to the back of my very skull when he had spoken that word, I tell ya! He even showed us the correct way to walk!

Consequently, you haven't seen nothin' if you haven't seen a sixty-somethin' man in a three piece suit flouncing about in a parlour, preaching in a heavily accented voice. "First of all, you do not stalk around like undisciplined cave-dwellers. You may be maids, but you are dames, ladies. You float… glide." He proceeded to show us by example exactly how a lady should walk.

"Flotteur, dear girls, float! Float as if you walk on air!"

This of course had sent us into fits of giggles. But, I digress.

"EVIE! If you don't get up right now, yer Aunt is gonna have both our heads on a platter!"

I groaned as Saoirse ripped the pillow off my head, and I buried my face in the mattress. "Ah d'n whana guh." The English translation of that would be: "I don't wanna go!" and somehow Saoirse managed to make it out.

"You don't want to go on the Titanic?!"

I stopped protesting and popped my eyes open. It was still dark, but the lamp had been lit, sending a golden glow around the oblong room. I groaned again but managed to hoist myself up into a sitting position.

"There." Saoirse said, looking pleased with herself. She then gave me a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, rousing myself for what was going to be one of the most exciting days of my life. But somehow, sitting there in silence with Saoirse, it didn't seem like such a wonderful day.

I truly had no idea what to say to her. Granted, the ship left at noon and it couldn't have been more than six a.m at the time, but I knew I'd have to bid her farewell eventually, and I couldn't live with leaving until I told her exactly how sorry I was that I'd taken her place as a passenger on the ship.

"Well, I best go help Niamh prepare breakfast..." She turned and started towards the door, but I stopped her just as she reached it.

"Saoirse?" I said, my tired voice cracking from disuse. She stopped, and with a deep breath she turned around, trying to look happy.

"It's alright, Evie. We don't have to do this. I mean..." she shook her head. "I'm glad yer goin'. Well, not glad that yer leavin', but... what am I trying to say?" She gave a half-hearted chuckle as I stood up. "I know that it's fer the best, you goin' to be with yer family. I'm happy fer ya."

"I appreciate ya sayin' that..."

"I ain't just sayin' it, Aoife. I mean it. No hard feelin's about my stayin' n' yer goin', alright?"

"O'course." I replied simply and began gnawing on the inside of my lip.

Silence fell in around us again. Finally, after a long moment I spoke again. "I'm not comin' back, Saoirse."

She cracked half a smile and said, "I know. I didn't think ye were gonna."

Nodding again, I continued slowly. "I dunno what's wrong with me. I've wanted to go to America for so long now... And it isn't that I don't wanna go, I do, more than anything. I just... this is the only life I've known since I was a child. And in five days it's gone from the same old routine, to... to knowin' that in another five days I'll be getting off Titanic in a new country, headed for an entirely new life."

Unfortunately what I was having a hard time expressing to her was that it wasn't only that I was scared of a new life. My guilt had been eating away at me for the past few days, makin' me absolutely sick to my stomach as Niamh and I were being pushed through all the aforementioned hoops to prepare us for this journey and Saoirse was left out.

She stepped forward and put a hand on my shoulder as if she knew exactly how I was feelin'.

"But that's a good thing, yeah? Havin' a new life. This one 'round here ain't nothin' to hold on to."

I looked down at the floorboards. "I reckon so."

Saoirse sight. "O'course it's gonna be hard, Evie girl. That's part of any adventure, right? But think of it! Soon yer gonna be outta this house fer good, livin' with yer Mum and brothers. Yer gonna be livin' the dream."

When I looked up at her, her smile was genuinely warm. "An' don't worry none about me. I'll be fine, and who knows? Maybe someday I'll be makin' my own journey over there. It just ain't my time right now." She let her hand drop from my shoulder, but she kept her smile.

I nodded and embraced her in a hug. When I released her, she grinned and said, "I'll be goin' now... 'fore Niamh burns down the kitchen. She's a sweet girl, but she ain't got the slightest idea how to run a stove."

I laughed as she turned to leave, but I caught her yet again as she was halfway down the stairs.

"Saoirse?"

"Hmm?"

"... I am sorry." My voice sounded childlike and foreign to my own ears, like a little girl lookin' for forgiveness from a parent.

Saoirse smiled and shook her head. "Don't you even think on it, Evie. Now go get dressed... the Ship o' Dreams awaits you."

I smiled as I closed the door softly behind her. It felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and now the only emotion I could feel was excitement, coursing through my veins like a freight train across a track. There were about a hundred thousand butterflies flyin' around in my stomach as I went over to my small wardrobe in the corner of the room and pulled out my new uniform: a plain cotton black dress, with a frilly apron and necktie. I chuckled to myself as I held it against my body.

Despite my funny lookin' get-up, I felt now more than ever that the Ship of Dreams was awaiting me, awaiting to take me away from scrapin' my existence in my Auntie's house and send me right back safe into me Ma's arms.

"Aoife, for goodness sake, will you hurry up, child?!" My Aunt Margaret called as the driver opened the Cadillac door for her. Niamh and I, as we carried out the luggage, grinned at each other. Neither of us had ever ridden in an automobile before, much less a self-starting one.

"I'm comin', Auntie... er... Miz Addisson."

I exchanged a look with Saoirse as she came out of the front door and onto the porch, carrying two more suitcases in her hands. Her eyes widened when she saw the shiny black auto sitting there on the street in front of the house.

"Sign o' the times," she muttered, shaking her head as Fiona climbed up into the seat next to her mother.

"Let me help you, miss." The driver whom Aunt Margaret, or as I'd been instructed to call her in public, Mrs. Addisson, had hired was a kindly old man by the name of Mr. O'Branagan. He quickly took the suitcases from Niamh's arms, just in the nick of time. Niamh was a petite girl, skinny as a rail and several inches shorter than me – though to be honest, finding a girl shorter'n me isn't too hard – and she couldn't have held those bags upright much longer.

She smiled and thanked him as he took them to the luggage car, one of the two would trail behind the Cadillac as we drove to the loading dock.

The three of us girls, plus the driver, headed back inside to collect the remaining luggage. Niamh and I were dressed in our maid outfits, which amused Saoirse to no end, and we kept gettin' the ruffles of our aprons caught on things; the kitchen counters earlier that morning, or the edges of the suitcases we loaded into the automobile.

"You two look right proper," she sniggered. "Monsieur von Claude would be proud."

Niamh giggled and watched as the driver stumbled out the door, carrying a whole trunk by himself.

"Do ya need some help, Mr. O'Branagan?"

"No, no, miss, I've got it!" He called over his shoulder as he hastily descended the stairs of the porch.

Niamh, Saoirse, and I smiled at each other, before looking around the room. There was but one more trunk to be loaded, and then we were off to the shipyard. That fact did not go unnoticed by either of my companions.

Niamh looked on the verge of tears as she quickly embraced our friend, colliding with her with such force that she nearly knocked the wind out of poor Saoirse.

"I'll miss ya!" She cried, tears beginning to pour out of her blue eyes. I wondered as I watched the scene before me if she'd told Saoirse that she wasn't making the return journey. Or if she'd even told Aunt Margaret. Oi, she'll have a cow when she finds that out!

Saoirse, regaining her balance, placed an arm around her sobbing friend. "There, there, girl. Don't ye cry over me, I'll be fine. After all, we'll see each other again."

Niamh looked at me with tear-filled eyes over Saoirse's shoulder. And there was the answer to my question. She gave Saoirse one final squeeze before excusing herself and heading outside, dragging the last trunk with her onto the porch where Mr. O'Branagan took the opposite end and helped her out to the auto with it.

"She isn't coming back either, is she?"

I looked over to see Saoirse looking not upset, but more like she had accepted what was to happen. I shook my head silently, before hugging her one last time.

"I can tell ya one thing, lass. We won't forget ya. Never."

She gave a short laugh and patted me on the back. "Likewise."

"AOIFE!" I heard Auntie Margaret screech from her seat in the Cadillac. I looked out the open front door to see Niamh climbing in the row of seats behind her, tears still on her face but looking around the auto in wonderment.

"I thought she was supposed to call ya 'Evie' in public," Saoirse said good-naturedly as she released me. We walked out onto the porch together, where she stopped me and took my hands in her own. She looked at me, her brow furrowed. "You stay safe, you hear? Have a good trip, and keep an eye on Niamh."

I smiled, a tear streaking down my own cheek which I quickly wiped away. "I will."

I gave her hands a final squeeze before turning and joining Niamh in the seat behind Aunt Margaret and Cousin Fiona. Mr. O'Branagan smiled and slammed the door behind me. Niamh and I lent over towards the window as he climbed in the driver's seat and started the engine, which roared to life.

We waved to Saoirse, tears flowing steadily as the auto slowly began moving then faster and faster down the street. She lifted her hand also, giving us a final smile.

I watched the place I'd begrudgingly called home fade in the distance as we rode down the city street. I finally lost sight of it, and its last remaining occupant as we turned a corner.

Though the tears had faded, Niamh and I looked at each other lamentingly as the auto loudly made its way towards the docks. It was the last time either of us would see that house, that street, or our friend Saoirse ever again.

A/N: I'm in the process of moving right now, so this will be the last update for a few weeks. My internet service is being cut off tomorrow, but hopefully I should be settled into my new place in a week or two. As always, thanks for reading! And don't be shy of that review button. ;)