I went to bed not long after Will left my room and drifted into an almost dreamless sleep. I had a brief dream, not a nightmare like the last few nights...

I held my sister's hand tightly. We were in Liverpool, standing on the dock and looking in awe at the bustling people around us. A man I recognised stepped over to greet us.

"Good afternoon, Miss Banks..."

I took his hand, and I realised it was Will. Suddenly he let go, and walked away slowly.

"I love you..."

I woke from my sleep suddenly, and sat up, trying to work out what had woken me. Unable to work it out, I slowly swung my legs out and onto the floor – directly into a puddle of water. I frowned as I switched my table lamp on. My glass which I had placed on my bedside table was on the floor.

I was confused – what would have caused that? I suddenly realised that it was eerily quiet. The engines had stopped! I pulled a dressing-gown on and walked out to open my door. Looking down the corridor, I could see several other passengers peering out in confusion. I stopped a steward as he walked past.

"Excuse me, but do you know why the engines have stopped?"

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm not too sure myself. I shall find out and let you know – but I don't think it'll be anything serious."

I wasn't convinced, but smiled drily. "Oh...thank you..."

Not entirely happy with this response, I slowly backed into my room. I held the door open for a moment, trying to think what the problem could be – surely they wouldn't stop Titanic's engines without good reason?

I could feel myself gasping for air again. Not now! I needed to get up on deck to breathe – but all I could think was that the ship had stopped the night my parents died. But no...I steadied myself slowly. Titanic was "practically unsinkable". I had nothing to worry about.

Slowly, I softly closed my door and wandered back inside. I couldn't sleep now, not until we started moving again, to relax my nerves. Will was sure to be be down here soon to reassure me – I would just have to wait calmly until then. Maybe I could write to my sister – I hadn't quite managed to get around to that yet.


A sharp rapping at my door made me sit up quickly. I gazed around, confused, for a moment, trying to work out where I was. It quickly came to me – I had fallen asleep at my writing table before I started writing my letter.

There was another rap and I quickly stood up and hurried to the door. A steward was standing outside, looking impatient.

"Excuse me, ma'am, the captain has asked all passengers to assemble on deck with their lifebelts on."

I frowned. "May I ask why?"

"It's nothing to worry about, ma'am. Most likely just a drill. I must ask you to hurry – and dress warmly."

"Dress warmly...?" I felt dazed.

He walked over to a cupboard, and pulled out two lifebelts. He handed one to me and kept the other under his arm.

"I'm sure you won't object to me taking this, just in case another passenger finds himself without one. Now, I would suggest a warm coat, hat and gloves. Don't take too long getting dressed, the captain has asked for the passengers to assemble as quickly as possible."

He smiled comfortingly at me, then took my hand and squeezed it. "Nothing to worry about, miss, just a drill," he repeated.

I gazed around, clutching my lifebelt, until he closed the door behind him. Drill? In the middle of the night? I shook my head and hurried into my bedroom. What should I wear?

I pulled out a simple dress which looked slightly warmer than the others, a fur hat (another piece of clothing which Will had managed to afford) and a pair of brown gloves. I quickly got myself dressed, then rummaged in my closet for a coat, eventually coming across one which wasn't quite suitable. Still, it was better than nothing. I pulled it on, then looked at the lifebelt – well, the steward had told me to put it on. I pulled it over my head, but left the strings hanging loose.

That was everything he had mentioned. I turned to leave the room, but suddenly remembered something – my locket. I looked around for it, eventually finding it on the floor near my bed. I put it in my pocket, then took my purse out of a drawer and sighed. I didn't feel comfortable leaving everything else behind. What if something awful happened and I lost it all? I couldn't help myself – I stuffed all my jewellery into my pockets. I couldn't risk losing it after Will had spent so much money on it all.

Once I had finished that action, I turned and left my room. The corridor outside was bustling with people, a lot more than was usual. They all seemed to be heading in the same direction, and all were dressed in a similar manner to me. I followed them to the grand staircase, where everyone had gathered. There was so much chattering going on – men were demanding to know why we had been dragged out of bed, women were complaining indignantly about how put out they were. I could hear the band playing in the background, and slowly made my way towards them.

I watched as they played a perfectly lovely piece of music. I felt much calmer after a few minutes, and found myself smiling. I almost forgot what was going on, until I heard someone call my name.

"Ada!"

I turned to see Molly Brown standing behind me. She looked fed up, although still not as miserable as most of the other people who had gathered here. She was covered up in so many furs – something told me that she would be much warmer than I would be once we got outside. Assuming, of course, that the steward was correct in telling me that we were to assemble on deck.

"Molly!" I walked towards her. "I must apologise for yesterday -"

"Don't worry about it, Ada. It is all forgotten."

"I feel rather silly asking you this, Molly...but you don't happen to know why we're here do you?"

She shook her head, then turned to get the attention of a steward who was making a beeline for the stairs.

"What's doing, sonny? You've got us all trussed up here and now we're coolin' our heels!"

I felt sorry for the poor young steward. He looked just as confused as the passengers, and almost tripped up the stairs as he stumbled away.

"Sorry, ma'am. Let me go and find out."

He almost tripped again as he turned, and Molly shrugged as she looked back at me. "I don't think anyone knows what the hell is going on!"

She was right. I gazed around at all the passengers who were just as confused as I was – why were we here in the middle of the night? And if it was just a drill as I had been told, why were we being penned up in the foyer of all places?

I sighed and followed Molly as she bustled up the stairs, intent on finding out why we were there. Where was Will?


A/N – The only reason this chapter is done now is that I'm procrastinating. Big time. I have an essay to do, and I really don't feel inspired by it. Still, at least I got something done today – this chapter!

For the next few chapters, I will be trying to tie in facts from 'A Night To Remember' with fiction - while also trying to avoid the clichés which are so common around the sinking in 'Titanic' fics!

Anyway, as always – thank you to the people who have reviewed! All reviews are much appreciated, I like to know what people think of my writing!