Chapter 11: Icy Omen
It wasn't long after Cal had broken into their cabin that the newlyweds, Peter and Emma come down the hall from a late dinner to check on Sybil. Their hearts are overjoyed by finally being united in holy matrimony. They had left Rose and Jack to find something to eat and promised to find them later. However, Emma couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding that is still plaguing her, even though this is supposed to be the happiest day of her life. She opens the cabin door quietly and creeps up to the cradle.
At first, she blinks hard and takes a step back. Perhaps she was just tired, and her eyes hadn't adjusted to the dark. She takes a deep breath and looks again. She reaches down, thinking her baby sister may have pulled the blankets over her face by mistake. When she feels nothing, she falls back against the wall in horror.
"P-Peter!" she squeaks out.
Peter comes from washing his sink in the basin and finds Emma clutching her mouth to keep herself from screaming.
"What's wrong?" Peter peers down into the cradle and gasps. The couple re-light the lamps in the cabin and search carefully. Sybil was going to start crawling; maybe she managed to climb out of the cradle and got into things she wasn't supposed to. Although how ridiculous this scenario seemed, the couple keeps searching. They check their beds, under the desk, even in the wardrobe for any sign of the child. Anxiously, Emma goes next door to the neighbour who was supposed to check on Sybil every half hour. Maybe the neighbour had taken Sybil to be fed. She bangs frantically on the door and the neighbour opens it up.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Whitman. Congratulations to you…" she then notices their worried faces. "What's wrong?"
"Do you have Sybil with you?" Emma asks breathlessly.
"N-no, she's asleep. I checked on her fifteen minutes ago."
"She's gone…" Emma squeaks.
"W-WHAT?!" the neighbour gasps. She too runs into the room and begins searching with Peter.
Emma can feel the tears welling up in her eyes and her throat seems to close up, killing her slowly. Her baby sister. The only family she had left, had been snatched by a thief in the night. She and Peter were planning to raise her as a family, just until the couple was old enough to have offspring of their own.
What kind of monster would abduct an innocent child? She thought to herself. She can feel herself starting to hyperventilate so hard that she has to sit down. This ship is so huge that there would be no way they could find her sister without getting lost themselves. They need to inform the captain. The thief can hide, but he can't run unless he's willing to jump into the freezing cold water to escape. When that thought enters her mind, Emma's knees began to shake and she wants to vomit. Her mind races as she curls up for a moment to gather her bearings.
That is until she finds a piece of paper that has been thrown from the desk in the search. She picks it up, unable to identify the handwriting. It is extremely messy, most likely scratched out at the last minute. The words, however, were readable.
To find the child,
Find Rose DeWitt Bukater.
Rose? What would Rose want with Sybil? Unless she and Jack came down and heard Sybil stir and took her up for fresh air and didn't want to disturb us, she thought.
"Peter" Emma says, standing up, finding her strength once again. "Rose and Jack may have Sybil."
"Why…? Oh, thank God!" The neighbour breaths a sigh of relief. "I did hear movement next door, they must have taken her for some fresh air."
"We'll just have to find them…" Peter says, a smile returning to his face.
There is some relief, but they had to find Jack and Rose, so Sybil could be fed and confirmed to be safe. At the same time, Emma is praying that this is the case, but that ominous feeling that something bad may have happened remains with her.
With that, the neighbour returns to her cabin and the couple race up the nearest set of stairs. They find an officer guarding the dividing gate between classes and inform him of the situation. He is reluctant to let the couple up into the higher decks but seeing the distraught look on Emma's face and the anxiety in her voice, he makes an exception. Emma and Peter begin weaving through some of the corridors, asking any passer byes if they had seen a man with blond hair and a woman with red hair carrying a small infant. They mostly got no, but as the couple searches, Rose and Jack are near the bow when the ship strikes the infamous iceberg. Emma and Peter hardly feel anything because their anxiety is high, but they do notice the change in motion beneath their feet and that the ship had stopped. Emma feels her stomach tie into a knot again, but she has to find her baby sister.
As the couple goes through the halls, they see some passengers sticking their heads out of their cabins in confusion. Several officers on duty are summoned by others asking what seemed to be the matter.
Peter and Emma reach the upper decks in a frenzy; by the gymnasium and they catch a glimpse of flowing red hair on her way back to her cabin. The two races to catch up with them.
"Rose! Jack!" Emma yells.
Both turn towards the sound of their names; the lovers are about to congratulate the two when they see the worry on the newlyweds' faces.
"Where's Sybil?" Emma asks, almost breathless. She sees that neither of them was carrying a bundle and her heart stops.
"What do you mean?" Rose asks in confusion.
"You mean she's not with you?" Peter asks in frustration.
"Why would we have Sybil?" Jack questions.
"There was a note in our cabin that if we wanted to find Sybil, we had to find you," Emma says, knowing the reality of the situation. She feels the tears coming back to her eyes and she feels helpless again. Sybil has been abducted and obviously the man responsible misled them, so he could make his escape with her.
Emma breaks down and collapses on the floor in tears. She's shaking with fear and horror.
Rose, Peter, and Jack are immediately at her aid.
"Deep breaths, Emma!" Jack says calmly.
"It hurts so bad!" Emma wails. "I-I promised my parents I would care for her! Now she's gone. I was so selfish!"
"It'll be okay!" Rose whispers, helping Emma to her feet. Though in the back of Rose's mind, she knew that this was not true. She and Jack had seen the iceberg crash into the side of the ship. Both of them found heard from other officers that the damage from the iceberg is serious and the ship is now in a state of emergency. They had reluctantly decided to back and tell Rose's mother and Cal about it.
With the addition of Sybil vanishing, Rose knows that the likelihood that kidnapper would either use Sybil to gain access to a lifeboat, or the more horrifying idea that he'd rather take Sybil and him to a watery grave than be found out about his crime.
"We need to get her inside," Jack says. "Lean on me for support Emma."
"We'll take her to my cabin," Rose says. "It's warm and we can figure out what to do next."
Peter and Jack support Emma while Rose trails behind the group, worrying about what will happen next. She knew that she didn't want to face her mother or Cal at this moment. However, Emma is her priority and they need to find Sybil before the ship sinks are the main task. Telling Cal that her engagement to him is off and facing the wrath of her mother would come later. Her heart begins pounding in her chest as she leads the others to her cabin bedroom.
To great relief, no one is around, probably either sleeping or in Cal's case, in the smoking room, waiting for news about her.
Emma sits down on the edge of bed still weeping. Peter sits beside her, keeping her in his arms. Rose goes into her drawer and digs out a handkerchief for her. Emma wipes her eyes and sighs deeply. Everything is coming apart at the seams. Her sister is missing and deep down she knew the ship was in trouble some way, somehow. Emma's stomach knots again, knowing that the nightmare she'd had the other night is going to come true.
"The ship's in trouble isn't it?" she asks from behind the folds of the handkerchief.
Rose and Jack look at each other reluctantly. Peter looks at them with wide eyes, the silence is enough for him to know the truth. Emma sniffs quietly and dries her eyes.
"How much time do we have?" Peter whispers.
Rose swallows hard, not really wanting to answer. "Hard to say. We just heard it was serious" she gulps and leans into Jack for support.
There's a long silence between the couples as they contemplate their possible fate.
Rose stares at Emma, still dressed in the lovely white lace dress she'd worn on the bow of the Titanic just hours before when she married Peter. Peter in his suit, as he consoles Emma in her grief. Rose grabs Jack's hand as if to memorize the feeling of his soft skin. She never wants to let him go. All their fates are uncertain and the question of who will live to see dawn the next morning hangs over in her mind. Her eyes wander around the room when she noticed the safe on the mantle… something wasn't right about it.
"Well, I'm not just going to stay here and let that bastard take Emma's sister," Jack declares. "Sinking or not, the guy can't get very far on a ship like this! He'll most likely be evacuated...we can probably catch him!"
"But how?!" Emma squeaks. "The ship is enormous and in trouble. We may never find her..."