Down in Third Class, everything was in full swing, at least when Cynthia, Rose and Jack had arrived.
Cynthia and Rose had made a stop to their cabins to put away their gloves, whilst Cynthia also made sure to detach the red tulle from herdress and gently draped it over her dressing table. Jack and Rose had waited outside and once she was out, Jack led the way as they made their way up to the promenade deck. Cynthia had remembered the way from before as they went past the gate and down into third class.
"You're sure we won't get into trouble?" Rose asked.
"I've been down here a couple of times and nothings happened," Cynthia answered, who was in front of her, "Though, I made sure I wasn't seen by the crew, so that probably helped."
Cynthia gave Rose a goofy smile as she just rolled her eyes playfully as they made their way through the corridors of Third Class.
There was a few passengers that they passed that gave Rose and Cynthia odd glances, which she knew was expected, it was not like before where she had tried her best to dress like she was Third Class.
It was a bit of a walk, but eventually they could hear the loud music and sure enough they'd found themselves in the Third Class open space.
And sure enough, everything was in full swing with many people up and dancing and others chatting away with guinesses in their hands.
There's still some looks that come their way as they make their way through, with Jack still leading the way.
"Ah, Jack!"
Tommy started to come up to them, who had a cigarette in his mouth, "Thought you'd never show up. How long were you-"
Tommy's eyes then landed on Cynthia, a mixture of surprise and confusion came over him.
"You're first class.." He says, looking Cynthia up and down, who just scratches her head as she glances over at Jack and Rose.
"Yeah… sorry about that…"
Tommy just shrugs and briefly chats with Jack as Cynthia nudges Rose for them to find a seat.
"There's a seat just over there with our roommate," Tommy yells outs. Cynthia smiles as they go over to the seat where Tommy had pointed to.
There's a man sitting their with short blonde hair who sort of waves to them as they both take their 's eyes glance around at the people dancing, at the msuicina splaying. Everyone here seemed to just be having a great time.
It was enough that it brought a smile onto Cynthia's face.
Sure enough, Jack came by them again, this time holding hands with a young girl that Cynthia recognised; Cora. Cynthia looked around and sure enough Cora's parents were sitting nearby watching. Before she knew it, Jack was dancing with Cora, spinning and twirling her around.
Cynthia smiles as she picks up a glass of Guinness which was on the table and took a sip as she glances over at Rose, who is laughing and smiling as she too takes a sip from her drink This definitely beats anything back up in first class.
It wasn't long before the music finished up, and began to start to back up again with a more lively tune.
Jack had sort of crouched down to Cora's level, and said something that both she and Rose could hear.
"I'm gonna dance with her now, alright?"
He was pointing to Rose as he stood up.
"Come on."
"What?" Rose asked, a bit surprised.
Cynthia by this point was clapping, as she reached over and gently pushed Rose towards Jack, "Go on, get up there."
Rose looked from Cynthia to Jack as Jack grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her chair.
"Jack, wait…" Cynthia heard Rose say, "I can't do this."
'We're gonna have to get a little closer," Jack said, smiling and to Cynthia's surprise, pulled Rose closer to him, "Like this."
Cora who at this point was still standing there as Jack looked over to her.
"You're still my best girl Cora."
Cora smiled and Cynthia was still clapping as Jack and Rose began to spin and dance, eventually blending into the crowd of dancers. Cynthia was still smiling and watching in the direction where they had gone when she had looked to see where Cora had went.
She had moved to what was Rose's side of the table and currently had in her hands Rose glass.
Oh no, Cynthia thought and quickly went over and took the glass out of Cora's hands.
"Yeah, no. That's- that's not for you to drink Cora."
Cora frowned at her as she put the glass next to her own and then held her hand out to her.
"Come on, let's get you back to your parents," Cynthia said.
Cora's smile came back and took Cynthia's hand. Together, Cynthia the two of them walked away from the table to find Cora's parents.
It didn't take very long as they were sitting nearby.
"Did you have fun Cora?" Her father asked as Cora went up to him, letting go of Cynthia's hand.
"Hmmhmm," She hummed enthusiastically.
He then said something to her, though Cynthia could no t hear from how loud the room was, as her father picked her up as Cora waved to Cynthia.
"Thank you, Bye Aunty Cynthia."
Cynthia felt all warm and fuzz from hearing that and waved also.
"Goodnight Cora."
Cora's father smiled while her mother nodded as the three of them moved away from the dancing and crowd, and out of view.
She watched them fade from view for a little while longer before she turns her head back to the dancing crowd.
Where did those two get off two? She thought and began to walk through the small crowds that were clapping and cheering for the people dancing.
Cynthia kept glancing onto the people on the dance floor and before she had even realized, she had been mindlessly tapping her feet to the beat of the music. She smiled at the dancers as she passed, everyone seemed so happy and lively, nothing like she had seen back at home. Not even when she had done ballet.
It made her somewhat envious in a way, I really want to go up there and dance too, She thought.
She stood there for a moment, the image of her, Jack and Rose dancing came right into her mind without her really thinking it. They were all holding hands with each other as they spin around in a circle, and would then spin the other around.
Cynthia then suddenly felt a flush of red sprung on her cheeks as she shook the thought away. Not like that, she thought, she had no idea where the thought even came from, as she looked around again and continued her search.
And then, she spotted them.
They were dancing a top one of the dancefloors which was slightly elevated and we're currently spinning around, holding hands.
Cynthia clapped and cheered, the small bits of alcohol now coming to her head as the music gradually came to a stop and both Jack and Rose we're laughing. They both saw her as Cynthia clapped even more as the two hopped off.
A woman nearby handed Rose her shoes as she put them back on, still laughing as Cynthia came up to them.
"That was brilliant up there!" She said enthusiastically, clasping her hands together.
"Really? Ohh… hold on," Rose said breathlessly, "Just let me get my…"
"You alright?" Cynthia asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Yeah.. just took it out of me… Haven't done anything that physical in ages…"
"You did pretty well from what I saw," Jack said honestly. Rose looked at him and smiled. They stared at each other for a moment longer before Jack collapsed his hands together.
"Alright, let's get some drinks," He said, and gently putting one hand on both Cynthia and Rose's back pushed them towards where they had all been sitting. Cynthia sort of giggled and smiled at him as the three of them eventually made their way back towards their table.
A crowd had somehow managed to gather around it, and for a moment, Cynthia wondered why, but then it came to her.
Tommy was currently arm wrestling with the guy they had been sitting with, and by the looks of it, it was very serious.
Jack went in front and went over to the table, as he managed to grab three of their Guinness glasses and passed each one to Rose and Cynthia. Cynthia began to take a sip, and as she did she glanced over at Jack and Rose.
From the corners of her eyes she could see that Rose was taking a long sip from her drink. Cynthia briefly took her glass from her lips and looked at her with wide eyes, impressed.
Jack had also noticed and was starting at her flabbergasted as Rose turned her head and looked at him, pulling the glass away from her lips.
"What? You think a First-class girl can't drink?"
Rose let out a slight chuckle as both Jack and Cynthia smiled as they stared at her.
Suddenly, some drunk came over and knocked right into the back of Jack, which in turn, had caused him to bump right into Rose, causing her to spill a bit of her drink onto herself.
And what was worse, Rose soon banged right into Cynthia, causing her to sway and fall right down onto the ground. She had landed on her back and was currently laying down there as Jack shoved the guy who had pushed them.
It had happened so quickly, Cynthia didn't even realize what had just happened, she just stared at the ceiling. It was so unexpected, she couldn't help but laugh at it really.
"You alright?" She heard Jack say to Rose, despite how nosey it was, she could still somehow make out their voices.
"I'm fine," Rose assured, laughing and then she and Jack turned to where Cynthia had been standing, and when they couldn't see her they looked down.
"Oh my god, Cynthia you ok?' Rose asked genuinely, surprised.
"You, you alright?" Jack asked and the two of them grabbed both Cynthia's arms and hoisted her up. She was still laughing as they did this as she nodded.
"I'm ok, I'm fine," She laughed as she glanced over at her glass which had barely anything left in it now.
"Really knocked the wind out of me," Cynthia jokes, and Rose laughed while Jack let out a chuckle.
Rose's eyes then glanced over to Tommy and the swedish guy, who seemed to have just finished one of their arm wrestling matches and was about to do another one when she suddenly approached them, putting her glass on the table.
"So, you think you're tough men?" Rose asked, as she spoke, she took the cigarette which was right in Tommy's mouth and put it up to her lips and blew into it slightly before pulling it away, "Let's see you do this."
She then lifted a chunk of the skirt of her dress to Jack.
"Hold this for me Jack, hold it up" She said, lifting up a bit the skirt of her dress and held her breath a bit. What's she doing? Cynthia thought as Rose slowly raised her feet up and to everyone who was watching surprise, went right up onto her toes, onto pointe.
Everyone stared with their mouths gaped and eyes wide as Rose stood their for a few seconds before Rose fell. Her body swung right into Jack, who managed to catch her just at the right time. Cynthia's mouth moved as she quickly went over to the two of them. Some of the people were clapping and talking to each other.
"You Alright?" Jack asked.
Rose was just laughing,
"I haven't done that in years."
Cynthia smiled warmly as the three of them laughed slightly.
They were all so busy that none of them had noticed that they were being watched.
On the stairs leading out of the Third class area stood Spencer Lovejoy, Cal's right hand man who was now watching them with a cold stare.
Thankfully though, he hadn't noticed Cynthia, as once had seen what he needed, he crept back up the stairs, no one had noticed him enter or leave.
Cynthia was about to say something more when a line of dancers came passing by, on the back end of it was Fabrizio and the blonde girl that he'd been eying when Cynthia first met him. As they passed them by he reached out his hand out for them to join.
Cynthia quickly caught on and just as she was being pulled along, reached to Rose, who took it, and then her hand to Jack's.
Cynthia and Rose were laughing the entire time as they went around the dancers.
She looked back at the two of them, just smiling and looking so cheerful, and in all honesty, Cynthia couldn't have been happier.
It had almost made her forget she was out of her time.
The long line of dancers went along round the room a few times before it eventually dispersed, with the women leading the dancers in the center.
Cynthia had let go of Fabrizio's hand, but Rose's, something she hadn't realized she'd done yet.
As another song started, Cynthia could feel Rose pulling her along back towards the dance floor.
"Come on!" Rose urged her, smiling.
"What?"
"Let's get out there, you and me."
You and me.
The thought sort of made Cynthia's cheeks go red slightly.
"Oh no, I doubt you want to-"
"Go on," Jack ushered her, pushing Cynthia towards Rose, "Get up there."
It seemed that had done to job as Cynthia let Rose guide her to where the women were dancing. They were all dancing in pairs side to side, and yet the rhythm and sound of the music was just as joyous and just as enigmatic as before.
Cynthia and Rose went over and took their places, though Cynthia wasn't exactly sure what to do as she glanced over at the other girls, who were twirling and spinning each other around, and oftentimes going underneath other couple arms like a bridge.
"Come on," Rose said earnestly, holding both of Cynthia's hands.
Cynthia stared right into her eyes, her cheeks still a bit flushed, but she smiled as shr gripped Rose's hands tightly. They swiveled and swayed around each other, trying to keep in time and beat with the music. At one point, Cynthia managed to spin Rose around her arm, a few times.
She kept smiling the whole way through as Cynthia began to loosen up a bit, and soon enough, they were swinging along the dance floor, just as Jack and her had been doing before. The whole time, neither of them could keep their eyes off each other, like magnets in some strange way, there was no way of taking their eyes off the other, even as Cynthia spun Rose around, and vice versa. There was something magnetic about the whole thing.
Cynthia had barely even noticed when Rose had put her hands gently on Cynthia's waist and brought her closer, and even if she had, she wouldn't have minded.
They spun around a few more times as Cynthia during one of their turns did a pas de bourree, something that Rose had noticed, and looked impressed.
"Still got it huh?"
"Well, I can't let you upstage me now can't I?"
Rose laughed at that, smiling as she looked back up as Cynthia and stared at her again.
It was then, perhaps for both of them that they realized how close they were, at it brought back the redness in Cynthia's cheeks, as it did for Rose.
It would be so easy for Cynthia to move just a few inches closer, to kiss her.
Just as the thought was about to reach Cynthia's mind, someone came charging by the both of them, knocking into Rose's side, and before she could realize what had been happening Rose began to fall.
But just as quickly as it happened, Cynthia latched both of her hands tightly onto Rose's waist and had turned both of their bodies around.
Rose blinked a few times, her breathing steady over what had just happened as she looks up at Cynthia, who was breathing through her nose as she looked at Rose.
Just as they were staring at each other, the music simmered down as applause came from the passengers for the musicians. It was this that had finally snapped them out of the entrance that they had each other in, as Cynthia gently pulled Rose from out of the impromptu dip, both of them letting out slight laughter as they did.
"You alright?" Cynthia asked finally, still sort of holding Rose's hand as Rose nodded, smiling.
"I'm fine," She said, putting her hand on Cynthia's shoulder. She was still smiling, her eyes flicking at Cynthia's eyes to her mouth. But just as she did, she let out another chuckle as she took a step back.
"Good," Cynthia breathed, "We should probably go find the others."
"Yeah," Rose said, smiling. The two eyed each other for a second longer before they went side by side back to the table.
The crowd there had cleared out a bit, with only Tommy really left at the table, still taking a smoke.
Jack was also standing there, clapping as Rose and Cynthia returned, smiling as they took their seats back at the table.
"Look pretty good out there," Tommy said as Cynthia took a large sip from her Guinness, trying to still catch her breath.
She looked over at him, smiling a bit.
"And when are we gonna see you there then?" She joked.
Tommy laughed as he took another blow of his cigarette..
"Oh no, you can't get me up there, not on your life."
"Oh really?" Cynthia eyed him, before she took another sip from her glass. Rose seems to be making the same face as her as she too took another sip from her glass. It was enough for the both of them to start laughing. They sat there for a couple minutes longer, the music still blasting as more people were on the dance floor.
Most of them now were women.
"Right," Cynthia said after a while, when her glass was half emptied, "I think I'm gonna join them."
"Oh, you won't be dragging me up with you," Tommy said, holding his hands out.
"Don't worry," Cynthia said, patting her hand on Tommy's shoulder as she got up, "We all know you wouldn't be able to keep up."
Tommy let out a laugh, as did Rose as Cynthia quickly went away from the table. As she did, she passed by Jack, who was still standing nearby as the two made eye contact with each other. Her gaze on him softened in a warm sort of way as she smiled before making it up towards the rest of the dancers, catching up to the end of them, as they were going around the room again. This time however, they would separate for a moment and then join up with a partner, linking arms and swinging around before they joined up with another partner.
At first when it happened, Cynthia stumbled around with her feet for a bit. But with each turn, she slowly started to get it. She looks over back to their table and sees that Rose is cheering and clapping, and all of a sudden Cynthia could feel the redness in her cheeks again as she smiled with her teeth.
They all went around the dance floor until they made it up towards the elevated part of the deck, where Jack and Rose had been dancing. How long ago was that? She thought absentmindedly, an hour? How long have we been down here?
The thought left her mind as one of the girls who was one of them held out her hand to Cynthia, and she took it as the girl hoisted her up. As Cynthia looked at her, she couldn't help but feel she was familiar
She was blonde, looking around Cynthia's age and whose hair had been tied up in a crown braid and wore a black dress with a white round collar. And she had seen her before, when she had first come down into third class, the girl that Fabrizio had been admiring from afar.
Before Cyntha could say anything, the girl took one of her hands and the twin began to spin around on the deck. She could barely catch her breath back before she let go momentarily before the began to spin the other side.
"Nice dancing," Cynthia said loudly. The blonde-haired woman looked at her a bit strangely.
"Huh" The girl asked.
Does she not speak english? She thought as they spun around each other again.
"Nice dancing," Cynthia said louder, gesturing towards their current movements. The blonde girl seemed to understand what she was saying as she smiled brightly.
"Oh, thank you," She said loudly. "I'm Helga."
"Cynthia, Nice to meet you," Cynthia called loudly.
Helga smiled as they kept it up until finally the music swelled down again and everyone clapped and cheered for both the musicians and dancers as Cynthia stepped down from the deck and held out both her hands for Helga, who took them as Cynthia lowered her back down onto solid ground. She gave her a smile and a nod as she then ran back to some part of the room, to her family perhaps.
Cynthia looked over back to the table, only to find that Jack was now standing not to far away from her. She stared at him surprised as the music kicked back up again.
She smiled warmly as she walked up to him.
"Still up for one last dance?" Jack asked her.
Cynthia put her hand on her heart and looked at him rather smugly.
"I never thought you'd ask."
They both laughed as Cynthia took a step closer to him, as he quickly got him arms ready, collapsing her right hand and pulling her closer in, just as he had done with Rose. They begin to way along to the music and soon take off into dance, gliding and running along to the rhythm and they danced across the room.
Cynthia the hole time was smiling and laughing as she caught a glance back at their table as they spun around. Rose was still clapping and cheering as Tommy took another blow from his cigarette.
Cynthia couldn't even keep on the image long enough as they went around the room, the table, Rose and Tommy becoming further away as the other dancers soon became a group as Jack and Cynthia soon became separated with each other, with each joining up with another person and swinging and linking arms.
They spun around a few times as Cynthia let go, trying to follow along with Jack, who was on the other side of a line of dancers. They made eye contact with each other as Cynthia raised her feet up onto the ball of her foot, her arms flowing around slightly as she smiled at him smugly.
She feels far more adventurous now as Jack smiles her cheekily as they eventually make their way back to each other, as they do, Cynthia does a little half pirouette and bumps right back into Jack, causing a giggle to escape from her lips and laugh from him as they just stand there was Jack puts his hands back to where they had been on her before.
Except now, Cynthia's face is a lot closer than it was before, something that makes her cheeks go all red again, though she can't even tell if Jack notices, or if he even cares as they swing and move along the room. The music soon reaches its finishing point as they two a small turn around each other and Jack manages to stop them, just as the music finishes.
There's a roar of clapping and cheers as Cynthia and Jack just stare at each other for a few seconds, Cynthia's eyes darted from Jack's lips to his eyes and immediately she pulled her head away from him slightly, laughing.
Jack is still smiling and looking at her eyes as Cynthia tries to look over for their table.
It's probably the alcohol, at least that's what she believes is what's making her face go red.
At the very least a half an hour went by, and by then, both Rose and Cynthia had decided enough was enough. It was time to go back up into First Class for the night. Jack agrees, taking his jacket from dinner with him and together the tree of them make their way from the dancing and back up on the deck. It was much colder outside, enough that Cynthia and Rose felt the chill breeze.
"Here," Jack says, taking his jacket and putting it over Rose. Rose smiles sheepishly, as Cynthia watches them, crossing her arms a bit slightly.
"Guess I should have brought the tulle to keep me warm," She joked, Jack and Rose laughed slightly as they made their way back up to the boat deck where the tree of them walked.
Cynthia kept smiling as as their conversation soon came towards the music that night, and soon enough,
"Come Josephine…" Jack started.
"In my flying machine" Rose continued.
"And it's up she goes," Cynthia had tried to join in her, voice unsteady as she tried to follow along, "Up she goes."
Jack seemed to have forgotten what the next lyrics were with Rose barely remembering as Cynthia had just tried to sing some kind of tune, which gets a laugh out of the two of them.
"Balance yourself like a bird on a beam," Rose finds the words again, and the three continue.
"In the air she goes, there she goes."
"Up, up a little bit higher."
"Oh, my, the moon is on fire…"
Rose, Cynthia and Jack trail off as they soon find themselves outside the first class entrance, and inside they could just barely hear the chatter and the musicians playing inside. Rose and Cynthia turn around, as Rose takes Jack's dinner jacket back to him.
"Here we are," Rose says breathlessly, staring at Jack. Jack is staring at her as well with the utmost admiration. It's apparent in both of their eyes.
"Right," Jack says, as he glances at Cynthia and then back at Rose.
"Thanks again for tonight," Cynthia says smiling, "Maybe we'll pop in again tomorrow night."
She's almost forgotten what tomorrow is supposed to bring.
Jack smiles warmly at her.
"Well if anything that happened tonight is anything to go off of, I'm sure it'll be entertaining."
Cynthia smiles and Rose laughs, her gaze on Jack lingering.
"Good night Jack," both of the girls say.
"Night Rose, night Cynthia."
He smiles at the both of them, his gaze lingering on Rose as he slowly makes his turn and recedes back down the deck they had just been walking on, disappearing into the night.
The two of them stare at him a bit longer as Cynthia yawns a bit,
"You ready to go to bed just yet?' Cynthia asked.
"To be honest, I'm still a bit tipsy," Rose said drearily.
They both looked at each other and without meaning to burst out with laughter. The alcohol was really starting to kick into Cynthia as the two continued to walk down the deck, their conversation turning back to their antics for the night.
"And you.. You we're bloody brilliant with your ballet…" Cynthia slurred slightly.
"What?" Rose laughed, the two of them at this point had joined arms as they walked.
"You know when you went on pointe, I could never have done that when I was doing ballet."
"Really?"
"Yeah, anytime I would try and do it, I could only do it like a second before I was shitting myself to stop."
"Look, look, just watch," Cynthia said, pulling away from Rose as they stopped walking. Rose watched as Cynthia breathed through her nose and slowly raised her feet up onto the balm of her heel. And slowly, she raised them up onto her toes.
A sharp pain stung around her feet, as she suddenly shot back from her feet and fell.
She was sure she was about to land but first onto the wooden deck, but didn't quite as she felt Rose's arms had just caught her from under her armpits and sort fo scuffled onto the group with a bit of a thud.
There was a slight pain in her back, but Cynthia ignored it as the two of them just laughed at the whole ordeal.
"You see what I mean?" She giggled as Rose slowly helped her back to her feet. Rose nodded, laughing still.
"You alright?"
Cynthia just nodded as the two continued their walk, continuing their chatter of the night, until they had made it back inside the ship, and found themselves right outside Rose's cabin.
"I should probably go now," Cynthia said, her cheeks still a bit red and her mind a bit more calmer.
"Hopefully, neither of us as a headache from all of this," Rose jokes and the two of them laugh.
"Have a good night Rose," Cynthia says.
"You too. Night.
"Night."
Rose goes into her cabin, watching Cynthia as she closed the door. Cynthia stood their for a few seconds longer before she slowly turned and began to walk away.
She was about to head back towards her cabin when she stopped.
At the end of the corridor, there almost seemed to have been something their, at least that's what she thought, as a blur of grays and blacks went by.
What the?
She stood there for a moment watching, confused slightly from the alcohol in her system, and even then there was something that just seemed wrong about it. Was someone watching us? She thought, and without really thinking, followed along after in their direction.
She soon caught sight of him again in some other corridor as he marched down the corridor, as Cynthia made sure to keep her distance, holding her dress up a bit as she walked. From the back of him, he looked older, much older than her with grey hair and was nicely dress. He and Cynthia went along the corridors until finally she followed him up until he had entered the smoking room. Cynthia waited a bit as she peered into the room.
Even in her slightly drunken state, she knew she wasn't allowed in their and could only watch as the older man, who in actuality was Spencer Lovejoy walk up to Cal, who was sitting on one of the sofas, whispering something in his ear.
Cynthia didn't at all connect what was happening as she slowly and methodically made her way back towards her cabin. Her mind couldn't at all process what she had seen or what it had meant, as all she wanted to do right now was to lay on her bed and sleep.
She quietly opens her cabin door once she gets their and flicks on the lights. Lillian's room is shut with no lights on. Must be asleep, she thought as she quietly made her way towards the bathroom, grabbing a glass and filling it with tp water.
She takes a sip and it does very little to sober her up, it does make everything feel less… staggering.
She slowly finishes the glass and places it on the sink before heading back towards her bedroom and shut the door.
Cynthia is much more successful in getting the dress of her this time as she soon changes back into her nightgown, having pulled her hair and jewelry of and hops right into bed, turning the lights out.
As she gets under the covers, she barely remembers what she still had planned to do that night before she's immediately knocked out. Her eyes are just as heavy as she soon finds herself asleep.
Cynthia woke up a few hours later, with no real dreams coming to her as she stirred herself away. What time is it? She thought and she suddenly remembered what she had to do. The keys.
As quietly as she could, she got up from her bed and quickly got out of her nightgown and changed into a long sleeve purple gown. She made sure to grab all the notes she had been writing over the last couple of days and very quietly opened her bedroom door. The main sitting room was in complete darkness, as she slowly and cautiously walked towards the front door, which at the bottom she could see the light from the corridors peeking through.
She eventually tiptoed her way to the door and slowly opened it up. She quickly went through and shut the door quietly behind her. There was no one in the corridor with her, no noise from anywhere, except for the humming of the ship's engines.
It was a soothing sort of noise, at least to Cynthia whose heart was pounding as she made her way down the hall and out on the promenade deck. It was so chilly outside as Cynthia rubbed her arms with her hands, still clinging her notes tightly.
She made her way down into Third Class though the stairs they had come down just a few hours before and quietly entered into the corridors of Third Class. There was no one around, it seemed that whatever time it was, everyone was well and truly in their cabins fast asleep. She stood there for a moment, glancing down at her notes in her hands. She let out a sigh.
It was time to get to work.
She went from door to door and quietly pushed down the pages under the door, and then she would move to the next cabin.
And the next, and the next, until she had gone through the whole corridor, and then she would descend the stairs and go to the next deck and do it all over again.
All in all, it took her 2 hours for her to reach G deck, and by then she could barely keep her eyes open. Her whole body was aching for her to just go back up into first class and head right back to bed. But she knew better than that, she had to keep going.
Even if her hands were aching at this point, as she kneeled down and pushed another of her notes into another cabin.
Soo enough though, she finds herself with her last page and as quickly as she can, she pushes it underneath the cabin door.
It's done, she thought as she stood up. She wants to celebrate, but her body tells her otherwise as she quickly and quietly shuffles back down the corridor and back up the stairs. It's a long way back up, but she soon finds herself stopping once she reaches E deck..
She had remembered as she was passing through the corridors that she had passed the Crew's quarters, and how she had briefly seen on the wall a large section where the keys were kept.
That's probably where they keep their keys to gates in, she had thought, and she knew she had to return to grab them.
And that was what she was thinking about when she stood in front of the doorway.
They won't be able to lock up the Third class passengers if they don't have any keys to lock them, she thought as she looked both sides of the corridor, just to check if the coast was clear as she quietly opened the door.
The lights were still on inside, and as Cynthia stood their for a second, just to hear if there was anyone inside, could hear the sound of gentle snoring coming from one of the rooms.
All clear she thought, as she slowly made her way towards the key cabinet. Quietly, she turned the knob and swung the cabinet open.
Ok, She thinks to herself, as she reaches out and pulls off one of the keys. She holds it in her hand for a second longer, just in case some crew members had somehow heard her, and when they didn't she kept on grabbing.
She used both hands as she grabbed as many keys as she possibly could, every time her heart would raise at every second.
She was just grabbing what she had counted as her 50th key when she heard.
It sounded like it came from the crews's cabin beds. Like someone in their sleep was stirring.
Like someone might just wake.
Her hand stopped in midair as her eyes darted in the direction of the noises.
No, She thought and her eyes shot back towards the keys. Without thinking, she grabbed at least three more keys before she quickly and quietly trotted out of the room. She practically half-walked, half ran down the corridor and tried to keep herself quiet. So much in fact she hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath.
As she climbed back up the stairs, still holding onto the keys she made her way back up the top deck and towards the entry way back into First class. She finally stopped on the stairs back into first class, catching her breath as she clinged to the railing, her fingers still clasping onto the keys in her right hand.
As she turned her head around to see where she had just run out of her whole body grew cold, and not from the breeze.
There was someone on the deck looking at her, staring at her.
She hadn't even heard whoever this was, and right now she was sure that they had seen her running outside.
It was still dark out, and even with the lights, the details of Cynthia's face and dress where shrouded in darkness.
But whoever it was could very well tell she was first class, her wavy long dress gave it away.
And yet this stranger's silhouette seemed familiar to him, even in the darkness she could still tell who it was.
Jack.
Oh god, oh no, she thought.
Please don't recognise it's me, she thought, Don't call my name. Please.
Can he even see it's me?
She hoped not, she didn't want him to see how terrified she was. How wide her eyes we're, how thin her lips were.
The two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, as Cynthia clung to the keys before, without really thinking, turned and climbed back up the stairs to First class.
She kept running along the promenade deck, still clinging the keys in her hands as she eventually slowed down back into a walk. Her heart is pumping out of her chest. Her hair was all over the place as she looked down at her hands, to the keys.
I hope he didn't recognise me? She hoped, breathing heavily as she walked along the promenade, enough until her heart stopped beating out of her chest. Cynthia had to stop a few times just to catch her breath.
God, imagine how puffed I'm going to be tomorrow, she thought.
Tomorrow.
She stopped.
That's right, tomorrow.
Tomorrow, everything might be over, this ship, it's passengers.
Jack and Rose.
She frowned as she looked up at the stars.
Am I going to be looking at thim in this silence tomorrow? She wondered.
She stood their for a bit longer before she slowly made her way back to her cabin. She went back into her room, and placed the keys in the second drawer of her dressing table.
I'll think of something to do with them, she thought, as she changed out of her dress back into her nightgown and went right back under the covers, flicking the lights switch once more.
As she laid her head on the pillow, she couldn't help but think back to night before.
To her dancing, with Jack and Rose.
Is this gonna be the last night I'm gonna sleep on this bed? She wondered. Is that night the last night I'm gonna be happy with them? All of us together?
It was 1 day until the sinking.