A New Beginning

Chapter 15: Plan for Action

Chapter 15: Plan for Action

Emma wipes her eyes with the handkerchief Rose had given her, as she sits in the officer's quarters. A cup of steaming tea sits next to her on a wooden desk, which she has not touched, and a warm blanket is draped over her shoulders. Neither acts of consideration have done anything to comfort her. Her stomach boils up with the anger of Rose betraying her, just standing there while the innocent man that Rose has feelings for was framed for something he didn't do. And then she allowed the evil bastard Cal to separate her from her husband and sister and left her in the care of clueless officers. The ship is sinking, and she is alone.

Her nightmare is worse than she thought. Everyone she cares about had either been taken away or betrayed her. She is alone on a sinking ship.

Sudden footsteps start thundering outside the door. Emma gets up and puts her ear to the door.

"How are the evacuations going?" one officer says.

"Terrible, the first class is convinced that the ship won't sink and it's all just a big joke. It's not easy to convince people to get in tiny boats without causing a panic," the other answers.

There's a prolonged silence between the two and Emma's heart beats faster in distress.

"How long does she have?" one whispers.

"The captain says less than two hours."

Another voice rings out.

"All hands-on-deck!"

Emma hears the pounding footsteps become more distance as they run towards the third voice.

Emma knows she has to find Peter and get him up to a lifeboat. She knew the laws of the sea, women and children first, but she wasn't about to let the law separate them forever. Especially if he is wounded; he had narrowly escaped death once already and he wasn't going to get the chance to die again if Emma had anything to say about it.

She grabs a hold of the doorknob and twists it hard.

Her heart drops to her stomach. The damn thing was locked! Why would they even...?

She begins banging on the door.

"Hello! Hello! Someone help me! Someone, please help I'm in here! Help!"

She bangs harder, using all her strength to make sure someone heard her, but it is no use, the officers had all gone up to the boat deck to help with evacuation and the noise above was drowning out her voice.

"Why the hell do these doors lock on the outside anyways?!" Emma asks herself, realizing that she'll have to save herself.

She looks for something heavy to ram the door open with. She grabs the chair that she'd been sitting on. She puts it on her shoulder and charges at the door. The first attempt did nothing to the door except give it a large dent. On the second try, the mark got larger. Emma hoped that third time was the charm, but the door remains sturdy and immovable with the third blow.

Not panicking, Emma taps on the door. Heavy oak, she puts her hand on the wall and knocked on it. It is almost hollow and a more likely to break. She took the top of the chair and rammed beside the door. The chair went completely through, making a hole big enough for her arm to fit through. She feels for the doorknob and unlocks the latch.

Finally, free, Emma runs up the end of the hallway to the cross area. She could hear the noises of people being herded through, she opened the door onto the deck. Several people rush past her in a frenzy. She knew that she needed to find the closest staircase. She runs down the deck and finds the first door within her vicinity, she slips through and finds another maze of corridors. She could hear people moving about above her like scared mice. She had no time to panic and keeps her mind on Peter.