It’s taking me a very long time to get used to this place. I haven’t been here since the fourth grade. After school finished, I travelled to New York with my cousins, simply for the acting opportunities. I stayed there until I was about 15, then we had to go back to Nebraska. I am originally from there, my mom moved us around a lot when I was little, but we ended up staying close to this little town called North Bend. I was surprised to learn she had even rented a house in town near the grade school. I thought I had to live with her again, but they gave me a choice and I decided to stay with my cousins in Fremont. I am a senior at North Bend Central High School. You may not realize it, but there are a ton of little groups here; the populars, the country kids, the creepy outcasts, and your basic everyday rejects. I would have to say, I belong to the reject group. If anyone knew what happens at times, I think I would have to stay away from this place forever...thankfully nobody knows for the time being.
There are a bunch of people I have gotten to know. There are these two friends of mine who are the same short height and their names even sound alike, Jenny and Penny. Penny has black hair and, let’s just says she likes boys a lot. Meanwhile Jenny had blond hair and she doesn’t like boys so much. Also there is Michelle: she is annoying to a lot of people, but I love her. She had brown hair with little blond streaks, and she is very tall. There are a bunch of people whom I am friends with, but I don’t have room to say them all. Me, I am roughly 5”7 and I have red hair, blue eyes and I am somewhat wacky.
School finally gets over for fall break, so I head out to my car ASAP. I notice as I am climbing into my yellow mustang that my older sister has parked next to me with her little gray piece of crap car. I laugh and crank up my mix CD and peel out of the parking lot.
I get to Fremont in about 10 minutes, and I pull into the driveway of my cousins’ house. I go inside and there are a bunch of screaming girls everywhere. I groan, forgetting that my cousins Alyssa and Rose are having their Halloween party tonight. That means tons of pizza, tons of soda, screaming seventh grade girls, and scary movies..Oh joy! Just then, Rose runs in, sees me, and yells a quick, “Hi!!” before running downstairs. My room is downstairs; I have a headache today and all I want to do is lay down, but since I can’t do that, I will down a bunch ADVIL and be good. I toss my backpack down the laundry-shoot, so I can just grab it later.
I step over the baby gate and a little toddler girl sees me and runs over, wanting to be picked up. Her name is Annie and she is the sweetest baby ever; she is a never ending bundle of silliness and joy. Her twin brother, Jack, is the exact opposite: he has his good days, but usually he is just a cranky little monster. He has been getting better now that he is talking more, so that’s good. I see their mom, my cousin Vanessa, sitting on the couch with a Diet Mountain Dew in hand. She sees the tired and grumpy expression on my face and gets concerned.
“How was school today?” she asked.
“It was a day.” I breathe, “Same old narrow minded people and that one girl, BreAnna,
is being a bitch like always to me.”
“I don’t like that language, and she is probably just jealous,” she says.
“Of what?” I scoff. She starts to reply, but Jack demands her attention, so I grab Annie and plop down on the couch. Soon, the crowd of screaming girls demand food. So Vanessa and I put in the pizzas we bought from Wal-Mart.
After devouring the pizzas and the soda, they are ready to get scared. Vanessa rented the original Friday the 13th. I wasn’t in the mood, so I just sat there and didn’t really pay attention, but there was this one super happy girl in the movie whom I knew would die, just because she was so perky.
So when she did, I simply said, “I knew it, you stupid lady! Your ‘over-perkiness’ got you killed.”
All the girls are laughing, but then screaming because Vanessa’s husband, my cousin John, had dug out a Jason mask and slowly peered around the corner and said boo. My head hurt too badly to finish the movie, so I went downstairs, grabbed my backpack and went into my room. I lay down for a while, but soon the girls run downstairs, screaming still, so I just decide to take a shower, hoping the hot water would ease my headache. I just needed to relax.
As I stand in the shower, my head starts to pound, almost like drums were playing in my head...just four continuous beats...over and over again. My vision blurs, and out of the corners of my eyes, I could still see the shower walls, but directly I saw a strange old-fashioned room. It was strangely familiar, as if I had been or seen it before. As soon as this vision came, it disappeared, leaving my head still pounding with the sound of drums. I come out of the shower and just went back to my room to lay down, not caring about the screaming girls, but soon I had to yell at them to shut up. Once again my head pounds, but this time my whole body as well. I close my eyes from the pain, and when I open them, I am completely submersed in freezing cold water. I kick up and surface, wiping away the salty water from my burning eyes. I look up and see a vast black object, but as I look up I begin to see it is the hull of a large sinking ship. I look around in horror as people float around me, unmoving. I scream and sink back under the waves and somehow, I ended up back in my room, completely soaked. I have to get back in the shower to wash the salt from my body. I take a long shower again, which helps my nerves calm down.
When I am finished, I go back upstairs and pour myself a big cup of soda. I sit down at the computer to check my Facebook and listen to some music. Little three-year-old Christopher comes in and stands by me for a few minutes before he gets bored and leaves. I log off and go in the living room and sit down on the couch. Vanessa puts on our favorite soap opera, and my attention is diverted for an hour or so. Soon, I get way too tired, so I go downstairs and, despite the screaming girls, I fall asleep immediately. At around 3:00 a.m., I jolt awake, the drums in my head going full blast. I fall out of bed, and as I lay on the floor with my hands clutching my head, I begin to suddenly disappear.
My world is cold and dark. I can’t breathe; the salty sea smell fills my nostrils. I am completely alone and terrified. I don’t know what is happening or where I am. After what seems like an eternity, I start to hear the sound of waves. I land on my back into a thick swirl of blankets. I open my eyes, and I am in the room from earlier. I jump off the bed I landed in, and run to the window. All I can see is blue, endless dark blue, and then a lighter blue where the sky began. I hear a door open behind me, and I whirl around. In the doorway stands a dark-skinned girl in an early 20th century maid’s uniform. She smiles at me and started making the bed.
“Did you sleep well miss?” she asks politely. Before I could answer a blond-haired girl walks in the same door.
“I’m sure she did, now why don’t you stop talking and get your work done,” she sneers
“There’s no need to be so cruel, she was just being polite,” I say.
“It’s not her place to speak out of turn.” she shoots back.
“Neither is yours.” I shoot back with a dirty look. This girl reminded me of my older sister, and that was not a good thing.
“Aah, I see that the two years of finishing school didn’t quite push that out, maybe you should go back for a semester or two.” she smirks. Now my modern teenage instincts got the better of me.
“Maybe you should get out of my room and shut up!!”
Her mouth opened in shock and before she could say anything, I slam the door in her face. I turn around and the maid has gotten out clothes for me. After she forces me into that blasted corset, I sit down at the vanity and she fixes my hair artfully on the top of my head. I start poking through all the beautiful jewelry and gems in the jewelry box. I pull out a gold locket, open it and inside was a picture of a handsome young man on one side and in the other, an engraving that read:
“Oceans may come between us, but love has no boundaries.”
It makes me warm inside reading it, so I put it on. It falls on my chest right where my heart is. I notice the smile on the maid’s face.
“What are you smiling at?” I smile back at her.
She smiles too, “I’ve never seen a love quite like you and Noah; it’s almost fairy-tale like! I think it’s your beautiful singing voice he can’t get enough of.”
I laughed, “ I don’t sing very well at all.”
“Forgive me for saying, but it’s a good thing you’re not a siren; nobody could resist.”
I burst out laughing, “Well then, it’s a good thing I’m not one.”
“No, but you do have an angelic voice.” she says.
“Well thank you. It’s nice to hear that sometimes.”
“Well your welcome Miss.” she smiles.
Just then, I hear a knock on the door, she opens it, and in walks a very familiar red-headed girl.
“Hello Juliet,” the maid greets, “She’s ready for you.”
“About time, everyone’s waiting, and Marie is having another tantrum.”
She takes my hand and pulls me alongside her until we reach a dining area. I sit down next to her and another blonde girl. I look around the table, there was the blonde girl from before, the nicer blonde next to me, a man next to her with sleek black hair, an older blonde woman with stern eyes and a cross look on her face, and a handsome, kind-faced red-headed older gentleman. The older woman gave me a glare that I recoil from.
“Well, now that Elizabeth has chosen to grace us with her presence...,” she began, but the red-headed man cut in with heavy Irish accent.
“ Now Margaret, don’t you start on her.”
“Phillip, she needs to learn to be a responsible adult before she can be married.”
“She has plenty of time for that.” he breathes.
“Hang on, what?” I interrupt, “Marry who?”
Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.
“You see? You see, she needs to stop this foolishness. I thought the two years of finishing school would help. Now I see it hasn’t even left a mark.” Margaret says.
I feel my face getting hot, tears welling up in my eyes, and I have to shove away from the table before they fell. I run out of there, not caring who saw me. I don’t stop until I get outside. I didn’t realize I was on a ship until I saw nothing but ocean over the railing.
“What?” I say to myself.
I spot a lifeboat out of the corner of my eye, I run over and look at the name plate on it, it read S.S Titanic.
“What?!” I say out loud.
I turn around, look up and see four huge orange funnels.
“What...,” I say, completely in shock.
I feel my knees give out and I slump over, sitting with my back on the lifeboat. I put my hands on my head and exhale deeply, not wanting to believe what I am seeing, but also wanting my crazy childhood fantasy to magically come true. I look around at all the people on deck, thinking how the odds of them surviving this voyage very slim. A little girl with dark brown is staring at me with a look of curiosity and fear on her face. I close my eyes, and when I open them, she was gone. It takes a split second, almost as if I had imagined her. Soon after, the redheaded girl from earlier this morning finds me and pulls me to my feet. She was saying something, but I was busy getting lost in my own little world. She finally gains my attention by snapping in my face.
“Elizabeth!” she snaps, “Would you pay attention to me! Hello?”
“Sorry, I was just...” I start.
“Lost in your own little world?” she interrupts, “Yea I know.”
This comment seemed a little mean to me, but I just give her a mean look. She rolls her eyes and pulls me back inside. I spend the rest of the day exploring the ship, after I was able to give her the slip. The ship is fascinating as I pay extra attention to the details. I smile to myself as my fingers touched little items, secretly ecstatic that I am actually on the ship that had been in my dreams for as long as I can remember. I make it back to my room a few moments before the maid girl comes in and helps me get ready for dinner. She puts me in a dark blue silk dress, with matching shoes. She fixes my curly hair into an elegantly styled up-do, with little ringlets hanging out from under. She fastens a string of pearls around my neck and little pearl earrings into my ears. I put on white gloves, and she puts another strand of pearls around my left wrist. I feel like a princess. Soon, the red-headed girl, Juliet, comes in and we walk to dinner together.
We reach the Grand Staircase, and I stay behind as she walks down, pretending to go back for something. I hide behind a pillar, and watch her waltz into a small group of people. About half of them I recognized, but there is another family among them. One of them catches my eye. A very handsome young man stands next to my “mother.” He has dark, brown hair, thick eyebrows, noticeable dimples, even when he wasn’t smiling, a crooked smile that showed perfect white teeth, and perhaps the most handsome of all; chocolate brown eyes. The sight of him took my breath away. I am very attracted to this handsome stranger. Wanting to get to know this handsome stranger, I finally descend the staircase and join the group of people. When he sees me, he gives me a quick smile before composing himself again. We all make our way inside and have dinner. I didn’t pay much attention to what I was eating, but I do like most of it. I was too busy exchanging looks with the handsome stranger. Soon, my face is brick red and very hot; I am blushing quite a bit. Juliet keeps giving me smirks and smiles.
Soon dinner is finally over and the handsome man, his name I come to know is Noah, offers to escort me back. Instead we head outside and walk around the ship for a while. My face is still red. He laughs.
“Since when have I made you blush?”
I turn around, “What?”
“You never blush, you were always way too tough for that,” he says.
Of course I had no idea what he was talking about, but I decided to play along using what I had found out today.
“I guess finishing school got to me,” I say.
“Guess so, but you know what?”
“What?”
He smiles a sweet, sly smile and moves a piece of hair behind my ear. He whispers in my ear.
“I like it.”
The feel of his breath on my ear gives me goose-bumps. I feel myself give a breathy smile. His fingers linger on my neck, like caressing feathers. Shivers travel up my spine, as he pulls my face closer to his. I look into his beautiful brown eyes, and he stares directly into mine; it’s as though I can see directly into his soul. There is an intense love in his eyes, stronger than anything I have ever seen in my entire life. It takes my breath away. Before I know it, this beautiful creature is pressing his lips to mine, and mine respond rather surprisingly. I knew I wanted to kiss him, but I want to get to know him more. But I guess I already do. Almost by instinct, I kiss him back, letting my body rather than my mind control my actions. Soon I had to break for air, and he just moved his lips lightly down my neck, sending more shivers up and down my spine. I forget to breathe and I have to remind myself after a few seconds. He kisses my lips once more and hugs me.
“I missed you so much,” he whispers in my ear.
I smiled and hugged him tighter.
“I missed you too,” I say, before I knew I was talking.
We continue walking and stop at the stern, looking out at the wake of the ship on the dark
water. I feel oddly...athletic, as if I could run for miles without stopping. Before I realized it, my shoes are off and I am standing on the deck barefoot. I pick up my shoes and hand them to him.
“Hold these for a moment will ya?” and I turn around and run. I run as fast as I can, only slowing down when I reach any obstacle, such as people or stairs. I run straight through, not caring I am in an off-limits area at the front of the ship. I fall down when I step on the grating right near the front. I slip and stumble off the grate. After a few seconds, a strong hand pulls me up, I look up and it is Noah’s, with a big smile on his face. When I regain my stance, we both start laughing, as if we had been goofing off with each other for years. I stand at the very front of the ship, and being the dork that I am, I want to put my arms out and pretend I am flying. So I do.
It is very magical. I feel so silly, I have to check off another thing from my “Impossible Wish List,” the first being to experience Titanic for real. It seems odd that the first two things on my checklist are now crossed off. Soon, we get in trouble for being up here, so we have to leave. We burst out laughing and run off. We decide to race, and I win. Soon we end up at the stern once again. He plops down on one of the benches, but I just fall down on the deck, breathing heavily from all the running, yet giggling from my mishap. I start lightly singing one of the random songs in my head, not realizing it was from about 100 years in the future. I figure this out when Noah asks.
“What song are you singing?”
I respond without really thinking about it, (“add song.” )
“What?” he says with a very confused look on his face.
“Nothing,” I quickly respond back.
He laughed and just said, “Ok?”
I smiled and shrugged my shoulders with a smirk on my face. Afterwards, he finally helped me up and escorted me back to my room. We exchanged our goodbyes, him kissing my hand again. Then he was gone. I giggled and fell onto my bed.
I got out of my evening clothes and pulled on a night gown. As I laid on the bed for several minutes, a soft drumming began in my head like earlier today.
“No…no no no no NO!” I cried as tears fell.
My arms and legs tingled everywhere and tears poured down my face. My vision blurred and after what seemed like an eternity in the cold, I opened my eyes, and I was back in my old room back home. I realized I was still in the night gown, so I changed into my own clothes. I looked in the bathroom mirror, and my hair was short again. I checked the dated clock and it read 7:00 p.m…a week after I left! I walked upstairs and over the baby gate. Annie saw and ran over to me bawling. I quickly pick her up, hugging her tightly to my chest. Vanessa saw me as well and a surge of relief came over her face. She jumped off the couch and grabbed me in a tight hug, Annie still in my arms.
I know this sounds crazy, but I wanted to go back.
I put the baby down and we sit on the couch. I can see the look of worry all over her face.
“I’m fine,” I tried to assure her.
“I can see that now,” she said, “But I had no idea before!”
I felt so bad; I couldn’t find the words to explain it to her.
“What happened to you?!
“I don’t know what happened myself! I can’t explain it.”
“Where…were you?!” she pressed.
I knew exactly where I was, but I wasn’t going to tell her, though.
“I can’t remember,” I said.
She gave me a sorrowful look, hugged me again, and went to get herself a soda. I felt so bad; I didn’t like lying to her, but I had to. When John came home from work, he hugged me too. As I sat in the living room, and I heard someone come in. I went to pick up the baby when I heard my mother’s voice in the kitchen. I froze, then ran upstairs to hide in the attic. I burst into my cousin’s room, tripping over things to get into the attic before my mother found me. Rose just laughed at me as I fell over knocking my head on the door. I opened it and fell over from the cat in my way.
I heard Rose laughing as she came up the stairs, as I did too, before we both hid in the attic corner. We just giggled, shushed each other, and suddenly a sense of dread filled me as I heard my mother coming up the stairs. I pressed my ear to the vent to hear Vanessa and mom’s conversation. I already knew it was about me, that was a given. With Rose giggling in my ear, I gave up eaves-dropping; Vanessa would tell me later.
For the next hour, Rose and I hid out, played cards, told secrets and gossip, and made each other laugh. Vanessa came up after mother had left; I could tell she was flustered, so I attempted to make her laugh.
Back downstairs we made dinner, then, I finished making a cake. After the cake was frosted, I put the babies to bed. Vanessa and I decided to watch a movie, so she picked it out, and I made the popcorn. Over the popping sounds, I heard music I would know from the first chord…I went back into the living room and saw she had put on Titanic of all films... I laughed and handed her the popcorn and plopped down on the couch.
“Really?” I laugh.
“Yep,” she says with a smirk.
I laugh again at the irony and get lost in the movie. I realize that I may be very close to experiencing this firsthand, so I pay special attention to every detail…yes I know it’s a movie, but it is very historically accurate…well minus the characters. My mind drifts to Noah, trying to come up with some way I can save him, I don’t want to have to watch him die. I don’t think I can live through that. I drift off to sleep sometime during the movie and wake up later on the leather couch with a blanket thrown over me. It’s dark, so Vanessa must have gone to bed. I look at my phone and I see that it is 2:00 in the morning. I sneak downstairs, intending to go to bed. I am so exhausted; I fall over on my bed and drift in and out of consciousness.
I find myself dreaming a insane dream. I dream of time, of history, all layed out in front of me; Titanic, the Civil War, the Holocaust, any and every period of history I had ever found fascinating, myself living through all of them at full speed. Behind it all, there is a secret, a secret I can feel I know, but I can’t bring myself to remember. It’s important though, the secret behind all of it, the answer as to why me of all people get to travel back in time. It’s getting closer, I am just about to find out, when a loud drumming interrupts my dreams. I wake up and Im still in the dark, but I’m laying on something very hard and cold. I open my eyes and i see stars above me. I sit up and look around, taking in my surroundings. I sit up, first thing I notice it’s the cold, so cold. I feel like I’m bobbing up and down. I realize I’m in a boat. My hand searches down, and is dowsed in freezing cold water. I jolt my hand back and turn my head. I can see the great ship tilted awkwardly in the darkness. Hot tears fill my eyes, and I don’t understand why. I clamp my eyes shut, trying to get warm. I notice I’m frozen stiff, I must have fallen in at some point. I slam my eyes closed and try to block out the cold, trying to ignoring the agonized screams filling the night. I wipe the tears from my face and look at my hand. I notice the 7 on my hand I had drawn today. Now I know this really is happening, I can’t hide from it anymore.
I am extremely grateful when the drums start pounding. I notice that they aren’t as strong as they normally are, the light that surrounds me is dim. If I know anything, I don’t think I’m going home this time, the energy isn’t strong enough. Knowing what’s coming, I close my eyes tightly and wait. Sure enough, I disappear from the boat. I barely notice the cold, my sobs are taking up too much of my attention. I land on something warm and soft. Soon, I cry myself to sleep, exhaustion getting the best of me. I sleep for a long time. When I do wake up, after clearing my head, I see that thankfully I am in my own room. I guess it was strong enough to send me home. I rub the sleep from my eyes and roll out of bed. I pull on some sweat pants and a sweat shirt and trudge upstairs. Its early, like really early. The sky is bright with the colors of the sunrise, but something is different. When I had gone to bed, the sky was clear, freshly fallen leaves littered the ground, but now as I look out, I see at least a foot of snow covering the ground. I look around the room and notice some decorations that seem two months early. Sure enough, when I look at the calendar and it says today is December 16th. Well shit.