Chapter 1

          “Missy! Wake up, the ship...she’s sinking,” my new friend from first class said in a worried voice. I shot up in disbelief, looking outside of my window, hoping this was all a dream and it wasn’t really happening.    

“This nightmare again.” I quickly realized everything that happened on the Titanic will haunt me forever. It’s almost like it was just yesterday….

20 years ago the giant black, white and red ship was placed just inches from where I stood. “How,” I asked myself, “can something that large and that heavy stay afloat?”  My dress gracefully brushed against the ground as I stepped my first step onto the Titanic. Everything was so new, like an apple without bruising. I walked up the steps, holding up my huge dress so I could prevent myself from tripping on it. As I walked in my room something bumped into me. I looked over my shoulder to see a poor man, a very very poor man in the first class area.

“Hey, watch where you’re going next time, you...you hobo!” I felt horrible saying that, but I wanted him to leave the area so he didn’t get laughed at by other rich residents in first class.

He looked at me with sad eyes that will always be stuck in my brain and said, “I’m very sorry Ma’am, I..I don’t know my way around this ship. I was a bit nervous to come down this way and this is exactly why...I will be going on my way now. My sincerest apologies.” He looked down and slowly walked away from me. It made me feel horrible, but I had to go on with my first day on the Titanic.

Later that night, I was dining with the rich. “Wow, I like how you got your money,” one woman said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.

“I say that you knew he would come into wealth so you married him,” another one said with a lot of attitude in her voice.

“You really have guts for doing that,” the last woman said.

I looked at all of them rolled my eyes and said, “All of you have guts for talking about the only man I loved, you pathetic so called ‘rich people’ are just mad because I’m new money and you’re old money.” All of them gasped in scepticism that I just said that. I looked at them, smiled and walked away.

I didn’t want the night to come to an end. Somehow I was up all night looking outside of the ship as we drifted in the ocean. The sun set so bright that it could swarm a wolf pack away.

That next morning, I ran into one rich lady that looked oddly pleased to see me. “OH MY GOD! You’re the woman who stood up to all those greedy rich ladies! Let’s just say I’ve been waiting for someone to stand up to my mom.” She giggled a bit, but I just stood there in shock for a few seconds and then finally came to myself. I needed to talk to this girl

“Tha...That was your mom? I’m so..” I tried to finish my sentence, but before I could the lady interrupted me.

“Don’t be sorry! I’ve wanted to stand up to my mom for being so rude to other people, but I couldn’t because I really wanted to go on this ship.” I smiled into what she said.

“Oh well, you’re very welcome.” Then the lady then waved and walked away, catching me by surprise. I wanted to get to know her. I wanted to tell her she still had the power to stand up to her mother and not to listen to her when she was bossing her around to do something she didn’t want to do.  I couldn’t; it was too late.   I should have said something earlier, but I guess I’d have to wait to see her again.

That night flew by surprisingly fast, but nothing really happened, so it was no surprise. The only thing exciting that happened last night was when that lady walked up to me and was really happy to see me.   

When I woke up that beautiful but cold morning I put my dining gown on and went to the women that I had my night dining with the first day I was on the Titanic. One of the ladies was looking at me like I did something very bad to her, but then I remembered what I said to all of those ladies on the very first day I met them, not even noticing or thinking about what I was saying to them.

“Ladies, I sincerely apologize for my behavior a few days ago. What I said about all of you was very wrong for one person to say.” One of them looked at me and laughed while the others just sat there and watched.

“Listen, what’s your name again? Oh yeah, ‘Missy,’ we as very rich ladies don’t need your pity sorries. Just leave and don’t come back.” All of the ladies looked at her very angered. I knew what I did was wrong, so I just wanted to go on with my day. I walked away from the table with my head held high.

I was almost at my room before something caught my eye. It was the lady or teenage girl that was talking to me yesterday. I ran as fast I could down the hall. As I stopped myself from running, the lady jumped because of the loud noise I made from stopping myself, but before she could say something bad I interrupted her and said, “You might not remember me, but I’m the lady who stood up to your mom, I wanted to say that you do have the power to stand up to your mom whenever you want, she is treating you like you have absolutely no power in the world when you do! Next time she tells you to be mean to someone or tells you to do something you don’t want to do, tell her no because I have the power to tell her that,and so do you. Trust me.” She looked at me and smiled.

“I do remember you, you’re very powerful and I know that I can stand up to her, but I don’t want to; I’m nervous, she is so intimidating, she bosses every single one of those ladies around!” I stood there in awe trying to fit all of the pieces together in my head.

“You’re telling me right now that your mom is intimidating to you? That’s not a good thing for someone to do to their child when you’re not supposed to scare them or intimidate them; they are supposed to help them and teach them new things.” Our conversation was very long, but it was worth it because I got to know her a lot more.

At about 10:40 PM she left to go back to her room, so I did the same.  Everything was quiet as I walked into my room. I layed down on my bed after a very long day of walking around and slowing drifted off into a deep slumber.

“Missy! Wake up, the ship..she’s sinking!” My friend from first class said in a worried voice. I shot up in disbelief, looking outside of my window, hoping this was all my dream and it wasn’t really happening.

“No it’s not, she was built not to sink!” I said worryingly.

“It..it’s really happening, they are sending out telegrams, they are also putting women and children on the boats first.  Everyone is up on the surface of the ship saying goodbye to their loved ones! The third class area is already flooded! We really need to go, Missy! Now!” She looked at me with a serious face, which made me even more worried.

“Okay, let’s go!” I said as I felt tears start to flood my eyes.

When we got to the top of the ship, we saw so many crying faces, pain in their eyes and hands shaking as they let go of the ones they love the most.   Maybe they were scared to say goodbye because no one is meant to say goodbye so early in life. As we were rushing through the crowd, my new friend’s mom came up to her and hugged her.

“Oh Sweetheart, there you are, I’ve been looking for yo- why are you with her?” she asked, clearly talking about me.

“Hello, Mother, this is my new friend, Missy. Seems like you guys have met before,” she said, looking at me and smiling.

“Oh Sweetheart, it doesn’t matter about her right now, I have a lifeboat reserved for me, you and my friends. Let’s go.” Her mom started to grab her arm, pulling her.

“No Mother! I’m done going by your rules! I’m staying with Missy.”

 Her mother looked at her with angry eyes.  “Fine, don’t come! You’ll just die because Missy doesn’t know how the world works; she just wants the money,” her mother said.

 I saw her going in to say something else, but I stopped her and said,  “Let her decide! Stop trying to persuade her into doing and being someone she’s not. So who do you want to go with?”

“I choose Missy. I’m sorry, Mother. Goodbye!” she said, grabbing my hand and running to a lifeboat. One lady kept pushing us to get into our spots on the lifeboat, so we just kept running until we saw an empty one. Another thing caught my eye as we were running, the poor man I saw my first day on the Titanic. I wanted to go help him, but I couldn’t, I didn’t want to die on the Titanic.

As we got to one of the lifeboats, my whole life flashed before my eyes. I got a chill down my spine as we hit the freezing waters. As we were rowing the lifeboat away the boat started to split right down the middle, causing everyone on the lifeboat to cry because we saw people start jumping and falling off of the boat. Some time went b, and I decided to go back to see if there were any survivors left. As we started to get to the scene of the Titanic crashing, everyone shrieked as they saw the people who were frozen in the ice-cold ocean waters. What I saw right in front of me was absolutely horrifying. Again I saw the man that was in first class on the first day but lifeless; seeing him like that made me think of how I could have saved him and many other people that died on the ship that evening.

 The ship Carpathia came into the scene of the recent sinking to look for any lifeboats or any survivors. I looked at the lifeless people and rowed away, shedding a tear, thinking about what I could have did to help all of these poor souls. As we stepped onto the boat Carpathia, every passenger of that ship was staring at us like we’d been through war and came back after four years. The surprised look on their faces made me feel like 1,000 ghosts were staring at me. I snapped myself back to reality and demanded the crew of the ship to get blankets for everyone

“IT’S FREEZING OUT HERE! STOP STARING AT US AND GET BLANKETS!” I said to them, trying to make them realize we’d been out on the freezing waters for three or four hours. The crew got back with blankets, handing them quickly to everyone. One of the crew members walked up to me and put his arm out with a blanket on hand.

“I don’t want one. Give it to the people who really need it,” I said, and the guy nodded his  head gently. As everyone started to settle down and got into rooms, I tried desperately to fall asleep, but I couldn’t close my eyes; something was telling me it wasn’t right what happened out there.

 I slowly got out of bed and took a few steps before getting to my door. I walked around the deck, looking at the water, saying to myself, “This isn’t right, I could have done more! I should have stopped and helped that man!” And then I heard a soft voice behind me.

“Ma’am, you did all you could, no one went back to the scene to see if there were any survivors except you! You tried very hard to make things right, but not everything can go as planned. Listen...I didn’t actually catch your name.”

 I stood there before saying, “My name is Missy Gray, and you are?”

He looked at me and smiled.  “That’s not important, Missy. You are the unsinkable Missy Gray, and it makes me very happy to say that.”

I smiled and said, “Thank you very much, sir, that means a lot.” I looked at him with happy eyes but the horror of the night was still stuck in my brain.

“Have a nice night now,” he said to me, and I nodded, walking off into the distance. It was sunrise, so I decided it was time for me to go to bed.

I was woken up by my door opening and my friend from first class coming in.

“Good Morning, Missy. We just docked; it’s time for me and you to go our separate ways.” I didn’t say anything; I just nodded my head, and we walked to the dock of the ship silently. When we got off of the dock and onto the ground, I looked at everyone, and they looked tired; none of them got sleep, not even one of them. I looked at my friend from first class as a tear rolled down my face; I wrapped my arms around her neck.

“Promise me you won’t forget me,” as another tear rolled down my face.

“Missy, I promise I will never ever forget you!” Again I didn’t say anything back; I just let go of her and walked away.

Now I know, somethings are harder to forget than other things; I lost so many things that day...my best friend, the Titanic, and all of those poor souls that were lost in the sea that day on April 15, 1912. Every time that day comes I feel like I can still feel the breeze through my hair that happened to me as I walked my very first steps on the beautiful and sadly lost Titanic.

-Gabriella Pinnetti