Surviving the Titanic #2

“Come on! Come on! Come on!” my twin and I exclaimed.

“Alright girls. Settle down. I just got,” my dad calms us down, “to get my shoes on and we’all be on our way.”

“Are we first class, Daddy?” my twin, Charlotte, asks. Her hazel eyes shimmered with wonder.

“I tried to, but I got third class instead.”

“Aww…” I sigh, letting my orange hair droop. At least we got to go on the Titanic! My name’s Catherine Reagan Spaghetti, and I'm 14 years old. No! I don’t like spaghetti! I'm sorry! It's just… it's just gross. My twin is just a few seconds older than me. Anyway, my father was able to get us tickets to ride the Titanic, and I love to see the ocean, but sadly he bought third class tickets.

Charlotte pats my back, “At least we get a ride on that monstrous boat!”

“True,” I replied.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Let's hit the road! We're not missing another trip!” my father jokes around. He told me earlier that we're traveling to visit relatives in New York.

...

When we got in the Titanic, we walked into our cabin. It was surprisingly nice looking, but it was a little claustrophobic. Whatever!

“Dibs on the bunk above Daddy!” Charlotte pounces on the bunk.

“But I wanted to sleep over father!” I whine. The cabin had two bunk beds. Since there was three of us, we put our cases on the empty bed. My bed was in the top left corner, my twin’s was across from mine, and Father’s was below Charlotte’s.

“Char, you're such a redhead!” I giggle. Char and I have an inside joke we like to throw at each other. It's kind of a long story.

“So are you! You look like you'll explode!” she continued.

“No, you're just looking in a mirror!” We both explode laughing. Man, the life of twins.

“Cat! You want to see the ocean? We're away from home now!”

“Of course!” I walk onto one of the decks, I can't remember what deck it was, and watch the ocean dance as I felt the waves lift us up and down slowly. My favorite part was the reflection of the sunset. The sun was painting beautifully on the water ripples. It was a beautiful night as well! The moon shined bright, the stars twinkled, and the water was nice and calm. The ocean rocked me to sleep within seconds. On day two (something like that), I saw my cousin Evelyn. She's my cousin from my dad’s side of the family. It was a great trip, until that one night…

...

I lay down in my bunk, and Char is tossing and turning in hers. All of a sudden, I hear a big thud that made me jump. I hop out of my bunk, and so does my twin. My father yawns, “Girls. Go back to bed. It's midnight. It's just the kitchen.” After that, we heard plates crashing.

“That's the kitchen,” I reported, shivering. My twin and I step out of our cabin, and my father comes rushing after us, yelling, “Come back here this instant!”

“There is something wrong, Daddy!” Char looked over her shoulder as we ran, “There's something wrong with the ship itself!” Char and I rush to the main deck. There's a crowd of people gathering around the side. There was screaming. There was yelling. There was crying. Without realizing, Char ran off. I'll never know why she did. I looked around, searching for her. “Char? Charlotte? Where did you go?” I started to shriek.

“Catherine! I'm over here!” Charlotte exclaimed somewhere in the crowd.

“Char! Stay where you are!” I replied back, “I'll find you!”

“I'll try- woah… WAAA!!!” I heard something splash.

“Char? Char! No!” I try to squeeze through the crowd, but it was so claustrophobic it was almost impossible. I managed to get through, but I lost my balance, I slipped off the boat and did something to my leg. It didn't feel good. I land with a huge bellyflop. The water was ICE! I flapped my arms wailing for someone to pick me up. My temperature got colder and colder. Luckily I wasn't there for long or else I wouldn't have been here.

“Grab my arm!” a man on a lifeboat reached out for me. I couldn't really lift my arm up, but gave it a shot. I throw my arm in the air, caught it, and pulls me up out of the water. Show off! Once I sat in the lifeboat (first off, no one told me what number lifeboat we were on), I couldn't stop shivering.

“Th-thank y-you,” my teeth chattered. The guy pat me on the back and laid his coat on my shoulders.

“No problem,” the guy nodded. At this point, we were slowly moving away from the Titanic.

“Catherine?” a soft voice echos in my ears. Was that Charlotte? I turn my head that direction. I couldn't believe my eyes!

“Charlotte?” I lift my head toward her. She was shivering as much as I was. We stumbled to each other and wrap our arms around each other. I could feel tears drip out of her eyes.

“I thought I would never see you again,” she whispers to me.

I lift my head up, “Have you seen Father?” She shakes her head. I breathe heavily at the response. Right when I looked at the water, I spot a motionless body surprisingly floating. My eyes widen.

“Is that…? No!” Charlotte gasped, covering her mouth, and my eyes water up.

“No… no. No! FATHER!!!” I climb to the edge of the lifeboat almost tipping it.

“Hold your horses sister,” a woman stated, holding on to me.

“FATHER!!!” He was too far for me to reach him, but I kept stretching. Then I remembered my leg, and I almost completely fell in the water. The others pulled me back up. One of the boys that guided the boat shifted the boat towards my father. My leg’s pain was kicking in, and it got numb. Char pulled father out of the water for me. He was still. The boy continued to row the boat.

“Daddy? Are you in there? Please answer me!” Char sobbed, shaking father a little bit. I set my head on his chest and listened for pounding. It was still. All I heard was my twin and my breath and the ocean currents. My eyes filled up as I lifted my head back up.

“Father! Please! Come back! I can't survive without you! Please!” I sobbed. Charlotte set her head on my shoulder, and I laid my head on hers.

“So…” the man changed the subject, “Your names are Catherine and Charlotte, right? Which one’s which?” We both looked at him.

Sniffing, Char looked at my leg answering, “Well… she has the ‘broken’ leg, and I don't.” I gave her a dirty look.

“Oh yeah. Uh… well hopefully the RMS Carpathia comes soon to help us out,” the man stares at my leg

“The RMS Capia?” I ask him.

“Carpathia,” he corrects me, “I heard they're coming to help us get out of the ocean.”

“I could care less, honestly.”

“Don't you want to get home?”

“I want to be with the ocean one last time, then join my father.”

“Cat! Where did that come from?” Charlotte snaps at me.

“Well, if you think about it, we're now orphants because Father HAD to leave us!”

“Cat! Get a hold of yourself! You're overreacting!”

“I'm not overreacting! It's the truth!” It was true. Our mother past away in a fire years ago.

​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​ “Just shut… just… stop. I… don't want to think about…” she whimpers, covering her face. I start to feel guilty, and everyone makes it worse by staring at me.

I sigh, “Look, Char. I'm sorry, okay? I'm just scared.” I rub my leg. It did feel a little off. I don't want to explain it though. We sat there for a while, tearing up together.

…

“Catherine. It's here,” the rowing boy nudged me. I heard the boat splashing toward us.

“Did I fall asleep?” I ask him.

“Well… so did Charlotte. You're not alone.”

“That's what we do for a living: do everything together.” The RMS Carpathia pulled us on board. It was really painful for me because of my leg over here! That made no sense. Anyway, they had to take care of my leg, and I ended up having a splint. We did end up making it to New York and seeing my grandparents. We told them about what happened on the Titanic, and they were relieved at the fact that we were alive.

Now we live with our grandparents on Mother’s side of the family. No! I do not like spaghetti! It's just my name! We were happy to have someone to live with and no, I didn't commit suicide. I was just terrified at the lifeboat.

“Home sweet… ah… AH… ACHOO!!!” I was allergic to my grandfather’s dog, Justin. It's a minor allergy though. Luckily. Charlotte giggled. I survived the Titanic!


By: Fiona Read and friend

I give so much credit to my very best friend and partner in writing for writing this side of the story for me. I love her very much and if this story makes me big, she will forever get half credit for anything we do to this story together. I love you Meagan Chan, Catherin, Meagan Pearltoon, Skylar, or whatever you decide your name is this week.

Look for one of these names on the site. She has one I am pretty sure and I always recommend anything she writes.