Water Ahoy!

    I lean over the railing and breathe the fresh sea air. The crisp salty breeze whips my hair across my face. Mum says I have found my sea legs specially fast. Poor Harry hasn’t. He keeps vomiting, and frankly, it’s disgusting. I see in the distance a glittering mass the size of a skyscraper. It looks gorgeous. I yawn, it is time to sleep.

 

              I wake up with a start, as Mum shakes me up. Then I feel a jolt that throws me backwards. With a shake of my head I look up at Mum, who is clinging to the bedpost, so as not to be tossed around. I follow her lead and grab on to the windowsill. I feel something wet around my ankles. I look down and almost lose my grip on the windowsill. There is water everywhere, including inside my socks. Dad runs in, with Harry, my 12 year old elder brother. Both of them have faces as white as ghouls. Let’s go, let’s go, their mouths move, but I can’t hear anything but my own blood rushing through my ears .WE’RE SINKING! Suddenly I feel lightheaded and fuzzy. However, I find myself moving down the stairs. Harry mouths to me, ‘Are you okay?’ I don’t want to worry him, so I nod. Basically, I’m fine, I guess, except, I’ve a stomach-ache, a headache, feel like vomiting, I think I’m getting a nosebleed, and I can’t feel my feet.

 

              Me and Harry clamber into a lifeboat, but before Mum and Dad can get in, it is swept away by a particularly large wave. I cant hear a single sound, but I can feel Harry screaming for them, mingling with my own thoughts. We are looking on helplessly as the ship sinks down, disappearing completely. The bow of the ship hits our lifeboat and it is shoved far away. I look around. Normally, Harry is the more level-headed of the two of us, but today, he is just freaking out. He is screaming for Mum and Dad at the top of his voice. “Shut up, and let me think, Harry” I yell at him. He quiets down, and I say “First, let’s state the facts, then figure out a WAY out”

“Well, let’s see Krystal, we are a 9 year old and a 12 year old, who HAVE NOTHING BUT THIS BOAT AND ARE STUCK IN MIDDLE OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN. ”

“OK, one, you are almost 13 next month is your birthday, second, I brought my rucksack, we have enough food and water for 3 days, 6 if we stretch it, and third, this is the Atlantic Ocean, not the Arctic.”

“Still doesn’t get rid of our main problem-- one year doesn’t make much difference by the way—which is we are stuck here, and we don’t know if Mum and Dad are OK.”

              I have a thought. Then 20 more. And none of the thoughts are good. “What if no one finds us!” I am the one near hysterics this time. As Harry calms me down, I chance a look up, and to my pleasure see a helicopter. It hovers close to the water when it sees us and the door opens. A blonde woman in her early twenties opens the door. “You kids from the Titanic,” she asks. I open my mouth to answer and Harry tells me, “That question was probably rhetorical”

“Righto, kid. I’m pretty sure you guys are from there. We are the pickup service.”

 

              It isn’t smart to go with strangers, but at least it’d be better than starving to death in a tiny lifeboat about a million miles away from humanity. Me and Harry scramble aboard. There are two more women and a man all around the same age as the blonde that pulled us on. They introduce themselves. The blonde is Nina, the red head woman is Rihanna, her brother is Ronald, the other red head, the girl with raven black hair and big, almond shaped eyes catches my eye immediately. The others are cheerful, while she looks sad. Her large brown eyes seem to be pools of misery. Nina sees me watching her. “Her name is Meena. We fished her out round an hour ago. We still haven’t found her little brother, Roshan. She is completely—oi look down, there’s another kid in the ocean.” They hovered over the water and this time Rihanna went over and yanked a little girl out of the water. She is about my age, and shivering with cold. Meena shot up out of her seat and hugged the girl. “Meena.” She shivered.

 

              Soon after picking up Sanjana and a few others, the Helicopter was full. They had found Mum and Dad too, but not Roshan. Meena and Sanjana are crying at the back. I really feel for them, but there is nothing that I can do. We landed in an hour or so. The Titanic is a dangerous ship, and I never want to sail ever again.