by The Cowl Editor on April 26, 2018
Portfolio
by Marisa Gonzalez ’18
The world around me begins to fade. The colors of my room come together and form a collage. At first I am nervous, but a little excited. This mixture of colors has never happened before. I try to widen my eyes to get a better view, but they begin to slowly close. My heart races, my breathing quickens, and I am no longer excited. As quickly as my world became color, it turns black.
I feel like I am drifting in the middle of nowhere. My eyes still do not open and my heart continues to race. What is happening? How did I end up here? Why me? What did I do? I am alone with my thoughts. My heart feels like it is about to burst. I want my mom. I want my cat. I want my blanket. I want to wake up. This dream is not fun. Where am I? Someone help! Please! Where am I? My heart continues to race. Why am I alone?
Suddenly, I feel a chill. Then another one takes my body over. I begin to shake uncontrollably. Where did the warmth go? I feel wind slap my face. Where am I? Am I on Earth again? I hear something. Waves? I feel something solid. My feet are cold. My hands are frozen. I am scared and shaking. My eyes no longer feel heavy. Can I open them? Should I open them?
I feel another slap of wind. Slowly, I open my eyes and the world comes into view. It is not what I was expecting. The world is very blue and I seem to be standing on something metal. My bare feet are frozen, and I continue to shake. My teeth chatter. I am so cold I want to cry.
Taking a deep breath, I begin to look around. I see some black shapes, but I can’t quite make them out. My eyes begin to tear up, making my vision worse. Where am I? Suddenly I see a bright light and two figures nearby. One figure speaks.
“Lieutenant, report!”
Lieutenant?
“Nothing, sir,” the other figure responds.
Where am I? I take a few steps forward, though it is difficult with my frozen feet. I tightly wrap myself around my thin night shirt and begin to inch towards the black figures. Something catches my leg and I fall over. I must have made a noise because a dark figure rushes towards me.
“Miss, are you alright?”
A man’s voice. I look up and see the figure bending down offering his hand. His face comes into view, and I see a middle-aged man with a nice smile. I smile back and my cheeks warm up. Oh no, I think I am blushing!
“Miss? Are you alright?” he asks again. This time I take his hand and he pulls me up.
“Y-yes, I- I’mmmm okayyy.” My teeth chatter and my cheeks increase in heat.
“Miss, what are you doing up here? You are supposed to be in bed. Is everything all right? Oh. You must be freezing. A young lady should not be up here all by herself in such little clothing.” And there go the cheeks again.
“I-I’m s-sorryyy. I th-think I’m l-l-l lost. Wh-where am I-I?”
The man sighs and shakes his head. Placing a hand on my head, he says “You are on the Titanic. Perhaps you hit your head. Would you liked to get checked out?”
Did he say the Titanic? Maybe I should get checked out. “Ti-Titanic!” I scream.
“Yes, Miss. Would you like a doctor?”
Titanic. I am on the Titanic. The unsinkable boat that sinks! I begin to hyperventilate and look around. I see the ocean. So, I am on a boat. Then I see white stuff floating in the ocean. Ice! Icebergs! Titanic’s enemy.
“Oh no no no! N-no! This c-cannot be happening!”
“Miss?”
“Where is the captain? Where he is? I need to see the captain!”
“Miss, you need to go see a doctor.”
“No!” I growl. “I need to see the captain, NOW!” I shout in his face and claw at his jacket. The man shakes his head and pats my head. He takes my hand and guides me to the birds nest. I try to break free from his grasp, but I am too cold to put up much of a fight.
“Sir. I found this girl on the deck. She wishes to speak to the captain. She fell and may have hit her head. What should I do?”
This man is stupid. Take me to the captain, duh! Before the other man could speak I shout, “L-look, I kn-know that this b-boat is going to hit an iceberg. I n-need to t-tell the captain to b-be careful.” The other man looks at me like I am crazy.
He opens his mouth but I beat him to it. “T-this b-boat is going to sink! Okay? S-sink!” The other man smiles. Great, now he really thinks I’m crazy.
“Ma’am. You hit your head. This ship is unsinkable!” He laughs. Great. Another idiot.
“No! I-it’s not! S-someone said it wasss unsinkable. B-but was it t-tested! Huh? N-no. It wasn’t and b-because of thisss the ship will h-hit an iceberg, sink, and p-people will die!”
He laughs again.
“Ma’am, you’re cold and tired. You can’t think. Now please. Go to bed and let me do my work.”
Why is this happening? I begin to hyperventilate and the first man sees this. He sighs and places his hand on my shoulder. “Come with me.”
We walk down the crow’s nest and into the captain’s quarters. The door opens and I rush in and shout, “Captain. Iceberg. Sink. Death. I’m not crazy. From future. Listen, please!”
The captain laughs a jolly, grandpa-like laugh and I look up at him. He’s smiling. I sigh.
“My. You have quite a lot to say. Now, repeat yourself slowly.”
I take a deep breath and tell him the whole story. He rubs his beard. “Hmmm. Interesting. Now. I truly don’t believe she will sink, but I have grown attached to this ship and will be careful with her. Thank you for your concern.”
I sigh. Then, I catch something out of my eye. It’s white and big! Iceberg! I grab the captain’s sleeve and point him towards the iceberg.
“Iceberg ahead. Iceberg ahead!” The man from the bird’s nest calls. I close my eyes and feel the ship take a quick turn. I’m hyperventilating again. A hand touches my shoulder.
“It is ok. We have made it.”
I open my eyes and look at an open sea. Yes, yes, we have.