True Love Never Sinks

Goodbye, Ireland!

The stumbling of one of my roommates woke me up. My eyes feel really heavy as does my whole body. I look to the side to see what's going on but it seems like one of them was a bit too loud.

My eyes almost close again, I can't even move my head back. The ladies from the other bunkbed open the door and quietly leave.

"Mijn broer komt nu aan boord!", one of the women say. I'm too tired to understand what she said. Was that even English?

"Ja, ik kan niet wachten om de haven van Ierland te zien", the other adds.

Ierland.. Ierland..
Ireland!

My eyes open widely as I realise what she just said. I remove my blanket and sit up very quickly and hit my head on the top of the bed. I groan and rub my head.

We're arriving in Ireland!

I stand up quickly and dress myself, put my curls in a bun. I wish I had a beautiful dress for this special occasion but my standard outfit will do.

The door flies open as I run out of my cabin. We're arriving in Ireland! I smile a bit and think of my mum. Where she is and what she's doing right now. Surely, she knows that Titanic will stop in Ireland today. And that's going to be it. I won't see her for the next few years but I will make her proud. I hope so.

Occupied with my own thoughts, I don't notice the other passengers and bump into someone. The other person seems to have been in their thoughts as well because we crash into each other like two horses. They drop their little bag and I reach down to get it for them - like I helped Viljami.
We both reach down at the same time and we look at each other.

It's the woman from yesterday.

She pulls her hand away at the same time as I do. Then I grab her bag. "I'm-", I mumble. "I'm so sorry" I give her bag back and I feel my cheeks get hot. She looks at me with the calmest face I've ever seen.
"Don't worry, it's okay.", she smiles, strains of her brown hair fall into her face.
My heart starts to beat faster. Why do I feel like this, what AM I feeling?
For once, I feel terrible for bumping into her like that.
Her piercing hazel eyes scan my every movement.
"I didn't pay attention to my surroundings!", the young woman reassures me.
"I'm really sorry, I wasn't either", I swallow and my throat feels tight. The woman holds her bag close to her and looks at me with a big question mark.
This is my chance to make another friend.
"To make up for it, do you.. do you want to come to the deck with me and my friends?" I sound like a heel. "If you don't have any other plans, of course!"
She looks at me with a very compassionate look and smiles nervously, with a hint of confusion.
"Of course, I will join you. I'm going to tell my mother, just wait for me up on the deck"
My body tingled when she smiled at me. I feel so awkward as she passes me to go back to her room.
Why did I stutter? In front of someone I don't know? I try to ignore my thoughts and go up to the poop deck, where Viljami and Johannes are already sitting. They are very close to each other, almost hugging each other.
Once they see me, they quickly move apart and seem very awkward. Almost as awkward as I was a few minutes ago!
Viljamis face is red and even his German friend seems a bit nervous.
"Oh, hi, didn't see you there!", Viljami greets me nonetheless.
I won't mention any of this.
I giggle and sit down next to them. "We're going to arrive in Ireland soon, aren't we?"
The men nod and I suddenly remember that I forgot to eat breakfast. In the beginning, I was very excited to try out the breakfast here, but my excitement today made me forget about it. There'll always be another day.
"It's almost time.", Johannes notes with his very old watch in his hands. He's right. I jump up and lean again the rails to see further.
"I can see land!", I shout.
Viljami and Johannes don't seem to be very impressed. After all, they're not from here. I'm sure they'd react the same if we passed the Russian Empire or the German Empire.
Viljami chuckles. "This is it.", he says.
Yes, this is it. After this, we'll be in America.

Once the huge iron ship sets anchor in Queenstown, some people come and some people go. If I were a rich woman, it'd seem fun to just have a short trip from England to France or Ireland. This is not for fun, this is a life changing trip, at least I hope so.

The remaining third class passengers around us wave down to the citizens of Queenstown, just like we did in Southampton. I really like this solidarity, a lot of the passengers here are Irish or were born there, so it's not surprising.

Approximately two hours later, we can feel the ship moving again. We're leaving Europe for good. "Say Goodbye to Ireland!", Johannes says, a bit sarcastically, which makes me laugh. I look at the port which is gradually getting further away as I whisper
"Goodbye, Ireland."

Someone taps on my shoulder and I quickly turn around. The woman from the other cabin. My breath stops for a couple of seconds when she smiles at me.
"Hi", her smile brights up the whole poop deck and I completely forgot about Ireland on the other side. Viljami and Johannes look at each other with a smirk on their faces.
She didn't put some strands of hair in her bun, or maybe she didn't manage to, it's hard to work with curly hair. The wind waves them into every direction. She's a keen girl with a classy chassis.
"I believe, I haven't introduced myself to you before.", she smiles. I've never seen a smile like that before, her brown eyes shine bright when she smiles.
"My name is Emma"
She holds her hand out. I panic on the inside for a second before I grab her hand and gently shake it. "I'm Mary" I smile back at her and then the men introduce themselves to her and the other way around.

"I missed Ireland, I suppose."
Yes and no. She can still see it.
"No, it's still there", I awkwardly point to the mass of land that gets smaller and smaller the more time passes. Emma looks to it with melancholic eyes.
"This is where I'm from", I stutter. "Not Queenstown, of course."
Emma nods with understanding on her face. "So, you're Irish? I'm English. We're both from the UK!", she smiles. "What do you think about the independence of Ireland?"
I freeze. Ireland should be independent and not be part of the United Kingdom, but can I really say this to someone from England?
"I'm just joking", Emma laughs. "I don't care about that, you might as well get the independence, I'm going to America anyway"
Her laugh is contagious and makes me smile.

"Only the ocean separates us from America now!", Viljami states, his German friend agrees.

Nothing could possibly stop us now!