Cora Cartmell before TITANIC

Chapter two

About a week later, it was finally April. The air was strangely hot, and dry. Mama put out the fire that crackled in the fireplace all night.

After Cora had eaten breakfast, she sat on the floor to play with her brother. Her Mama and Nan began to make lunch, and Grandpa and Daddy were reading newspapers and smoking pipes.

After lunch, Mama told Cora and Robert to go outside with Daddy and Grandpa, while she and Nan made supper.
The hot air spread around, and Robert took off his shoes. He hated the feeling of wearing shoes on a warm day. Cora herself didn't mind,and was even wearing her coat. They played on the soft, green grass.

Cora and her brother were playing hunter, when Roberts' stick broke in half. He made a pouty face, and looked as if he might cry any second.
Cora patted him on the back.
"Don't cry, Robert." She said. "You go inside, and under my bed is your shoes. Take one, and it can be your hunting gun."
Robert smiled and ran inside. Cora followed, not far behind.
She stood in the doorway, watching Robert dig under his bed.

Suddenly Mama and Nan screamed. A huge ball of fire crept from the fireplace, and began rolling on the ground, causing almost the whole floor to catch on fire. Cora screamed, and sprung backwards. She ran as far from the house as she could, and saw her Mama and Nan pushing their trunk out, their most prized possession.
"Is everyone safe?" Nan asked.
Daddy nodded. He put his hand around Cora's shoulders.
Suddenly Cora remembered something horrific. Robert was still in the house!
She began screaming, and ran towards the house.
Mama pulled her back. "What's the matter!" She exclaimed.
Cora began crying, and screaming. "Robert is in the house!" She said, practically choking on her tears.
Mama looked horrified. She began screaming too, and Grandpa ran into the house.
"Papa, no!" Mama screamed at Grandpa.
But it was too late. The fire rose all around the house. It was going to burn down.
Finally, it started raining, and the flames seemed to settle.
Cora sat on her daddy's lap, as she watched her beautiful cottage turn into a pile of ashes. She cried silently, holding her dolly as close as possible.

After a while, the sun began to set. The rain stopped drumming on Cora's head.
Grandpa and Robert never came out of the rising flames.
Mama and Nan both took deep breaths and walked through the pile of rubble.
Mama began wailing as she saw Robert, laying lifeless in a pile of ash. She lifted up his dead, limp body, and hugged it.

Grandpa's body was squished by a wall. Nan didn't try to move it. She knelt down and cried.

Night came quick. With nowhere to go, Cora and her family sat in a dirty, smelly alleyway that was full of garbage.
Cora stretched out on top of the trunk, and shivered. She held her dolly close, and cried herself to sleep.