The Unsinkable

by Carson I
(Fullerton CA)

As the surface appeared farther and farther, and the air in my lungs ran thin, I knew it was the end. I wondered how the titanic, the unsinkable, could yield to the icy wrath of such a small iceberg. The world slowly faded and I was out, my mind trailed back to the time where my whole world fell apart and all havoc broke loose.
I can still hear the sirens blaring and people screaming from my cabin, number 132. It was on the second out of fourteen different floors. At the time I lied awake in my bed, staring at the beige wallpaper of my small room, thinking about my family back at home. My Mom and Dad, my older sisters Madison and Bianca, and my little brother Milo. I heard the muffled cries of people outside my door, "An iceberg! We've hit an iceberg!" Of course I didn't believe them at first, the ship was said to be unsinkable. I still remained in bed.
A couple minutes later the cries continued, and so did the sirens. I decided to get up and investigate. I glanced at the window and saw what looked to be water, in fact there were a couple inches of it. Pretty soon it would rise above and possibly shatter the windows. Hairline cracks started to form as the pressure increased. The lights flickered, and I grabbed my coat and boots and left my room as the window shattered behind me.
I was about a foot deep in water as I turned left towards the stairs, the water raised by the second. I climbed and climbed, barely staying ahead of the water. As I reached the twelfth floor which held the ballroom, casino, and several fine dining restaurants, I detoured from the stairs. I entered one of the restaurants without checking the name. It looked as if it were busy before the incident, half eaten dishes littered the tables. I ran past the tables and reached the balcony overlooking the ocean then gaped at what I saw.
Below me I saw more yellow than blue, life rafts polluted the ocean for about 100 yards out. I looked up and I could see people screaming and crying, as they were escorted to the life rafts by the crew. They dropped into the ocean like raindrops hitting the asphalt of our empty streets back in our lonely town in Louisiana. Then I thought of home again. The thought of never seeing my family again haunted me. I was so deep in thought that I didn't notice the lifeboat swinging down right at me. I jumped back but it was too late, my surroundings started to fade, but I did my best to keep the world in focus.
I walked forward thinking that I would have to jump, then I realized that for an iceberg to form that water would have to be freezing. I turned around and stumbled back towards the stairs. I looked up, it would be a grueling trek up two flights of stairs, with my splitting headache and a light grip on reality. With the constant threat of rising water, I started up the stairs.
When I reached the top of the first flight of stairs, I was drenched in sweat, and my eyes were playing tricks on me, I could barely stand. Something more than the hammer I usually get in my head beat steadily. My strength was gone. The water was up to my knees now. I just wanted to lay on the velvet carpet and let the freezing water wash my worries away. I could see the deck, maybe 20 steps away. But that might be more than I could manage. The ship tilted backwards. I grabbed onto a bar of the staircase. Now like a rung of a ladder. I held on with all my strength. More screams followed.
I knew it would only get worse as my energy drained. I would have to climb.
Rung after rung I climbed the staircase. The water was up to my waist. I was halfway there. Soon the water engulfed me, I knew I couldn't swim. I tried to quickly reach the top with the help of the rising water. I was so high on adrenaline, the coldness didn't kick in until I reached the top. With my last bit of strength I jumped and grabbed the rail. The closest lifeboat was about 40 rungs above me. There were hardly any people on the deck at this point. My adrenaline still pumped but that might not be enough.
I continued to expend my energy that was not there. All I could think about was making it to that lifeboat. Then I thought about my family once more. I had promised little Milo that I would make it to his birthday party. It would crush him if I couldn't, even more so if I could never make one again. I found a new burst of energy as I climbed the rungs. The metal sent a chill down my spine, but it would be nothing compared with the water threatening to drown me. I made it to the lifeboat, and reached for my knife that I always carried with me, then I realized I had left it in the room. There was no way I would be able to dismount it. I heard moaning.
An old man, probably in his 70's, pleaded to me that I could help him on to the lifeboat, because he broke his legs in a struggle to get to the deck. The man wore a brown coat, with a brown hat to match it. By the looks of it he had been the previous owner of one of the half eaten dishes below. He sat on top of a rotated raise on the wall. He threw in that he had a knife. Sure enough in his pocket a metal blade gleamed in the moonlight. I figured he was my only hope.
I started over towards the man and asked him to get on my back. I turned around and to my surprise, he muttered these eight chilling words. "If I can't make it... Neither can you." And with that he kicked me in the back and sent me flying into the freezing water.
I hit the water and was surrounded by bubbles. My spine hurt badly from where the old man kicked me. His legs couldn't have been broken he must've been lying all along. Among my fatigue, back pain, migraine headache, and intense cold, my broken heart hurt the most.
As the surface appeared farther and farther, and the air in my lungs ran thin, I knew it was the end. I wondered how the titanic, the unsinkable, could yield to the icy wrath of such a small iceberg. The world slowly faded and I was out. The last thing I remembered was what looked like an explosion of bubbles and a hand reaching towards me. My mind trailed back to the time where my whole world fell apart and all havoc broke loose.
I came to in a small room with lights glaring down at me and to my sides were rows of hospital beds with unconscious patients in it. I could smell the aroma of beautiful flowers, my friends and family must've sent to me. I tried to lift my head and couldn't, but I don't care because I saw my mom with tears in her eyes and my father with the biggest grin you'd ever see. I saw my sisters smiling. Then I saw Milo racing to give a hug me with his Teddy bear Mikey in hand. I found a calendar on the wall. It was April 28th. I had kept my promise. I didn't care what had happened to me, because I was alive and with my family, and that's all that mattered.