Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Dorothy sighed as she popped one of the small pills in her mouth. She just didn’t feel like herself today and that has happened a lot lately. She was suffering from depression and these pills seemed to help her, at least a little bit. She felt that she needed something to deal with Lucas and more rich snobs asking about her personal life and what she did for a living. She had on a long black dress, her most expensive pearls and some black heels. Her wavy dark, reddish brown hair was down and it cascaded off her shoulders to the middle of her back.
She sighed as she picked up a small clip in the shape of a dragonfly. It was her mothers. She died while Dorothy was working in London, she has been very sick for a long time. But this made Dorothy even worse, she took the pills more often. Then there was a knock at the door. She groaned, it was Lucas.”Just smile and wave Dorothy, just smile and wave”she said to herself.She faked a smile and opened the door.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
“Ready toots?”Abraham said to Salomi as he fixed his tie. He was glad that they all invested in buying some formal attire in New York. Both he and Vernon were wearing black tuxedos and Salomi was wearing a navy blue dress.
“Yes”Salomi said excitedly
“I feel like a penguin”Vernon said with a laugh as he inspected his tux in the mirror one last time.
“Lets go”Abraham said as they left the first class cabin deck and walked to the ballroom. They walked down a huge staircase and went toward a huge room with double doors.
“Why are people staring at us?”Salomi asked
“They’re just jealous babe”Abraham said to her,”Remember you two. We found gold…lots of it”he said.
“Name sir?”a host asked him
“Squires, three”Abraham said to him. He nodded and they followed him inside. They walked past a band playing classical music, various waiters serving drinks and a fountain in the shape of a dolphin spitting out water.
“Here you are”he said to them as he approached a table with a young couple both in their 30s at the most and an older couple in their 60s.
“Thank you”Abraham said. Vernon nodded and Salomi smiled.
“Good evening”the older man said to them. “My name is Holmes Monroe and this is my wife, Betsy”he said as he motioned to his wife. She merely smiled. Then they went around the table and said their hellos, good evenings and nice to meet you’s.
Abraham shook the younger woman’s hand and realized it was the woman he bumped into the night before.”Dorothy Gibson”she said quietly as she shook his hand and gave him a look like she has seen him before.
“Abraham Squires”he said to her with a polite smile. The waiter then brought over glasses of red wine and poured each of them a glass, even Salomi. He was going to object but Vernon stopped him.
“Rich kids drink wine”Vernon whispered,”She has to fit in remember?She probably wont even like it”he said as they watched Salomi looked at the glass like it was something foreign to her. Abraham reluctantly nodded and Vernon smiled, it was cute.
“Before you three came over, Dolly here was telling us that she is an actress”Holmes said to them.
“Its Dorothy”she corrected him
“Really?”Salomi asked
Dorothy smiled at her,”Yes I am. Movies mostly. I went to London to do some stage acting-“
“Yes, she was in ‘Hamlet’ along with myself”Lucas said,”I played Hamlet”he interrupted proudly
“Oh very good”Holmes said
“What do you do?”Betsy asked them. She had that look that a lot of people have given them. The are-you-really-rich look.
“We’re farmers”Vernon said.
Lucas almost choked on his wine and Betsy didn’t look impressed. Dorothy looked at Lucas in disgust,”Farmers? Very interesting”she said politely. Holmes just looked at them like they lost a lot of points in the “rich” book. Salomi didn’t like that look and she stared at him with disgust.
Abraham had to fix this,”Yes we are farmers but we also got lucky. We are from California and we found gold on our land, lots of it. So now that we have found it, we want to travel the world”
“Oh interesting”Lucas said,”Rich farmers….interesting”he said with a small laugh. Salomi didn’t like this and stared at him with disgust, so did Dorothy.
Abraham decided to not even pay attention to that. Soon they could hear the clinking of someone’s glass and they saw a man stand up. The captain. “Good evening everyone”he said to them,”I am Captain Larson and I would like to welcome you all to the Captain’s Feast and I would like to personally thank you for joining us on our maiden voyage, we will do our best to make this a trip you will never forget. I would like to make a toast. To the unsinkable ship and all its passengers”he said as he raised his glass
Everyone raised their glasses and then drank the wine. Salomi slowly sipped on it. It didn’t really taste too good but she was thirsty. She also saw other kids her age drinking it so she didn’t want to feel left out. Soon the waiters brought out their first plates, which was a small salad. Salomi didn’t particularly like this either. The lettuce was cut into thick pieces and the dressing wasn’t too great either, she didn’t even know what it was. She forced herself to eat it, wondering if they were going to bring out the croissants.
They all ate in silence for awhile, listening to the band and hearing murmured conversations around them. Then Lucas broke the silence,”So what do you two grow on this farm of yours?”he asked her father. She looked at him with disgust again. She didn’t like this man, he was treating them like they didn’t belong here and the tone of that question made it seem like he wasn’t taking them seriously. What an ass.
“The standard vegetables mostly”Abraham said, noticing the tone as well and also not liking it but he decided to be cordial.
“Oh I see and you found a golden tomato?”Lucas asked and laughed
“Lucas please, I mean really”Dorothy said, looking annoyed, embarrassed and pissed that he said that.
“Tomatos arent vegetables”Vernon said matter of factly. Lucas looked at him and didn’t know how to respond.
“So where is your mother young lady?”Betsy asked Salomi.
“I don’t have a mother”Salomi said quietly
“Oh of course you do, then you wouldn’t be here”Betsy said, she must not have understood what she meant.
“Well yes, obviously. But I have never met her, she died giving birth to me”Salomi said a little too forcefully, without really meaning to.
Dorothy looked at the girl. She knew exactly how she felt, well not exactly. She knew her mother and they were very close. That’s why it hurt so much more knowing that when she got back home to America, that she wouldn’t be there waiting for her. She sighed, feeling herself start to deflate. “Im very sorry to hear that”she said breaking the silence.
Then the waiters took away their plates and soon brought out the main course. It was filleted lamb, potatoes, greens and bread. They all dug in and ate in silence. Then the band started to play a familiar song, a song that her mother once loved. She felt like her soul was slipping into a black hole, she couldn’t take it. She had to get out of there. She put down her fork and stood up.
“Where you going Dorothy?”Lucas asked her
“Im not feeling too good. Im feeling a little seasick I think I might need some air”she said to him quickly
“Let me walk you to your room”he said to her
“No please, just stay and eat. I’ll be fine”she said to him. She would actually feel much better if he wasn’t anywhere near her. She then left the room in a hurry.
“Well that episode came on quite fast”Betsy said as she watched Dorothy leave. Like she didn’t believe what Dorothy claimed.
“Yeah I guess your stomach can turn pretty quickly on these waters”Vernon said
Abraham looked at Salomi’s plate. Her potatoes were gone but everything else was barely touched,”You alright?”he asked her,wondering if Salomi’s stomach was like Dorothy’s.
“Yeah, I just don’t like the way this tastes. Its disgusting”Salomi said. Betsy heard this and shook her head in disapproval. Children should be seen and not heard unless they were asked to be.
“Did you at least try it sweetheart?”Abraham asked her
She nodded,”Yes and its disgusting. I miss Abby’s cooking”she said as she looked at Vernon and yawned.
He smiled,”I miss Abby period”he said. He wondered how she was doing everyday. He even sent her a postcard from London, telling her he would be home soon and that he wanted to bring her to New York as soon as possible. He just hoped that when he got home he wouldn’t have any bad news, he hoped he wouldn’t be too late.
“Who’s Abby?”Betsy asked
“My wife”Vernon said
“Why didn’t you bring her along? She probably would have loved a trip like this”Betsy asked
“She’s pregnant and we would be doing a lot of moving around. I didn’t want her to risk it”he said
“Hmmm”Betsy said as the waiters came over and took up their dishes.”What is the dessert for tonight?”she asked him
“It will be right out in a few minutes. Its apple pie”he said to her
“Oh splendid”Betsy said
“Eeew”Salomi said as she yawned again.
“Lomi”Abraham warned her,”Are you tired?”he asked her
“Yeah Im getting a little sleepy”Salomi said,”Maybe I’ll just go back to the cabin”
“I’ll walk you”Abraham said,he turned to Vernon,”Save me an apple pie. I’ll be right back”he said to him,”Say goodnight to the Monroe’s”he said to Salomi
“Good night”Salomi said quietly
“Good night dear”Holmes said
“Hmmm”Betsy said
“I don’t like her”Salomi said as they left the ballroom.
“I know that”Abraham said,”You have to watch what you say and how you act around these people. You see how they still look down on us?”he asked her,”Don’t give them anymore reason to”he said to her. They got to the cabin and he walked her in,”Do you need me to stay here?Will you be alright?”
“I’ll be ok. I bet the waves and the boat rocking will rock me to sleep”Salomi said,”I don’t want you to miss any apple pie”she said, knowing how much he loved it.”I’ll be fine”
“Alright. We will be back soon”Abraham said, he kissed her on her head and then left the cabin. He walked back to the ballroom, but walked slowly as he looked out at the full moon and saw how its reflection glistened on the waters surface.”Beautiful”he said as he stopped and looked over the railing. Then he heard a sound, he turned around to see what the source was and gasped.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Dorothy rushed back to her room, but the tears fell down her face before she was even close to getting there. She ran up to the top deck and ran toward the railing and cried as she looked out across the water.”Mom…I miss you”she whispered as she looked up at the moon,”Why….”she said as she sobbed. She tried to take deep breaths but couldn’t, she thought that the fresh air would help but it didn’t. It was actually a lot colder out, so cold that she could see her breath. She sat down on a nearby bench and cried some more. She didn’t want to be here, she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t even want to go home anymore, no one was there to greet her. “I have no one….I have nothing…”she said as she sobbed,”Theres nothing for me…”she said and then paused. Then quickly she got up and walked to the railing and looked at the water that was way below her. She then looked up at the moon,”Ok Mom….this is it”she said.
She took off her heels and then put her feet on the cold railing. She hissed and jumped a little bit because of the shock of how cold it was. Once she got used to it, she climbed up and stepped over to the other side, still holding on to the rail. She was one step closer, all she had to do was jump now and everything would be perfect.
“Please Lord, forgive me. But you never make mistakes and everything happens for a reason”she said as she looked up at the moon. She took a few deep breaths to try to calm herself down. This wasn’t as easy as she thought and it was so cold. “Ok….”she said as she tried to coach herself and then stopped. She then held on to the rail with one hand as tight as she could and used her other hand to take the dragonfly clip out of her hair. She needed it to be with her, that’s all she had left of her mother.
However, her cold and shaking hands weren’t as sturdy and she dropped it. Luckily, it fell where she was standing, all she had to do was bend down…but there was no room to bend down and reach, she barely had room to stand.
“Shit”she said, she took a few deep breaths as she slowly tried to bend down. However, she looked down and saw how far of a fall she was going to be taking and she gasped. This scared her so much that she slipped and fell…
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Abraham walked quickly as he went toward the source of the sound.”I did not just see someone jump…this better be my imagination”he said to himself as he walked. He then heard someone scream and he looked down and saw Dorothy holding onto the bottom rail with all her life.”Ohmygod Dorothy!”he said to her,”Hold on let me help you”he said to her,”How the hell did this happen? Did someone push you?”he asked as he bent over and tried to grab her hand
“Don’t touch me!”she warned.”Im ok Mr. Squires, I don’t want to be helped”she said
“What?”he asked her. Did she intentionally try to jump? No, then she would have done it already. “Come on Dorothy, let me help you-“
“No!”she shouted, then she gasped,”Wait….give me that clip…I need that clip”she said as she nodded her head toward a hairclip that looked like a dragonfly.
“Dorothy, be serious please”Abraham said to her,”I think that the hairclip is the least of your worries…now give me your hand”he said to her
“No! That hairclip is all I have of her!”Dorothy said as she still held on for dear life, obviously in a panicked state. She was totally different than when she was at the dinner table. Did she have too much wine?
“All you have of who?”he asked, trying to understand and trying his best to help her,”Give me your hand Dorothy, we can talk about this”
“No I don’t want to talk about it! Im not crazy! Don’t talk to me like Im crazy!”she shouted at him,”Give me that clip. If you don’t, Im going to let go and fall to my death!”she warned
“Ok!”he said to her. He reached over and carefully picked up the clip, trying not to drop it. “Im not giving this to you until you give me one good reason why you are in this predicament in the first place”
“I have nothing to live for! She’s gone!”Dorothy said as she started crying.”And that clip is all I have of her and I need it with me when I go. I don’t need life anymore…its nothing but shit”
“Don’t say that”he said to her. She was trying to commit suicide. She lost someone close to her and she was having a nervous breakdown.He had to calm her down.”I know how you feel. I married the love of my life 12 and a half years ago, she was my everything. My heart, my lung, my soul, we were inseperable and so in love and then….she died. She died giving birth to my daughter and my daughter died as well. I thought the same thing. The two people in my life that I cherished were gone. I was alone. There was nothing left for me. I wanted to take my shotgun and shoot myself in the mouth….but then I heard a baby cry. My daughter survived and in that one second, that one cry, I knew that I couldn’t leave. I knew that I had to stay. God makes no mistakes and he wanted me to raise my daughter. Not someone else”he said to her.”I know how it feels to lose someone so close. But my wife wouldn’t have wanted me to end my life because of her, she would have wanted me to keep living because I know that one day we will be together again. Everything happens for a reason”he said to her
Dorothy looked at him as she listened to his story. It sounded so much like her own but what shocked her were two phrases that he said. “God makes no mistakes” and “Everything happens for a reason”. Those were her mothers motto’s. She couldn’t do this anymore, her mother wouldn’t want this.”Give me your hand please”she said to him and he grabbed one of her hands. However, the other one slipped and she screamed…
*____________________*