April 14, 1912
Entry 2

Dear Journal,

“Put your lifebelts on! Here put em on immediately!” the butlers shrieked as they barged into our cabin, and grabbed the safety belts from the closet and threw them at us. I looked over at my mom for direction, but the worried look in her eyes made me feel anxious and nervous for this particular situation.

“Quick girls, get them on and gather a few of your things, only the necessities. We don’t have time, so hurry!” My mother demanded. As we both did what she ordered we practically ran out the door, down the corridor, and on our way to the elevator. I jabbed the up button but as the gate opened a waterfall of brisk ocean water poured out like a waterfall. There was so much that it was almost filling the hallway around our ankles. But then I looked around me to see that the three of us were the only ones left coming out of the third class suites. The clock above the overhead of the elevator read 12:02 A.M. and before I could ask any questions, I ran down the end of the hallway hoping for an answer.

“Excuse me, sir, but what has happened to the ship that has caused such a raucous and for everyone being ordered to put on their lifebelts?” I said frantically to a passing butler.

“About twenty minutes ago the ship struck an iceberg and the lower levels are ordered to be evacuated because they will be getting the flooding first. The ship is going to sink, Miss,” he answered so melancholy.

“Well how much time is there, then?” I asked nervously.

“About two hours, but you should go now to the nearest stairwell. All of you hurry!” The gentleman urged.

“Thank you, sir, and we hope you seek safety soon enough,” my mother shrieked.

We glided from hallway to hallway, until we came to the nearest stairwell to see a boisterous crowd of passengers angrily cursing the crew members to permit them through. I followed my mother who tried to push and shove us all through to get to the top, but we were so tightly packed in that it was madness if anyone thought they would be let through.

“Jesus, god man let us through there are still some women and children up here! And if you should not follow the protocol, then I assure you that you will face the consequences from it!” The man in front of us bellowed, but then back down to the barrel of a gun being pointed at his face.

“Now if none of you start listening, then I’m gonna start shoo-“, the staff member got cut off by another one.

“A word from Captain Smith, he wants all women and children from the lower levels to be permitted through.” The butler declared.

“Alright then. Only women and children through now.” Opening the lock with his brass key, he was stampeded by a crowd of aggravated passengers. Luckily, Mom, Maggie and I scooted through before he closed the gate again, but now we were on our way to the top decks.

When we all got up there, the orchestra was playing classical songs to not get the passenger terrified, as much, by playing Morpheus. Without knowing what would happen, civilians were diving off the ship to the icy black water below, jumping onto life boats to try to be saved, and were pushing their children onto lifeboats to put their life first before their. The horrifying sight brought a tear to my eye that trickled down my cheek. But I couldn’t be depressed about that now; I had to find a way to get us all onto an extra lifeboat. As we scurried about the decks we found one boat that looked almost filled so we tried to get ourselves on it.

“Sorry ma’am, but these boats are filled.” A crewmember said to us.

“But the boats aren’t even full yet, there has to be more room for at least women and children to go on.” My mother complained.

“Well maybe if you ask the man luring the boat down over there, he will escort you on.” He said unsure.

“Excuse me, sir, but we are women and children and we haven’t been able to find a single lifeboat that will allow us on. But I see that you have a few available seats there on that boat, so would you mind if we would take them.” My mother tried to negotiate with the man. But it was too late, he didn’t hear a single word, and now he was reeling the lifeboat down.

“Ugh, forget that imbecile girls. Let’s try to find another boat then.” My mother said unwillingly. The fact that my mother was sobbing under her own words, but still managed to be a brave, independent woman made me feel so proud to have her as my mother.

A sudden tilting of the floor made everyone fall flat, including myself. The front half of the boat was breaking apart from the other.

Minutes later, the front half was almost completely into the water leaving its back sticking out of the water.

“This way!” I presumed to the stern of the ship. Since the ship was sticking out from the back, then we would have a better chance for survival if we are aboard the ship longer. Sprinting our hearts out, we managed to make it to the back rails of the stern within ten minutes or so.

“Now hold onto the rails with all your might, because the ship will tilt up even more by how it looks now.” I demanded. What I could see from where I was, was that the Titanic had split right in the middle. I was astonished to see this horrific sight by my memory of the flyer outside the bakery that read that it was invincible. I guess everything can be wrong sometimes. The front half was deep into the water now with only the back bobbing up and down vertically in the water. I clutched onto the railings but my fingers felt slippery because the life jacket was restricting our arms a little bit for doing anything. I looked over at Maggie to see that she apparently was not wearing one.

From what was left of it, the Titanic was starting to sink.
“Okay, now once we are moments away from the water coming to us, let go off the rails and jump off, because the propellers will suck you down with it.” My mother reminded us. My throat began to clog with a huge lump growing, and so did my anxiety. This was it now. This was the reality. The water was arising, and now we had to make our move.
“One……Two……Three!” Plummeting down into the frigid watery tundra I went, down with all the thoughts in my head being erased, but one being left; and that was the pain. The water was so cold that it numbed my whole body. It could have left me scars that it was so cold. But struggling to catch my breath, I finally reached the surface with people everywhere scrambling for their lives. It was hard to know where anything or anyone was because it was so dark, but then I realized where was mother and Maggie.
“Mother! Mother! Evelyn Simon! Maggie! Margaret Simon! Where are you?” I cried out. Then I saw my mom doing the same as me, crying out for the lost family members, and I swam over to meet her. But where was Maggie?
“Mom, where is Maggie?” I asked frightened.
“I don’t know Josephine. We will find her, though.
After a half hour of searching for Maggie, it became quiet, and I began to give up on her and on hope. My mother was shaking for herself and for Maggie, and I have never seen her so lifeless and scared in my life. Her cheeks turned bluish pale, her lips became purple, and her hair was frozen in knots. I went out to grab a piece of floating furniture as for both her and I to climb on, as I saw the faces of numerous dead passengers on my way. I had never seen this in my life, and the sight of this made me convulse. I arrived back to give my mother a raft when I saw that her eyes had been closed. I leaned against her to check her heart, and became bawling tears down my face to see that my mother had gone away to a better place. I wondered to myself why I had stayed alive longer than the others, which was probably because my body hadn’t been in the water for so long since I was lying on a keg.
How could everything in my life be taken away from me in one night? My sister whom is probably at the bottom with the Titanic since she hadn’t put on a life jacket, my mother who had froze to death, and my rare chances for ever starting a new life with my family in America. Then a flashing light caught my eye and I shot up immediately.
“Is anyone out there alive?” A crew member shouted.
“Yes, yes, yes!” I tried to say as loud as I could. He didn’t seem to hear me so I tried to paddle my way through the bodies and to the life boat.
“Hey, looky here we found another one.” The man said pulling me up and wrapping me with a dozen blankets. I was surrounded by sixteen people who had already managed to be in life boats before the ship had sunk. How I envied them! But at that moment I had been saved, and my life had been spared. This moment had stricken me like a knife to a chest twice, so painful and excruciating that it left my heart with two holes in it that will never go away. Ever.

Forever and Always,
Josephine Simon