FORMALITY
Chapter Eleven
"You've got to be
joking," I said, standing behind him, not sure if I should believe him or
not. He turned away from the window and looked into my eyes.
"I'm not kidding," he
said, taking my shoulders. "Let's go up on deck to see what
happened."
I nodded. Rob put on his jacket,
and I turned around, looking for mine--I hadn't brought one.
"I don't have a
jacket," I said. Rob stopped a few feet away from the door and walked back
to the bed. He handed me the one that was on the bed. I slipped it on. It was a
little too big for me. The sleeves were long, but it was warm just the same.
On our way up, many other
passengers were awake and wandering around the halls in their nightclothes. I
gripped Rob's hand and followed him, watching wide-eyed as all the people
scrambled around with confused looks on their faces.
We went down to the rail above
the forecastle deck and saw ice shattered everywhere.
"My God," I muttered,
shivering in the huge jacket. Mr. Andrews and a few officers went down to
investigate. Jack and Rose were walking towards us.
"What's going on?" Rob
asked them. "Did we hit hard?"
"We must have hit hard,
because they're saying that there are rooms already flooded," Jack
answered. I moved closer to Rob for security. This would not turn out well.
"Warn your families,"
Rose said kindly before they turned and went the other way. Rob and I turned to
the rail and looked out over the ice-covered deck.
"Rob, we're going to
sink," I said in awe. But the mood was the total opposite--there were
people kicking the ice around and laughing.
"Belle, you never know.
Maybe the problem can be fixed," he said. His eyes were overcome with
confusion and fear.
"Let's go back to the room.
It's freezing out here," I said, still in awe. In the halls, the word
iceberg was echoing everywhere from people's gossip. "Maybe it's
routine." "We can't sink. It's impossible." Many passengers even
went back to bed.
Just before we reached Rob's
room, Mark stopped us.
"Captain's orders. Dress
warmly and go up top with your lifebelts on," he said. "They're
located on the shelf in the wardrobe. And I wouldn't want to waste time."
He smiled, but you could see fear in his face.
I nodded and just stood there. I
couldn't move. We were going to sink. Sink! I didn't even notice that Rob had let
go of my hand and gotten two lifebelts.
"Belle, put this on,"
he said, helping me pull on my lifebelt. "Are you all right?" he
asked.
I blinked and shook my head.
"I'm fine. Just a little shocked, I guess," I said, tying the front
of the belt.
"Let's go," Rob said,
taking my hand.
"Wait. I need something from
my room," I said, pulling my hand away from him.
"Fine, but we've got to
hurry," Rob said, and we took off in the direction of my room. Once
inside, I put the drawing inside one of the pockets, along with Rob's poem
book. I came out into the hall, where Rob was impatiently waiting. He took my
shoulders and kissed me passionately, holding me close to him. Through his
heavy jacket and lifebelt, I could feel his heart beating wildly.
"Are you as scared as I
am?" I looked up into his green eyes.
"Don't worry, my love,"
he said, kissing the top of my head. "Let's go."
We walked out into the main
hallway. I stopped in the middle of it.
"There's something
different," I said, listening for a certain noise that had become familiar
and almost comforting during the past four days. "The engines are stopped.
Something bad is going to come of this."
"Shh…don't talk like
that," he said, even though I knew he felt the same.