Vanished
Once Kelly realized she was slowing their progress by continuing to fight her husband, he was able to get her through the crowd and up the Boat Deck much more quickly. He was quite surprised at how few people were actually present atop the Boat Deck. Though there were quite a few First Class passengers, particularly women, he saw very few Second or Third Class passengers at all.
They were approaching the bow of the ship on the starboard side when Kelly spotted Jonathan and Charlie, who were walking quickly toward them, as if they had already seen the family from afar. “Charlie! Jonathan!” she yelled. “Thank God we found you. Do you know what’s going on?”
“Apparently, we’ve struck an iceberg,” Charlie replied. “We were told to make our way up, but it really doesn’t seem to be all that serious. Where are Meg and Ruth?”
“Ruth took off again, and Meg went back to find her,” Daniel explained.
“Oh, no,” Charlie said quietly. “I should go look for them. I’m sure we’ve nothing to worry about, but just in case.”
“Charlie, when we left, there was already water down there,” Kelly explained.
“Water? On E Deck?” he clarified, surprise evident in his voice.
“Yes, and now that Kelly and Lizzy are up here with the lifeboats, I’m going back to look for them myself,” Daniel stated emphatically.
Charlie nodded as the realization that the information the stewards had given as they woke the passengers just half an hour ago was likely inaccurate began to sink in; this was more than just a precaution. “All right. Jonathan, take Kelly and Lizzy to the bow. That seems to be the place where they are preparing to launch the boats, and Daniel and I will go retrieve Meg and Ruth.”
“What? No, I need to come with you,” Jonathan replied.
Charlie pulled his valet a few steps to the side, out of earshot. “Listen, Daniel needs to search for his daughter, and Kelly is in no state to stay here alone. When those boats launch, and I believe they will, you need to make sure she gets on. She’s a Third Class passenger. They’re not likely to put her on first unless you see that they do. And if there’s room, you get on, too.”
“You can’t honestly expect me to get on a lifeboat while you’re still on a sinking ship,” Jonathan protested.
“I do. If you can, get on. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be much more likely to find my way out of here if I’m on my own. Which means I’ve got to find Meg before those boats launch. Now stop arguing and go.”
Jonathan inhaled sharply, clearly not approving of his assignment, but he also realized he would not change Charlie’s mind, and he was right in his assumption that time was ticking by more quickly than ever now. “Fine,” he acquiesced. “But take this.” He reached into his coat pocket and produced a small golden key.
“What’s this?” Charlie asked eyeing it peculiarly.
“It’s a master key to all of the gates below deck. Just in case.”
Charlie nodded, not bothering to question how the key had been procured, gave his friend a quick hug, and then took off, Daniel in tow.
“Where did you see them last?” he asked as they made their way through passengers who were attempting to ascend using the same stairways they were using to descend.
“Meg said to meet her at the top of the stairs on E Deck near our cabin if she found Ruth. She said we’d need to check back every twenty minutes or so, so if she found her, that’s likely where she’d be.”
“If she found Ruth, she’d be up here by now. She would hand her off and then go searching for you. I’m certain we’d run into her on our way back to E Deck if she’s there. While that’s a good idea, I’m not sure how much time we have. So, you go ahead and go back to F Deck the way you came. I will go down to Scotland Road and search through there. If you find Ruth, get her on a boat. Don’t wait.”
“How will I know if you find her?”
“I’ll find you.”
* * *
Meg felt like she had been searching for Ruth for hours. She had checked so many identical passages, she had no idea of knowing for sure where she had been and where she hadn’t. The water had reached her knees, which would be close to Ruth’s chest by now, and her voice was hoarse from yelling. She knew she’d told Daniel to meet her every twenty minutes, but at this point, she wasn’t even sure which way she needed to go to reach the stairwell on E Deck, and though it had crossed her mind that he might have found his daughter himself by now, she was determined to keep looking until she could no longer move. She’d made a promise to Ruth and her family that she’d never lose her again. She was going to find Ruth or die trying.
The longer she searched, the more she began to think it might just be the latter. She checked every room she came to. Occasionally, she’d run into another passenger, usually one who didn’t speak English, and they were often of little help to each other. She desperately wished Charlie was with her. She knew he would know exactly what to do. Ruth would find him, no doubt. But as the minutes wore on, and the water grew deeper, she began to think she would likely never see Charlie again.
She came to another intersection. She looked one way and then the other. The lights began to flicker. She wasn’t quite sure which way she had come from. She had been able to keep track by the depth of the water to some degree. If the water was getting higher, she likely hadn’t been that way. But the water was beginning to get so deep, she could no longer tell by using this method. She looked to the left, and then to the right, and was just about to choose right when a faint sound to her left caught her attention.
At first, she thought it might have been her imagination. She stood perfectly still, listening to the soft whoosh of the water around her, the humming of the light bulbs, but then she heard it again. It was the sound of a child crying. And it was coming from her left. “Ruth?” she yelled, hurrying in that direction. “Ruth? Is that you? It’s Aunt Meg! RUTH!” she came to another intersection and stopped, listening. “RUTH!!!”
Faintly, off in the distance down a dark and flooded corridor, she heard the sweetest sound she’d ever heard. “Aunt Meg?”
“RUTH! Baby bang on something, anything, so I can find you! Don’t move! Just bang on the wall!” She had new found strength now and took off running as fast as she could, the icy cold water lapping at her hips no longer a deterrent. She could hear the sound of tiny fists pounding a wall, and as she drew closer, she realized Ruth was in one of the cabins. Pushing the door open, she found her perched atop a bunk bed, a blanket wrapped around her, shivering with fear and from her clothing, which was soaked with the frigid water. “Ruth! Oh, baby, thank God!”
“Aunt Meg! You finded me!”
“I did,” Meg assured her as she dropped down into her arms.
“And you found Dolly New Eyes!”
“Come on, baby, let’s get you upstairs where it’s dry.”
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