Chapter 7!!
I didn't forget about it!!
Chapter 7
After my bizarre encounter with the old man, I tried to piece together what he meant. He said I shouldn’t repeat the past, but change it, and implied that Lucas was part of the past that I shouldn’t repeat. So did that mean Annabella and Lucas knew each other? It wouldn’t be totally illogical, since she was his fiancé’s maid. And that also might explain the weird connection between us. Technically we would have already met then, just in another time period!
Wow…this was getting complicated.
As I was pondering all this time traveling business, I decided to go back up on deck again to see if Elizabeth was there. Maybe she could help me decipher Annabella’s past. The only problem was trying to do, while also pretending I knew all of it already!
The deck had cleared out more since the last time I’d been there so it was easier to scan the crowd for Elizabeth. I made my way to the railing on the edge of the deck and found myself looking at the clear blue ocean. When I was younger, my parents would take me to Coney Island every on my birthday and I’d look out and just look at the Atlantic from The Boardwalk. Though I was in awe of it then, I still felt disconnected with it, being grounded on land. But on the ship, I felt a part of this same ocean would take this colossal ship to it’s death. I felt…betrayed.
Of course with all these deep thoughts running through my mind, when a hand gently touched my shoulder, it sent me into complete surprise.
I flinched and gasped and turned to find a pair to confused blue eyes looking down at me.
“Lucas! What are you doing?” I asked him, still reeling from the shock of his touch.
“I apologize for startling you, I said your name three times, but you appeared to be in a trance-like state,”
I guess I was thinking harder than I thought.
“I came up here to escape Tatiana and her mother for a brief moment,”
I nodded understandably.
Determined to get Lucas’ side of the story on his engagement,” I asked him, “If you’re engaged to her, you must enjoy spending time with her?”
Lucas gave a melancholy smile and replied, “One might assume that those element go hand-in-hand, but not in this case, I’m afraid.
Naturally I was eager to hear more, but at that moment I saw Elizabeth running up from below deck, and on noticing me, veered in my direction.
“Annabella! Tatiana is ready to begin getting ready for the ball tonight, and she is asking for you! Come with me.”
I sighed, and gave Lucas an apologetic look, “Good day Mr. Atwater,” I said like a true early 20th century dweller, and turned to follow Elizabeth below deck.