A sharp hand reaches from behind me, beyond my view. The figure desperately leans besides me, throwing them-self over the railing to grasp Amelia. Their hand makes contact with Amelia's arm and immediately pulls her upwards. They swiftly lift Amelia back onto the boat with some assistance from the treacherous waves below us. She falls onto the wood planks with a thud and I immediately run to her.
"Amelia! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" I worryingly investigate.
"I'm fine…" She's so terribly shaken, her speech fades away into the surrounding drama. Her hands are trembling, and she is as pale as snow. I embrace her; holding her head on my shoulder as I comfort her. She begins to faintly weep as a slightly familiar voice is heard from behind us:
"Please take care of her, she must be terrified."
I turn to see the captain, removing himself from over the bow railing. "Go to the lower level, it is safer there."
"But what if the ship floods further?" I protest, "We'll drown!"
"From what I can see, you look like you'll drown up here too."
I look at Amelia once again, who I am still holding closely. She nods through her sobs to signify her compliance.
"Okay, sir." I say as I rise to my feet. I pull Amelia to her feet as well, and Captain runs to assist other passengers. The merciless storm around us still roars on; tossing us around as if we are weightless feathers caught in the wind. Nevertheless, we begin to make our way to the lower level of the boat. "Here, Amelia."
I put her right arm around my shoulders to assist her stride. I move my hand to her side, and we try our hardest to steadily walk to the ladder. After several minutes of fighting the gravity of the waves, we make it to the ladder and climb down.
The lower level has many people tucked inside of the blanketed plank walls; many young children with their children holding onto them for dear life, too young to comprehend the situation they have found themselves in. We move to the only available space, the middle of the room. The storm is still very much so felt down here; we travel across the room by basically being flung by the force of the blasts. I continue to hold Amelia as we sit in the shadowed space, surrounded by childish cries and terrified screeches. We, too, contribute to the commotion with small babbles now and then, releasing terror in an auditory form as a coping mechanism. We are tossed; we are thrown; we are lost in manic screaming which engulfs you and everything that surrounds. People knock and hit us; unintentionally, but it still causes us to ache further.
We are once again rocking viciously.
Too and frow.
Too and frow.
Too and frow.
Until suddenly, something causes us to feel a giant thud, ceasing our rocking, even though you can still hear the frightful storm outside. Panic further spreads from around us– though I didn't think it was possible. Amelia releases streaks of torment along with the other passengers. I decide that I must see what has occurred; for Amelia and the other terrified people on this deck.
"Amelia, stay here. I'll be right back."
"Where are you going? You're going to get yourself killed!"
"I'll be fine. I'm going to see what the hell that was."