the little mermaid

another little adventure

Dorienne spent a lot of time with Nate, and before she knew it, they had arrived in New York City. This kingdom was far different than hers.

"Have you ever been to New York?" asked Nate as they stepped onto land.

Dorienne shook her head. She wanted to tell him she had never even been on land at all. It felt strange.

"Look, we're famous!" Nate exclaimed as they walked down the sidewalk and passed a newsstand. He was trying not to wallow in the sadness of the terrible tragedy that had occurred. Nate was like that - he hid his emotions through laughter and fun and ignoring what was really happening.

All of the newspapers were loaded with headers like The Unsinkable Ship Sinks and Titanic is Lying on the Ocean Floor.

Dorienne ran to the newsstand and picked up one of them.

"You want one?" asked Nate, and Dorienne nodded her head.

She read the newspaper the whole way to Nate's house, in which she would be staying "for as long as she'd like" according to Nate, and "just until she can afford a hotel" according to Nate's mother.

Finally, Dorienne had the information she needed. It was the shipwreck of the RMS Titanic that had caused all the deaths. Apparently, the Titanic was thought to be unsinkable. Of course, it is impossible for a ship to be unsinkable, so when it hit an iceberg, it slowly went under. The ship didn't have enough life boats for all the passengers, which explained why so many people were left behind.

"They probably didn't print this in the newspaper, but the ship really could've been unsinkable, in my opinion. The second day I was on the ship, I talked to Thomas Andrews, one of the main designers of the ship. I asked him if it really was unsinkable, because honestly I didn't believe it, and for good reason. He said something along the lines of how she was only as perfect as human brains can make her.

"I didn't bother asking what he meant, but he went on to tell me that he thought they should've had more watertight compartments so that if it were to flood, it would be much safer. He also wanted to have 46 on-deck lifeboats, but there ended up being 16. All of his ideas that were shot down could've saved so many lives."

Dorienne nodded and then went back to reading. This ship must've been a really big deal. Even though seeing all the people on the ship and now knowing a large portion of them were dead would've been hard to handle, she wished she could've seen the Titanic.

"It's terrible, how many people died," Nate said solemnly as he watched Dorienne read. "And I would've been one of them, had it not been for the girl."

Nate would not shut up about her. He told everyone he knew about the girl that saved him, and how he was convinced she was his guardian angel.

If only he knew she was no angel, but the girl standing right beside him...

"We're here," Nate said once they had been walking for quite some time.

Dorienne looked up from the newspaper to see a mansion of white stone, somewhat secluded from the rest of the city. The air around it was far less busy than that of most of New York City.

"That's John Jacob Astor's house," said Nate's mother in a proud voice while pointing to the neighboring mansion. "I wonder how he's doing..."

Dorienne did not look impressed.

"Do you know who John Jacob Astor IV is, dear?" asked Nate's mother. When Dorienne shook her head, she said, "He's only the richest man alive."

"I'm not so sure he's alive, Mother," said Nate grimly.