A foghorn blasts.
A huge ship slices through the sea towards us, smoke billowing from its chimneys.
Then I seeherand cry out.
A woman in a long black dress stands at the bow of the ship, her dark red hair flowing in the wind. She’s like one of those mermaid figureheads. Her skin is dazzling white. Even from down here I can see her features as though I’ve zoomed in.
Her red lips part in a hungry smile.
‘Michael.’ I turn, and Dad is himself again. A grown-up. He reaches out to me.
The woman screams and jumps from the ship.
I run along the deck of the ferry.
‘Michael?’
I sprint for Uncle Tommy’s house. Open the door.
A light pours out, blinding me.
I stagger forward.
‘Michael!’
Then I trip and fall over the ferry railing.
I try to shout for help, but my voice is ripped from me as I tumble into the sea.
Towards the churning darkness.
Into the open arms of the woman in the black dress.
Chapter Four
I sit up; arms tingling and drenched in sweat. I try to shake off the image of the woman from my dream.
Then, with a jolt, I remember what happened on the ferry yesterday. Before I fainted, there was a blinding light and I saw…
No. It was a dream.
TheTitanic.
Seriously…
Before I fainted, there was a light. Then I saw a ship. And people.
You dreamed it.
The foghorn was so clear, so loud. I clutch at my dream, grasping fragments, but it’s like trying to hold smoke.
The woman. I freeze as I picture a pale face, dark eyes and a hungry mouth.
My phone vibrates beside me. It’s only a photo reminder but it triggers another memory.
On the ferry. The light. I took a photo.
Careful not to wake Cormac, I grab my backpack. The camera nearly slips from my sweaty fingers. The last image is the photo I took of Belfast from the deck of the ferry, and the one before that is a rectangle of light. Nothing else.
