Off to New Shores (2)

Until I could only see water. At this point, the sun had already set and we were starting to get hungry. The third-class dining rooms were of course downstairs, so we went back below deck. The food was served in dirty bowls and looked like a badly watered-down version of porridge and actually tasted even worse. I felt really sick after eating it, which was to be honest, also partly to blame on the fact that I wasn’t used to the rocky movement of a ship, and so I went straight to the bathroom after dinner. Upon returning to the dormitory, Sally and Pad were already sleeping and to my surprise, so was the girl in the bed on the other side of mine. She has flaming red hair and pale skin with freckles. Her facial features look so peaceful and kind right now! I will definitely say hi tomorrow, maybe I can even make a friend on this journey! Overall, this first day on sea was very overwhelming and tiring but I’m so proud of my family and me making it this far. God bless us and give us the strength to get through the upcoming days as well, please. Goodnight, dear diary.

Dear Diary, 21st of December, 1891

it’s currently the middle of the night but I just can’t stay asleep. In our dormitory, there are three babies, two of them are crying and screaming at the top of their lungs right now. I, Pad and Sally just woke up as well, what noise! I can’t even breathe properly either, the air down here is so bad and there’s no window or anything. God, I didn’t expect this to be this bad! Out of the corner of my eye, I see a woman vomiting in a bucket next to the door and the sour-sweet stench in the air makes me want to puke too. So you see why it’s not so easy to sleep now, right? This is how it went the whole night. I don’t think I’ve slept for longer than ten minutes without being woken up by bawling babies or the shaking ship itself. But I’ll have to try to get at least some rest now to be able to make it through tomorrow. So, a few hours later now and I’ve finally decided to get up. I can feel the bags under my eyes that signify just how badly I’ve slept that night, but whatever, it’s time for breakfast now.

Dear Diary, 21st of December, 1891

I’m sure you remember how horribly my day started but it took a turn for the better! So after breakfast, the third-class passengers were allowed to access the upper deck once more and guess who I saw there, leaning against the railing? The girl from my dormitory! I walked up to her and she recognized me as well. We had a nice chat and I learned that her name was Annie Moore and she was 14 years old but soon turning 15, so a bit younger than me. But just like me, she was also travelling with her siblings. She introduced them to me as Philip and Anthony, both younger than her, but when I asked about her parents, she just stared into the distant ocean water. I was beginning to think I had somehow offended her when Annie started to open up. She told me about her life before the journey, turns out she was born not too far away from Cork, so she lived really close to me. She told me that her parents were already in New York preparing a home for Annie and her siblings and had been doing that for the past three years. At that time, Annie and her brothers had stayed with their aunt and uncle. At this point, I felt really sorry for her, that she had to endure all this and she was even still younger than me.