by Nhys Glover
Marco
He ran, faster than he’d ever run before. Plunging down the galley staircase to Scotland Road and along to their cabins where he prayed Paulo would be. When he threw open the door, his heart sank to his feet. No one there. They were all still all in the restaurant, even now.
He turned to run back to the staircase that would take him directly to B Deck and the restaurant. However, as he reached it, several of the staff were coming down, laughing and joking about the ice someone was handing around up on the deck. One of them was Paulo, and when the young man saw his face he was immediately alarmed.
‘What is it? Where did you go? Someone said you went out the front way.’
‘Come,’ Marco gasped, grabbing the boy by the collar and dragging him along Scotland Road toward mid-ship and the staircase that would take them up to the Portal; if it were still there; if he hadn’t thrown away this chance at survival.
But he couldn’t have left. Once he saw that it was all real. Everything that Pia had told him was real. He couldn’t leave Paulo. For once in his life he needed to put someone else first. The boy deserved to live. If he could get him up there in time he would make them take Paulo in his place. Even though his spot was only his because of Pia, his sweet, beautiful Pia, he would make them take Paulo in his place because the boy deserved to live. He deserved a chance.
‘Where are you… hey Marco, are you crazy! Let me go,’ Paulo cried, struggling to escape the fist that clutched his coat and dragged him along the passageway.
Marco could hear the voices of the other staff calling after them, making fun of them. Rude, crude comments about what they were to each other.
‘Shut up, Paulo, and come with me. We're late. We may have missed your chance. I didn’t believe it, you see. I didn’t believe it until I saw it with my own eyes.’
‘Saw what? For god’s sake, let me loose! You're going to tear my jacket!’
‘Shut up and run like your life depends on it, because it does, damn you, it does!’ With that he gave the boy a big push and let him go. Paulo did as he was told, running ahead of him up the passage.
‘Take the stairs at the engineer’s mess.’
‘But we aren’t allow…’
‘Just do it!’
They ran, knocking anyone in their path out of their way. Gasping for breath, they reached the bottom of the stairs and began to take them two at a time upward to the kitchens one deck above.
‘Hey, you can’t go up there!’ They heard a voice shout behind them. But they were through the door at the top now and the yelling was muffled. Marco quickly glanced around for something to jam the door shut. He saw a door-stop on the bench. He slammed the chock under the door.
‘What are you doing? Are you mad? We’ll lose our jobs, Marco. I can’t afford to lose this job!’ The boy was almost in tears as he gasped for air.
‘You have lost it. We all have. The ship is sinking, Paulo; the ship is sinking. Come, now, if you want a hope of surviving!’
He pushed the boy ahead of him toward the second class pantry at the end of the corridor.
Even before he got to the double saloon doors, he knew it was too late. There was no bright light under them, no loud hum coming from the other side. They had all gone. He had lost Paulo’s chance for him.
Slowing to a walk, he trudged on hopelessly. He thought there would be time. He'd prayed there would be time. Paulo, ahead of him, noticed he’d slowed.
‘What? I thought we were in a rush…’
‘It’s too late,’ he said tiredly, dragging his feet forward until he reached Paulo. He swung the doors outward into the dark and empty Dining Saloon.
‘Marco?’
Pia’s voice had to be a dream. They had all gone. How could he hear her calling his name?
But as he stared in utter amazement he saw her running toward him out of the darkness. Tears were coursing down his face as he scooped her up and clung to her, sobbing. ‘I thought you’d gone. I thought you’d all gone.’
‘I could not go without you.’ She was sobbing, too, clinging to him just as tightly as he held her.
‘You have lost your chance to go home because of me?’ he cried, feeling the full force of what she was doing there. Not only was he responsible for Paulo’s life but now Pia’s? He truly was a bastardo. ‘I never wanted that. I never wanted that!’
She pulled away from him. ‘It is all right. I have a PA. We can go.’
He stared down at her, trying to make sense of her words. What was a PA? How could they still go? However, he trusted the confidence in her voice, knew that it was somehow still possible for her to go; for them to go.
‘Take Paulo instead of me. Please. If you love me, take him instead of me. He deserves to live!’ He begged her.
She grinned at him through her tears and she began to press the small object in her hands.
‘I know it is too much to ask but please, if you can go home, take the boy with you,’ he said again, trying to convince her. He looked back at the bemused boy standing behind him. His face told him he thought Marco was mad.
Suddenly the light was back, blazing so brightly and buzzing so loudly that it made him cower away from it in panic. Paulo cried out in terror and Marco made a hasty grab for the boy to stop him from running away. In the distance, he could hear fast approaching footsteps. Whoever had seen them come into the kitchen had come after them. Any minute they would burst through the doors.
‘You are both coming. Come on, now. There’s no time!’ Pia’s face was beautiful in the strange, bright light.
‘Both?’ he asked, not sure he understood her. There was no room for the two of them. It could only be Paulo or him. How could it be both?
‘Both. Now. Those who are following you cannot be allowed to see the Portal. Quickly!’
Grabbing Paulo’s jacket, Marco hauled the boy toward the light. The lad struggled to get away, frightened of what he was seeing.
‘It’s all right, garzone, trust me,’ Marco said as he raced into the light with the boy clutched to his side. He felt, more than saw, Pia follow them in.