The Band Played On

Amidst the chaos, they continued to play. They wore their black and white immaculate suits and their ties were still intact as if they were getting ready for a concert, but it was the exact opposite intent. Many were screaming for their lives, fearing for their loved ones. People were running back and forth, others were shoving each other and plummeting to their deaths into the cold ocean to be forgotten forever. Children were crying loudly as their mothers held onto their hands, not knowing if they would be alive or not. Yet, with the atmosphere of fear and panic, the band stood together and played as the ship was sinking into the depths at a fast pace. Chopin was playing the strings were beautiful matching their rhythm and harmonies were synchronizing like this was supposed to happen. How did we get here though? let me tell you.

The ship of dreams is what the Titanic was for most people they had advertised it as one of the most luxurious ships to be aboard on. It could hold more than 2,000 people on it and to be a part of history was one of the greatest things that could happen to you. I was part of a quintet. Being a bassist is hard, lugging around a giant instrument and plus the added stress that you need to keep everyone in line, you add the parts that are not that noticeable until you mess up. There is a lot of pressure from your bandmates to play well. Anyway, I remember the audition and the men were nodding and mumbling as I played, they thanked me and told me to come in again. I did and out of a few hundred people I was chosen to be aboard the ship of dreams. This was an opportunity I had to take, given that I had little to no money and my parents disapproved of my passion. However, I was thirty years old and it was time to make my own decisions, both of them were very upset about the fact that I was not yet married either. Loneliness is the path that I have chosen.

I hulled my bass down the stairs and into the servant's quarters that's where I met Theo, Roger and Wallace. Roger was very young and talented, he had a girlfriend at home. Theo was married and had a child along the way, he was lucky as his parents were both lawyers and he played along great, I have witnessed better but he did well on most songs we played together. Wallace was the bandmaster and I had met him in the audition. He was one of the best violinists there was and it was a pleasure to work with him. We settled into the small cramped room, there was just enough room for our instruments and two metal bunk beds. We quickly went to eat and then changed into our suits and then proceeded to carry our instruments to the upper decks where the first class were enjoying their dinner. We set up and started to play, we had not rehearsed much before but together we sounded incredible. The upper-class people did pause their conversations for a second but then continued to chit-chat about money and compare each other while pretending to be friends. We finished our first set and then we continued playing well into the night. At the end of the night, we hauled our instruments back to the rooms and our hands were in so much pain from all the playing. Each night and day proceeded where I almost lost count. At the end of one of our sets, we had a young gentleman approach us, he handed us a wad of cash and asked us to play on deck. He was going to propose to his girlfriend. Instead of changing out of our clothes we tugged our instruments to the upper deck and we were set up, we waited for the young gentleman to appear with his girl and his hand in hers. We watched the door.

"What if they don't come?" asked Wallace and Theo gave a laugh.

"We just wait here all night and they don't show up?" joked Roger.

"Soon, they will be here," said Percy (one of the cellists).

"I hope so, I am freezing up here," said John W.

"Oh, here they are," I noticed and we started to play. The girl was beautiful she had fair skin and looked nearly porcelain smooth.

The young man and women were too far from us to hear what he was saying, but eventually, he knelt to one knee and asked her to marry him, she hugged him and accepted his proposal. The young man waved and they disappeared back into the ship.

It was that same night I woke to the sound of Roger yelling.

"Get up! I saved our instruments, get up!" he was yelling. I got up with a start and panic immediately filled me as my feet hit the floor it was soaking.

"No, we should not panic, we will change and we will play," said Wallace and we all paled. "Chances are we will not make it out alive, but I say we do what music does best," he explained.

"Which is?" asked Theo.

"Try and keep calm," I said.

We changed our clothes back into our suits and we walked to where the first-class people were and we started to play, some people stopped and heard us, they were still running and it was almost empty, we moved to the top deck where loads of women and children were being sent on the safety boats, my fingers became numb as we continued to play. The crew members urged us to get on and we shook our heads in refusal now is when music mattered. Now, was the time to use music. Chopin softly played as people were screaming names looking for their loved ones, babies and children cried, while mothers comforted them and were loaded onto the safety boats.

The ship was tilting and titling, but we continued to play, then with a sudden bam the ship snapped in half, my bass flew from my hands and before I knew it was falling into the ice-cold water, my muscles seized and shock filled my system, I found my bass and swam to it as best I could, my suit weighed me down as I treaded water towards it. I clung to it. I looked around for my band members none of them were close to me. I found a piece of driftwood and dragged my wet ruined bass I made my way to it and I tried to hold onto it but my bass was too much to hold, I would not even have the chance to survive if I were to continue holding onto it. I paid all my life savings for it, I remember the first time I bought it, I came home so happy and I played it all night smiling with tears running down my face. My fingers became rigid and I let it go, I felt the strings slip from my hands and I held onto the piece of driftwood. I could feel my body shutting down. Wallace was right, we were not going to survive. I was floating and my hands were already blue from the ice-cold water. My eyes felt heavy, and suddenly, it was black...

The End