Chapter Six
Ruth glared at her daughter with renewed hatred. How dare she do this to her…humiliate her like this.
"Just like a little slut isn’t it," Ruth strolls up to Rose and slaps her hard across the face. She grabs Rose by the shoulders and shakes her roughly. "Look at me when I’m speaking to you!"
Ruth’s tirade is interrupted when there’s a knock at the door. A steward pokes his head through the door. "Madame, I’ve been told to ask you to please put on a lifebelt and come up onto the boat deck."
"Not now, we’re busy," Ruth snapped, not taking her glare off of Rose.
The steward comes in anyway and takes the lifebelts down from a dresser. "I’m sorry Mrs. Dewitt Bukater but it’s captain orders. Please dress warmly, it’s quite cold outside." The steward looks at Rose who looked extremely worried. His heart goes out to the young girl. "Not to worry Miss. I’m sure it’s just a precaution."
"This is ridiculous," Ruth rolls her eyes.
"Ruth! Rose!" Molly enters the room, Caroline tagging along behind her. "They said something about lifebelts…"
"Yes we know. Here Caroline. You may have Rose’s," Ruth hands a lifebelt to Caroline.
"Ruth…" Molly warns.
"Don’t test me right now Molly," Ruth warns. "And don’t you dare offer her yours! My daughter is going to have to be punished somehow for such indecent behavior."
Molly shakes her head in disbelief at Ruth’s coldness towards her own daughter. "Come along Rose. I’ll take care of ya," Molly puts a arm around Rose and leads her out of the room, noticing how quick Ruth is to grab the necklace from her jewelry box and how Caroline is hanging onto Jack’s portfolio.
Rose feels like she’s sleepwalking as Molly leads them into the lively first class lounge. It was like a party here, but something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. Then she remembered…the ship had hit an iceberg! They were all in some kind of danger! She spots Thomas Andrews heading up the stairs and immediately heads for him, she’s followed by Molly.
She grabs his arm before he could get away. "Mr. Andrews. I saw the iceberg…and I see it in your eyes. Please tell me the truth."
"The ship is sinking Rose," Mr. Andrews practically whispers. Rose’s hand flies to her mouth.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes…in a hour or so…all this…will be at the bottom of the Atlantic."
"My God," Molly whispered.
"Please tell only who you must. I don’t want to be responsible for a panic," Mr. Andrews leans closer. "Get to a lifeboat quickly. Don’t wait. You remember what I told you about the lifeboats?"
Rose nods. "Yes. I understand. Thank you."
Mr. Andrews nods and then he’s gone. That’s when Molly grabs rose’s arm and pulls her to the side. "Rose, I was going to talk to you about this privately, but I need to tell you this now. It’s about Jack."
"What about Jack," Rose asked, tears once again welling in her eyes.
"Shhh dear. Don’t cry because there’s nothing to cry about. You have to go get him out of that mess your mother and that girlfriend of his had set up."
"What?"
"Rose, Jack didn’t take that necklace. I know it and deep down you know it too. Your mother had that necklace planted on him and all this was probably Caroline’s idea. In fact, when they took him away Ruth and Caroline was grinning like two Cheshire cats. Now are you getting my drift?"
Rose nods, her hand flying to her mouth. "Jack…he must hate me by now."
"Oh no Rose. I don’t think that boy could ever hate you. Now go. Go find him and get him out of this mess."
"But how? Where could they have taken him?" She looks at the stairs to see Mr. Andrews disappear through a door.
"Mr. Andrews. He’ll know," Rose turns to Molly. "Aunt molly, you get to a lifeboat now. Do you hear me? Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you when we’re all safe and out of this mess," Rose grabs her aunt’s arm.
"Course you will. Now go Rose. Go save the man who loves you," Molly embraces her niece tightly, praying for her safety. Rose takes one more look at Molly and goes after Mr. Andrews, not once looking back at the room full of people.
Meanwhile Jack is down below decks and he stares out of the porthole as the water rises as Lovejoy and the master of Arms handcuff him to a pipe. This is when a crewman enters the room.
"Sir, you’re wanted by the purser. Urgently."
"Go ahead. I’ll watch him," Mr. Lovejoy takes out a gun and brings it in front of Jack’s face. The master of arms nods and leaves with the crewman after tossing Lovejoy the keys to the handcuffs. "Don’t even think about trying anything," Lovejoy growled.
"Mr. Andrews! Mr. Andrews!" Rose cries urgently, finally she finds him and grabs his arm. "Mr. Andrews!"
"Rose what are you doing? Get to a lifeboat!" the Irishman ordered.
"Mr. Andrews, where does the master of arms take someone when they’re under arrest?"
"Rose…"
"Please sir. Someone I love very much is in trouble and I
need to get to him please. Listen, I’m doing this with or
without your help sir. But without will take longer."
Mr. Andrews sighs with defeat as he sees the determination in her eyes. "Take the elevator to the very bottom. Go left, down the crewman’s passage, and then make a right.
"Left, down, right," Rose nods. "Got it!"
"Hurry Rose."
Lovejoy glares at Jack. And moves closer to him. "Since the ship is sinking I’m leaving, but not before giving you this token of affection from your fiancée," Lovejoy takes the but of the gun and slams it into Jack’s stomach. "May I suggest next time that you consult your fiancée before you go running off with women you just met."
With that Lovejoy leaves the room with the key in his pocket, leaving Jack doubled over on the floor, gasping from the pain.
As soon as the pain leaves, Jack stands up and decides to try yelling for help. He had to get out of here and back above deck. Caroline was obviously behind this and he didn’t want her to be alone with Rose. He had to get to them but how? He was locked down here. Maybe if he called for help, maybe someone will help him.
He clangs on the pipe and yells. "Help! Help me! Somebody help me!" But nobody comes. Well that’s not going to work. There has to be another way.
"This can be bad," Jack sighed, exhausted from yelling for help. Suddenly he hears twinkling water and looks to see water seeping into the room. "Oh shit!" Jack quickly climbs on top of a desk and tries to get out of the cuffs.
Rose finally finds an elevator and tries to go in, but the attendant stops her. "Sorry madam, but the lifts are closed."
Frustrated and angry, Rose pushes the attendant into the elevator. "I’m through being polite dammit! Now take me down!"
Scared of the fiery redhead’s temper, the attendant immediately obeys.
"E deck!" Rose closes the door.
Jack pulls against the handcuffs one more time. He looks around him and sees that the water is now up to his chins. He steps up on the desk and hopes that help comes soon.
Rose screams as water comes rushing into the elevator. The attendant tries to pull the lever to go back up, but Rose pushes him back and opens the door before he can do so. Rose steps out of the elevator and takes in her surroundings.
"I’m going back up! I’m going back up!" The attendant looks at her before pulling the lever. He doesn’t even wait for the door to close.
"Jack!" Rose calls heading for the corridor, she casually throws a floating drawer aside as she moves through the corridor. She’s determined to find Jack. "Jack!"
Jack looks towards the door, wondering if he’s hearing things. He can almost swear he hears Rose calling his name. But that’s impossible. She’s probably on a lifeboat right now heading for safety.
"Jack!"
Jack’s eyes widen even further with surprise and relief mixed with indescribable joy. It was Rose! She’s come back to save him. "Rose!" He calls, clanging the cuffs against the pipe. "Rose I’m in here! Rose!"
"Jack!" Rose rushes into the room.
"Rose!" Jack smiled joyfully as she rushes to him and throws her arms around his neck.
"I’m sorry Jack I’m so sorry," Rose cried, clinging to him for dear life.
"Caroline had that butler put it in my pocket," Jack explained.
"I know, I know," Rose cried, kissing him hungrily. She never wanted to be away from his again, she loved him so much.
"Listen Rose, you’re going to have to find a spare key," Jack nods towards the cabinet filled with keys. "It’s a little silver one Rose."
"These are all brass ones!" Rose exclaimed, hurriedly looks through the cabinet.
"Try the desk Rose. Maybe there’s a key in there," Jack motions to the desk.
Rose nods and yanks a drawer out of the desk and begins rummaging through the contents.
"Rose."
Rose looks up, maybe he spotted something.
"How did you figure out I didn’t do it?"
"Aunt Molly helped me realize I already knew," Rose smiled, her eyes filled with love. For just a second they were lost in each other’s eyes again, but Jack felt the water rising and had to break the moment.
"Keep looking," He motioned.
"Right," Rose finishes rummaging through the drawer, but found nothing. "No key. There’s no key!"
Jack takes a deep breath, trying to stay calm for Rose’s sake. "Alright Rose, you’re going to have to go for help." Rose looks at him close to tears. She’s worried that it’ll be too late by time she gets back. "Don’t worry. It’ll be alright."
Rose looks at him, then splashes through the rising water to give him one more deep kiss. "I’ll be right back," She looks directly into his eyes before splashing out the door.
Trying to make light of the
situation Jack calls after her, "I’ll just wait
here!"
Rose runs through the corridor and up the stairs. "Hello!
Hello is anyone here! I need help! Hello!"
She runs and runs, hollering until she’s hoarse, but no one answers. Finally a hysterical man runs past her. She tries to grab him but he pulls away and keeps going. She leans up against the wall and fights tears. Everything she loved was sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Her whole world, taking the man she loved with it. What was she going to do? If she lost Jack now…she might as well go right down with him. She’s about to go back down to be with Jack when a steward runs by her. One last surge of hope flows through her as she grabs the terrified steward.
"Please you have to help me! There’s a man stuck down below!" Rose grabs hold of the steward. To her relief the steward grabs her hand, but her relief turns to horror as the steward pulls her along with him.
"Come along Miss. There’s nothing to worry about. I’ll get you to a boat," The steward rambled, looking back at her.
"No wait! There’s a man trapped down below!" Rose cried.
But the steward ignores her cries. He keeps pulling her towards the stairs leading up above decks. "You’re going the wrong way! Listen!" Rose pulls back her fist and lands a right hook in the steward’s face, causing him to fly up against the wall.
The steward looks at her in shock then down at his hand that had wiped blood away from his nose. He looks at her again, "To hell with you," then he was gone. Leaving Rose by herself. Alone again and without hope.
Then she spots the axe in a glass casing, a water hose hanging below it. Maybe she can free Jack herself with the axe. She grabs the hose and sends the nozzle into the glass, shattering it. She grabs the axe and heads back down to where Jack is waiting for her.
"Jack! Will this work!" She holds up the axe.
"We’ll find out," Jack nods. "Wait wait wait!" Jack stops her as she’s about to take a swing with the axe. "Let’s do a couple of practice swings over there!" Jack nods towards a cabinet. Rose nods.
She lifts the axe and sends it into the cabinet, leaving a deep slit.
"That’s good Rose! Now try to hit the same mark again! You can do it!"
Rose swings again, but the ax lands in an entirely different spot. The water was rising faster now. There wasn’t much time left.
"Ok, that’s enough practice," Jack braces his hands so that the cuff links are stretched against the pipe. Rose comes up to him and raises the ax. "Ok Rose. Swing it really hard and really fast!" Jack directs. As she lifts the axe over her head he stops her. "Move your hands up a little more and widen them apart! That’s it! And Rose, I trust you."
Jack turns his head and closes his eyes. He’s preparing himself for the worse. "Ok. Go!"
Rose brings the ax down and a loud clang resonates through the room. Jack looks and he’s free! The axe worked.
"You did it!" Jack cried with glee. "You did it!" He kisses a laughing Rose. "Come on Rose. Let’s get out of here!" He splashes into the water and follows her out the door.
Rose gasps when she sees water blocking the stairs she had came down. "This was the way out!"
"We’ll have to find another way out then," Jack takes her hand and they go in another direction.