Chapter Seven

Meanwhile, upon decks at the lifeboat, Caroline, Ruth and Molly are at the lifeboats. Ruth and Molly are taking a seat in the lifeboat, but Caroline wasn’t ready to go yet. She wanted to make sure that Rose and Jack remained apart for good and if possible, Jack return back to Chippewa Falls with her for their long overdue wedding. She wanted to be Mrs. Dawson as soon as possible.

"Come on Caroline, there’s room for you," Molly motions.

"I’ll catch the next lifeboat. I need to check on Jack," Caroline waves. "You do understand?"

"Of course darling. We’ll see you soon," Ruth waved while Molly pushes back the fear that rises in her heart. Rose was probably with Jack now and she didn’t want to think about the coming confrontation between her niece and Caroline. Hopefully things will work out for the best.

Jack and Rose breaks through the locked door into a well-lit and slightly crowded corridor. They just look down at the ruined door and continued moving through the corridor, looking for a way up to the upper deck.

"Hey! You have to pay for that you know!" a steward yells at them. "That’s white star line property!"
"Shut up!" Both Jack and Rose yells at the steward. Really, the man should be aware that the ship was sinking and that a damaged door didn’t mean much.

Finally they do reach a stairway leading up. But it’s crowded and it leads up to a locked gate with two stewards holding guns. People were trying to storm the gate, but the stewards were holding them back with guns and axes. That’s when Jack hears a familiar Irish voice.

"For God’s sake man! Let us out so we can have a chance!"

A minute late, Tommy Ryan came burrowing down the stairs. His eyes light up when he spots Jack and Rose.

"Tommy!" Jack rushes to him.

"They’re not letting us through this way!" Tommy motions to the locked gate. Then he notices Rose. "What is she doing here Jack? She’s first class! She should be on a boat!"
"It’s a long story," Rose looks up at the locked gates. Were those stewards mad? Why did they have all these people locked down here when the boat was sinking?

"Jack!" Another voice calls. Jack turns to see Fabrizio. He immediately hugs his best friend.

"Fabrizio."

"The boats are all gone!" Fabrizio exclaims.

Jack nods. "Okay. We have to do something and we have to do it fast. She’s going quick."

"There’s no way out this way!" Tommy sighed.

"We’ll find a way! Follow me!" Jack grabs Rose’s hand and leads his friends to another entranceway.

Caroline moves along the deck, looking for Rose and quite possibly Jack. She had to find them before they could get to a lifeboat. Stepping up behind an officer, she spots the handle of a gun. Looking to both sides of her, to make sure no one was looking; she lifts the gun slowly out of the officer’s pocket. A little insurance never hurted her before, it wouldn’t hurt her now. She was going to take Rose out of the picture one way or another. She was determined.

Jack leads his friend up to another locked gate, but this time it’s guarded only by one steward, and this was the wimpy one he and Rose had yelled at. Jack remembered how the steward backed down with fear in his eyes. Maybe old-fashioned bullying will work on him.

Jack pushes through the crowd and looks the steward dead in the eye. "Open the gate."

"Go back to the main stairwell," The steward directs.

Jack’s voice is more forceful this time. "Open the gate right now."

"Go back to the main stairwell like I told you and everything will get sorted out there," the steward stands his ground.

Jack gets frustrated. This wasn’t working. He looks behind him at Rose and his heart stops in his throat. She was in this mess because of him. She would be on a lifeboat floating to safety if she hadn’t come after him. He couldn’t let her die like this. He had to get her out of here. He wasn’t going to let this wimpy steward stop him.

He loses it. He curses at the steward and jerks at the gate hard. He turns and spots a bench that’s nailed to the floor. He immediately goes to it and begins pulling on it. "Fabri, Tommy! Give me a hand here!"

With all three of them pulling, the bench comes aloose. They hoist the bench up and aim for the door.

"Ok! One! Two! Three!" Jack yells as they brought the bench into the gate, which gave a loud shudder. "Again!" Jack yells.

This time the bench goes through the gate, letting all the people free. "Come on Rose," Jack grabs Rose’s hand and leads her out.

"You can’t go through there," The steward protests. "You can’t go through there…" The steward’s further protests are cut off by Tommy’s fist.

Caroline’s on the other side of the ship. She looks down just in time to see an officer in stepping on the rim of a hanging lifeboat shoot a gun. Everything was falling a part. She had to find Jack and Rose fast.

Jack and Rose and their two friends run out of the ship. Jack runs to the rail and looks for lifeboats but there are none. He’s about to lead her to the other side when Rose spots Colonial Gracie escorting a lady straight ahead.

"Colonial! Are there any boats left?" Rose runs up the kind man.

"This way! I’ll show you," The colonial points straight ahead. Jack grabs Rose’s hand and they run straight ahead into the churning crowd.

The music from the band whiffs through the air, as if nothing’s happening. This does not brighten Tommy’s mood at all.

"Now I know I’m in first class. Drowning by music," Tommy snorts sarcastically as they run along. Soon they reach the lifeboats and push their way to the rail. Jack pulls Rose ahead of him. He wants to make sure that she gets on a lifeboat.

The crowd grows wilder and rougher. Jack wraps his arms protectively around Rose. Suddenly loud gun shots ring out.

"Stay back damn you!" an officer yells.

"You two better go check the other side!" Jack turns to his two friends. They’re reluctant to leave him, but by the look in his eyes, they knew not to argue. Jack’s first priority at that moment was getting Rose to safety.

Rose looks over and spots a man putting his little girl into a lifeboat.

"Now you be a good girl for mommy. This is good-bye for a little while, only a little while. This boat is for the mommies and the children." The man calls to his daughter, tears streaming from both their eyes.

Oh no. Of course! That stupid law of the ocean…women and children first! Jack couldn’t get on a lifeboat with her. That only means one thing…she wasn’t going to get on one either.

"I’m not going with out you Jack," Rose turns to him, determination in her eyes.

"No you have to go. Get on the boat Rose," Jack grabs her shoulders tightly, looking her straight in the eyes. If the boat wasn’t sinking and there was no danger, he’d let her stay, but there was danger and he wanted her as far away from it as possible.

"No Jack."

"Get on the boat Rose, please," Jack begged.

Rose shakes her head. He wasn’t going to change her mind.

"Yes Rose. Get on the boat," Caroline appears behind Jack.

"You," Rose glared at Caroline. "I’m not going anywhere."

"Rose," Jack pulls her to the side. "Please get on the boat. Don’t worry about me. I’m a survivor."

"No Jack. I’m not leaving without you."

"Listen Rose. Your aunt told me she made arrangements with a boat at the other side of the ship. Jack can get off there," Caroline approaches them again. "All you have to do is get on this boat and I can make sure your aunt’s wishes are carried out."

Rose looks at Caroline suspiciously. Something wasn’t right here, but Jack didn’t give her much time to think about that.

"See, I have my own boat to catch. Now go on. Get in the lifeboat," Jack leads her back to the railing. Looking at him, she doesn’t resist the officer pulling her away and into the lifeboat.

"Jack!" Rose reaches her hand out for him. For just a second their hands grasp each other tightly.

"Clear the way!" An officer pushes Jack aside, causing their hands to disconnect.

"Don’t worry Rose. Everything will be alright," Jack nods to her as the boat lowers.

Jack is now alone with a seething Caroline. He knew then that what she said wasn’t true.

"There is no arrangement is there?"

"Oh there is. Not that your little girlfriend will be benefiting from it any. I always win Jack. You should know that by now. We’ll get on that lifeboat then we’ll hideout on the rescue ship ‘til we dock in New York. Our new names will be Jack and Carly Dahl. Rose won’t be the wiser. She’ll think you’ve parished after all on the Titanic."

"You can’t be serious," Jack stares at her coldly. "What’s to stop me from contacting Rose once we’re on the rescue ship? Or going to her after we dock?"

"Her mother. You see Ruth and I grew close. She gave her word that she’d keep her pesky daughter away from my fiancée. Even if she had to have her committed to the infirmary with guards to do so. So you see Jack. You two will never see each other again."

"I don’t love you Caroline," Jack said.

"I don’t care," Caroline shrugs. "No more talking now. Better catch the last glimpses of Rose since you’ll never see her again."

Jack looks at Caroline then back at the lowering lifeboat with his beloved on it. His heart ached, as he knew that Caroline was right. Rose was out of his life forever. But he was grateful for what little time they did have together. That was something that Caroline could never take away.

Rose looked up at Jack, tears streaming from her eyes. How could she leave him like this? She loved him so much. As a flare went off into the sky, haloing Jack’s face, Rose saw the sparkle of unshed tears in his eyes. His beautiful blue happy eyes now contained only sadness and despair, and Caroline’s face…it shone with triumph. An evil grin spread from ear to ear. Something was up. Caroline was definitely up to something and it wasn’t good. Rose had to stop her before it was too late.

Looking back up at Jack, Rose quickly stands up and leaps back onto the boat railing. Once her feet was back on solid ground, Rose raced through the hall looking for a way to get to Jack.

"Rose no!" Jack cried out as she leaps from the lifeboat. Shoving Caroline out of the way, he runs away from the railing and to the grand staircase to meet her. Their only thoughts were reaching one another.

"Jack! Jack!" Rose cried as she rushed into the first class lounge.

"Rose!" Jack rushes down the stairs.

"Jack!" Rose bursts into refreshed tears as they collide into each other’s arms, holding on to each other tight, not wanting to let go of each other ever again.

"You’re so stupid Rose! Why did you do that! Why!" Jack looks straight into her eyes.

At first Rose couldn’t speak. Her love for him was so strong that her voice wouldn’t work. But finally she smiled and lovingly gazed into his eyes. "You jump I jump. Right?"

"Right," Jack slightly laughed and pulled her into another hug.

"I couldn’t go Jack. I couldn’t go," Rose sobbed.

"It’s alright. We’ll think of something," Jack held her tighter.

"At least I’m with you."

For that one moment, Caroline was forgotten about. She stood up there and watched the two lovers. This wasn’t fair. Why had this happened? This voyage was supposed to be magical. It was supposed to give her some important connections and Jack some goals to work towards for once. But the only new goal Jack had was a new girlfriend and Caroline was out in the cold. She knew that. She had lost everything because really, Jack was the only thing she had.

She couldn’t take it anymore. Caroline pulls out the gun she had hidden in her lifebelt and began wildly shooting at them.

Jack looks up and sees Caroline with the gun, knowing that it was them she was aiming for. His former fiancée has gone completely mad.

"Run Rose!" Jack pulls Rose along after him as they run down the grand staircase away from Caroline’s gunshots.

Caroline is in hot pursuit, as Jack pulls Rose into waist high water, making it harder to run. They run even faster though when a bullet lands right next to them in the water. Finally, Jack pulls Rose up into a dry room, making it easier for them to run as a bullet flies into the glass window.

Caroline stops running when she reaches the waist high water and tries to shoot, but the gun is out of bullets. She screams in frustration, but a deadly smile crosses her face when she hears the dying groan of the sinking ship. Regardless of their recent escape, Jack and Rose didn’t have a chance to survive the sinking. Revenge really does come in different forms.

"I hope you enjoy your time together!" Caroline calls after them one more time before turning around to go up to the next to last lifeboat being launched.

Jack and Rose glances behind them as Jack lead her down some stairs leading to a flooded corridor. Singling for her to be quiet they lean against the wall looking up the stairs to make sure that Caroline was no longer following them. Rose’s heart drops when she hears the sounds of a child crying for his father.

Jack and Rose look around the corner of the corridor and sees a little boy standing in front of a door with water spilling out into the hallway.

"We can’t leave him," Rose clutches Jack’s arms.

Looking back up the stairs from where they had come and seeing water spilling down, Jack nods and with Rose following him, he runs to the boy and scoops him up into his arms. Seeing that the door is about to give way under the weight of the ocean on the other side, Jack turns and runs back for the stairs. He stops and his eyes widen in horror as he sees that more water is coming down, making it impossible for them to go back up that way.

"Go back!" He yells at Rose as they head in the direction of the groaning door. Suddenly a middle-aged man, who must be the boy’s father, appears out of a room carrying a suitcase. Seeing Jack with his son, the man curses in some sort of language and grabs the boy away from Jack.

To both Jack and Rose’s horror, the man runs straight for the groaning door that is now bulging from all the weight. It was going to give way!

"Wait! Come back! You’re going the wrong way!" Jack calls for the man, but the man either doesn’t listen or he doesn’t understand. Rose screams in horror as the door finally gives way and the roaring ocean swallows up both the boy and his father. She doesn’t have time for much else because Jack pushes her into another corridor and they’re both running from the angry wall of water.

"Run!" Jack orders.

They run their fastest, but it’s not fast enough because both loses their balance as the wall of ocean slams into them. About five seconds later, Rose and Jack are slammed up against a closed gate.

"Jack!" Rose cried.

"Follow me!" Jack ordered, having spot a stairway on their way to the gate. Grabbing on to the pipes up on the ceiling, Jack leads Rose to the stairway. "Give me your hand," He grabs onto the banister. He let’s Rose up first then he joins her, but to both of their dismay they find the gate on top of the stairwell locked.

"How are we going to get out?" Rose cried.

"I don’t know," Jack looks at her. Terror strikes their hearts as they look behind to see the water quickly rising.

Jack begins jerking at the gates. "Help! Help!"

"Help!" Rose joins him.

They look down again to see the water is now up to their feet.

"Help us!" Jack calls, then he suddenly spots a steward about to head up the stairs. "Sir! Sir! Help us!" Jack reaches a hand out through the gate.

"Please!" Rose cried along with him. She didn’t want to die…not now…that she had found Jack.

The steward just looks at them, then begins to head up the stairs, but he stops.

"Oh bloody hell," the steward heads back down, keys in hand.

"Hurry!" Rose cried, as the steward began trying every key he had in the lock.

"Come on!" Jack urges as water is now up to their waists. The ship was sinking fast.

The steward grows even more frantic as sparks fly from the ceiling. He has the key in his hand, but his hands had grown so slippery from his sweat that he drops them. Sorrow and regret in his eyes, he looks at the young couples that were going to die down here tonight. He was truly sorry that he wasn’t able to save them. "I’m sorry! I dropped the keys!" He said, before darting up the stairs.

"No wait!" Rose cried, "Send for help! Wait!"

Thinking fast, Jack sucks in a big gulp of air and goes under, searching for the keys. At first he can’t find them, but soon enough he has them in his hand. When he reemerges, the water is now up to their shoulders and raising fast.

"Which one is it Rose!" Jack holds the keys up.

"The pointy one!"

Finding the correct key, Jack gets it in the keyhole, but the key refuses to turn.

"Hurry Jack!" Rose screamed as the water reaches their neck.

"It’s stuck!" Jack twists the key again.

"Hurry Jack!" Rose cries, "Jack!"

Jack gives it one more hard turn and relief floods his eyes as it turns and the gate opens. "I got it Rose! Go!" He pushes her out into the hallway.

Dunking under a pipe and reemerging Rose looked in back of her to find that she was alone in the hallway. Where was Jack? "Jack!"
"Rose!" Jack grabs on to the pipe from the other side.

"Jack come on!" Rose reaches out her hand.

Dunking under the pipe, Jack reemerges to rejoin Rose. "Move Rose!" Jack pushes her to the stairs. They then make their way up to the deck.

Five minutes later they’re running through the first class smoking lounge when Rose spots Mr. Andrews.

"Wait!" Rose calls to Jack as he pulls her along. Jack stops and stands aside as Rose goes to the older man, knowing how much he had loved this ship and how it must be destroying him to watch all his hard work sink to the bottom of the ocean. "Mr. Andrews…Aren’t you going to make a try for it?"

Mr. Andrews looks at her, all the grief in the world contained in his eyes. His voice is soft and full of grief. "I’m sorry I didn’t build you a stronger ship young Rose."

Rose immediately knew that he was planning to go down with his creation. She wanted to try to talk him into coming with them, but by the look in Jack’s eyes, there wasn’t time. The ship was going quickly.

She hugs him tightly. "It’s been a pleasure to have met you Mr. Andrews."

"Same here young Rose. Best of luck to you," Mr. Andrews picks up his life vest and hands it to her. "Here take this."

"Thank you."

"Rose we have to go. She’s going fast," Jack holds his hand out for her.

She takes one more look at Mr. Andrews, then takes Jack’s hand and allows him to pull her out of the room.

Caroline looks up at the sinking ship as her lifeboat sails further away. She felt a tinge of sadness at such a loss of a beautiful vessel, and a little sad at the loss of her fiancée Jack. But this was what he wanted. He had chosen death with rose other than life with her so it was his own fault. She turns away from the sight of the sinking ship.

Molly’s heart is in her throat as she looks at the sinking ship. Her Rose was on that ship right now. Hopefully she’s with Jack…that way they’ll die together if need be. But then again, maybe Jack had gotten Rose in a boat in time and Rose was now alone and frightened…whichever the case, Molly wished she was with her niece now instead of in this lifeboat.

HOME

CHAPTER INDEX

CONTINUE