Chapter Eight
Jack and Rose emerge back out onto the tilting deck. Jack pulls her to the rail just in time to see people jumping overboard, rushing the inevitable.
"We’re going to have to stay on the ship as long as possible!" Jack turns again pulls Rose after him. It’s now even harder to run now that they’re in the crowd of rushing people, but jack is determined. They had to get to safety and soon.
Fabrizio screams as he’s almost sucked back into the ship, and sighs in relief as he grabs on to the side to prevent himself from going in. He swims away and is right at the edge of the ship when there’s a loud popping sound. Fabrizio looks up just to see the giant smoke stack falling down on top of him.
Jack pulls Rose ahead of him on the crowded stairway. Both are now having a hard time walking.
"As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…" A man was praying.
"You want to hurry up through that valley there!" Jack pushes the slow moving man out of the way.
They finally get to the upper deck and hang on to the railing as they move.
"Jack look!" Rose points out a priest, hanging onto a group of people as he hangs on to some sort of structure on the deck, saying the lord’s prayer. They didn’t have time to stop for long. They had to keep moving with the crowd.
"Come on," Jack grabs her hand again and pulls her to the railing of the stern where he grabs on tightly to the rail and she hangs on tightly to him. He hugs her tightly to him with his free hand. "Hang on!"
Rose looks around her at the struggling and falling people. She looks down and sees Helga, Fabrizio’s girlfriend hanging onto a railing, her feet dangling in midair. Rose had to wonder where Fabrizio and Tommy were now. Where they safe? She hoped so. For Jack’s sake, she hoped so. She looks around again at her surroundings and almost laughs at the irony.
"Jack!" Rose catches his attention. "This is where we first met!"
Jack looks down at her, his eyes full of love. Touched that she remembered. He kisses her forehead and hugs her tighter as the boat tilts some more.
Among the screams comes a loud booming cracking sound. Rose looks behind her and stifles a scream as the ship breaks in two, sucking in a group of people into it’s opening chasm.
"Jack!" She screamed as the stern goes booming back down into the water.
"Hang on!" Jack tightens his grip on the railing and presses against her so she doesn’t fall.
"We’re saved!" A woman screams out joyously as it seems that the stern is going to steady itself on the surface of the ocean. Rose looks at Jack with hope in her eyes, but he shakes his head grimly. The ship was still full of water with too much weight on it. Screams ring out again as the deck again tilts upward at a faster rate.
"We have to move!" Jack begins to climb the rail. Once he’s on the other side, he reaches for Rose’s hand. "Come on Rose! I’ll pull you over!"
"Jack…I can’t…" Rose cried, fear deeping in her heart.
"Yes you can Rose. Just grab my hand and climb. I won’t let go! I promise."
Rose nods and grabs his hand and struggles to climb the rail.
"I got ya. I won’t let go," Jack pulls her up. "Come on I got ya."
Rose sighs in relief as she’s safely on the other side with Jack, but her fear again deepens when she notices that the ship is now straight up in the air.
"What’s happening Jack?"
"I don’t know, I don’t know," Jack answers, fear is quite evident in his voice.
Rose looks down at Helga, who looks back up at her with fear. Rose tentatively reaches her hand out to the frightened blond, but it’s too late. Helga loses her grip on the rail and she falls screaming into the churning water.
"No," Rose begins to cry. She turns to look at a man in a chef’s suit. He looks at her sadly then turns away.
Rose gasps when the ship begins it’s final descent into the ocean "Oh God, Oh God," She cried, not even feeling Jack grasping her hand tightly. Her whole attention is on the frosty ocean below them.
"This is it Rose!" Jack calls to her. He noticed that she’s not paying attention. Her eyes are full of fear and directed at the ocean.
"Rose! Rose look at me!"
She turns her head to meet his eyes and they again fill her world, the only thing that can take her mind off her fate.
"Listen to me Rose, the ship is going to suck us down! Take a deep breath when I say! Kick for the surface and keep kicking! Do not let go of my hand!"
Rose nods.
"We’re going to make it Rose! Trust me!"
"I trust you!"
The rail is right upon the ocean now and Rose shivers as she feels the wintry chill. She has never felt this cold before in her life.
"Ready! Now!" Jack yells as the ocean swallows them up.
The ship falls away and Jack and Rose’s hand remains linked together. Jack rises kicking hard for the surface, holding tightly to Rose as he pulls her up. The surface is in a roiling chaos of screaming and thrashing people. Over a thousand people are now floating where the ship had once been. Some are stunned and gasping for breath. Others are crying, praying, moaning, shouting…and screaming. Jack and Rose barely have time to gasp for air before people who were driven insane by the water, four degrees below zero begin clawing at them.
Rose barely has time to scream when a man pushes her under, trying to climb on top of her, to get out of the water.
"Jack!"
"Get off of her! Get off of her!" Jack repeatedly punches the man until the man floats unconscious into the ocean.
"Jack!"
"Swim Rose! I need ya to swim!" Jack begins swimming, grabbing hold of her life vest, pulling her along.
"It’s so cold!" Rose cried, trying her best to swim on her own to make it easier for Jack.
"Swim Rose!" Jack said with determination, spotting some floating debris nearby. "Climb on it Rose," Jack leads her to the debris.
Rose nods, grabbing on to the wood paneling and struggling on top of it. "Jack come on!" Rose calls. Jack tries to join her on the wooden debris, but it’s not strong enough to hold two people as it tries to tip Rose back over into the water, but Jack quickly slides back off, causing it to right itself again. He’s going to have to remain in the water.
Rose is about to get off too, but Jack grabs her shoulder first "Stay on it Rose! Stay on it."
Rose nods, not having enough strength to argue the point and also just wanting to make him happy. "Jack."
"It’ll be alright now," Jack smiles reassuringly at her as he moves in front of her and takes her hand in his. "It’ll be alright now."
"Return the boat!" A whistle sounds out just a few yards across from them. Jack looks to see an officer blowing a whistle and hollering for the lifeboats to come back.
"Return the boats!"
"The boats will be coming back for us Rose. Just wait a little bit longer. They had to row away for the suction and now they’ll be coming back," Jack smiles with real hope and optimism in his voice. He truly believed they were going to be saved.
Rose just nods, his optimism helping her she lays her head down trying to forget about the biting cold and trying to stop her chattering teeth. She wonders if she’ll ever be warm again.
Molly stands up in the boat as she tries to rally the women together to collect some of the screaming people out in the ocean. She’s getting frustrated. She glares at Ruth, who has her ears covered against all the wailing screaming of the poor souls out there in the ocean.
"For goodness sake Ruth!" Molly forces the woman’s hands from her ears. "That can be Rose out there! Don’t you want to go back for your own daughter!"
"I already told you we can’t go back!" quartermaster Hitchins glares at Molly. "They’ll pull us right down I’m telling ya!"
"Aw knock it off! Yer scarin me. Come on girls, grab your oars. Let’s go."
No one moves. They just set there staring at Molly as if she’s lost her mind.
"Well come on!" Molly urges, noticing how the women won’t meet her eyes. "I don’t understand a one of ya. It’s your men out there! There’s plenty of room for more!"
"There’ll be one less in this boat if you don’t shut that hole in your face!" Hitchens yells.
Molly stunned at being talked to in such a matter sets down. She looks over at Ruth who still has her hands over her ears, shutting it all out. Molly closes her eyes and says a little prayer, "Please keep my niece safe. Whether it be here on earth or up there with you." Then Molly just stares out in space, lost in the memories of her niece.
Jack and Rose drift under the blazing stars. The water is so glassy that Rose can see the stars reflecting back at her in the dark water. She glances at Jack and notices how white his face is and his lips are blue. Ice is forming in his hair. She shivers at the low moaning in the darkness around them.
"It’s getting quiet," Rose sighed, no sign of hope is in her voice. She’s sure they were going to die out there.
"Just a few more minutes. It’ll take them a while to get the boats all organized."
Rose just stares off into space. She knew the truth. There were no boats coming back. They were going to die out here. Looking behind Jack, she sees that the officer with the whistle was now still, his eyes closed. She knew he wasn’t sleeping. He had died and the same fate awaited her and Jack.
But Jack couldn’t give up hope. At least not for Rose. She still had a good chance of survival. She wasn’t in the water for that long. She can still live a long and happy life. He was going to remain optimistic for her. He had to give her hope.
"…I don’t know about you, but I intend to write a very strong worded letter to the white star line about all this," Jack tries to laugh weakly, but the way it came out, it sounded like a gasp of fear. Rose looks up at him, love for him shining in her eyes.
"I love you Jack."
Jack takes her hand. "Don’t you do that. Don’t you start saying your good-byes. Not yet. Do you understand me." His voice is strong and determined. He wasn’t going to let her give up.
"I’m so cold," Rose shivers.
"…You’re going to get out of here…you’re going to go on and have lots of babies and watch them grow. You’re going to die an old old lady. Warm in her bed. Not here…not like this…not this night. Do you understand me?"
"I can’t feel my body."
Jack forces the words out as he’s beginning to have trouble breathing. "Rose, listen to me. Winning that ticket was the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It brought me to you. And I’m thankful Rose. I’m thankful." His voice begins to tremble with the cold that is making it’s way to his heart, but his eyes are unwavering. He’s determined that she survives. "You must do me this honor…promise me that you will survive…that you won’t give up…no matter what happens…no matter how hopeless…promise me now Rose…and never let go of that promise."
"…I promise."
"Never let go."
"I promise. I will never let go Jack. I’ll never let go."
Jack smiles happily at her, and he tightens his grip as he closes his eyes. He needs to rest. He’ll just close his eyes just for a little while. Just for a little while.
Rose stares up at the stars and grasps Jack’s cold hand in hers as she lays on her back, singing what she now considered to be their song. "Come Josephine in my flying machine…and it’s up she goes…up she goes…"
Rose turns her head to the glare of a light. Her eyes widen with joy and hope for the first time in hours as a deep voice calls out.
"Hello! Is there anyone alive out there! Hello!"
She comes to full attention to see the silhouette of boat moving along the still bodies. It was a boat! They were saved!
"Jack!" She turns and shakes his pale hand. "There’s a boat Jack!"
Jack wasn’t responding. Why wasn’t he responding. "Jack! There’s a boat!" She tries a little louder and harder. "Jack! There’s a boat."
She stares in disbelief at his frost-rimmed face. He looked so peaceful…as if he was sleeping. But she knew better. Hot tears stream from her face. This couldn’t be happening to them! Not now! Not after all they’ve been through. How can life be so unkind to her. She’s finally found the love of her life just to lose him not two days later.
"Jack…there’s a boat Jack," She cried in vain, leaning her cheek upon his cold hand. That’s when she thought she felt it…she thought she felt his hand move, but when she looks back up, his eyes are still closed and he’s motionless. It was wishful thinking. But it made her realize that she still had a promise to keep.
"Come back! Come back!" Rose called for the boat, but her voice is too weak and the officers don’t hear her. Not even realizing that she was still holding Jack’s hand, Rose slips off the board and swims over to the dead officer with the whistle. She doesn’t even flinch at the thought as she jerks the whistle out of the officer’s mouth and blows on it with all her might to catch the officer’s attention.
"Come about!" The officer yells, shining the light on Rose. She falls into unconsciousness just when the boat reaches her.
One of the officers notices the unconscious young man she’s holding on to and pulls him into the ship.
"He still has a pulse," The office feels his neck.
"Well don’t just stand there. Wrap him up quickly! Get him warm!" The head officer yells.
It’s dawn and the passengers have been boarded on the rescue ship Carpathia. Caroline is standing at the rail looking down on the last remaining lifeboat, containing the officers and two unconscious people she instantly recognized. Rose and Jack. She rushes to the officers as they get on board.
"We need a doctor right away!" Officer Lowe hollers. "Especially for the young man! He needs medical attention right away!"
"Jack! Jack!" Caroline pushes her way through the crowd. She takes his ice-cold hand and gasps when she notices how pale he is.
"You know him mam?" The officer asked.
"Of course I know him. He’s my fiancée," Caroline glared at the officer, daring him to challenge her claim.
"Do you know her as well? They were together," The officer questioned.
Caroline looked at the unconscious Rose. She could almost laugh. Rose had thought she had stolen Jack away from her…but she was wrong. She was going to make sure that Rose never saw Jack again.
"I never saw her before in my life," Caroline shakes her head. "But please, can we get him moved to the infirmary right now? He’s awfully cold."
"Yes mam," The officer nods, getting Jack on the stretcher. Caroline grins evilly as she follows the men as they carry Jack to the infirmary, leaving Rose behind with another officer, waiting for someone to take her to the women’s infirmary.
It’s Molly who’s passing by that recognizes a pale Rose, being prepped to be moved to the infirmary.
"Oh my lord Rose!" Molly collapses on to her knees as she reaches her niece.
"You know this girl mam?" The officer asked the well-dressed lady.
"Yes sir. She’s my niece. How bad is she?" Molly asked.
"Not bad. She’s been drifting in and out of consciousness and calls for someone named Jack. But she’s well enough to be cared for by a family member if you want to take her to your room," The officer explained.
"Yes sir. Will you carry her and I’ll lead the way?"
"Yes mam," the officer nods, picking Rose up in his arms.
"I love you Jack," Rose whispers in her sleep, snuggling into the officer’s arm.
"Poor darling," Molly places a warm hand on her forehead. "Well come on. Let’s get her to her room."