The whole hall was flooding and the ship was sinking all too quickly. He could already feel the unnatural slant of the floor beneath his feet, but he knew one thing in that moment that mattered, he had to find Rose. Almost instinctively he jumped in the freezing cold water, the pain hitting him in the chest like a thousand knifes, and for once, it hurt to be right.
Wading in the waist high water of the Alantic Ocean, searching for his lost lover, he found himself reaching high ground and rising out of the menacing water below him. He knew they had taken her but this time he wasn't afraid, he would find her and make it out safely, he was a survivor after all. Walking through the first class area, he suddenley felt out of place, even with the given situation, but this is where he knew she would be. He stepped out into the crisp night air taking in the chaos of the once peaceful boat deck, then he heard his name called, her voice distant and very much trapped, "Jack, Jack" she called. A one word plea she knew would benefit her well being. He did a 360 degree scope of his surroundings and easily picked out her crimson locks among the the other paniced passengers. He ran in the direction of her voice, prepared to feel her deaperate embrace. Their lips met without hesitation and they found each other safe in the others embrace. He knew once they separated he would face her family and the moment came all too soon, as her former fiancee took a swing at his face.
In that moment everthing went in slow motion, he was able to catch the shocked expression overcome Rose's features, just out of is reach, as she managed to choke out the onre word that mattered, "Stop!" she screamed as she ran toward te two fighting men. While Jack was easily able to evade his pursuer's attacks on his much younger legs, he found it hard to say the simple words, "I need you to run Rose!" She did as he said, willing to die in place of the man she had met two mere days ago.
Leaving behind everything that mattered, she reached higher ground as she let the past events sink into her unwilling brain. She had known from the minute the iceberg struck that trouble would follow and when her and Jack were separated it only made matters worse. Working without her other half had been a challenge but she managed to escape the clutches of her controlling mother, fleeing from the lifeoat that would save her from the peril of the once grand ship. For a while had also escaped her restraining fiancee Cal, long enough to find herself weeping into her lovers strong, stable arms, now she was alone watching on as Jack pushed through the crowd of screaming and wailing passengers, knowing exactly where she'd be. He knew he had to get her onto a boat to save her life but as he heard the dejecting instructions of the stewards, "Women and children only!" he knew in a heartbeat she would never agree to his proposition. Her fire still burned bright in her jade green eyes, as they were locked in each others sight.
When he reached her standing shaking figure at the very end of the monsterous ship, she suddenly spoke, "Jack, this is where we first met" among the screams and pleas of the fallen in the icy black water far below, he realized where they were.
At the end of the ship the young couple held on for their lives as they watched people clamber to their desirable postition prepared to go down with the mighty ship. As more of the crowd gathered at the end they all heard a loud crash as the ship split in two, the front half sinking to its watery grave, swallowing innocent lives in its wake, most of them to never resurface. Among the crowd Jack and Rose watched with wide eyes and hollow hearts only beating for each other.
As the tail began its desent the screams of wasted lives echoed through Jack's ears and in that instant he knew thre would be no hope once they reached the water, the boats would move on and all would perish, no hope, no second chance. But with the ship reaching the menacing ocean, faster with every second he knew who would live and she would go on no matter what. This tme the young survivor had met his match.
Not understanding the situation entirely, young Rose felt like a child, but soon realized the danger once more as she listened to the icy peril in his voice as he gave careful instructions, "Take a deep breath when I say ok?" She wasn't permited the time to respond when he started again in his shaking voice not much like his own, " The ship's gonna suck us under just kick to the surface and don't let go of my hand!" The danger that foreshadowed in his voice became all too real as he began the countdown with shaky breaths in between, "ONE...TWO...THREE..." he said as she gasped for air on cue
Once the black swirling water managed to grab hold of the two it seemed that nothing mattered anymore but their love, at least to Rose it did. Jack desperately locked fingers with Rose as kicking upwards became a life or death situation and the only thing that seemed to be stronger than their love was mother nature. Jack could feel her fingers slowly untangling with his own as he was sucked under in the wake of the ship, he knew he would die but he had to make sure Rose would not, it was his dying wish.
Through the dim light of the moon and stars that shone above, he managed to make out her helpless, frightened expression as she broke the surface. As he drifted downwards he could have given up and slipped peacefully into death but will is too strong and life is much harder, he kicked with all his might with little next to no air left in his lungs, slipping away slowly, he finally hit the surface his lungs greatfully taking in the well deserved air.
Then, like a ton of bricks the sound of the dying hit the young man's ears, and he began fearlessly paddling through the maddened, thrasing crowd of people with no hope, looking for the only thing that mattered, his Rose. Brain foggy, he tried to sort out the truth, as suddenly he heard her voice loud and ringing with desperation and fear. Shortly after, he found her being pushed under by a man wrestling for her life jacket, he swam over with what seemed like speed, hoping he wasn't too late. Giving the man no mercy he punched him repeatedly where ever he could fiind purchase. As soon as the heartless man had backed off of Rose, Jack almost barked out the orders, "Swim Rose, I need you to swim!" she obeyed knowing he meant no harm whatsoever, but still strangely lethargic as he pulled her forward through the water, obviously on a mission.
Once they reached the outskirts of the chaos they swam forward through furniture which had found its home in a floating graveyard of the once polished first class area. He pushed on, to a door the perfect size for one. Though the thought crossed her mind at a quite sluggish pace she did not question as he stayed in the water tht slowly delivered his patient death, while she was safley out of the water's harmful chill.
They sat like that for what seemed like hours, days even, no conversation passing between the two until he spoke through the silence, "The boats will come back for us Rose" he spoke with careful words, "I love you Jack" she replied withwith shaking breaths that followed, her fire burned in this sentence more than ever. He shot back a fiesty remark, "Don't you say that" she was taken aback by his words, "Don't you say your goodbyes, you undersatnd me?"
"It's geting quiet" she stated, hoping to change the subject, her eyes lazily glanced at the sea of bodies, still and covered in a thin sheet of ice. Despite her lack of attention he continued, "Listen Rose, you're gonna get out of here, you're gonna go on, and you're gonna make lots of babies, and you're gonna watch them grow. You're gonna die and old... and old lady warm in her bed, not here, not this night, not like this, do you understand me?" she felt that a art of her was apalled by his statement but she was beyond the reach of caring, or so she thought, "I can't feel my body" she stated simply in a monotone voice, but he still continued, "Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me..." she could tell he was slipping fast, short breaths becoming more and more frequent, but he was determined to finish, holding on only for her sanity, "it brought me to you. And I'm thankful for that, Rose, I'm thankful..." Another pause as she took in this sudden rush of emotion and she could feel the frozen heat attempting to flush her pale cheeks.
He sat like this for a deciving amount of time until he gathered the strength to start again, "You must do me this honor. You must promise me you'll survive, that you won't give up, no matter how hopeless." She let out a heavy sob, realizing that he would'nt make it, she was hearing his dying wish, "Promise me now, Rose, and never let go of that promise."
"I promise" she muttered in a shaky sobbing voice, "Never let go" he pleaded, she heard him loud and clear as he slipped slowly into unconciousness, still shakily breathing, "I'll never let go, Jack. I'll never let go." She solemley promised him as she stiffly turned to face the stars, hair sprawled out behind her as she softly sang the words, "Come Josehipine in my flying machine and it's up she goes, up she goes..."
Just then a light flooded her vision, a shooting star she thought numbly to herself as the bright light continued closer and closer singling in on her frozen face crossed with a mixture of confusion as she heard the slow belowing voices that echoed across the empty site of the tragety. Her eyes flickered openat the sound, "HELLO!, is anyone alive out there?!" This cotinued until her mind finally wrapped around what this could possibly mean, they were saved! Against all the odds they had made it, maybe she was a suvivor after all. She again stiffly flipped over to where her hand was held in his own and she began to speak in a raspy voice, "Jack, Jack," as she shook his hands up and down at a slow managable pace, "there's a boat Jack, Jack" she continued hoping to wake him from what seemed like his peaceful sleep, until she realized exactly what this was, he wasn't breathing and he definitley wasn't sleeping. She began to let out heavy exausted sobbs as she continued to call out his name refusing to believe the unavoidable truth, Jack was dead, the idea stung in her brain as it sunk into reality.
For a while she lay with him waiting for her time to come as well, then she remembered the promise she had vowed she would keep, the last thing he wanted, all she had left. "Come back," she choked, "Come back please!" she said as she fell back, defeated, hoping, still hoping fpr the best. Then she saw it, all in slow motion, the men in lifeboat rowing slowly away, the whistle in the frozen officer's mouth, not too far from where she drifted, and lastly Jack's frozen, pale, lifeless body held afloat only by her jointed hand and she knew what she must do, quickly she removed her hand from his, holding on until the very last second, as she let go of his cold body and watched his lifeless figure move slowly towards the bottom of the ocean with all the memories they shared, the sole proof that she was free, and she would live on wthout him, just like he wanted.
As she slowly slipped into the water and stiffly paddled towards the drifting body of the steward, aware that the men in the lifeboat weremoving farther away she began to quicken her pace. Many thoughts ran through her head as she swam through the water on that dreadful night, towards safety, towards hope, to the horizon that Jack had promised her. The whistle that had brought her salvation all those years agostill echoed in her brain and blared in her ears, but as she remembers that night, she remembers her promise, the one that she will keep forever.
