April 5th, 1913.

Rose

It was quiet. So quiet - in fact - that it was almost deafening. And it was dark. Regardless of how clear the night had been, Rose could not distinguish sky and sea. She saw nothing but absolute darkness. Maybe it was the cold. Does cold have an effect on one's eyesight? Possibly in extremities… but then again, this night was exactly that. The wind felt like it cut through her skin and ate at the tips of her fingers. Finally, Rose's eyes seemed to be adjusting. Her fingers clenched tightly around the wooden edge of lifeboat 14. Her frozen hair stuck to her cheeks, and when she moved her head to look at the pitch black sea beneath her, she could hear the sound of it cracking.

Suddenly, she heard a faint call. Rose immediately turned her head and stared into the darkness. ''Hello?'', she yelled. It remained quiet for a while but then, there it was again. Somebody was desperately calling for help.

''He's alive'', Rose whispered to herself, her eyes widened. ''He's still alive! We have to turn around. Turn around, now! We have to help-''. When she turned to look at the seaman manning her lifeboat, he wasn't there. In fact - nobody was. The lifeboat was empty. It was just her.

A breeze of North Atlantic wind hit her from the front and she immediately turned her face, clenching her fingers around the sleeves of her coat. For a second, she thought she misheard- but there it was. Once more. A call in the distance, and Rose heard it louder this time.

''Hold on!'', she screamed. She quickly sat herself down, took the wooden paddles in her hands and tightened her frozen fingers around them as best she could.

The calls in the distance grew louder. More terrified.

Rose struggled with the paddles for a while and her frustration outgrew her fear, but once she got the hang of it and started moving across the pitch black sea, towards the terrified screams of a drowning person, her fear reclaimed its position in her throat.

''Hold on! Please!'', Rose yelled, paddling as fast as her frostbitten hands would allow her. ''I'm coming!''.

The sea was completely calm. Not a single wave disturbed her journey into the darkness. She was gliding through the water, but no matter how fast she paddled, the screaming only seemed to move further and further away until at some point- it stopped. Rose let go of the paddles, gripped the side of her lifeboat and stared across the water, trying desperately to see anything at all in this curtain of blackness. ''Hello?!'', she screamed.

Her voice echoed back towards her. Nothing.

''I'm here! Swim towards my voice!'', she screamed.

Nothing.

Rose's heart was racing, it felt like she'd pass out any moment. The cold had taken ahold of her bones. Every move she made cost her ten times more energy than it normally would, and she no longer felt her toes or fingertips. Defeated, she sat back down on the wooden bench. Tears welled up in her eyes and her bottom lip trembled softly.

''HELLO?!'', she tried once more. ''Can anybody hear me?! Is anyone out there?!''.

Her voice cracked. She tried asking again. Begging, even, for somebody out there to save, but her voice faded until it was nothing more than a whisper. God, she realized. I must be dying. This is it, isn't it? Nobody around to help, nobody around to help her. She was completely abandoned, sitting alone in sub-zero temperatures – in complete darkness, waiting. For what? And then she cried. She couldn't remember crying at all this night, but now she knew. She couldn't keep her promise to Jack. She was going to die here.

Rose pulled her coat tighter around her - though it gave her no comfort at all. She pulled her knees up to her chest in an attempt to stay warm, her arms wrapped around them and her face buried beneath the frozen strands of her hair.

''Going up.. she goes, up she goes
Balance yourself like a bird on a beam
In the air.. she goes..
there she goes''.

Rose whispered the tune to herself, over and over again, until she felt her eyelids growing heavier. She didn't fight it. She knew there was no use. All she wanted was for it to be over soon and secretly – she prayed it would be painless. ''Come.. Josephine, in my flying machine'', she whispered.

And then from out the darkness, another voice.

''Up, she goes, up she goes''.

Rose's eyes flew open and she sat upright immediately, her heart beating in her throat. That wasn't her. Somebody else is here. Hope grew back into her heart and she immediately grabbed the side of the boat, leaning over the edge to get a better look of the ocean's surface. ''Who's there?!'', she screamed.

''Come.. Josephine'', the voice sang.

Rose suddenly felt threatened. This voice. She recognized it, though her frozen brain wouldn't allow her to realize who it belonged to. Fear crept back into her heart and she slowly backed away from the edge. ''Hello?'', she asked, quietly.

''In… my'', the voice continued.

Rose frantically looked around her, searching for a shimmer of somebody's life vest. ''Who are you?!'', she demanded. She managed to make it sound angry but in all truthfulness, she was terrified. Then, right next to her ear, a soft voice whispered: ''flying machine''. Rose screamed and she turned quickly, but it was too late. She stared straight into a pair of dead, pale blue eyes as somebody tried climbing into the lifeboat with her.

''NO!'', she screamed as she jumped backwards, nearly falling into the water. ''SOMEBODY HELP!''.

Suddenly – she saw another, appearing from underneath the black sea, clawing at the edge of the lifeboat. She felt as if she were going to faint and she hoped that she would. Let this be it, she begged. Let this be the end then, damnit!

The corpses made their way into the lifeboat and stared at her. Blankly - their eyes an unnatural shade of silver and blue.

''Oh God'', she whispered, crawling backwards, towards the other end of the boat.

''I didn't do anything!'', she begged. ''Please, leave me! GO!''.

Her back hit a wooden railing. She was cornered like an animal and there was no place to hide. The corpses stumbled towards her, trying to remain their balance in this unstable little boat. From the corners of her eyes, Rose saw one of the paddles. She screamed loudly and went for it, throwing her body towards it, her fingers reaching for the handle. And then it happened. Right as her fingers touched the pinewood of the paddle, a hand reached from out of the water, grabbing at her wrist and gripping it tightly. Its fingers were blue and colder than even she was. On its wrist, it wore a single, broken handcuff and at that moment – she realized.

Rose's eyes rolled back. She felt her bones lose all of their remaining strength and she stumbled backwards, falling over the railing - crashing into the icy, black water.

A loud scream escaped from her throat. Rose's eyelids flew open and she immediately sat upright, her back and forehead covered in a cold layer of sweat. She gasped for air, placing her hand on her heart to make sure it was still beating, and then she looked around the room. There was nobody there, no one but her. It was dark, but the moonlight came in from an open window and allowed her to see everything she recognized.

Her red velveteen chair, her books. She was home.

Rose took another deep breath to calm herself down and glanced at her wrist. Nothing. No marks. Just her own, pale skin. She kicked the duvet aside, set her feet on the ground and pushed herself off the bed. One of her bedroom windows had blown open and the crisp air of an early spring morning softly stroked her face. As she closed it, she listened to the familiar sound of the wood creak and for a second, she caught her reflection looking back at her.

''It's all right'', she promised herself. ''He's not here''.

She felt a single tear drip from the corner of her eye and swiftly wiped it away. Just in time because at that moment, her bedroom door opened and her maid Jenny rushed in, a candlestick held high above her head.

''Miss Rose, are you all right?'', Jenny asked, quickly glancing through the room.

''I am'', Rose promised. ''I had another nightmare. That is all''.

Jenny lowered the candlestick and sat it down on a pile of books, quickly walking towards Rose and grabbing her hand.

''Would you like me to make you a cup of tea?'', she asked, her grey eyes filled with worry. Rose shook her head and softly squeezed Jenny's hand. ''It's all right''.

Jenny had been working for Rose ever since she arrived in New York. She knew about what she had experienced, but she was the only one. Nobody else was supposed to know of Miss Rose's terrible encounter on the Atlantic. Just the two of them. Jenny was extremely loyal to Miss Rose. She felt like they were family, though of course, she was still just a maid. But, much like a sister, she worried about the woman she so loyally served. This must have been the fourth, maybe even the fifth night that Rose had woken up screaming, awakened by a terrible dream. Jenny suspected it had something to do with Titanic's anniversary. It had been nearly a year since the sinking of the unsinkable ship and the death of Rose's true love.

Jenny glanced at the clock. A little over two in the morning. ''Well'', she whispered with a smile, locking eyes with Rose. ''It is now officially April 5th''. Rose knew what she was getting at and clenched her jaws together. ''Happy birthday, Miss''.

Rose nodded and stared out the window - into the star filled night sky. ''Thank you'', she whispered, a careful smile spreading across her lips.