Life after Titanic
This is the story of Jack and Rose Dawson after Titanic…
"Jack? Jack?" Rose said on top of the piano floating in the giant, deadly freezing water. And there was Jack, sitting in the water with his eyes closed and his hands in Rose's hands. Rose shook his body and grew worried. He wasn't moving.
"Jack! Wake up!" She said with all her energy.
"Huh? What?" Jack said in a shaky, shivering tone. He opened his eyes and saw Rose's worried face being covered by her long, fiery red hair.
"Jack! Don't scare me like that! Do you have any idea what could've happened if I saw you floating dead?!"
"Rose, relax. I was sleeping. I'm s-sorry I s-scared you," Jack said very shaky.
"Oh, Jack its okay. I'm gonna get-"
"HELLO?! IS ANY BODY OUT THERE?!" said the steward. He was waving his flashlight around.
"HEY! OVER HERE!" Rose screamed.
"Over here! There are people here! We need help!"
The man gasped and went as fast as he could, trying not to hit the dead. He grabbed Rose in the boat and covered her with a wool blanket. Then Jack climbed in and sat behind her, with his hands wrapped around her. He, too, had a wool blanket. Rose could hear Jack shivering. His body was shaking. But so was hers. She didn't want to be like this. She wanted to be in a warm, cozy house with Jack. Feeling the sunshine on her skin and Jack giving her a hug.
"Jack?"
"Rose?" Jack said in a silly way.
"You still have that sense of humor. Are you okay? You're shivering so much."
"I'm alright, Rose. Now, please, get some rest. You're tired. I can tell."
"But Jack-"
"Shh." He said while putting his finger on her mouth. "Go. To. Sleep. Please, I don't want you staying up all night."
"Well, how do you expect me to sleep while I'm freezing cold?"
"Just do it." Jack kissed Rose on top of her head and Rose fell into a sweet dream about her being with Jack in Wisconsin. Jack wouldn't let go of Rose and she couldn't move. She loved being close to him. He finally became warm and Rose could feel the heat. She finally felt comfortable. No more worrying about dying in deadly water. No more thinking about Cal and what he could do to her and Jack. C'mon, he tried to shoot both of them. More than one time. Now, she can finally feel perfect…
"Jack, c'mon. You said that you would love me. You do love me, right?" said the girl. She had brown hair that was long and wavy. She had gleaming, hazel-nut eyes and had small lips. She was tall. She was skinny and she had lean legs. Her name was Fiona.
"Fiona, stop it. I only love Rose and Rose only. How dare you try to separate us?"
"But, you said you would even draw a picture of me."
"That was years ago." The girl got closer to Jack and she kissed him on the lips softly and slowly.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm just getting comfy, Jack. You would want me to be comfy, right?"
"Yeah, but-"
Then Fiona tackled Jack onto the bed and ripped his shirt open. Then she kissed him passionately and Jack kicked her off of him.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"I'm just showing everything that Rose can't do that I can do, Jack."
"No! Get away from me! Now! I don't love you. I don't even KNOW you!"
"Jack, quit acting like you don't remember me! You do! Remember all the fun times we had in high school?"
"No, I do not remember that or you!"
"You dated me in high school and you said you would remember me forever!"
"But-"
She kissed him on the lips and Jack said fell for her. He actually said 'I Love You, Fiona.'
Jack woke up screaming. The scream echoed and nobody but Rose heard it.
"Jack? Jack what's wrong?"
"I don't know her. I never loved her."
"What are you talking about?"
"Fiona. She said I loved her."
"Who is Fiona?"
"I DON'T KNOW!"
"Jack Dawson! Explain to me who this Fiona person is!"
"I DO NOT KNOW WHO FIONA IS!"
"Jack, what happened? Tell me what happened."
"She tried to steal me away from you…and seduce me."
"Jack, it's okay. There is no Fiona. Fiona is a fictional character who is engraved in your mind."
"Yeah, yeah. She is fake…She is not real."
Rose held Jack tightly and kissed him softly. Jack's lips trembled. He didn't know what was going on. He looked up and saw the Statue of Liberty.
"Rose. Look."
"What?"
"It's New York City."
"New York. We're finally here, Jack. Now, all of our worries are gone. We can start a life together Jack. Get married. Have children."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's stop for a second. You want kids? Rose, we just survived a sinking ship and we almost died. I'm freezing. You're freezing. You don't get it, do you? I am NOT ready to be a father. I can't even take care of myself half the time. And I have to take care of you and a kid? No way, Rose. No way."
"Jack! How could you say that? I thought you wanted to be a dad."
"When did I tell you that?"
"You said 'I would love to be a dad someday. Just hearing little a kid saying 'Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!' That must be the most wonderful feeling in the world.' Do you remember that, Jack?"
"Well, Rose, I don't remember. When we get to Wisconsin, we'll think about it. But we're not trying right away."
"Okay. I can wait."
"Yeah, you have no choice," Jack laughed, which made Rose laugh.
Then, Jack and Rose stared at the Statue of Liberty. They're home. For now.
"Rose?"
"Yes, Jack?"
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
About a day later, Jack and Rose got off the Carpathia and walked around New York. A bunch of reporters were flashing lights in Jack and Rose's faces and kept asking them questions about how they survived and what it was like to be on a sinking ship. They ignored them and ran from them. They finally got away from them when they reached Central Park.
Rose's hands were in the pockets of the jacket that Cal gave her before she got on the lifeboat and jumped out of it. She felt something in it and made a confused look. Something felt hard and cold. Like a stone. It had a necklace. Then, she felt something like paper. She made an even more confused look. What is in this jacket? She pulled it out of her pocket. Jack looked over at Rose because she was so quiet. He read her face and thought something was wrong.
"Rose? Are you alright?"
"Look at what I found in my pocket." She held out the Heart of the Ocean. Cal gave it to her the first couple of nights when they came on the Titanic.
"How did that not sink? It was in the pocket the whole time. This is worth millions of dollars, Rose!"
"I also found something else." She looked around to see if anyone was around. Only a couple of people with their dogs.
"What did you find?"
"This." She held out a stack of money with a bunch of 100 dollar bills in it. And it was a very big stack!
"Rose! This is a million dollars! If not, even more than a million! Oh, Rose! We're rich! We can finally pay to go to Wisconsin and even by a house! I may not even need to get a job!"
Rose looked at Jack with a confused look. No job? Even with the money, we're still gonna need it for the tickets, the house, everything! And he will need a job! She thought to herself.
"What?"
"Jack, you're still gonna need a job."
"Why?"
"Jack, things don't work that way. You find a couple of dollars in your pocket that happen to be 100 dollar bills and a necklace worth that much money, and you spend it on a house, food, clothes, and taxes. Honey, you will need that job."
"Well, now that you put it that way, I guess I will need it. Hm. Maybe I can work as an artist. But who will need an artist? The year is 1912 and it's in the middle of April. Schools don't need an art teacher because school's been started. I don't even know how to get some of my artwork in museums. Rose, how can I find a job? And we can't wait another year to find a house. So, why not spend some of the money to get a house? Just to get started."
"Fine. But we're not spending all of it."
"Yeah. I don't wanna go back to my old ways. Living under a bridge in the park. Rose, I'm not going back to that! I'm not having you live like that! You deserve better!"
"Jack, all I need is just a house, food, clothes and you! You don't need to go on a trip and find all these fancy things. I'm fine living the middle-class life. As a matter of fact, I'm tired of being spoiled. Getting fancy clothes and jewelry, having my every need catered. I don't want it. Not at all. I don't miss it one bit. Maybe it's nice being just normal for once."
"So, you wanna live like me?"
"Basically, yes. I'm ready to start all over with you. No Cal. No Mother. Just me and you."
"Ah. I wonder what Molly Brown would do in a moment like this."
"Oh, yes. Ms. Molly Brown. She was one kind of a woman, wasn't she?"
"I hope she's alright. She went on the lifeboat with your mother, right?"
"Yes. I heard that she tried to get everyone back to the Titanic to save some more people. But somebody said that we would swamp the boats and drown them. He also told Molly to 'shut that hole in your face!' And I wonder why Molly didn't give that guy a black eye."
"Well, she can always act like a lady. She always helped out if she could."
Jack and Rose got out of Central Park and went to the train station. They bought to tickets to Santa Monica, California, which had Rose very confused.
"I thought we were going to Wisconsin?"
"Well, I'm just a little sick of the state that's famous by their cheese. It's way too cold and way too boring. Santa Monica? They got beaches. They have carnivals and everything. And, you don't have to worry about falling through thin ice."
"Oh. Well, anything is better than falling through thin ice."
"Even being on a sinking ship that broke in half that have millions of people dead?"
"Gosh, Jack. Must you be so graphic?"
Jack laughed and put his arm around Rose's shoulder as they walked to the train. The only things they had were the clothes they had on their backs, a couple of million dollars and the Heart of the Ocean. Not bad for a couple of Titanic survivors. Jack fell asleep on Rose's shoulder. Rose watched him for a little bit. She moved his dirty blond hair out of his face. Then she looked out the window. The sky was so blue. Rose saw a couple of horses on the way. A couple were white with black spots and some were just plain colors, like brown, white and black. Rose always wanted a horse. Ever since she was a little girl, she would have horse dolls in her room and play with them. Not even a fire could separate her from her horses.
Jack woke up an hour later. Rose was still awake and was still looking outside the window. A sunset headed over the horizon. All the warm colors. Orange, red, yellow, pink and some purple. It dazzled her. She had never seen such a beautiful sunset. Except when Jack made Rose "fly" on the Titanic singing "Come Josephine on her flying machine. Up she goes. Up she goes…" It brought back so many memories.
"I take it you like the scenery, huh?" Jack asked.
"Yeah. It's so beautiful. I've never seen anything like it."
"Where are we?"
"We're in California, actually. A couple of miles until we reach Santa Monica. Jack, I can't believe I'm doing this. Moving in a house with you. Well, do you know if we can buy a house there?"
"Rose, darling, I know what I'm doing. I'm going to make your life a whole lot easier."
"Jack…" Rose whined.
"Not like that! To make you feel homey. Not scared of some evil fiancée slapping you every time you look at another man."
"Fiancée? Are you saying you want to get married?"
"Why not? Well, I'm not going to purpose to you on a train. It's going to be much more romantic, I tell you. I'm not gonna tell you when though. It could be a couple of years, you know."
"I'm not waiting a couple of years, Jack."
"Ha ha. I know you won't. I still gotta remember that you can be stubborn when you don't get your way or what you want."
"I do not act stubborn!"
"Really?"
"Okay, at times I can be stubborn. But not all the time!"
"Oh, Rose. My dear little Rose. What am I going to do with you?"
"I don't know. But what I do know is that you are going to have a lot of fun with me!"
"I already knew that! Tell me something I don't know, Rose!"
Finally in Santa Monica, Jack and Rose got off the train and walked around the city. Rose and Jack didn't look as wet as they did when they arrived in New York. Rose's hair, dress and jacket were dry now. As so was the money. A little bit crinkly, but at least you can see what the value is and that it's not fake money. Jack really didn't care if he was dry. He just wanted to be with Rose.
"Rose, do you want me to take your jacket?"
"No, it's fine. I can wear it."
"But won't you be hot in that? I mean, it's like wool! It's at least 85˚ out here. I don't want you to-"
"I'm not going to faint, Jack. Goodness, you overreact too much!"
"Oh, whatever. Sorry for caring!" Jack laughed.
Obviously, Jack and Rose didn't know what they were gonna do. Where were they gonna find a house? Jobs? Well, they have to work hard to find everything they need. But in my opinion, just trade in that Heart of the Ocean for some money and save it and spend the other money on things they need. And when they need the money for some kind of emergency, just use it. But, I would also get a job. What do you think they should do in the next chapter?