Rose

My eyes opened abruptly, taking in a gasp of the air around me. I felt...warm. It was a strange feeling. The only thing I could remember was the coldness enveloping me. Rose's wonderful face with her chilling blue lips, begging me to warm them. I couldn't, though, being the one in the freezing liquid. I was okay with this, of course. I would never think twice when it came to a decision that could potentially save Rose's life, even if it meant taking mine.

I closed my eyes again, rubbing them to get rid of the blurriness. Finally, I could see my surroundings. Somehow, I was in a small room, laying on a bed next to a bedside table and a lamp. I was confused, to say the least. Millions of questions twirled in my head, and I snapped up into a sitting position, giving myself a slight headache. "Rose?" I yelled, a first instinct of mine now, I guess. How could I end up in this bed? Was I not about to die in the cold water? Where's Rose? And worst of all...was it just a dream? Is Rose just a dream? A tear left my eye and trickled down my burning cheek at the thought of Rose being a figment of my imagination. I shook my head at this, though. It's not possible that I could have such vivid love for a character of my dreams.

Again, I yelled Rose's name, but this time was stopped short as a plump nurse came into the room. She looked in her early 40's and had on a little name tag that read her name: 'Jane'. I shut my mouth as soon as I saw her. "Excuse me?" I looked at her, most likely showing the confusion on my face. "Where am I?"

"You need to lye down," Was all she said to me, but I felt as if I needed to comply with her wishes. I lowered my head slowly to the soft pillow and watched her walk around the room, read some papers on the bedside table besides me, and put her hand on top of my forehead. "What's going on?" I tried again, really just wanting some answers.

"You don't know?" She looked down at me. "How much can you remember?"

I blinked a few times, the past few days replaying in my mind. I figured I'd just get to the point and spare her everything that I actually remembered. "The Titanic sinking and me falling into the water." I said, leaving out Rose.

She let out a breath, "Anything else?" She asked, and sighed again when I shook my head, clearly aggravated that she was going to have to explain.

"Some people were picking through the dead bodies and found you by a broken door in the water. They almost left you, but managed to hear you whisper something. They went back, picked you up, and brought you hear, to the Carpathia. You've been asleep for awhile, almost 2 whole days. I'm sure you're warmed up by now, but, just in case, I'm gonna have you stay here a little longer. Hungry?" She asked, now walking to the door. I shook my head, stuck on the fact that I was alive and had been found. Jane shrugged and opened the door, but stopped and turned towards me when I said her name. "Do you know of a girl named Rose? I mean, is their someone with that name on this ship?"

She shook her head, "Not that I know of. If you'd like, you can search the survivor's list. People have been writing their names on a sheet of paper to get a count of who lived. On second thought, you should probably go write your name, too. Be careful, though." Jane stayed for a second longer to watch me get out of bed, making sure I didn't become dizzy. I followed her out the door and into a long hallway.

I wasn't sure where this list was, but thought that maybe on my walk around I would see her. Hear her. Sense her. Something to give me sign of her breathing and alive. I don't know how many times I ran into something, "Maybe I should have stayed behind to sleep some more..." I thought, but quickly changed my mind when I saw a table with a piece of paper that read 'Survivor's list'. I found myself running towards it. The man greeted by the table greeted me and asked me for my name, in which I quickly replied, "Jack Dawson."

He smiled at me and jotted down my name, then set the list back down on the table, "Take a look if you need to." He said, sensing my urge.

I whispered my thanks and grabbed the list, skimming through all of the names and then going back over them to look at them more thoroughly. My heart sped up as I got to the last page of names, and then almost stopped when Rose's wasn't on it. I looked up at the man, "Is their anymore pages? More names?" I asked, and watched him shake his sad face at me. My eyes closed, the pages of names falling from my grasp.

"I'm very sorry sir." The man said to me, though I wasn't listening at all. "Maybe this person you're looking for hasn't signed their name yet. They could still be wandering around on the boat."

A tear escaped my eye and I fell to the ground, on my knees. My head looked towards the ground and a few more tears escaped, dropping to the ground. "Rose." I whispered, a name that had gotten me saved from death. A name that made the men in boats come back for me. A name I'll never get to say again.

Another name made me look up. My own name. "JACK!"

My eyes widened and I stood, turning to look at the crowd of people. A young woman, with hair like fire and eyes as deep as the ocean, tore through the people, stopping at the end to stare at me. I started back, my heart pounding. This was no dream. She was real. "Rose." I exhaled, giving her a jolt in her body that sent her towards me, closing the distance between us. My arms wrapped around her, tears flowing freely now. "My Rose." I whispered into her hair.