Constructive criticism is always welcome!
[Set in the brief five seconds Rose DeWitt Bukater/Dawson was placed on a lifeboat, looking up at her love as they are lowered into the waters.]
Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own Titanic; story, soundtrack or any characters associated with James Cameron's film. No profit is made from the writing for this fanfiction.
My memory, had it been portrayed on the 'big screen' as they now called it, would have sent audiences all over the world clutching their chests to keep themselves from weeping into their salted cinema snacks. At least given the sheer looks of desperation, heartbreak and anguish, I would like to think so.
I remembered everything so well: The bone-chilling wind against my damn skin, the screams of women as they were torn away from their other-halves with little remorse from the ship's crew, splintering of the deck as the weight of the water overcame the craftsmanship.
Amongst the chaos that engulfed us those moments were many, though each of us were striving so bad for that last momentary glance of those we loved to care about the others doing the same. Even when I walked passed it over and over again, stood amongst it and dared to do the same myself; it was as far from cliché as it could be.
How many of the classic romances saw the one dying as the other survived? Even the great Romeo could not see his love die without following her. With Heathcliff we saw the determination to continue but even then he gave up the fight once he had the sweetness of revenge on his lips. Fiction or not, I did not know if I had it in me to do what they could not. I fought with myself over what I knew he wanted: for me to live, and what I wanted: to join my love.
I could only just see black waves lapping against each other under the sudden sharp light of the flairs. It did not matter how shallow they knocked against the other, it looked angry to me… bitter and harsh like it was ready to open up and swallow us all that very moment. I could not take my eyes off it and I resented it for filling my head with so many of the awful images I knew I was going to witness in no longer than an hour.
So I felt the boat lowered underneath me, slowly considering the impending disaster yet far too fast for me, really. I felt the wooden panel creaking under foot, taking us down into the frozen, dark swell that seemed miles beneath us. The feeling of being suspended so far in the air so far up turned my stomach like it had the evening I stood on the back of the ship. I still felt those melt bars freezing my fingers as I squeezes them lightly in weak fists against the chill.
I gazed out at the waves with uncertainty like that night, panic sticking my chest only to find it still could not outweigh sadness. In my mind I took far too long to comprehend my surroundings, in my mind I was cracking out of my denial… the part of me that thought I was going to wake up in my comfortable cabins bed.
Looking into his eyes and knowing it would be the last time was killing me. It made me run mad, wanting to remember everything I could about this moment, this scene… him, even when I knew it was a memory I would not want to relieve until the day I died.
His hands rested on the ships side lightly as he looked down at me. For that moment it was just him and my heart wept, raced with my breathing like it had when I stood chest-to-chest, in his arms here I truly belonged. His eyes caught me again like he had never let go of me.
The flares behind him lit up the sky a glowing navy. It distinguished the sky from the water and made the continuous stretch of water look a lot smaller. I found a strange comfort in that, like there was a little hope.
Beautiful golden flicks of hair framed his face, vibrant green eyes blazed out at me like he was a fairy-tale prince, not the pauper everyone saw when they looked at him. He was my prince, a knight in glistening armour…
He had saved me when he introduced me into a world of freedom and light outside of the iron bars my mother was building around me, he took the time to fix my wings when they had been broken in hopes that with him, one day I could truly fly away… and with him to anywhere our hearts desired and our minds made up. As long as we were together it would not matter.
I dared to look away as the white beams passed my line of vision, tearing my eyes away as tears teetered on my lashes. I broke easily through the fear that paralysed me, mocking it. What was there to stop me now? Even the idea of hitting those icy waters could not stop me; after all, I knew he would follow me.
With my mind made up and with those heart-felt, echoing words in my mind, I leapt.
You jump, I jump. Remember?
Thanks for reading! x