Rose's Passing
Rose watched as the Heart of the Ocean dived into the sea, and then looked up to the star filled sky. She thought back to the last time she had been at this spot – 84 years ago. 'Now' was her only thought. Rose returned to her cabin on the survey ship Keldysh, and looked at the photographs on the table alongside the bed. On the dresser was an old record player and Rose knew that it was time. She went over and selected one of the records and set it to play. The darkness filled the cabin and Rose was glad that about that. It made it much easier for her to slip away to Titanic. It was fate that she had heard about the discovery and Rose knew that she was going to die, and so she had come out here to tell her story. The story that she had been keeping for a long time, and one that needed to be told. She lay on the bed, the cabin being warm, as the record player began to play the strains of 'Nearer My God To Thee' – the very last song played on the RMS Titanic. Her eyes closed as she descended the depths of the Atlantic Ocean and returned to Titanic. The rusting hulk transformed itself into exactly as Rose had remembered it in 1912, and she found herself floating along the covered 1st class promenade and turning to go into the reception with its massive staircase. As Rose reached it, a steward opened the door and bowed her inside – and inside was every single person she had ever met. The maid, the ships band, the people from the 3rd class drinking room, Mr Andrews, Captain Smith, high on the balcony, and more people that she could name at one go. And there standing at the top of the stairs, examining the clock, was Jack. He turned and they embraced each other, Rose now looking like she had done that fateful night, kissing tenderly on the lips. Everyone applauded as they looked on and Rose knew that she was in Heaven. She had been waiting for 84 years to re-united with her one true love, and for her, that was heaven. As they kissed, a white light engulfed her and she knew… she just simply knew…
#
They found her the next morning dead on her bed, and Rose's granddaughter sobbed into Brock's shoulder. On the table next to the photographs was an envelope which contained Rose's last will and testament. Everything was left to her family, except what she had kept from Titanic's sinking which went to Brock. She didn't want to be buried in the ground, instead to be buried at sea. Brock asked the ship's captain to move the boat s that it was exactly over the Titanic, and at 2.20 am a single shape, draped in a sowed up white sheet was dropped into the sea from the aft boat ramp. Up on deck stood Lizzie, Brock, Lewis and members of the expedition crew as well as members of the Keldysh's crew. The ship's captain was actually a member of the Russian naval reserve and he uttered a single word. You didn't have to be an expert to have understood what it meant, and everyone gathered on deck stood either at attention or with hands by sides as a replica White Star Line flag was raised to half mast. When the last members of the gathering had gone, only Lizzie and Brock remained on the deck.
"My grandmother wanted you to have this" Lizzie said, pulling something out of her pocket. It was wrapped in brown parcel paper tied with string. Brock took it and opened it up. Into his hands tumbled the Heart of the Ocean.
"How?" he asked, not believing his senses.
"She wanted you to have it because you would understand about the memories that it held for her" Lizzie said.
"But I thought it was thrown overboard, like in the note she left" Brock asked.
"There where two" Lizzie said. "One must have been her hearts, the other would have been Jack Dawson's" she finished. Brock looked into his hands at the necklace, then with one movement, he threw it into the waves.
"Time to return this heart to where it belongs"