You Jumped, I Jumped, Remember?
Chapter Two: Near, Far, Wherever You Are
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Titanic
The lifeboats returned later that day to retrieve any straggling survivors, their oak oars churning through the icy water; the officers that had once taken up post on the grandest ship in the world looked out across the area in terror and dread, their minds spinning with the events of that fateful night. The unthinkable had happened and they still couldn't believe it.
Even now, twelve hours later, long after the ship had sunk, they were still struck by the intensity of the disaster. Especially affected by the disaster was fifth officer Harold Godfrey Lowe, who'd led the only lifeboat to receive survivors after the ship had gone down.
He stood in his black uniform at the tiller of the lifeboat as the men under his command rowed silently through the frigid sea; even though the sun had risen high in the sky, the atmosphere around him was still freezing, making him wonder whether anyone could possibly have survived for twelve hours out here. Lowe stared up at the sky, sprayed with the mist of the frigid water as the crew on the oars churned through the water.
He knew that the ships retrieving dead bodies, the CS Mackay-Bennett, Minia, Montmagny, Algerine, were anchored just a few feet away from the field of floating dead bodies, but it was his job to pull the people who'd actually survived out of the water.
How hard could that be?
Extremely. Especially since there were no remaining survivors.
Almost out of nowhere, he heard something stirring in the distance; he turned his head and his eyes fell upon a young man drifting on a large piece of wood. The young man had dark brown hair, a black beret, five o'clock shadow and was wearing dark pants and suspenders. The man was waving. He was alive! He was probably one of the only survivors- if not the only- survivor he would pick up that day.
Perhaps he'd be wrong.
"Come about!" Lowe bellowed.
Rowing toward the young man seemed to take an eternity and soon Lowe found his men pulling the stranded young man into the lifeboat out of the frigid sea. He watched from the tiller of the boat helplessly as his men prepared to take in more survivors. He was still confounded by the idea that impossibility had met such a proud and powerful age; but he knew that the sinking of the ship was the signal of the end of the Edwardian Era. Man was no longer as powerful as Mother Nature, for she had shown them her true power, ending 1,500 lives and sinking the grandest ship in the world.
"Is there anyone alive out there! Can anyone hear me!" He shouted across the open sea.
As the silence closed in around him, he remembered saying the exact same words the night before.
The lifeboat rowed on through the sea of dead bodies, never failing to cause Lowe great anguish by reminding him of those fateful events only hours before. The once proud R.M.S. Titanic officer now stood silent at the end of the lifeboat, guiding the tiller and hoping for his men as not to hit the dead bodies, hoping for them, by some miraculous stretch, to be alive.
But he knew there was no hope for them now.
He called one last time, trying to convince himself that there was no hope left for these people.
"Is there anyone alive out there! Can anyone hear me!"
He was surrounded by frigid water, suspended, as if frozen in time. He opened his eyes; all he saw was blurry around him and the salt water stung his eyes. Then, acting by only instinct now, he shot toward the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, remembering the night that had nearly separated him and Rose. He surfaced, coughing violently, expelling the water from his lungs and breathing heavily while he shivered, trying to keep alive in the frosty ocean.
What happened to me? He thought.
The young man brushed his long dirty blonde hair away from his face and quickly scrambled up onto the nearest piece of driftwood; he shivered, turning around and gasping at what he saw next. Foot after endless foot in front of him he saw dead bodies, people he once had shared residence on the grandest ship in the world with. His thoughts were only of one person: Rose DeWitt Bukater...
Then he relived the last few moments of the R.M.S. Titanic until she met her watery grave at the bottom of the ocean. What a terrible fate to have befallen all of those involved in the sinking of the grandest ship in the world... He still couldn't believe he was alive... But where was Rose, the young woman he'd loved so dearly?
Oh, God. Please tell me she's not dead...
Then again, she had promised him that she would live... no matter what. He looked around, seeing no sign of Rose; then his eyes fixed on a white object growing further and further away from him and realized it was a lifeboat. There was still a chance he could be saved! But even more importantly, he could still be with Rose!
"Hey!" He called, his voice hoarse.
Damn it. He thought.
What was he going to do?
He spotted a shiny silver whistle floating in the water and grabbed it, the frigid water stinging his already half-frozen skin. He sounded it furiously, giving himself a splitting headache. But, really, he didn't care at all that much.
"Come about!" He heard the far off ship officer call.
He closed his tired eyes, trying his best to stay alive as the lifeboat rowed toward him.
All he could see was the face of Rose DeWitt Bukater...
As she still watched the Statue of Liberty, she felt around in her coat pocket.
Then her hand struck something; she took it in her hand and she looked down at it. The Heart of the Ocean sat in her palm. Surprise met her. But she pocketed the jewel worth more than the Hope Diamond... and disregarded the memory of Caledon Hockley and her own mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater. She was in America now and she would soon make her own life, however difficult it was going to be.
But she could do it... after all, she had made a promise to Jack...
And she was going to keep that promise no matter what.
Someone approached her through the pouring rain over the American city of New York. He held an umbrella and shielded her partially as he stood by her side.
"Can I take your name, please, love?" The Carpathia attendant asked her.
Rose turned her head of red hair and looked at him for a second. She felt the heavy rain beating at her back and she answered with one word. "Dawson..." she looked up at the Statue of Liberty; "Rose Dawson..." she replied.
"Thank you." The Carpathia attendant walked away.
Rose remained there for a few minutes, staring up at Lady Liberty in all her glory before taking shelter from the rain under an overhanging lifeboat lowered from the decks of "unsinkable" ship herself, R.M.S. Titanic.
I'll never let go, Jack. I'll never let go. I promise.
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