Chapter 9

The Longest Night

April 15, 1912 2:10 P.M.

The last distress rocket had been sent and exploded into the sky a while ago; the last lifeboat only a mere five minutes ago. I had time, my mind said, having a hard time processing the fact that all was doomed, and I wasted it all.

It wasn't a waste! the other half of my brain said. You did it all for the good of finding your friends, while also having the qualities of dignity and seriousness.

"Sure," I whispered under my breath. "I was so dignified."

Desperate, I began to study my surroundings for anything useful. A piece of debris, maybe, or something to hold on to.

The rail. Go to the stern and hang on to the rail.

I made my way up the deck, struggling against the angle the ship was sinking at. Eventually, I held on to the railing to keep from slipping. The lactic acid in my legs stung my delicately-shaped muscles, leaving me breathless and shaky. "Just stay here," I said to myself, seeing stars float around me. "Stay where you are." My breathing came out in small, irregular rasps.

I grabbed on to the railing as tight as I could, my knuckles turning white. Lucy was in my arms, shaking like a little Chihuahua in the cold, and I looked down. The ocean was such a dark blue, it was considered black by my eyes, and certainly not welcoming. It was calm, however, with no waves or strong currents. It was like a monster luring its prey.

But that doesn't matter, I thought. It's below freezing. That's what matters.

Gulping, I shakily looked away. Fear and adrenaline filed my nerves, causing my muscles to tighten and shake more. "This is it," I whispered to Lucy, who was whimpering and hoarsely barking at the swarm of silent, praying people left behind. "It will all be over soon."

A tear slid down my cheek, slowly. "Oh, John," I whispered, letting the tears fall onto Lucy's soft, little head. "I wish you were here with me."

The ocean swarmed closer below me, eating the ship up. I wanted to scream or do some kind of action showing terror, but I resisted the urge. I didn't want to make it even worst as it already was. I should never show fear in a terrible situation. I should at least die brave.

One-third of the ship was left. One-fourth.

I held Lucy closer and slightly released my grip from the railing. I got prepared to swim away from the ship before the suction pulled me down.

One-fifth. One-sixth…

I gulped, drew in some breath, and waited. In the next few seconds, the mighty ocean liner, the great Titanic, will be gone, and will lay at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean for eternity until bacteria and mollusks ate it up.

One-eighth…

Gone.

The cold water paralyzed me as I fell into the ocean. I had to let go of Lucy, who kicked at me furiously and helplessly. My eyes were open, numb from the cold, and I watched the little dog swim to the top. Getting my strength and consciousness back, I kicked my legs and used my arms to pull against the rough current that sucked everything down.

I'm down lower than I thought. And it was true. After a few seconds of rapidly moving my limbs, I was still no where close to the surface.

Something came at me, ramming me above the eye, leaving a painful mark and warm, sticky blood. Letting the frigid waters bring me back, I began to kick again.

I was running out of air by the time I reached the surface. Gasping for some beautiful oxygen, I moved my wet, clingy hair away from my face and looked around me.

There was nothing but ocean, debris, and people. Oh, God! Get me through this.

My lips turned blue, and my hair turned to hard, ice-covered frost. Moving my aching, numb limbs, I made my way through the debris and found something soft and furry.

"You s-silly dog," I stuttered, my air coming out in visible gasps as I pulled my dog out of a pile of floating chairs. "You g-got me w-worried."

I closed my eyes and pulled her soft, warm body close to mine to absorb the moment before reopening my eyes and holding on to the deck chairs. Lucy struggled from my grasp, and fell- plop!- in the water again. She began to dog-paddle and make little whimpering noises, swimming in one place, urging me to follow.

Confused, I let my body fall back into the ocean and let her guide me. "W-Where are you t-taking me?" I managed to say. But she was a dog, and could not answer in English. "Danielle, don't tell me you're going insane, too." I silently laughed, and a smile spread on my numb, cold lips as I swam through the icy water.

After a few minutes of cold exhaustion, my body began to protest about the long swim. "D-Don't give up," I told myself. But I knew it was hopeless. Whatever Lucy was doing, I wasn't going to live to see it.

I began to slow down, and my eyes began to droop. "Pull her in!" I heard someone yell. "And that little dog too!" I felt strong, warm arms wrap around mine, and my body departing from the frigid waters. A blanket was wrapped around me, but I barely felt its warmth before I went into unconsciousness, dark shadows playing against my eyes.

...

"Is she going to make it?"

My eyes opened, the images in front of me blurry and trying to become more clear.

"She looks fine to me, just a little blue. Look, her eyes are opening now."

When my vision cleared a little more, a warm, smiling face bent close to mine and asked, "Are you feeling better?"

I nodded, unsure of how I felt; my body was so numb.

"Good," the woman said. She had chestnut-colored hair swept up into a bun, with dark chocolate eyes that smiled even though they were full of sadness. Her lips held the same thing.

"That little dog in the blanket saved you there. If it wasn't for her, you probably would have never found another lifeboat."

I moved my head, my hair, flowing and clumpy down my back, free of ice, to the little pile of fur in the blanket next to me. Slowly moving up, I picked up the wet, shivering dog and placed her in my lap. Petting her with my cold, trembling hands, I kissed her head and said, "Thanks, you sweet King. You just saved my life."

The smile that was on my face disappeared when I heard the officer in the boat yell, "Right over here, look at this! Another young girl in need of rescuing!"

The women in the boat gasped as they looked at the girl; they blocked my view of whoever it was.

"Why, look at that!" a woman, who I could not distinguish in the dark, said. "She has saved a young infant from harm!"

"Don't just sit there!" another woman said. "Get her in here!"

The woman who asked how my health was bent down and picked up a soaking, young girl from the water, who was holding a small baby in her arms. The young girl and the infant were placed in front of me. My eyes immediately filled with tears, and I pushed Lucy off my lap to move the young girl's head on it instead. I didn't want to believe it, and I tried not to look too closely at her blue features.

"Oh, Naya!" I wailed. "Why did you do it?"

Her once red, beautiful lips were blue, and her eyes drooped, never to be wide open and curious again. Life was slowly leaving her like the leaves fall in autumn.

"Danielle?" she said. Her voice was barely a whisper. "Is that really you?"

"Yes! It's me, Naya." A small smile was plastered on my face. Tears flowed down my cheeks heavily, blurring my vision from seeing my dying best friend.

A smile of remembrance spread on Naya's lips. "How can I forget? I must be getting silly in the head."

I slightly laughed at her lame joke. Then, more serious, I sniffed and asked, "Why did you do it?"

"Do what?" she weakly said.

"Not get in a lifeboat."

"Because," Naya said, beckoning me a little closer, "I knew that you wouldn't either."

I slowly moved away from her face, a look of confusion on mine.

"I knew w-what you would d-do," Naya sighed. "I just wanted to be l-like you, Danielle. I've always been the kk-ind of person who tries to b-be more like her f-friends. I don't like b-being an oddball. G-getting into a lifeboat was s-silly. It w-would've made me w-weak. You're not weak, that's for c-certain. You're s-strong, Danielle." She smiled.

I knew what she was saying, but my mind still couldn't believe it. "Why would you ever want to be me?" I was such the odd-person-out, disbelief ran through my mind when she called herself the odd one!

"You are my b-best friend, Danny, and you know it. My f-first friend since that d-day... But we w-were different, way too d-different… And I just… w-wanted to be… more close to you." Her voice wavered at the end.

I smiled, a weak smile of understanding. "Don't ever try to be me," I said. "You are perfect just the way you are. How can you be my best friend, then?"

Naya only smiled. "You were b-brave to go back, D-danny," she said when she finally decided to speak. "A-and I wanted t-to be brave, too."

I shook my head. "Don't think that you're a coward, Omnaya. Don't you see what you've already done? You've given me a friend, a much needed friend after leaving my hometown, and then saved this little baby as well. We both would have died without you."

"You r-really think s-so?"

I looked into Naya's eyes, which were serious and round with curiosity. Would this be the last time I would ever see her?

"I know so," I whispered.

After a few seconds of silence, Naya choked out, "Saving a p-person is all I need in life. And d-dying-"

"Don't say that, Naya, don't say that!" I said through clenched teeth, tight from desperation and regret. Her words made me tense.

"-in the arms of a friend is all I can ask for."

It was the end. One of best friends, who was supposed to be with me in America, promising to be together forever, went limp in my arms and never moved again.

"No…," I whimpered, my voice full of despair. "No!"

My mind was inarticulate. It refused to accept the fact my new life I had made when I left England was basically dead... along with Naya. Dead. Unable to trap my emotions, it exploded into words much too hard to understand. "No! No, come back! You promised me! You promised me! Please! PLEASE! Don't go, don't go…"

A hand went on my shoulder and immediately stopped my words. "She's gone," the nice woman said. "It's time to let go."

That's when I realized that Naya's lifeless body was still in my arms, having no reaction to my outburst. But I didn't have the heart to give her away. Holding her tighter, I shook my head.

It was hard to stop looking at her; how beautiful she was before. Now, her orange curls were a dark red, her face was blue, and her queer light-brown eyes were closed. Nothing of her will ever be alive again. I could picture her right now, waving to me from the sky, joining her family for eternity. I'll join you some day, I promised. Some day in the future. Right now I have to live my life... Make myself another new one, after Titanic... In my head, I was smiling at the thought of Naya at peace; but on the outside, I looked lost and empty.

The woman, giving me an understanding look, told me, "When life is thrown at you, all you have for a choice is to move on."

I loosened my grip and dropped the weight that was literally weighing me down, from body to soul.

How could I have ever dreamt happy thoughts? Life was cruel, and I had seen it with my own eyes just how awful it could be.

Silently to myself, forgetting my previous promise, I whispered, "Don't leave me here…"

Author's Note: I would really like more reviews for this story. It's not a demand, it's just... I've worked on this for almost three years straight, and it gets the least reviews of all my stories, which mostly came to my head randomly one day and I just typed. But as for this... It's been worked on for a long while. It's been rewritten 3 times, edited at least twice, and proofread quite a lot. It's one of my favorite Titanic stories, and I appreciate all who's reviewed.

Just because it isn't a specific Jack/Rose story doesn't mean it's not good. In fact, Jack and Rose are included in this story! And I'm not just talking about Beyond the Ocean, I'm talking about others who write about officers or passengers of the Titanic and such.

I'm done with my rant. Review, and check out the poll on my profile if you haven't already!

~Samantha