(A/N: Warning- Derogatory words are used in this chapter, plus horrific scenes. Plus, Bellevue Louisiana does not exist to my knowledge. I made it up)

A full month had passed since Rose had lost the baby and so far she was a shell of herself. She never spoke more than a few words. She would sit and sew or read a book, mainly something poetic yet dark. And she would cry. She would cry so much that she was certain that her tears would run out eventually, but they never did. Jack was at his wits end. He was being as patient as could be. He too mourned the loss of their child, but he knew that life had to press on. Life stopped for no one. It was a lesson that he had learned when he had thought that Rose had died. He had thought that Rose had learned that lesson too, but it seemed that after the miscarriage, she had just stopped. Something inside her just couldn't go on. It was stuck in that one spot and Jack didn't know how to fix her.

The one thing Rose did do differently though was take walks through the woods heading towards town. She had never really done that before the baby and now she found just taking walks by herself through the quiet woods...it gave her a sense of peace. She felt at one with nature out there. She could breathe. She could think. Most of all, she felt that she could heal. Happiness still seemed like a far away dream, but out in those woods, surrounded by nature, she felt that someday she could reach it.

It was a walk through the woods that changed everything for Jack and Rose. It changed the way they lived, the way they saw the world they lived in, and the way they saw others, particularly the people of Bellevue themselves.

It was a Saturday and unbeknownst to Jack and Rose who lived right outside of the city limits, the town of Bellevue was in an uproar. There had been a murder of a farmer and the sharecropper and his wife had been accused of the murder. Really, the poor man, wife, and child were innocent. It was the boyfriend of the farmer's wife that had been the murderer, but it was easier to blame the sharecropper and the townpeople were calling for blood.

The official plan had been to arrest the man, known as Sam Beaumont and his wife Betsy. They were a black couple that worked on the murdered farmer's land and often had conflict with the man, who took most of the crop and left hardly any for the people working for him. But despite what people believed, Sam was no murderer. It had never even occurred to him to do his employers harm, no matter how unfair they treated him. But thanks to the color of his skin, people believed the worse of him. When the mob came, he tried to protect his wife and little son James, but no one would listen to reason. They took all three and dragged outside of town, not far from where Jack and Rose lived.

Rose was on one of her many walks. She was picking wildflowers and thinking about asking Jack to draw her out here. It had been a while since he had drawn her. It would be something nice for them to do together. It certainly brought back some good memories. She looked up at the sky, noting that she was nearing the town proper. Soon she'll turn back and go home, but for now she'll just keep walking. She began to hum the tune of Come Josephine when she heard what sounded like a huge crowd.

Rose frowned. She was close to the town, but not that close. She shouldn't be hearing anything out here. Curious, she walked towards the noise and frowned when she came upon a group of people. There were men, women, and children dressed in what looked to be their sunday best. They had picnic baskets and blankets to sit on. What was this? Some kind of celebration? She hadn't heard of anything. Of course, she hadn't been socializing as much, still someone usually stopped by to invite her and Jack to some kind of function or other.

What really confused her was the tree that they were gathered around. Why were they there, gathered around that one tree? She didn't understand. She didn't have a good feeling about this at all. Her gut instinct was telling her to turn around and go home to Jack. But the curious part of her mind wouldn't allow that. So she stood back behind the tree and watched. She frowned as the group brought forward a black man and woman, their arms tied behind their backs and held a small black boy, no older than five in a tight grip. The boy was handed off to a woman at the edge of the group for a reason that Rose didn't understand.

Rose then watched as men had the man and woman stand on chairs beneath a heavy branch of the tree that hand three nooses hanging from it's limbs. Her eyes widened as she watched them put the ropes around the man's and woman's necks. They reached for the little boy, but somehow he got out of the grip of the men that were holding him and made a run for it into the woods towards Rose.

The man holding him began to chase him just as the other men on the podium kicked the chairs that the man and woman were standing on out from under them and sent them to their deaths. Rose's hand clasped over her mouth in horror as she watched the crowd hoot and cheer and take pictures and begin their celebrations or whatever they wanted to call it. Rose was too sickened to care. She backed up and bumped into another tree just as something small bumped into her. She looked down into the frightened brown eyes of the little boy.

"Where are you, you little nigger. We got a rope especially for you," she heard one of the killers, someone that sounded sickeningly familar call out, in search of his prey. Rose looked up at the now dead bodies of the boy's parents and nearly choked down a sob as she saw what two of the men were doing to the bodies. Something that she knew they'd do to the child.

For one second, she allowed the fear to swallow her. To freeze her and push all thoughts from her mind. But then something else replaced that fear. Flight or fight. She could stand there and fight for the life of this child, but then they would kill her along with the boy. So flight it was. She grabbed the little boy and took off running back way she had came. Back to the house she shared with Jack. It was the only safe place she knew of and Jack would know what to do! He always did!

...

Jack had just finished painting a vase of flowers when he heard the door slam open and running feet rushing into the house. Frowning, he went downstairs to find Rose rushing into the house, as pale as she had been on Titanic, when she had come down to save him from the master of arms office. Tears were streaming from her frightened eyes as she held a frightened little boy in her arms.

"Jack! Jack!" She cried out, looking for him.

"Rose?" Jack rushed to her, concerned about what could have happened. He had only seen her this frightened only once, and seeing that she held a black child in her arms and looked as if the devil himself was chasing her, he could only imagine what she had witnessed. "What happened?"

"They killed them! They killed his parents and was going to kill him...oh my god, what they did to the bodies and they were acting like it was a fucking party, Jack! It was horrible...I never saw...I never knew..."

"Shh, Rose, calm down. I need you to calm down, alright?"

She nodded, trying to calm down her racing heart, but all that she had seen was still playing through her head and it was taking all of her effort not to let her mind melt down from it. She had the child. She had to protect him. She couldn't do that if she allowed what she had seen to destroy her mind. She had to be brave...like Molly! Molly would be brave and so would she.

"Now, tell me what happened."

"I was taking a walk...when I noticed a crowd gathered around a tree...they looked like they were going to have a picnic or something. I was curious so...I stood and watched them hang this little boy's parents. They were going to do the same to the boy, but he got away and bumped into me. I couldn't let them catch them, so I grabbed him and took off running..."

Jack closed his eyes and inwardly cursed the decision to bring Rose so deep south. He had heard of things like this happening, but he had never in his life dreamed that Rose would witness something horrific like this. But there was no time for guilt. He had a wife...and obviously a child to protect. "Did anyone see you, Rose?"

"I don't know...I didn't stop to look..."

"Regardless, if they don't find the boy they're going to come looking here."

"What are we going to do, Jack? He's just a baby, I'm not going to let them..."

"Of course we're not. We're not going to let them do anything to the boy. But we need to make sure that you and him are safe. So I need you to go and hide in the hall closet there, alright? And don't come out until I say."

"But what about you?"

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. We just need to make sure that the boy is safe...and then we can go from there."

"But Jack," Rose tried to argue, not liking the thought of leaving Jack to face off with those...monsters alone. Leaving him to face Titanic alone, had been bad enough. She didn't think that she could do it again.

"You trust me, right Rose?" Jack asked, looking her directly in the eye.

"With my life, you know that..."

"Well then trust me now. Go hide until I say it's safe. It's gonna be alright, I promise," He gently kissed her lips and nudged her to the waiting closet.

She sighed and looked at him one last time. Keeping the boy in her arms, she stepped into the closet and closed the door, leaving a small slit open to peek through to see Jack grab the rifle he kept in another closet and walk out onto the porch. She gasped, wondering if Jack was going to shoot someone.

"Mommy! Daddy!" The little boy sobbed.

Rose could only hug him close, feeling horrible that she couldn't save his parents.

"Shh, it's going to be okay, but we have to be quiet. Jack is going to get rid of the bad people first, okay? We won't let anything happen to you," Standing in that closet, hiding from evil, Rose hoped that it was a promise that she could keep.

...

It did't take long for the mob to show up on the Dawson's doorstep. Well, it wasn't the whole mob. Just five men, all looking for one little boy that couldn't have gotten far. With this being the only house nearby, he had to be here. Their suspicions were mostly confirmed when they came upon Jack, holding the rifle, ready to shoot someone.

"May I help you fellas?" Jack asked, remembering his own father doing the same thing once. It had been when a farm hand that had a low IQ had pissed off some bullies in town. His father had stood there on that porch and aimed that rifle and ran the bullies off, saving the farm hand from a bad beating. That day, he had shown Jack what being brave really was. It was a lesson that he had never forgot. One that he took to heart now.

"We're looking for a little nigger boy. He couldn't have gotten far. We want to know if he maybe came here," the leader, a shop keeper that Jack had brought supplies from numerous of times, questioned.

Jack shook his head. "Haven't seen any boys here at all. Now if you don't mind, me and my wife aren't really in the mood for company. You can keep it moving."

"Maybe if we just have a look. He may have snuck in...," the man's son, Jack remembered his name to be Calvin stepped forward, probably calling himself being diplomatic.

Jack aimed the rifle and shot at the dirt right in front of the men. "I said no. Now get the fuck off my property!" He aimed and shot the rifle again, missing the men's feet. "I'm a good shot, so next time I won't miss!"

"He has the little nigger in there!" One of the men accused, pointing at Jack. "Why else would he be shooting at us?!" The man, a weaselly looking man that Jack had seen around town pushed his way in front. "Give the niglet up and we won't rape your pretty little wife when we come back!"

This made Jack see red and without thinking, he aimed the gun and shot the man in his thigh.

"Motherfucker!" The man curse. "He shot me!"

"I'll shoot to kill next! You got five seconds to get him out of here! One! Two!" Jack aimed for the man's heart.

"Come on pa! Let's get him to the doctor!" Calvin hefted his friend to his feet. He glared at Jack. "We know the boy is here! We'll be back!"

Jack watched as the men disappeared back into the woods. Once he was sure that they were gone, he rushed back into the house. It was time to leave Bellevue Louisiana. They had stayed far too long anyway.

"Rose!"

Rose stepped out of the hiding place with the boy in her arms. She frowned at the rifle in Jack's hands. She cringed at the shots she had heard and gasped at the cry of pain from one of the men. "Jack?"

"Get your things now and get in the car. They'll be back! It's best if we're not here when they come or I'll have to shoot more than a leg or two."

Rose didn't need to be told twice. Two hours later, they were all packed into the car with the boy, whose name was James, comfortly sitting on Rose's lap, driving away from the town of Bellevue. Rose looked back, the visions of what she had witnessed dancing in her head. It was something that she was never going to forget as long as she lived.

...

Dear Jasmine,

We are no longer in Bellevue Louisiana, thank god. We are heading towards...well right now we don't know. We just want to put as much distance between us and that evil little town as much as possible. They're all murderers there, Jasmine. Maybe not everyone, but there's enough that are. I witnessed something...horrific and if it hadn't been for me and Jack...a child would be dead now. I won't burden you with the details, but just know that there is evil in this world and something must be done. We can't allow for this to go on. Jack says that it's not at all rare. That it happens a lot, especially in the South...and I had no idea. I thought men like Caledon Hockley were bad...but nothing could ever prepare me for the evil I saw on my last day in Bellevue. Absolutely nothing...

But Jack...my hero in all ways, he got us out of there. Honestly, all he needs is a shiny armor. He gets so embarrrassed when I call him a hero, but it is only the truth.

I will write again once we get to wherever it is we're going. Take care.

Love Rose