Chapter 10

"So, you've really never liked the sea?" Rose asked as she dipped her toes in the water.

Jack shook his head. "I have no idea why. I've just always hated it. When I look out, I just feel that if I go in, that something's going to happen. Something bad. I know that probably sounds insane but I've just never been able to get over it." Jack felt ridiculous. He looked over at Rose, who was standing staring out to the water, her hair glowing in the sunshine.

"Well I think it's about time you got over that don't you?" Rose smiled, turning round to face him, holding out her hand.

"What?" Jack looked at her, confused.

"Give me your hand." Rose encouraged him. She liked Jack, a lot, and she wanted to help him. Something about Jack drew her to him. She loved his spirit and his enthusiasm; He had made her feel alive and free in just the short length of time that they had known each other. She wanted to do something for him.

Jack warily took her hand and she pulled him gently to the water's edge. Jack could feel his body tense up as his toes touched the cool water. If he could, he would have run a mile by now but he didn't want to do that in front of Rose so he stayed where he was, his fingers tightening around her small hand.

"Are you alright?" She asked, looking over at him.

Jack's head shot up as he looked over the sea in front of him. His eyes were closed. All of a sudden, he could feel as if he was up to his neck in water. He couldn't breathe and his chest tightened as he felt himself struggling.

"Jack?" He could hear Rose speaking to him but he couldn't snap out of this vision. He was holding onto a large bit of wood and gripping the hand of the beautiful woman he had seen earlier. Rose. She was lying across the board and shivering.

"Jack?"

Jack couldn't tell which Rose was speaking to him. All of a sudden he felt her let go of his hand and before Jack could do anything, he felt himself sink, the water covering his head and pulling him under. He tried to make his body work, to swim back to the surface but his legs were motionless.

"Jack?" He felt a grip on his arm and his eyes flew open. He was back on the beach standing next to Rose. "Are you alright? What's wrong? You're shaking." Rose rubbed his arms, trying to calm him down.

Jack backed away from her slowly, eventually falling back onto the sand and sitting down. He looked in shock. Rose walked across to him and sat down beside him. She was worried about him. She had seen him do this a couple of times but he had always said he was fine. Rose put her hand on Jack's shoulder, willing him to speak to her, to tell her what was wrong.

"If I tell you, you'll think I'm crazy." Jack sighed.

"Try me." Rose pleaded with him with her eyes. She cared about Jack and wanted to help him if she could.

Jack took a deep breath. "This is going to sound insane, believe me, I have no idea what's going on."

Rose nodded.

"Ever since I got here, I've been..." Jack tried to think of the best way to put it. "I've been seeing things. Images in my head but I don't know what they are or what they mean."

"What kind of images?" Rose was curious.

"I've been seeing myself, on a ship. But it's not now. It's like years ago and everyone's dressed in period clothing. You were there. And Fabrizio and Cal. They're all there. But the ship...it sinks. The vision I just had? I was in the water with you. You were calling my name but I couldn't answer. It was if I was..."Jack could barely say the word. "As if I was...dead. I was sinking, right to the bottom of the ocean. They seem to come when something happens. Like yesterday, when you shook my hand? I felt like we'd done that before, which I know is impossible but that's how it felt. It's like serious déjà vu." Jack looked down. He knew how insane this must sound.

Rose looked at him, amazed. "No wonder you're scared of the water."

"But I've never had these images before. It's only been in the last few weeks and I've been terrified of the sea for as long as I can remember." Jack couldn't understand it. He felt like he was going crazy.

"You know, they say that when someone has visions like that, it's apparently visions from a previous life." Rose looked up at him. Jack couldn't believe she was taking him serious. Not only listening to him, but offering suggestions as to what it might be. This girl never failed to amaze him. She had so much understanding and strength.

"I remember reading about it. When you get déjà vu, it's not normally something that's happened to you in this life but rather in a former one. Maybe that's why you don't like the sea? If you were in a sinking in a previous life." Rose suggested.

Jack looked deep into her eyes. "That doesn't explain why you were there. Or Cal and Fabrizio? Have you ever had anything like this?"

Rose shook her head. "No, but not everyone remembers a past life. You're lucky to remember something like that."

"I don't feel lucky. It's driving me crazy. I just don't know when it's going to happen." Jack sighed.

"Don't you think it's strange and a bit ironic?" Rose asked him. Jack looked at her, wondering what she meant. "Well just that we've met now and we seem to have met in a previous life as well. Were we together in your visions?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure. We seemed happy in each other's company and spent a lot of time together but I'm not sure that we were actually with each other. You were dressed in fancy clothes, like you were rich, whereas I was dressed in shabby clothes. We seemed worlds apart."

Rose squeezed his hand. "You said you thought you died in your last vision?" Jack nodded. "Maybe this is God's way of telling us we're..." Rose stopped for a second, looking out to the sea again.

"We're what?" Jack wondered where she was going with this.

"That we're...meant to be?" Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing. This beautiful woman was telling him she thought they were destined for each other. "I just think that we seemed to have been pulled apart before. Maybe this is God's way of making up for it"

Jack smiled at her. She was so stunning and made everyone around her look so plain and uninteresting. He slowly leaned towards her, placing his hand on her cheek before slipping it round to the back of her neck and pulled her gently towards him. He closed his eyes as he felt his lips meet hers. Rose lifted her arms and placed them around his neck, pulling him closer to her. She wanted to feel his body close to hers like she had the previous night. She loved going to sleep with him, feeling his body up against hers and hearing his heart beating through his chest. She couldn't believe how strongly she felt about him even though they'd only known each other a few weeks. Rose suddenly opened her eyes and pulled away from him, breaking their embrace. Jack looked at her, confused, wondering if he had done something wrong.

"It all makes sense!" she exclaimed.

"What does?" Jack was still lost.

"Why we feel like this about each other, and so quickly! It also explains my feelings about the sea. I said to you on Saturday that I feel drawn to the water, that I feel as though I lost something that I have to find."

Jack nodded, unsure what she meant.

"I did lose something. According to your vision, I lost you. That explains why I feel the way I do about it." Rose put her hand on his face; she had tears in her eyes now. "God has brought you back to me." She leaned forward, kissing his cheek.

Jack couldn't believe her reaction to this. He hadn't expected her to be so understanding. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.

"Did we look the same? Did we have the same names?" Rose was full of questions now, she wanted to know everything.

Jack nodded. "Yes we looked the same as we do now. You had the same beautiful fiery hair and those gorgeous green eyes." He ran his hand through her hair. "I don't know if we had the same names. I think we probably did though, because I don't remember feeling as though I was someone different."

Rose suddenly stood up, she grabbed her shoes and pulled Jack to his feet. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" he asked, following her.

"We're going to drive into town and go to the library. There must be something in there, old newspapers or something and maybe we can find out what year all this happened, and who we were."

Jack was impressed by her idea. They made their way to the car and Jack sped off towards the library.