Chapter 12: The Sinking

Jocelyn found a boat and put her mother in front of her.

Her mother swung around and faced her daughter, her face frantic and worried. " Jocelyn, what are you doing?", her mother whispered, pleadingly.

" Getting you to safety", Jocelyn replied, as she kissed and hugged her mother and then gently pushed her forward. The officer took her mother and set her in the boat.

Her mother was pleading to let her daughter come into the boat as well, but Jocelyn told her goodbye and left without another word.

Jocelyn walked away, frantic to find James. She searched every place where the boats had been, but there was only one or two left besides the one that was not hooked up yet, and the one that was upside down.

Jocelyn looked around, and found that a few of the officers were still aboard, but that James was not one of them. She grew worried, but rational thinking became clear again and she thought that he probably just got onto that boat he was loading when they seen each other.

Jocelyn looked around for a boat, but found herself being pushed away from the one she had seen. Jocelyn did not know what to do. She moved closer to the stern section of the boat and decided to stay onboard. There was no point in going back for the boats as there would probably be either one or none, and even if there was one, she would likely never make it back there before it was gone anyway.

James looked up at the Titanic. It hung at a dangerous angle now and was getting closer to sinking. His heart pounded wildly in his chest. He hoped to God that Jocelyn made it a boat in time.

He checked his pocket watch. It was just after two in the morning. He wondered how long it would be before the ship sank under the frigid waters of the Northern Atlantic.

He grew restless but told the men to keep rowing, the farther away from the ship, the better. He had a bad feeling about this sinking and he did not want to anywhere near it when the Titanic goes under.

Jocelyn was a survivor, she knew that much. She kept her lifejacket on, knowing that it would help when swimming. She felt that familiar dread that she had come to know over the years creep into her again.

It scared the hell out of her to stay on this ship when it sank. She had heard that when the ship went down, it would pull people under with it. She would not be one of those people. She would kick and kick, if it meant her life, and she knew it did.

She knew that James was safe, and now her mother was. She would fight everything with her life, and stay alive, she would not give up. Jocelyn had never given up before, and she was not about to now.

She fought her way to the stern railing. Once there, she held on tight as the Titanic approached a horrible angle. That was when she heard the crack of wood. An eerie splintering of wood and crunch of steel.

Then she felt the jerk of the ship as it started falling backwards. She held on tight to the railing as the stern fell level with the ocean. She held on, and she would not let go.

James watched the ship split in half. He prayed that Jocelyn had found a boat. He told the crew to row faster and put their backs into it. He watched the hull fill with water.

The ship started rising once more and James clutched the sides of the boat so hard he was afraid he might break it if he held on any tighter.

Jocelyn felt the ship start rising before she seen it. She clutched the railing as the stern made its way into a vertical position.

As it rose, Jocelyn struggled over the railing onto the other side, where a few other people had found their way to. Then she clutched the railing tight as the Titanic finally became vertical.

Everything stopped. All movement. The Titanic stood up in the ocean as though it were standing. Jocelyn looked down at the people struggling to hold on. People who could not hold on started falling towards a painful death as the others struggled to get a hold on the ship.

Jocelyn could hear the screams of people far below as the Titanic started making its way towards the ocean. She could only watch in shocked silence as the deep swell of water rushed ever closer to her.

She held onto the rail as the froth of water got closer. She felt fear, and a terror she would never again know. She watched the water with a sort of calm she did not feel.

Just as the water reached the railing, Jocelyn sucked in a deep breath as the Titanic slid under the frigid waters, and disappeared. The only thing left were the bubbles that floated to the top of the surface of a black depth.

Kathleen Fleming watched as the Titanic sank into the frigid depths. She knew her daughter was still on that ship, and it broke her heart to think that Jocelyn could be dead.

She looked away, tears clouding her vision. Until she heard it, Jocelyn was still alive. She was a fighter, that one. She would give her last breath before she would die unwillingly. It was one of the things Kathleen admired about her daughter.

Kathleen thought of every single time Jocelyn had fought her. There was always a strength and always courage in Jocelyn. She would never just sit by and let something happen without having a say in it. Jocelyn had never been a quiet, docile, shy young girl. She had the strength of her father.

Kathleen ached when she thought of her husband. He had been forced into marriage after he was found. When he had found out that Kathleen was pregnant, he had thought that she had been lying. Kathleen remembered the look of surprise on his face when she had started showing.

Jocelyn's father, Julian Fleming, had been perhaps twenty-five when her family had tried to force him to marry Kathleen. It had broken her heart when he had refused to marry her. He had a tremendous will, and fought her family every step of the way. He had spent time with Kathleen quite a bit, getting to know her a bit more.

She remembered the day he had discovered that she really was pregnant, when he had seen her belly. He had not seen her in perhaps a month and a half. By that time, Kathleen was just over six months along. He had been surprised. It was then that he had decided to marry her.

Kathleen fought back the tears that kept coming to her. She and Jocelyn had been in England looking for a match for Jocelyn, while Julian was at home, working. Kathleen trusted him that he would never have an affair, she knew how much he loved her and how she loved him.

Kathleen would not let grief overcome her yet. When she heard that Jocelyn was dead, or missing, then she would let grief come. For now, however, she had to get a hold of herself, everything would be fine.