*Chapter 34*

Forever in our hearts

"Mr Lowe?" Clara yelled.

"Clara! Oh, its you! Wow! What a surprise!" Lowe exclaimed, excitedly. "What brings you here?"

"Claire wanted to visit Mr Murdoch's grave. I suppose you're here for Mr Moody?"

"Yes, and Mr Bride."

Clara froze. Her body went through a hot and cold flush, all in one second. She felt as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest, dropped onto the ground and stomped on several times. Her face went pale. She opened her mouth, to say something, but nothing came out.

"You mean, he's dead?" Claire asked, for Clara.

"Mr Bride? Yes, he died, I'm afraid."

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO KEEP SAYING THAT!" Clara snapped, angrily. She looked at her feet.

"How?" She finally managed to ask, about to burst into tears.

"Well, he was in Carpathia's hospital, and I went to visit him, probably just after you had visited him, because he kept talking about you. Anyway, then the nurse told me to come back in the morning. You know how his feel were all frozen?"

Clara remained silent.

"Well, hey had been infected, from all the crushing of the bones, and some unknown illness spread over his body, overnight. In the morning, Mr Boxhall and myself went to the hospital to visit him, but the doctors told us that he had passed away. I'm sorry, Clara."

Lightoller and Claire stood back for a moment.

"I was so fond of him. I promised him that I would save him. He believed in me. And I let him die!" Clara burst into tears.

"Its not your fault, Clara. He wasn't meant to be, that's all." Lightoller whispered, and held her tightly to him.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye to him!" Clara sobbed.

She stopped crying, and Lightoller led the girls away from Lowe, and to Bride's grave.

It was covered in flowers, gifts, and small objects. Obviously his family had already been here.

"Look, there's a photo of him." Clara pointed out Bride's photo, encased in a glass wall. "He was so young."

Claire had no respect at all. Tapping her feet impatiently, she said, "Weren't we here for me? Hello? I wanted to see Will's grave. We can come back to this grave later."

"Alright." Clara stood up, and followed Claire and Lightoller.

Claire froze. "There it is." She tiptoed carefully over to Murdochs grave.

Clara and Lightoller stood behind Claire, away from her, so she could see the grave in peace. They remained very silent.

Claire bent down and placed a rose, and her diamond necklace - that she had worn on her first kiss with Murdoch - on the grave stone gift box. She knelt down in front of the grave, and ran her hand over the photo of him, that was fixed inside a glass wall.

'Will.' She thought. 'Poor old Will.'

"I love you so much, even though you've left me." Claire blew a kiss to his photo, and stood up. She closed her eyes for a moment.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and a cool, breezy kiss, on her neck, just like Murdoch loved to do, on previous occasions.

Claire whipped her head around, but the only people behind her were Clara and Lightoller, lying on the grass.

Claire smiled. She knew it was Murdoch. A shiver ran down her spine, as though a spirit had walked right through her.

"Oh, Will." She said out aloud, but very softly.

Clara and Lightoller walked up behind Claire, and put their hands on her shoulders.

"They're gone. Two great friends," Lightoller sniffled.

"No, theyre not gone." Claire corrected Lightoller.

"They'll forever be with us. That, I know." Clara whispered, glancing up at the sky.

Claire and Lightoller looked up as well, as though something were there. Claire put her arm around Claras shoulder.

"Yeah. They'll be with us, Clara. They are. They're Forever in our Hearts."