Chapter Two-Alive but Apart
"Can you see any moving?" asked the officer, as they neared the endless sea of dead bodies, floating silently in the cold night. "No sir," answered the man, "none moving sir." The officer took a deep breath as he watched the body of a young man go floating past-frozen solid. "well, keep checking them, keep looking!" he yelled angrily, as the rest of the men in the boat checked the bodies. "these are dead sir," replied one of his crew in disgusted tones as he pushed the body of a woman away from him. He stared in horror as the boat slowly passed the frozen body of a dead woman, clinging to a young infant. "we've waited to long . . ." he whispered. He gazed out as far as he could see-everywhere there where bodies, stretching out towards the horizon and beyond . . . "is there anyone alive out there?" he called desperately. "can anyone hear me? Is there anyone alive out there?" suddenly he heard a noise, quickly, he motioned for the crew to be quiet. Then, he heard it again, a very weak "I'm over here! I'm over here!" he shone his torch in the direction of the voice, and it landed on a young man. He looked about twenty, with blonde hair and blue eyes, he was laying on to of some debris. As quickly as he could, he reached him and pulled him into the boat. He thought he had been cold, but when he touched the man it sent shivers of pain down his hands and arms from the sheer cold of it. He was almost dead, he must have been through hell and back . . . Carefully as they could, they wrapped him in blankets and lay him down, where he fell into restless sleep-he wondered if he would live through the night.
"Over here Rose!" said Cal, gripping her tightly by the arm as she tried to escape. "This way darling, first class is over here." Rose continued to struggle, but it was hopeless. "Rose dear," said her mother, putting a hand on her face. "Rose calm down," she grabbed her by the other arm, calling for one of the crew. The caption of the carpathia came towards them. "Yes miss?" he inquired politely. "My, fiancée is very upset." Interrupted Cal. "now really, we need a room where she can rest." "This way sir," said the Captain, leading them towards a vacant cabin-oblivious to the fact that Rose was trying to escape. As Rose was rushed inside, Molly Brown came walking over to them. "hello Ruth dear," she said, "are you feeling any better." Rose looked at her with pleading eyes, begging her to understand, she knew Molly would-she had liked Jack. Ruth pursed her lips, Rose knew her mother didn't approve of Molly-simply because she had once been poor, but she could not deny that fact that she had helped her, and been so kind to her all of last night. "yes, much better." She replied, putting on a fake smile, "Rose is just a bit upset, we're trying to calm her down." Molly glanced at the frightened girl, sitting on a chair, numb and in shock-clearly wanting to be far away from her mother and Cal, and with the young man-Jack-but she didn't know where she was. She opened her mouth to speak and say something, but the piercing stare Ruth gave her told her she better keep it shut. "well," she said, "just checking on you." "well, thankyou very much." Said Ruth, and she turned around without another word closing the door behind her, inside the room, Molly could hear Rose beginning to cry.
"hey! Hey wait!" Jack ran over to the officer who was carrying around a list and marking off passenger names. "do you have Rose DeWitt Bukater on there?" the man glanced down on the list. "no sorry . . ." "what?" Jack looked at him in horror. "I put her on a boat-she has to be on there!" The officer frowned. "what class was she in sir?" jack could have kicked himself, of course! Rose would have registered herself as first class! "first class." The officer stared at him, puzzled that he would know someone of that importance. "you'll have to check over there," he said, pointing with his pencil to the upper decks. Jack ran towards it, he just had to find Rose, he had to! Bumping into a person, he didn't even stop to say sorry. Climbing up the steps, he looked round for the officer. "son, hey sonny-jack!" Jack swung around and saw Molly Brown calling to him. "your alright son?" she asked, glancing at his still damp clothes and pale skin. Jack ignored her. "Rose," he gasped, "rose, have you seen rose?" Molly looked at him sadly, "she's in a room over there," she said nodding her head towards the direction. "with them." Jack looked at her in horror, before clasping onto a bench. "I have to see her," he said, turning to look at Molly, who was staring back at him, quite concerned. Molly nodded, but said nothing, as Jack got to his feet and hurriedly made his way towards where Rose was being kept. He'd never felt so frightened or nervous as when he walked down that hall. What if they stopped him? What if he could never see Rose again? He couldn't let that happen to her, he couldn't let that fire he loved about her burn out. As he neared the room, he heard yelling. "well? Answer me!" he recognised Cal's voice. Jack felt anger well up inside him and he pushed the door open with a bang. Rose was sitting on bed, holding her cheek, it look as if she'd been hit. When the door opened she looked up and cried out in a mixer of amazement and happiness "jack!" Cal turned around. "You!" he yelled in a rage, but jack didn't care, gathering all the strength he could, he punched Cal hard in the face, knocking him to the ground. "jack!" cried rose, throwing herself into his arms. "rose," jack said soothingly "oh Rose I love you." He hugged her so tight, never ever wanting to let go. "I told you I'd be alright, it's alright rose." He stroked her hair, trying to calm her as she sobbed into his arms. "what's going on here?" Jack swung around, an officer was standing in the doorway, along with Cal and Ruth. Rose looked at them in horror and clung onto Jack tighter, Jack just stared, stumped for words.
Molly watched nervously to see what would happen. 10 minutes later, she saw Jack, being dragged by two officers away from Rose. Quickly she hurried over to them. "what do you think your doing?" she asked. One of the officers turned towards her. "this man is being an nuisance to some passengers," he said, panting with the effort of holding Jack back. "he's with me," she told them. "Pardon?" asked the officer in surprise, "he's with me, " repeated Molly loudly, "c'mon Son." She held out an arm for Jack. The officers eyed each other, then molly, and reluctantly let Jack go. "c'mon jack," said quietly, pulling him away and over to an empty corner. "You don't understand!" gasped Jack, "she can't be with them-they've got her trapped and she's going to die if she doesn't break free! I have to-," "shhhh sonny." Molly put an arm around him. "There's nothing you can do Jack, least of all here." "then what can I do?!" yelled Jack angrily. Molly sighed, "I-I don't think there is anything you can do." She said quietly.
Rose sat on the bed awaiting another outburst from Cal, but none came. Instead he stood in the middle of the room, a pack of ice held against one eye which was going black. He was probably to mad to speak, to furious, she knew she would have to pay for it later, but she didn't care. Jack was alive! The love of her life, who she'd thought for a few agonizing hours was dead, was in fact still breathing, still here, and for a few wonderful moments, she had hugged him, taken in every little detail about him, the way he felt, the way he held her, the way he smelt . . . Rose closed her eyes, Jack was alive . . . but they where still apart, Cal had her trapped. She took a deep breath and tried to stop herself from crying, but she couldn't. Cal had her trapped again, she was now his-to be treated like and object he owned, and to conform with the standards he wanted. She remembered how she had felt with Jack. Never Trapped, never unhappy-he'd freed her, and she had been happy, happy for the first time in her life. Cal glared at her, "will you stop crying?!" he shouted. At that moment Ruth came hurrying into the room, "come Rose," she said softly, "let's get you out of those clothes." Numbly Rose staggered to her feet and followed her mother into another smaller room, where a dress lay ready for her-she didn't know how or where her mother got it from, and she didn't care. "Now, now Rose," her mother said, closing the door with a click behind her. "It's okay dear." She wrapped her daughter in a hug, but Rose felt no comfort from it. "There, there" she said, stroking Rose's damp and tangled hair. "It's alright Rose, now, let's get you into some dry clothes, or you shall catch a cold." Numbly Rose stood and allowed herself to be dressed, ignoring her mothers mindless chatter. "rose, rose?" her mother turned her round to look at her. "are you listening to me? I said, you will never behave like that again, ever. Do you have any idea how I felt when you ran away like that? How Cal felt?" rose shivered at the sound of his name. "I was so worried," she kissed her, and continued, "lucky Cal managed to get you in a boat or heaven knows what would have happened!" Rose glared at her mother, she couldn't stand it. Is that what Cal had told her? "Cal didn't convince me to go in the boat." She hissed, "Jack did!" Ruth gave her a venomous stare, "I never want to hear that name again Rose! Do you understand what you almost did? You could have landed us on the streets, had everything sold off and left us with nothing. Cal and you are a fine match, everyone else can see it, why can't you?" "I'm not everyone else!" said Rose quietly, "and I don't want to be. I don't love him and I'm not going to marry h-," at that moment Ruth snapped, and slapped Rose hard, sending further pain down her already tender check. Rose staggered backwards, staring at her mother in shock. "Don't you dare say that!" sobbed Ruth, falling down into an old wooden chair. "can't you see Rose, this is the only way for us to survive? I'm doing it for you." She dabbed her tears away with a handkerchief and got back onto her feet. "I'm sorry rose," she whispered, taking her daughters hand and holding it tightly. "but arranged marriages are a part of society-you must learn to love Cal-as I learned to love your father." Rose didn't answer, she felt bad about leaving her mother on the ship and making her worry, and she knew her mother was horribly afraid of what the future might hold if she did not marry Cal. Everything pointed to her marrying him, forcing her to conform with the standards. Rose felt like a trapped animal, all she wanted was Jack.