"Please don't do this" I said quietly to the officer, who was already reaching into his pockets for the keys to lock the gates to steerage.

He looked at me for a moment, and then sighed.

"I'm sorry, Miss" he said, sounding as if he truly meant it "But it was Officer Lowe's orders. I can't disobey him. I would love to help you if I could." He took out the keys and locked the gates. "I'm sorry" he said again. For a moment, I looked into his hazel eyes, willing him to see different and let me go, but he just turned away and walked up the stairs to the boat deck.

Fear swirled inside me. According to Mr Andrews, there was not much time left, what was I going to do? Then another thought hit me, what about Jack? A third class man, there was not much hope of him finding a place on a boat.

Reality hit, half the people on the ship were going to die. Would Jack be one of them? And what about Freddie and I? Hope seemed lost for us now, it seemed unlikely they would be letting steerage passengers out any time soon.

I sunk against the wall, slowly sliding down to the floor, unable to think. The terror inside me grew when I felt the cold dampness of sea water seeping through my pinafore, and, as I looked at the floor, saw water appearing on the floor.

Freddie joined me on the floor; he didn't really understand what was going on, but he sensed my feelings. I looked at him, blinking my tears away, willing myself to be brave for him. But even as he wriggled into my lap, looking earnestly up at me, I felt I was losing the battle. I pulled him close to me and held him tight, I could feel the water increasing beneath me, which was only confirming my fears. I closed my eyes against Freddie's body, feeling completely desperate and seeing no way out.

"Scarlett?" The voice sounded familiar, but I thought perhaps my mind was just desperate for some sort of normality.

But, as I looked up, I saw a familiar sandy haired head and blue eyes walking towards me.

"Jack? Jack!" I was so relieved to see his face and stood up and rushed over to him. He wound his arms round me, and I buried my face in his shirt, that smelt of all things familiar and safe.

"Scarlett, what are you doing down here? You should have got on a lifeboat ages ago!"

"I know, I...they wouldn't let me on, I forgot my card...Cal..." I trailed off, realising I wasn't really making much sense. Jack didn't seem to be listening anyway.

"Listen, Scarlett, we have to get out of here, fast. I've seen Mr Andrews..."

"I know, but the gates, they've locked them, we're trapped here. Wait..." I said, a thought had struck me. The gate I had passed through to get to the party, the one Ann said was always left open; she thought that porters and officers simply didn't know it was there.

"Jack, there's a gate, it's normally left open. I used it to come down here the first night I met you. Do you think it's worth seeing if it's open?"

"It looks like that's our only hope" said Jack "We haven't got much choice"

"Right" I said, not sure if Jack's answer was exactly encouraging "This way then, I think"

I was judging direction from both instinct and also from the brief time I had spent wandering the corridors of steerage after the party, which seemed like a lifetime ago, when in fact had only been two days.

I went down the corridor; one hand clutching Freddie's and the other hand in Jack's. I was uncomfortably aware of the water level beneath us. There was a splashing sound with every step. We quickened our pace, and Jack's grip on my hand grew tighter. People were rushing past us, clutching small children and belongings. I wondered briefly why they were all heading in the opposite direction to us, but I didn't have to wait long to find out.

We reached a downward rung of stairs, leading down to the very lowest decks. I remember them now from my previous journey. However, when I had seen them before, they had not be largely submerged in dark green sea water. I felt my stomach drop. I turned to Jack,

"But...this is the only way, I don't know another..." I turned to Jack, desperately willing him to give me some sort of miracle solution.

He looked at me, a determined look in his eyes. "Then this way we shall go"

"But how..."

"You trust me, right?" said Jack, that old twinkle returning to his eyes. I looked into those eyes that I had fallen in love with from the moment I set eyes upon them, and decided that at that precise moment there was no one I trusted more.

"Of course I trust you" I said.

Jack grinned, "Then let's do it" he said.

We descended the stairs. The water hit me like a knife, the cold water flooding into my shoes, soaking into my tights and dress, getting deeper with every step. By the bottom stair, the water was well above my waist, and I had to hold Freddie above my head to keep his head out of the water.

"Here, let me take him" said Jack. I gratefully passed him over; my arms had been starting to go dead.

I was freezing. There was no other word for it. The water was now creeping up round my shoulders as we inched forward along the lower corridor. We moved slowly, our sodden clothes weighing us down and the cold numbing my legs.

Then, without warning, the overhead lights above us flickered off. Darkness flooded the corridor, the only thing I could see clearly was the fog of breath coming from our mouths. I could hear Freddie whimpering on my right.

"Jack..." I breathed, scared.

"It's alright" said Jack "Let's just try and keep moving."

Jack had a point, the water level was rising, and it was becoming a struggle to keep my head above the surface, the quicker we reached the stairs on the other side the better.

After what seemed like an eternity in darkness, my feet felt steps underneath them and I could see light in the corridor above us. It illuminated Jack and Freddie and I saw that they were both as soaking as I was.

We climbed the stairs, water pouring off us. I was relieved to be out of the water, but our troubles were not over yet. I could distinctly feel the tilt of the ship, a sign that we had to hurry. Racing along the corridor, I was distressed to see nobody, was that a good sign? That people had got out? Or was it the more likely case that people were trapped on the other side, with nothing but locked gates and guards.

To my absolute relief, we reached the gate and found it unlocked, and I counted our stars that Ann was right about the officers simply not knowing it was there. Water was now trickling back over my feet, and we splashed through the gates and up the staircase to the boat deck.

There was now a much higher atmosphere of panic on the boat deck. Previously, people had been relaxed, even discussing the option of returning to their rooms. Now, however, people were screaming, children were crying and everyone was rushing about in blind panic, trying to get on boats, arguing with officers to let them on.

Jack put his arm around me, one arm still supporting Freddie, who was looking absolutely terrified, clinging on around Jack's neck.

"Women and children only!" came the calls from the officers. I turned to look at Jack.

"I'm not leaving without you" I said, defiantly. I think Jack knew I couldn't be persuaded otherwise, for he nodded.

Suddenly, a figure rushed up to me, draped in layers and layers of luxurious silks and lace. I recognised her immediately as Lady Horsaw. Despite the current situation, I still felt a strong dislike for the woman, and in no mood to converse with her. But she seemed in great distress.

"Scarlett, oh Scarlett! You must help me! Please say you will come with me!" She sounded genuinely upset, so I decided to give her a chance.

"Help with what, Miss Horsaw?" I enquired.

"Oh! In the lower decks, you must, just come on!" And Lady Horsaw gave me no further explanation, but merely grabbed a hold of my arm and began dragging me back inside.

Jack made as if to follow, but I called out to him, "It's okay, you stay there with Freddie, I won't be long!"

Jack looked unconvinced but I gave him a reassuring smile; there was no point him coming too, I doubted if Lady Horsaw's problem was really that big at all. She had probably left her hat in her bedroom or something.

But Lady Horsaw did not lead me down to the first class suites, she was pulling me down the stairs, we kept going further and further, until my feet were submerged in water once again. I began to feel uneasy; I had just narrowly escaped the water before, I didn't want to be going back into it.

I tried to voice my concerns to Lady Horsaw, who wasn't loosening her grip on my arm at all, but she wasn't listening. She just kept up a stream of sentences, "We must go, you must help, just a bit further, you must help me" all the way until we reached a door in a corridor that I judged by the number of stairs we had come down, was on E Deck.

She pointed to the door, letting go of my arm. "In there" she said. I looked at her doubtfully; there seemed nothing wrong with the door, nor could I hear anything from within.

"The trouble is in there!" she said, her voice rising uncontrollably at the end. I decided I would take a look, considering she was so distressed.

I opened the door, expecting to see something awful and disturbing, but was instead faced with what seemed like an ordinary room, with a desk and several cupboards and chairs in. The only thing unusual was the two feet of water making everything float about somewhat. I could not see what the problem was.

"I don't see anything..." I began, but didn't finish, as, as soon as I started speaking I felt two hands on my back and was shoved roughly into the room. It took me by surprise, and I ended up falling into the pool of icy water. Hurriedly standing up, I realised I was too late. The door had shut, and I heard the click of a lock.

I raced to the door, twisting the doorknob is every possible direction, but it was no use. Lady Horsaw had tricked me, and I had fallen for it and was now locked in a room of a ship that was rapidly sinking.

Then, I heard Lady Horsaw hiss through the key hole,

"That'll teach you to mess with the great Lady Horsaw! You will never see my Caledon Hockley ever, ever again! In fact, you will never see anybody again, you stupid, impertinent girl!" And with that, I heard her walk away from the door.

Too stunned to really take in what she had just said, I looked desperately around for some assistance. When I was met with none, I felt tears of frustration and fear pricking at my eyes. I could feel the water rising beneath me, it was now at my knees.

I waded back over to the door, and began pounding on it, for lack of anything else that seemed productive.

"Help!" I called "Somebody please help me!" Over and over again, I called and banged on the door, but nobody came. I could hear nothing from the corridor outside; I guessed most people had made it onto the boat deck by now. I could feel the tilt of the ship even stronger now, the furniture in the room was sliding to the left, as the water continued to rise.

I don't know I long I stood, shouting and hitting the door, I could only judge by the rising water level. Before too long, it was above my waist, and I was struggling to stay upright, as my legs had gone completely numb.

"Help me!" I croaked out, one last time, before crumpling against the wall, feeling exhausted and desperate. It was the thought that I would die here, in this room, never seeing Freddie, or Jack or Ann again, that made the tears that had been threatening to fall for while, pour out. I slouched sobbing, and ice cold water rushed over my body.

Then, BANG!

Something heavy seemed to hit the door from the outside corridor. From instinct, I stood up, staring at the door apprehensively.

BANG!

There it was again. I had stopped crying now, intrigued at the door.

There was one final, almighty crash from the corridor, and the door came completely off its hinges, splashing into the room. And, wading into the room, sopping wet and wearing a look of pain and worry, which quickly turned to relief when he saw me, was Caledon Hockley.