This is my first ever ff, so don't mind it if there's some faults in it. A story popped into my head since I'm obsessed with Titanic, so I decided to make an ff about it! I've been wanting to do a Titanic fr for so SO long, but I just never had any ideas. Enjoy my first ever ff chapter~
- Elizabeth Elfgrove
Rose stood in the middle of the massive swarm of reporters and journalists with her "fiancé." Caledon Nathan Hockley. The nastiest man she'd ever met, and here she was, to marry him in 7 months time. Why, exactly, were all these men and women swarming them, you may ask? Two weeks after the sinking of Titanic. Two weeks after 1,500 deaths, which included her personal maid, Trudy. She was the only person of whom Rose could express herself to. And now she was somewhere beneath the waterline of the Atlantic Ocean with many other men, women, children, and the biggest of all, The Ship Of Dreams. Titanic really was the ship of dreams. No question of it. And now it was at the bottom of the coldest ocean known to mankind.
"Rose Dewitt Bukater? How cold was the water?" She heard a woman in a blue, velvet business dress ask her. "Oh, very, it was quite miserable." She replied, almost as if automatic and trained. The woman nodded, and pushed her way through the crowd to Cal, before asking him various questions. Rose had fell off the railing and into the icy water from being shoved by a rude man, but the Chief Chef grabbed her by her arms and, with her help, lifted Rose out of the water and onto the very unsafe ship, then urged her to quickly catch a lifeboat. She had gotten lost in the crowds, away from Cal and her selfish mother, Ruth. Oh, if only she could have gotten separated when the ship wasn't sinking to the bottom of the navy blues. She would have had the time of her life.
She caught a lifeboat, just barely, as they were about to lower it down. She turned out to be a survivor. That's what this was all about. A rich survivor, separated from her "beloved" fiancé and mother until the Carpathia survivor list had been made and scattered. She was then dragged to Cal and Ruth, and put into a fine room, then one of the Carpathia maids made her up. It was silly, and sickening, to her really. They were making her up on a ship that was holding 700 who had lost family, friends, memories, and spirit. And that 700 had not a care in the world of what anyone else looked like. There was really no reason to seem fancy and rich, unless you were meaning to scar the ones who lost even more, perhaps even making them mad. "How could someone walk past us all in fancy attire with their chin held high, fully aware that we have lost so much? To brag about their riches?" She imagined that they would all say. And, she had a feeling that was Ruth and Cal's intention.
"Mr. Hockley, Ms. and Mrs. Dewitt Bukater?" She recognized this voice. Probably from some gala or other, but it was a man's voice. As she saw the face, she matched the voice with Garland Aiden Brade, a very rich man, kinder than the others, but of course still stuck up in his own way. He was in the reporter group, but, he sponsored others to share experiences and give book-long descriptions of events and tragedies. She knew what was coming. Cal nodded, and then hooked his arm around Rose's, and she refused the urge to shudder and tear away from him. They followed Mr. Brade out of the crowd, Cal and Mr. Brade apologizing for their leave as they went.
Once they got to a relatively quiet and safe spot, Mr. Brade began to speak. "I have a proposition." He began. "With this tragedy, I'm sure either you or Rose have an experience, Rose I'm sure has more, due to her getting separated. It was truly golden for the News industry." He said, his white and brown mustache moving rigidly as he spoke, due to his old age he spoke with jumps of volume. "My proposition is, that Rose writes a book of her experience and other noticed things, and about how great and beautiful it was, to really get the public to put their heart into it. And, of course, a great sum of money would be included." He said, wiping his mouth and mustache as he mentioned money, acting like it was truly no big deal, offering the overlook that he had so much money that he could easily pay whatever the cost was, which Rose and Cal would soon find out.
"What would the pay be?" Cal asked, slicking back his sleek black hair, making sure that no strands were poking out in this "business" conversation. "About 50,000 dollars." ( FYI, this would be probably 1.6 million dollars in 2023 ) Mr. Brade replied. Rose's jaw nearly dropped. 50,000 for a book? He must have calculated that the sinking of Titanic would be a historical remembrance and that the books would be a treasure one day. But still, it would never be an investment in his lifetime, that she was sure of. By Cal's face, she could tell he was shocked and confused too. "But, why? It could never be an investment in either of our lives." Cal asked. "Not everything is about money, Mr. Hockley." Mr. Brade replied. Rose smiled at that, perhaps she had misjudged some figures of Garland Aiden Brade.
Cal cleared his throat, and Rose stifled a laugh. "Yes, yes, I suppose." Cal said. Rose didn't know how she was gonna put up with this toxic, money-revolving man. "I would like Rose to write it, if that's alright with the miss." Mr. Brade urged. "That'd be alright with you, right, sweet pea?" Cal asked. She hated it when he called her sweet pea, she would never, ever want to be his "sweet pea." "Yes, that seems quite interesting. It'll give me something to do, I've been running out of things to occupy myself with, if I do say so myself." She said, which, for once, was very true. "Then it's settled. We will discuss it on perhaps Tuesday, Mr. Brade?" Cal questioned. "It's scheduled." said Mr. Brade with an accomplished smile. "See you then, Mr. Brade." Cal said, and Mr. Brade nodded before turning to Rose. "I expect great things coming from you, Ms. Dewitt Bukater. See you Tuesday." Mr. Brade said, nodding to Rose. "See you Tuesday, Mr. Brade." She replied.