Chapter 3

"Where's Thomas?" I gasped, pulling away from a long breathless kiss. I got to my feet and surveyed my surroundings. The golden California sun was fading, it dipped below the horizon dappling the earth in shades of green and gold. Most people had scattered in anticipation of the night, there was no one to be seen, not even a small boy with red hair.

"Oh God! Oh God!" I cried in disbelief. How had I let this happen? What if he got lost, what if he was kidnapped? I couldn't live with myself if anything ever happened to him. That poor, difficult little boy. "Thomas Andrew Dawson, come back!" I screamed into the gold tipped trees on the out skirts of a darkening wood.

Then I listened, for the sound of a faint cry or far away laughter, maybe the sound of quick little feet scampering away. But when the only sound I heard was the sound of my own voice echoing back at me, I began to cry. Nathan got up and slipped his fingers into my trembling hand and squeezed in tight.

"Don't worry. He can't have gone far." He dropped my hand and started to walk around in a circle, scanning the perimeter of the park and the area beyond it. "If I was a two year old where would I go?" His aqua eyes lingered on a particular place. A patch of gloomy willows, swaying in the gentle wind, there floating limbs shading a murky grey pool of glassy water hidden by a steep bank.

"Y-you think?" I asked him anxiously.

"Well, I really don't know. It's worth a shot." He reasoned. He reminded me of my father when he said that, so calm in a time of dire panic.

As soon as I heard these words I started to run. Across the park green and down the steep, sloping bank. My body couldn't catch up to my flying feet and I fell to my knees as I hit the soft, mossy lake bed, the lush grass breaking my fall. The small grey pool was larger than I had anticipated, a smooth expanse of silvery water so calm I could see my reflection undistorted in its shallows.

Night was falling fast; a misty haze had materialized above the water, moist and eerie in the diminishing daylight. Crickets began to sing their lullaby, the whispering cattails as their rhythm, ushering in the stars which were beginning to twinkle faintly in the purple sky. All seemed still.

Nathan appeared next to me. He pointed to a small, weathering dock that extended out into the pond and a small child leaning over its end, chubby baby fingers barely grazing the water's surface.

Before I could call out to him, Nathan placed a finger against my lips and whispered in my ear, his warm, sweet breath exhaling on my neck.

"We don't want to startle him, or he may fall in." He said softly. "We have to be sly." He gripped my hand again as we crouched behind the tall cattails like prowlers on the hunt, gazing at the tiny victim through the gaps in the reeds.

I was careful to place my feet in the moist, spongy grass and not on any twig that might snap under my weight. I ducked behind a decaying wooden post at the base the deck, keeping my eyes on Thomas who was still leaned over the dock, determined to feel the water on his hands.

"Stay here, I'll grab him." Nathan told me. I frowned. I had wanted to be the one to take him in my arms and hug him tight and never let go. But there would be a time for that. Right now I just wanted him to be safe. But as Nathan shifted his weight onto the wooden plank it let out a wail of age and irritation and as the baby looked around, he lost his balance and tumbled into the water below.

"No!" I cried, getting up to jump in and rescue him, but Nathan beat me to it, bounding up the rickety dock and flinging himself into the now churning water and disappearing below its surface. I few people nearby heard my cries and ran up to the ridge of the bank calling out to me but I didn't answer. I recognized one of the shouts as the voice of an actor my mother worked with, Mr. Calvert. He'd know to go fetch help. I couldn't waste my time just sitting here, watching them drown.

I tore off my school jumper and blouse till I wore just my underwear and under shirt. And without hesitation I two went running down the dock and launched myself into the pond.

I dived down into the depths of the pond, where the water was warm and sweet and almost unbearably heavy. It pressed against my head making it throb as if someone were squeezing it. My hair clouded around me, thick clouds of bloody red that obscured my vision more than the dense pond water.

Then I saw it, the small black shadow floating beneath me. I made a beeline for it snatching him around the waist and kicked towards the surface with ease. Once I broke the surface I didn't look at his face. I didn't think I could bear to look upon the grey face of my poor baby brother, the only responsibility I had, if I was too late.

Nathan surfaced behind me, shaking his sodden hair out of his eyes; he then aided me in lifting him above the water and back onto the dock. I climbed up too, with great effort due to my slick spidery legs. I kneeled over my brother's limp body shaking him hard. I pressed my shivering hands to his motionless chest, and began to cry.

"Thomas, please, please, open your eyes, darling!" I breathed, pounding my fists on his chest. Nathan staggered up on the dock and pushed me aside, and leaned over Thomas placing his hand gingerly on the top of his sopping hair, and very gently tipped it backwards. Thomas Andrew sputtered and cried.

"Thomas!" I squealed and took him in my arms. He bawled, his tiny fists clutching the straps of my chemise furiously. There were shouts from above and at least a dozen people came barreling down the bank, my father included.

"Is he all right?' he gasped, taking him from my arms and hugging him tight. He pressed his ear against his rapidly falling chest to check if he was breathing which was quite obvious due to his wails of despondency.

"You a brave girl going in to save your brother." Said a foreign man who had come to aid the situation. His wife, a plump, blonde woman took her shawl and wrapped it around my bare shoulders, rubbing them in a motherly fashion.

"I didn't save him, Nathan did." I said proudly, holding out my hand for Nathan to grab. He was still sitting on the deck, overwhelmed at how quickly this all came about. He looked at me strange.

"Eliza, I didn't save him from the water, you did." He whispered. "All I did was open his airway so he could breathe."

"Which is basically the definition of saving someone. What I did was called a rescue. Completely different." I stated. "Besides, watch." My father handed Thomas off to the blonde woman and walked up to Nathan, holding out his hand.

"I'd like to thank you, for saving my son." he said with a smile. Nathan shook his hand, warily; keeping his eyes on my father's which sparkled warmly.

"It was no problem." He said averting his eyes. He was so good. Even though he did save my little brother he still thought he was lying, and he couldn't bear it. I wished I could kiss him then, and tell him that he was my hero, but that would be quite awkward under the circumstances.

"I'm Jack Dawson." He said. "And you seem to know my daughter, Lizzy." I forced myself not to blush. "What's your name?"

"Nathan-"

"Nathan Thomas." I blurted out, before Nathan could finish his name. He looked at me, puzzled and about to correct me before I dug my bony elbow into his ribs. He gasped, and rubbed his side, getting the message.

"Well, Nathan Thomas, looks like you're a good guy to have around in a sticky spot." My dad said, shaking his hand again.

"Yeah, I guess so." Said Nathan, avoiding my eyes. I would have to explain soon, before I lost his trust. But that could wait, I felt oh so tired. But before I could follow my father home, Nathan grabbed my wrist.

"Why did you do that?" I didn't want to talk anymore. I wanted to sleep. I looked around before I gave him a long, intense kiss to remember me by before running back after my father.

That night I felt so weak. I remember walking through the door after my father, hearing my mother's sobs as she hugged and kissed my brother. I collapsed onto the bed, falling dead asleep as soon as I reached to pillow. And suddenly I was gone.

The next thing I knew, I was outside again, in a cold, lonely night. There were people everywhere scrambling to get somewhere that I could not tell. Then I heard my name, far off into the crowd.

"Liza! Liza!" I looked around and there was Jack being hauled away by two blue uniformed men. "Liza! Don't let them take me, Liza!"

"Stop!" I cried, running across the slanting wooden floor to reach him, but just as I did a hand grabbed my arm and yanked me backwards.

"Come along, Eliza. We must get to a boat." Said Nathan firmly, only it wasn't Nathan. He wore a sleek black suit and his dark hair was slicked back and shined in the starlight. He gripped me harshly and dragged me to the into a line of people. I searched the crowd for Jack, but the men had taken him out of sight.

" You don't understand, Nathan. That's my little brother. We have to help him." I pleaded. Another blue uniformed man was helping beautifully clothed women into a small boat. Beyond that was nothing but pure darkness.

"Come, on Eliza! Get into the boat!" His voice was becoming deeper and more aggressive. He shoved me toward the man who tried to pick me up and force me into the boat.

"No!" I cried breaking his grip and dashing into the crowd, but Nathan caught me around the waist and pulled me into him.

"Please, Nathan." I said, trying to keep calm. "There will be plenty of time to catch a boat. My brother is just a boy, he needs me. I must find him." At first his baby blue eyes seemed to understand, slackening his grasp on my midsection. I turned away, but then he reeled me back in, choking me with his grip.

"Nathan, what are you doing?" I gasped, his hands around my neck, strangling me as he pushed me backwards towards the edge of the darkness. Nathan Please! I can't breathe! I cried, but it wasn't Nathan, not anymore.

I watched as his once strikingly handsome face twisted and contorted into sinister, malicious grin, his eyes turning pitch black as he rang my neck. This was not Nathan; this was a much older, much more powerful man. His nails tore at my skin and I could feel my warm blood seep down my neck.

"I do believe this ship may sink." He said, silkily, leaning me farther over the edge so I was practically hanging over the nothingness. "And you're going down with it!" His voice became the most soul crushing growl as he brought my lips to his, kissing me hard, and snatching my breath from my throat.

"Goodbye Rose." He said softly and he put his hand to my chest and threw me over the side and I hit the water with a splash, icy death filling every pore in my body.

" I can't breathe!" I bellowed, thrashing in the open water. I felt a pair of hands seize me, and drag me upwards.

"Eliza, baby. What's wrong?" It was the voice of my mother; I opened my eyes and saw the outlines of my parents face in the darkness, their brows furrowed in concern. But something wouldn't let me stop wailing. I was so cold. My whole body ached and I just wanted to cry.

"He's going to kill me!" I cried, still flailing under my sheets. "I'm going to drown!" My head throbbed so hard I thought it my burst. Mother put her hand to my forehead as my father took me in his arms.

" She's burning up!" My mother said, the terror rising in her voice.

"Noo..." I moaned. " So cold." the last thing I remember seeing was my mother's fearful eyes before I blacked out.