A LIFE SO CHANGED
Chapter Twenty-Five
Rose gets back to the stairwell and looks
down and gasps. The water has flooded the bottom five steps. She goes down.
"Oh, my God," she whispers.
She holds onto the jail rail on top of the
ceiling, and looks to see how far the water is to the room. Suddenly a light
sparks, and turns her head to it. It scared her. She puts the ax in between the
jail rail, and takes her coat off, to lighten the weight. She takes the ax, and
starts to go in. She gasps. Don’t be afraid. Just go and save Jack.
She puts the ax in her right hand, and
putting her left hand on the water poles that connects the ceiling. The water
is up to her waist. She grimaces at the pain from the literally freezing water.
When the water was shallow, she puts the ax over her head. Then puts it down,
as she got to the room.
Jack has climbed up on the bench, and is
hugging the water pipe. Rose wades in, pushing the ax to the wooden cabinet
door away from her. "Jack?"
"Rose."
"Will this work?" Bringing the ax
up from the water.
"I guess we’ll find out. Come on."
Jack positions the chain connecting the two
cuffs, stretching it taut across the steel pipe. The chain is of course very
short, and his exposed wrists are on either side of it. Rose comes towards him,
and raised the ax.
"Wait, wait, wait. Try a couple practice
swings over there." He points the cabinet. She walks over to it, and hefts
the ax and thunks it.
"Good. Now try and hit the same mark
again, Rose. You can do it." She swings hard and the blade thunks in four
inches from the mark. "Okay, that's enough practice. Come on, Rose. You
can do it. Listen, hit it really hard and really fast." She raises the ax.
"Wait. Hold in your hands a little more."
"Like this?"
"Right. Listen, Rose. I trust you."
He looks deep in her eyes.
He winces, bracing himself as she raises the
ax. She has to hit a target about an inch wide with all the force she can
muster, with his hands on either side. Jack closes his eyes. So does she.
Please, please, please. Let me get it.
The ax comes down. K-WHANG! Rose gingerly
opens her eyes and looks. Jack is grinning with two separate cuffs. Rose drops
the ax, all the strength going out of her. He hugs her.
"You did it. Come on. Let’s go." He
climbs down into the water next to her. He can't breathe for a second.
"Oh, shit, this is cold. Shit, shit, shit, shit."
They wade out into the hall. Rose starts
toward the stairs, but Jack stops her. There is only about a foot of the stairwell
opening visible.
"That’s the way out."
"We have to find another way. Come
on." He grabs her hand, and leads her the other way.
On the boat deck, the action has moved to the
aft group of boats, numbers nine, eleven, thirteen, and fifteen on the starboard
side, and ten, twelve, fourteen, and sixteen on the port side. The pace of work
is more frantic. Crews and officers are running to work the davits, their
previous complacency gone.
On the letters, TITANIC painted two feet high
on the bow of the doomed steamer. Once fifty feet above the waterline, they now
quietly slip below the surface. With gold on black, rippling and dimming to a
pale green as they go deeper.
BOAT six. Ruth looks back at the Titanic,
transfixed by the sight of the dying liner. The bowsprit is now barely above
the waterline. Another of Boxhall's rockets explodes overhead. K-BOOM! It
lights up the whole area, and she sees half a dozen boats in the water,
spreading out from the ship.
Quartermaster Hitchens is telling to pull
forward.
"Now, there’s something we don’t see
every day," said Molly to Ruth, as the ship slowly sinking.
Cal pushes through the crowd, scanning for
Rose. Parrish and all the rest of the men are with him. Around him is chaos and
confusion. A woman is calling for a child, who has become separated from the
crowd. A man is shouting over people’s heads.
Lightoller is telling the people to get rid
of the luggage. "What is this luggage doing here? Get rid of it. Get rid
of it. We need the room. Get rid of that. Out. Let go, sir." He grabs an
old woman from her husband. "Keep calm." Then he grabs a woman.
"No!" She goes back to her husband
and kisses him. Lowe looks at them and then the lifeboat.
Cal is looking and then sees Lewis hurrying
towards him through the aisle connecting the port and starboard sides of the
boat deck.
"Lewis." Going to him. Cal had sent
Lewis to look for Rose, as always.
"She’s not on the starboard side,
either."
"We’re running out of time. And this
strutting martinet isn’t letting any men in at all." Indicating
Lightoller.
"There's one on the other side letting
men on," said Parrish.
"Well, then that’s our play. But we’re
still going to need some insurance first." He leads them on. "Come
on."
Jack and Rose went out into the corridor, but
the rising water blocked the exit to D Deck. They went to another corridor, but
lead out to a dead end. On the other side, they heard voices.
"We have to make our own exit,"
said Jack. He begins kicking, but stops when he sees Rose crying. He takes her
by the shoulders. "What’s wrong?"
"Dad ripped my drawing. I’m sorry, Jack.
I caused you nothing but trouble."
He took her into his arms, and looks deep
into her eyes. "You were never at any time trouble for me. Besides I have
to do another drawing, because that one was not perfect."
She laughs.
"Now we need to concentrate on getting
off the ship."
She looks at him for a long time. "I’m
so glad I met you. You’re the only true friend I have ever had."
He looks at her, and smiles. "Come on.
Help me."
She nods.
The widest passageway in the ship, it is used
by crew and steerage alike, and runs almost the length of the ship. Right now,
steerage passengers move along it like refugees, heading aft. A steward is
showing how to get to the stairwell, when a door is being hit on the other
side.
CRASH! The wooden door frame splinters and
the door bursts open under the force of Jack’s shoulder. Jack and Rose stumble
through into the corridor.
"Here! What do you think you’re doing?
You’ll have to pay for that, you know. That’s White Star Line property!"
shouted the steward.
"Shut up!" Jack and Rose shouted in
unison.
Jack leads her on. They join the steerage
stragglers going aft. In places, the corridor is almost completely blocked by
large families carrying all their luggage. An Irish woman gives Rose a blanket,
more for modesty than because she is blue-lipped and shivering. "Here,
lass. Cover yourself."
Jack rubs her arms and tries to warm her up
as they walk along. The woman’s husband offers them a flask of whiskey.
"This’ll take the chill off."
Rose takes a mighty belt and hands it to
Jack. He grins and follows suit. Jack tries a number of doors and iron gates
along the way, finding them all locked.
On the boat deck.
"Will you hold the boat a moment? I just
have to run back to my room--" said a woman.
Lightoller grabs her and shoves her bodily
into the boat. Thomas Andrews rushes up to him just then. "Sit down. She’s
the last. Prepare to lower."
"Mr. Lightoller, why are the boats being
launched half full?"
"Not now, Mr. Andrews."
Andrews points down at the water.
"There, look...twenty or so in a boat built for sixty-five. And I saw one
boat with only twelve. Twelve!"
"Well...we were not sure of the weight,
Mr. Andrews...these boats may buckle."
"Rubbish! They were tested in Belfast,
with the weight of seventy men. Now fill these boats, Mr. Lightoller. For God’s
sake, man!"
Lightoller looks out into the ocean.
"Please, I need more women and children."
At the steerage entrance, the door is opened
and there’s a few steerage men looking out. One of them is Fabrizio. The seamen
are telling them to get back in, that it’s not an exit.
Tommy has his hands on the bars of the steel
gate, which blocks the head of the stairwell. "You can’t keep us locked in
here like animals. The ship’s bloody sinking!"
"Bring forth the women! Unlock the
gates!"
The crew opens the gate so a few women are
squeezed through. But some terrified men, not understanding English, try to rush
through the gap, forcing the gate open. The crewmen and stewards push them
back, shoving and punching them.
"No men! No men! Get back you lot! Get
back!" To the crewmen. "Lock the gates!"
They struggle to get the gate closed again,
while steward number two brandishes a small revolver. Another holds a fire ax.
They lock the gate, and a cry goes up among the crowd, who surges forward,
pounding against the steel and shouting in several languages.
"For God’s sake, man! There are women
and children down here! Let us up, so we can have a chance!" said Tommy.
Jack and Rose come up to the locked gate.
They can hardly see anything. Tommy is coming down and he sees Jack.
"Jack!"
"Tommy, can we get out?"
"It’s hopeless that way."
"Whatever we do, we have to do it fast."
Fabrizio comes up and sees his best friend.
"Jack!"
"Fabrizio." They hug like they’re
brothers.
"The boats are all gone," said
Fabrizio.
"This whole place is flooding. We got to
get out of here," said Jack.
"There’s nothing this way."
Fabrizio sees Helga and her family. "Helga, per favore, please. Come with
me. I am lucky, is my destiny to go to Bahamas?" She kisses him, then
steps back to be with her family.
Jack lays a hand on his shoulder, his eyes
saying let’s go.
"I will never forget you," said Fabrizio.
He turns to Jack, who leads the way out of the crowd. Fabrizio, looking back,
sees Helga’s face disappear into the crowd.
"All right, let’s go this way, all
right? Come on," said Jack, holding Rose’s hand.
They four group members run off, trying to
find their way out.