A LIFE SO CHANGED
Chapter Twenty-Nine

Jack and Rose run aft, uphill, entering the galley. Behind them, the tables have become islands in a lake and the far end of the room is flooded up to the ceiling. They run through the galley and she spots the stairs. She starts up, but he grabs her hand and he leads her down.

They crouch together on the landing as Lewis runs to the stairs. Assuming they have gone up (who wouldn't?) he climbs up them two at a time. They wait for the footstep to recede. A long creaking groan, then they hear it. A crying child. Below them.

They go down a few steps to looks along the next deck. The corridor is awash, about a foot deep. Standing against the wall, about fifty feet away, is a little boy, about three. The water swirls around his legs and he is wailing.

"Help me! Dad!"

"We can’t leave him," said Rose.

Jack looks at the stair behind them, it is covering with water, running down to them. He looks at the child, then at her. "Come on."

They leave the promise of escape up the stairwell to run to the child. Jack scoops him up and they looks in front of them, a double doors, jamming with water spraying through the gap between the doors, right up the ceiling. The doors groan and start to crack under the tons of pressure.

"Dad!" The child saw the door.

They run the other way of the corridor. When they got to the end, they stop. The end has a gate, but it open by force of the water, and the water running rapidly on the floor, building up to them.

"Go back!" shouted Jack.

They run to the middle of the corridor, and see a man from the next deck. He sees his son in Jack’s arms and cries out, grabbing the boy, and pushing Jack away from them.

"You let go of my son, Boy! You son of a bitch!"

He runs on with his son in his arms to the doubled doors.

Jack looks at the other way, and then goes after the man. "No! Wait! You’re going the wrong way, come back!"

"Come back, sir! Come back!" shouted Rose.

The man ignored them, picks up his suitcase, that he had left, looks up, and gasp. The water behind the doubled doors breaks open, and thunders into the corridor. The man and child disappear instantly.

"NO!" cried Rose.

"GO!"

He pushes her in front of him to the left into another long corridor.

"GO! GO!"

Jack and Rose run as a wave blasts around the corner, foaming from floor to ceiling. It gains on them like a locomotive. The water catches up to them and they get pulled off their feet. Both are being taken down the corridor.

"Jack!"

"Rose!"

They stop, when both hit the gates. The gates are locked. He goes around her, and grabs a pole attached to the ceiling, and turns to Rose.

"Rose, grab my hand!"

Rose lets go of the gate, and struggles to him, grabs his hand, and they both go the other way to the stair to the right of them. Jack pulls Rose in front of him, and pushes her up the stairs. She gets to the top of the stairs, Jack behind her. They find themselves locked behind another gate.

"Oh God!" cried Rose.

They both look down at the stairs; the water is up to their feet.

"Help!" cried Jack.

"Help!"

A steward comes by and is about to go up a stairs in front of him. He sees them.

"Wait, sir! Sir, open the gate, please? Please!" said Jack.

"Help, please. Help us, please?" asked Rose. The steward looks at her. "Please?"

"Bloody hell." He takes out his keys.

"Hurry," said Rose.

"Come on, come on!"

The steward enters a key in the slot. It did not fit, so he tries another key.

"Come on," said Rose.

"Go, go!" Jack is getting impatient.

"Please!"

"Come on!"

The steward was trying his best not to drop the keys, but did. He looks at Rose. "I’m sorry, I dropped the keys." He runs off up the stairs.

"Wait! Please!" shouted Jack.

"Wait! Please! Don’t leave. Please, send more help! No!" cried Rose.

Jack decides to get out of here by going underwater to get the keys himself. He does. As he is looking, his hand searching, feeling only cement, until he felt the keys, he scoops them up, and goes up.

"I got ‘em. Which one is it, Rose?"

"The sharp one. Try the sharp one."

Jack gets his arm around the bar to the lock, and tries to put the key in it.

"Hurry," said Rose.

"Oh, no! Oh, no! Come on!"

"Hurry, Jack!"

Finally, he got the key to go in, but it won’t turn.

"It’s stuck!"

"Jack, hurry! Jack! Hurry, Jack!"

The water is up to their necks. He screams, so does she. Suddenly, the key turned.

"I got it!" He opens the gate. "Go, Rose, go, go!" He pulls her out, and she grabs a hold of the pole attached to the ceiling, and get to the stairs, it’s now up to her chest.

"Jack? Jack, come on!"

Jack comes up from the water behind her, and pushes her forward. "Move, Rose."

Outside the ship, the bow is sinking more and more. People are trying to get away from the cold water.

On the Starboard side, crewmen are trying to get one of the collapsibles down from the roof of the Officers’ quarters. Tommy and Fabrizio come running over. The collapsible is brought down, but it lands onto the oars.

Murdoch comes down off the roof and goes over the stairs. He sees the water pouring from one of the rooms. He then goes back and tells the crewmen what to do.

Cal and Parrish come reeling out of the First class entrance, looking wild-eyed. Lewis finally caught up to them. Cal looks at him, and see that Rose is not with him. For he knew Lewis had failed. Lewis hands the gun to Cal, and Cal hands the gun to Parrish, and Parrish puts it in his waistband.

Men are running toward the direction, where Cal wants to go. Cal moves off to the side to see how many people are there. Just aft of the bridge, he sees Murdoch and a number of crewmen, struggling to drag the boats to the davits, with no luck.

Lightoller, with a group of crew and passengers, is trying to get Collapsible B down from the roof. They slide it down with a pair of oars leaned against the deckhouse.

"Hold it! Hold it!" shouted Lightoller.

The weight of the boat snaps the oars and it crashes to the deck, upside down. The two Swedish cousins, Olaus and Bjorn Gundersen, jump back as the boat nearly hits them.

Jack and Rose run up the seemingly endless stairs as the ship groans and torques around them.

On the bridge, a guy falls into the water. The passengers can’t wait any longer.

"Stay back!" shouted Murdoch, pointing a gun to them.

"Will you give us the chance to live, you limey bastard!" said Tommy.

"I’ll shoot any man, who tries to get past me! Get back!"

"Bastard!"

Cal pushes forward. Murdoch points his gun at him. "Get back!"

"We had a deal!"

Murdoch takes the money from his pocket, and throws it in Cal’s face. "Your money can’t save you anymore, as it can save me." Cal moves back. Passengers are still wanting forward. "Get back!"

In the crowd, a man tries to get ahead of a few men and so Murdoch shoots him. He goes down like the three-fingered man in Mask of Zorro. A man was pushed and he pushed into Tommy, so Murdoch thought Tommy was trying to come forward, so Murdoch shot him. Fabrizio says something in Italian. Murdoch couldn’t believe it, so he goes over to the side. He looks over at McElroy, and salutes, and points his gun to his temple.

"No, Will!" shouted McElroy.

BLAM! He drops like a puppet with the strings cut and topples over the edge of the boat deck into the water only a few feet below. Cal stares in horror at Murdoch's body bobbing in the black water. The rest of the money floats out of the pocket of his greatcoat, the bills spreading across the surface.

The crew rush to get the last few women aboard the boat.

"Any more women or children?" McElroy, calling above the confusion.

On Lightoller’s side, the crew got the collapsible down, but it fell on top of a few people.

Cal comes to Parrish and Lewis, but stops and saw a little girl crying, and he picks her up. He goes back, Parrish and Lewis follows him.

"I have a child! Please!"

McElroy sees them, and pushes the passengers. "Clear a path." Cal and the rest get to him. "Go on." They all climb over into the life boat.

"Here, give her to me," said a lady, so Cal gave the little girl to her.

"Women and children only!" shouted McElroy.

Thomas Andrews stands in front of the fireplace, staring at the large painting above the mantle. The fire is still going in the fireplace.

The room is empty except for Andrews. An ashtray falls off the table. Behind him Jack and Rose run into the room, out of breath and soaked. They run through, toward the aft revolving door then Rose notices him. She sees that his life belt is off, lying on a table.

"Wait, wait, wait. Mr. Andrews?"

"My dear--"

"Won’t you even make a try for it?"

"I’m sorry that I didn’t build you a stronger ship, my dear." A tear rolls down his cheek.

Jack grabs her arm gently. "It’s going fast. We have to move."

"Wait." He hands her his life belt. "Good luck to you, my dear."

"And to you." She gives him a hug.

Jack pulls her away and they run through the revolving door.

Jack stops and helps put the life belt on Rose, as he was doing it, she looks at him with concern.

"Jack, why is Mr. Andrews choosing to die?"

"I don’t know. Maybe he’s choosing to go down with the ship, because he is an honorable man, who could not leave the thing he most loved."

"I know how he feels." She looks at him lovingly.

He kisses and hugs her.

"We will make it, Rose. Trust me."

"I trust you."

Chapter Thirty
Stories