A LIFE SO CHANGED
Chapter Thirty-One

Somewhere in the ship, the body of a girl spins around and around. Plates fall and break.

A lifeboat is watching and the guy in charge tells them to bloody pull faster and pull.

More passengers are falling as the stern rises, rises, and rises. Water is coming down like a waterfall still.

On the deck, people are walking up and some are sliding down. Jack shows how much this frightens him, when he saw all the people slide down from him.

In the closed promenade, it’s a slide. People are sliding down to the icy, cold water. More plates break.

In the stateroom, a drawer breaks, and a bed moves to the wall, crashing everywhere.

A woman is holding onto a man. "Hang on, Ma’am." But she slips away, screaming to the water.

Water sprays up from the ship, either a hole or the tunnels. The ship is still rising. Baker Joughin rises over the railing. The guy next to him loses his balance and falls. By the time he hits, he’s dead.

Joughin looks down when another passenger falls right into the propeller blades. He’s a goner after that. Joughin takes a sip of his brandy that he brought with him. Suddenly a creak and a clunk roar underneath them.

"Hold on. Hold on tight," said Jack, holding her all he can. She is holding on with both hands on the rail.

In lifeboat six, Ruth is in awe by the sight of the ship. Half of the ship is under, while the other half is out of the water. Ruth had only one thing in her mind, and that was Rose. Whenever she worries about her, she has her favorite song to calm herself down. She starts singing, not realizing she doing it out loud.

"I pray you'll be my eyes, and watch her where she goes, and help her to be wise, help me to let go. Every mother's prayer, every child knows. Lead her to a place; guide her with your grace, to a place where she'll be safe. Lead her to a place, guide her with your grace, to a place where she'll be safe."

As she stops, she whispers to herself. "Take care of her, Jack."

Molly stares at the ship. "God ‘O Mighty."

Bruce Ismay turns from the sight. For he bears an outrageous pain in his heart, and guilt for what he has done.

In the Engine room, Chief Officer Bell and some other men are trying desperately to keep Titanic bright. One guy goes over to the switches, but gets electrified. The lights go out and the ship groans like a hurt whale crying. The passengers scream when the lights went out.

Passengers are still splashing into the water while others try to keep cool. The ship is breaking and it so happens that a man is standing at the very spot. The room below breaks. The walls come crashing down. Half-and-half of the ship is now in two.

Jack and Rose fall with the rest of the screaming passengers. Her face caught with the biggest gasp in her life. Two men fall into the hole. The stern falls back onto the people in the water.

Just like a hockey game, screams rise up into the air. A big wave goes over the passengers. Some fall from the rail. The third and fourth tunnels that are left fall down. Water is taken into the gap and fills the bow. The stern rises up again and Jack accidentally hits Rose in the nose, for they try to hold on. As the stern rises, many passengers slide down the deck.

"We have to move!" said Jack, looking at the passengers sliding. He climbs over the railing. "Give me your hand. I’ll pull you over."

"I can’t!"

"Come on. Give me your hand. Give me your hand." He grabs a hold of her hand. Behind her, passengers are screaming and falling, her face tells it all, she is so scared. "I’ve got you. I won’t let go." She looks at him again with trust, as before. "Come on. I’ve got you." The stern rises as he helps her over. It is the same place he pulled her over the rail two nights earlier, going the other direction. Finally the stern is up in the air.

"What’s happening, Jack?"

"I don’t know. I don’t know."

A man hanging from the pole lost his balance, and Rose saw him. He is now barely hanging on.

Jack is trying to get in a better position. As he put his knee on the next level of the rail, he slips.

"Jack!" She grabs a hold of his arm.

"That was close."

She puts her face on his shoulder, wishing this were all over.

As the ship stays still in the air, it creaks. Many passengers desperately try and hold on, but can’t do it. Helga is scared. She looks up at Rose, and then at her hands. She lets go and falls screaming all the way down. Rose closes her eyes for a second, then looks over at Baker Joughin at her right. He looks at her briefly.

Finally the ship starts to move, like an elevator.

"This is it!" said Jack.

As the ship is sinking, it gathers speed. The boiling surface engulfs the docking bridge and then the rest as each part goes under.

"Oh, God! Oh, God!" cried Rose, staring at the freezing water.

"Hold on!" said Jack, holding her tight.

"Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God!"

The propellers finally go under. It looks like something is plugging a drain and water squirts out. Many passengers still fall, but not a big fall. Jack and Rose are holding hands.

"The ship is going to suck us down. Take a deep breath when I say. Kick for the surface and keep kicking. Do not let go of my hand."

She nods. The water is just a few yards away.

"We’re going it make it, Rose. Trust me."

She stares at the water coming up at them, and grips his hand harder. "I trust you."

The word Liverpool goes under. The water is just a few inches away from them now.

"Ready? Ready? Now!"

Both take a deep breath. The sinking of Titanic is finally done. Underneath the water, Jack, Rose, and many passengers are desperately trying to escape the suction that the stern is leaving behind.

Jack and Rose kick and go in circles. Jack grabs a hold of her, but is pulled away from her. She tries to reach out for him, but he is gone.

On the surface, she takes a big breath. Many passengers are splashing around calling for help.

"Jack! Jack! Jack! Jack! Jack!"

Her screams are no match for the other screams. Almost all fifteen hundred souls are screaming for help. Two men are fighting over a barrel.

Rose is looking for Jack. She swims calling his name. A man is trying to stay a float, takes a hold of her and pushes her under.

"NO!" When she came up, but being pushed again under, and calling a couple of times calling Jack.

Out of the blue, Jack sees her being pulled under and swims over. "Rose! Get off her! Get off her!" He punches the guy, and the guy lets go of her. "Rose!"

She finally catches her breath and sees him. "Jack!"

"Swim, Rose! I need you to swim!" He grabs a hold of her life belt, and drags her along with him. "Keep swimming!"

"It’s so cold!"

"I know! I know! Help me, here! Look around! Look for something floating!"

His words keep her focused, taking her mind off the wailing around them. Rose tells Jack to stop for a minute. She turns and screams. A devil is right in from of her face. It is the black French bulldog, swimming right at her like a sea monster in the darkness, its coal eyes bugging. It motors past her, like it is headed for the Bahamas.

"What’s wrong?" For he did not see it. She pointed at it, and he held her as he pushed the dog away from them. "Rose! Rose, look!"

She sees what is pointing to, and they make it for it together. It is a piece of wooden driftwood, intricately carved. He pushes her up and she slithers onto it, belly down. But when he tries to get up onto the thing, it tilts and submerges, almost dumping her off. It is clearly only big enough to support her. He clings to it, close to her, keeping his upper body out of the water as best he can. Their breath floats around them in a cloud as they pant from exertion.

A man swims towards them, homing in on the driftwood. Jack warns him back.

"It just enough for this lady, you’ll push it under!"

"Let me try at least, or I’ll die soon." With a pleading look.

"You’ll die quicker if you come any closer!"

"Yes, I see. Good luck to you then." He swims off.

"Stay on it. Stay on it, Rose."

He knows he can’t get on, so he moves to the front where he can talk to her calmly. Cries from other people can be heard all round.

"It’ll be all right now," said Jack, calmly.

Chief Officer Wilde starts blowing his whistle. He is a few feet away from them. "Return the boats!" He whistles again.

"The boats are coming back for us, Love. Hold on just a little longer. They had...had to row away from the suction, but now they’ll be coming back."

She nods, his words helping her. She is shivering uncontrollably, her lips blue and her teeth chattering. She looks over from him, and sees the crying passengers.

"Come back! For God’s sake!" shouted a woman.

"Please! Help us!" shouted a man.

In lifeboat six, Molly, Ruth, and the rest of the women, are listening in agony. Molly wants to help.

"You don’t understand. If we go back, they’ll swamp the boats, pulling us right down, I’m telling you," said Hitchens.

"Knock it off! You’re scaring me." Molly turns to the women. "Come on, girls. Grab an oar. Let’s go."

"Are you out of your mind?" shouted Hitchens. "We’re in the middle of North Atlantic. Now do you people want to live or do you want to die?"

"I don’t understand the one of ya. What’s the matter with ya? It’s our men out there." Molly sees Pearl Walker crying for her husband. "We already lost the Fosters and Rose. There’s plenty of room for more!"

"And there will be one less on this boat if you don’t shut that hole in your face!"

Molly looks at Hitchens, then sits down. What can she do? Next to her, Ruth can’t stand of losing her husband or her daughter, so she covers her ears, and close her eyes.

Four lifeboats are floating with one another. They’re exchanging robes to tie each one up together.

"Bring in your oars over there and tie these two boats as well," said Lowe. He looks back where the screams are coming from and so does everybody else. "Now make sure that’s tied up nice and tight." He looks back again. "Right. Listen to me, Men. We got to go back. I want to transfer all the women from this boat into that boat right now. As quick as you can, please. Let’s get some space into there. Move forward and up."

The women start to climb. Some are helping them out into another boat.

Officer Wilde has stopped whistling, mostly because he has died from the coldness.

The cries have now completely quieted down.

Jack and Rose drift under the blazing stars. The water is glassy, with only the faintest undulating swell. She can actually see the stars reflecting on the black mirror of the sea. He rubs her arms. His face is chalk white in the darkness. A low moaning in the darkness around them.

"It's getting quiet," said Rose.

"Just a few more minutes. It'll take them a while to get the boats organized."

She is unmoving, just staring at the driftwood on her.

"I don't know about you, but I intend to write a strongly worded letter to the White Star Line about all this." She laughs weakly, but it sounds like a gasp of fear. She finds his eyes in the dim light. For she knows the truth. There won't be any boats. Now she must tell him what she had wanted to tell him.

"I love you, Jack."

He takes her hand. "Don’t you do that. Don't say your good-byes. Not yet. Do you understand me?"

"I'm so cold."

"Listen, Rose. You're going to get out of here. You're going to go on and you're going to make lots of babies and you’re going to watch them grow and you're going to die an old lady, warm in your bed. Not here. Not this night. Do you understand me?"

"I can't feel my body."

"Winning that ticket, Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me." Jack is having trouble getting the breath to speak. "It brought me to you. And I'm thankful, Rose. I'm thankful." She is crying. His voice is trembling with the cold, which is working its way to his heart. But his eyes are unwavering. "You must...you must do me this honor. You must promise me you will survive...that you will never give up..."

She sobs.

"...no matter what happens...no matter how hopeless...promise me now, Rose, and never let go of that promise."

"I promise."

"Never let go."

"I will never let go, Jack. I'll never let go."

He kisses her hand and smiles. She grips his hand and they lie with their heads together. It is quiet now, except for the lapping of the water.

Chapter Thirty-Two
Stories