A DEEP OCEAN OF SECRETS
Chapter Twenty-Three

Rose and Jack ran out of the palm court, out of breath, joining the crowd. Rose’s hands flung to her ears to try to break the noise. She had been crying. Jack looked at her and gently pulled her hands away from her ears. She opened her eyes and Jack kissed her forehead. He grabbed her hand and rushed her out into the crowd. They ran up along the tilting deck and looked down. The bridge was completely underwater. The bow was completely covered by water.

The ends of Jack’s hair were still wet and stuck to his forehead. "We have to stay on the ship as long as possible!" He looked down at Rose, who nodded at him. That was all she could do. Jack climbed over the A-Deck railing first, then practically pulled Rose over, more than helping her. He jumped down over the next railing, and then pulled her down, as well. They were just aft of the bridge behind them, and the water was rising up the deck.

Jack took Rose’s cold, clammy hand. Around them was chaos. People were clawing one another to get up the stairs, which were very narrow, up to the well deck. Jack pushed through the crowd, Rose right on his heels, and as they reached the bottom step, Rose was tripped and fell forward, slamming into Jack. He turned around just in time and caught her, Rose falling into his arms. Rose’s hands grasped his forearms as his hands grasped hers. Her hair fell in her face a certain way that made Jack kiss her quickly but lovingly. "Come on, Rose," he said. "We can get through this. Trust me."

Rose’s eyes gleamed with tears. Her head tilted up, looking into Jack’s blue eyes, and she nodded. "I trust you," she breathed. Jack grabbed her hand and pulled her through the crowd. As they pushed through the hundreds of people trying to stay on the boat, there was a priest quoting from the bible and many people surrounding him, their eyes closed and crying. The man in front of Jack was walking like a zombie up the well deck as he was pushed from behind. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death—" he was mumbling, but Jack cut him off.

"You wanna walk through that valley a little faster?" Jack asked, getting impatient. He was at his last nerve as he pulled Rose up the stairs and onto the poop deck.

They struggled, but managed to get onto the deck. People around the young lovers were crying, screaming, calling out names, and jumping into the icy Atlantic beneath the tilting ship. Rose leaned into Jack, and he wrapped an arm around her protectively. The side of her face was pressed into his shoulder, her hair matted against her face. She felt safer in his arms. She looked around, horrified, the expression clearly written on her face. Jack’s hair was matted on his forehead as he looked around, trying to find a safer place for them to be. But everything looked the same.

Jack pulled Rose up the deck to the stern rail, where they had met only a couple of nights ago when Rose had tried to kill herself. He wrapped one arm around the rail and the other around Rose as she grasped the rail as well. Rose looked around frantically. She was scared for her life. But when she realized where she was, a slight half-smile formed on her face.

She looked up at Jack, who was staring around him. "Jack," she said, and he looked down at her. "This is where we first met!" Jack realized she was right and kissed the top of her hair, pulling her close. She smiled, and he rested his cheek on top of her head, wishing this could all be over. His expression was grim, however, and he was beginning to doubt whether he and Rose would get out alive.

Suddenly, there was an ear-splitting screech as the bow and stern ripped apart in the middle section of the boat. The sound was horrific and Rose shuddered at the noise. The stern flew down levelly onto the water, Jack and Rose grabbing the rail with all their might to stay on. Rose’s jaw hit the rail and she screamed, but tried to brush by the pain. Many people screamed that God was saving them. Rose looked around hopefully, then at Jack, but he shook his head grimly. The ship was still going to sink. The Titanic was still going to die. Rose looked around, the water splashing up around them and the stern of the ship. A girl, looking no older than herself, was hanging on the rail below her, lying on the deck. It looked like she was dead. Her face was cut on the cheek and her eyes were wide open, but she didn’t blink. Rose shuddered again and turned away.

The stern began to rise again, the sunken bow’s weight pulling it up. As it went vertical, the bow detached and sank. Rose watched in horror as the girl’s body in particular flew down the decks. It was now obvious that she was dead. Rose looked up at Jack, knowing that the end was coming.

"Jack!" she cried. He looked down at her, not saying anything. She didn’t either, but Jack’s eyes promised that they would get out alive. The stern bobbed like a cork. In minutes, the stern would be completely gone. And by the tilting, if they didn’t move, they would be thrown off the boat by the angle.

"We have to move!" Jack cried. He quickly climbed over the railing, nothing behind him but a steep drop and air. "Come on! I’ve got you!" He grabbed Rose’s hand and helped pull her over next. They leaned against the railing, stiff, cold, and scared. Rose’s hair was stuck to her face, the cold shooting all over her body, stabbing her like a thousand knives. Jack had never been so right in his life. Jack clung to the rail, glancing down at the water and at Rose. She looked like she was about to freeze, and he knew it would only get worse when they hit the water. He said a silent prayer, hoping that they would get out alive.

"What’s happening, Jack?" Rose cried in shock. Her mind was swirling.

"I don’t know, Rose!" Jack replied, just as loud and just as in shock. They stern was flooding, sinking closer and closer to the water. In seconds, the stern would be completely gone. This was their time to prepare. "The ship will suck us down. Take a deep breath and hold it right before we get to the water. Kick to the surface, and keep kicking! Don’t let go of my hand." Rose looked at him, then at the water. "We’re gonna make it. Trust me, Rose."

Rose looked up at him and nodded. "I trust you," she said firmly. The stern was only feet away from its death. Jack could only hope the water wouldn’t be as cold as he remembered it being an hour ago. "This is it!" Jack cried, desperately not wanting to say those words. "On the count of three. One…two…three!" He and Rose took big gulps of air, and just as they did, the Titanic vanished underneath the water. The stern was gone into the vast and dark ocean. For the first time since striking the iceberg, it looked calm.

Under the surface, it was a different story. People were tossed every which way like rag dolls, limp, sucked down by the mighty vortex. The water was five degrees below freezing, and it was unbearable for Rose and Jack. Or for anybody, for that matter. Jack’s hand was tightly gripped around Rose’s as they kicked toward the surface. It was getting hard to hold their breaths. Suddenly, Rose’s hand was ripped from Jack’s, and he floated away from her vision. She panicked and continued to kick. In a flash, she broke the surface, her hair thrown behind her, her breath visible in the air. She exhaled like it was the first time in years. And for her, it seemed like it was.

She looked around frantically, her lifebelt preventing her from doing much turning around in the water. People all around her were screaming, waving their arms, and calling back to the boats. Chaos, in Rose’s mind. But all she could think about was finding Jack. The water stung her skin like needles, thorns, anything prickly. "Jack!" she screamed. "Jack! Jack!" Her eyes darted around, but she didn’t see him anywhere.

As she was about to call out again, a frantic man suddenly came up from behind her and grabbed her, forcing her under. She screamed as she was dunked under the water, used for a floating device. A second later, she resurfaced, gasping for air, waving her arms, trying to protest, before she was dunked underwater again. She was being used as a floatation device. As she resurfaced again, Jack was right in front of her. She tried to call his name, but couldn’t. "Get off her!" Jack screamed, and punched the man in the jaw, throwing him off of Rose. His hair stuck to his forehead, but his eyes gleamed like they did on deck when they spotted the iceberg. "You all right?" he asked Rose. All she could do was nod yes. "Swim for me, Rose!" He grabbed her hand, and they began to swim away, looking for anything to float on. Rose’s lifejacket was holding her back, but she didn’t want to take it off. Jack pulled her along out of the crowd, where there was less chaos. "Keep moving, Rose. Come on!"

In front of him was a medium-sized piece of broken wood. Its intricate designs looked like it came from first class. But at that point, Jack and Rose didn’t care which class it was from. All that Jack really cared about was getting Rose on that wood. "Come on, Rose! Get on!" Jack instructed through chattering teeth. He literally couldn’t stop shaking. Rose swam up beside him and he helped her slither up onto the wood. Her limbs weren’t working all the way, and she felt like she should just die. But she continued to tell herself she had something to live for--Jack.

But when Jack tried to get on the wood, it tilted and submerged, nearly dumping Rose off. Clearly, the wood was only big enough to hold one person. And that one person was Rose. Jack didn’t try again, knowing that he couldn’t get on. So he clung to the side, taking Rose’s hand reassuringly, trying to keep the upper part of his body out of the water as best he could. Jack and Rose’s breath panted around them in a cloud of cold mist, clearly seen in the freezing air. The screams were still loud, but not as loud as when the Titanic had just sank. Rose could still see the beautiful ocean liner, and seeing everything around her, she felt as if she wanted to cry.

"Hang on for just a little bit longer, Rose," Jack said, his voice trembling in the cold. His and Rose’s hands were connected, freezing to the wood Rose was lying upon. "The boats had to row away from the suction, but now they’ll be coming back." Rose could only pray that he was right.

*****

On Collapsible A, things were in utter chaos. People from the water were trying to make it into the boat, and Cal kept pushing them away with his oar. Elisabeth was standing up, shaking in the cold and not saying a word, scared of what was going to happen. At that moment, she was frightened of Cal more than she had ever been in her life.

"Get back! You’ll swamp us!" Cal kept shouting, and beating at the people trying to get into the boat.

As the boat rocked with the waves created by the sinking, the oar, and the people, Elisabeth felt like she was going to lose her balance. Suddenly, a hand wrapped around her ankle, the cold shooting through her body. She spun around, but as she did, she tripped and fell headfirst into the water. The water was colder than she could ever imagine. It had seemed less intense onboard the ship. Her lifebelt made her float to the top, and when she floated up, she gasped for air like it was the first time in her life. Her hair was flung behind her, her lips were already turning blue, and her skin was ghostly pale. She gasped again, the cold trying to drown her.

She blinked a couple of times and saw that the boat she had been in was so crowded that she didn’t even have a chance to try to get back in. Not even wanting to try, she spun around and started to swim away from the crowd, trying to find anything to keep her afloat. Her legs were starting to stiffen, and she knew that if she didn’t find something fast, she would probably end up drowning.

The screams were still loud, but at the same time dying down, maybe because so many people were dying. Elisabeth looked around, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a deck chair floating to her right. Gasping when she saw it, she spun around and headed straight for the piece of wood. She grabbed it like she was madly in love with it. She had no strength to pull herself all the way out of the water, so she leaned on the side of the deck chair, trying to keep the upper part of her body out of the water. She grasped the sides of the deck chair and looked around her. People were dying all around her, and at that moment, she felt like dying herself.

Chapter Twenty-Four
Stories