A DEEP OCEAN OF SECRETS
Chapter Twenty-Four
Time seemed to stop for
Elisabeth. The wails and screams had faded away, the only sound filling her
ears the lapping of the water. Elisabeth was shaking uncontrollably, her teeth
chattering nonstop, her hair frozen and matted down to her head, her lips not
even red anymore but blue, and her skin was tinted blue. She was out all alone.
She couldn’t think about anything, wanted to cry, but couldn’t find the tears
to shed. She still clung to the deck chair, trying to keep most of her body out
of the water. Now, she was lying halfway on the chair and halfway off. The
skirts of her dress were also halfway on the board, the ones not in the water
frozen to the chair.
Elisabeth glanced at the stars,
the only light reflecting into her sad, cold, helpless emerald eyes. She
couldn’t stop shaking, and couldn’t stop thinking about the pain. But right
now, the pain was starting to lessen. She almost felt…peaceful. Letting out an
exasperated sigh, she glanced up at the stars, praying.
*****
Rose didn’t know how long it had
been. Seconds, minutes, hours…it felt all the same to her. She was still
holding onto Jack’s hand, and they were both shivering like leaves on a tree in
the wind. Rose was leaning towards Jack vertically, their foreheads nearly
touching one another’s. Rose could feel her clothes frozen to the board. She,
too, was nearly feeling peaceful.
"I hope Elisabeth is
safe," Rose whispered, staring into the water.
Jack nodded his head. "She
is, Rose. I know she is."
Rose looked down into the water.
"Come Josephine in my flying machine…going up she goes…" she
tried to sing, but her voice came out croaky and hoarse in the cold.
"Jack…"
"We have a song. That’s our
song, Rose. Our song," Jack said weakly, his body shivering
uncontrollably. He looked up at Rose with sad eyes. Hers seemed to be hollow,
empty…like she wasn’t even alive in her mind. He squeezed her hand reassuringly.
Rose looked around. "It’s
getting quiet," she mumbled, her lips shivering.
Jack was shivering more,
considering he was in the water. But he looked up at Rose with reassuring eyes.
"It will be just a few more minutes," he tried to say, but was
finding it harder and harder to breathe. "It will take them just a couple
of minutes to get the boats back." Jack saw Rose’s expression and felt
like he needed to lighten her up somehow. Everyone was dying around them, and
they were in dire need of hope. "I don’t know about you, but I intend to
write a strongly-worded letter to the White Star Line about this," he
tried to joke, his voice raspy.
Rose let out a small chuckle, but
it sounded more like a gasp of fear. She looked at Jack’s face and found his
beautiful blue eyes in the dim light from the stars. "I love you,
Jack," she said softly, trembling, after a pause. And she meant it with
all of her heart.
Jack looked at her, thinking that
she was giving up. And in her mind, she was. He had to make her stay strong.
"No, Rose," he began, choking on the words he was trying to say
because of the cold. "Don’t you say your good-byes. Don’t you give
up."
Rose seemed to look right through
him. "I’m so cold," she tried to say, her voice a little more than a
whisper.
Jack squeezed Rose’s hand and got
eye contact. Their foreheads were inches from one another. "R-Rose, listen
to me. Y-y-you’re going to get o-out of t-t-this. You’re going to g-go on, and
make lots of b-babies, and watch them grow…y-y-you’re going to die an o-old
lady, warm in your bed…not here, not this n-night. Do you understand me?"
Rose was still shivering. "I
can’t feel my body."
Jack felt like he was about to
lose her. He gathered his breath and all the force he had to say what he needed
to say. "Rose, l-listen to me. Winning that ticket was the b-b-best thing
that ever happened to me. It b-b-brought me to you." By this time, Jack
was having a hard time trying to speak in the cold. He felt himself freezing,
but at the same time, he felt peaceful. "It brought me to you, Rose. And
I’m thankful." Rose let out a sob, grasping his hand hard, not planning to
let go. His lips were trembling and blue, but his eyes were unwavering.
"You must do m-me this honor…t-t-that you will n-n-never give up…no
m-m-matter w-what happens…no m-m-matter how hopeless…" He looked at Rose
in the eyes and said forcefully, "Promise me n-now, Rose!"
She breathed. "I
promise," she tried to say, as loud as she could.
Jack nodded. "And n-n-never
let go of t-t-that promise."
Rose let out another sob, then
another, then another. Her breath was heavy in the freezing air, her mind
swirling every which way. But what she could focus on was Jack, and she nodded
her head. "I’ll never let go, Jack," she said, trembling. "I’ll
never let go."
Jack tried to smile, and he kissed
the hand that was intertwined with his. "I love you, too, Rose," he
whispered, his voice barely audible. Rose didn’t hear him, but in her heart she
knew that he already did. They had been together through so much, good and bad,
and she was not going to ever let go. Ever. He nodded reassuringly at her, and
she nodded softly back.
*****
Elisabeth stared up at the galaxy
of stars above her. A shooting star shot across the sky and she smiled faintly
to herself. "Make a wish," she said, her voice trembling. She turned
her head and looked around--death surrounded her. She wanted to close her eyes
so badly, but at the same time, couldn’t allow herself to. She hoped Jack and
Rose were all right. The last time she had seen them was when Rose had jumped
out of the lifeboat.
Elisabeth didn’t know the time.
She was beginning to lose all hope. She couldn’t keep fighting anymore.
Everything was quiet, the lapping of the water the only thing she could hear.
*****
It was quiet. Rose had turned
onto her back, staring up at the dark sky and stars. Her hand was still
grasping Jack’s, frozen onto the wood. They were both absolutely still, but
Rose’s mouth moved gently as she sang her and Jack’s song. It came peacefully,
and she felt that way, too. She was numb from the cold, and she was glad for
it.
"Come Josephine in my
flying machine…going up she goes…" Her voice was raspy and barely
audible, but with the silence of the environment around her, she could hear
herself clearly. Her hair was frozen to the wood, spread out behind her like a
magical lake. Her skirts were frozen to her legs, providing her not much
comfort. She and Jack’s hands were frozen together, frozen upon the wood. As
Rose looked up, she saw a shooting star flying across the sky. She remembered
Jack telling her that a shooting star was a soul going to heaven, and she knew
that many souls were going to heaven that night.
Rose suddenly heard a faint voice
calling out. She turned her head slowly to the side, not moving any other part
of her body. She looked into the darkness and saw a boat rowing through all of
the dead, frozen bodies. There was a man with a flashlight, calling out to see
if anyone would reply. The beam of light from the flashlight shot across her
body and floated past her. They didn’t see that she was alive. The boat was
fifty feet away, and they didn’t even see that she was alive.
Rose lifted her head and turned
to Jack. His chin and hair were frozen to the wood, along with his hands,
grasping Rose’s. His eyes were closed and he looked peaceful. He wasn’t
shivering. Rose was beginning to feel uneasy. "Jack," she mumbled,
her voice croaky and barely audible.
No response.
Rose shook his hand, getting
worried. "Jack!" She tried again. She looked at him, and saw that his
face and hair were rimed with frost. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully.
But he wasn’t.
But Rose didn’t believe it.
"Jack," she tried again with more force, shaking his hand.
"Jack!" She felt tears prickling at her eyes. "There’s a boat,
Jack!" Her voice seemed to drift right past him.
Rose looked at Jack a moment
longer and realized what had happened. Jack had frozen to death. Rose leaned
her forehead into Jack’s, which was frozen, and closed her eyes. Everything she
had gained on board Titanic was now lost. What reason did she have to go on?
No, not lost…
Rose remembered the promise she
had made to Jack. She opened her eyes and lifted her head, staring up after the
boat. Her hair ripped from the board, as it had frozen there. She called out,
but her voice was not even a whisper, she was so weak. She sat up more and
waved the hand that wasn’t connected to Jack’s. "Wait! Come back!"
she croaked as loud as she could. "Come back! Come back!"
But it was no use. They couldn’t
hear her. Rose knew she had to survive. She looked down at Jack for a minute.
Then she gently ripped her hand from Jack’s, breaking the ice that securely
held them together. Tears ran down her cheeks as she kissed Jack’s limp,
frozen, lifeless hand. "I’ll never let go. I promise," she whispered,
and with one last kiss, she let Jack go. He sank down into the deep water, the
darkness surrounding him and engulfing him. Rose stared after him, choking back
sobs, his image never disappearing from her mind.
She watched the water for a
moment longer, then looked up. She looked to her left and saw an officer with a
whistle in his mouth, dead. Suddenly, she got an idea. With all of her
strength, she rolled off the piece of wood and dog-paddled over to the officer
floating nearby. The cold didn’t bother her as much, since she was completely
frozen. She took the whistle from the officer’s mouth and started to blow.
The men in the boat heard Rose
and they turned around. But she didn’t stop blowing until they had grasped her
firmly around the waist and pulled her into the lifeboat. To safety.