ALMOST TOO LATE
Chapter Eight
Jack shook his head and fought the panic
down. He glanced over and saw a bench. "Tommy, Fabrizio, help me with
this." Jack and Tommy tore the bench from the floor and used it to break
the gate down. Jack was through almost before he realized it. As he helped some
other people though, Jack thought of Jolie. He turned to Fabrizio and asked,
"Have you seen Jolie?"
He answered as best he could. "I think
she was waiting to be taken up by the stewards."
Jack was relieved that he didn’t have to
worry about her. It was one thing to not want to marry her, but to leave her to
die…well, Jack wasn’t like that. "I guess she knows how to take care of
herself, then."
"Yes."
Jack followed Tommy and Fabrizio up and out
onto the boat deck. Glancing around, they saw that everybody was down towards
the stern of the ship, and started to run that way. Jack looked up as he ran
and saw Rose stepping into a lifeboat. "Rose! Rose!" But he couldn’t
be heard. He ran up, just as the lifeboat was being lowered. He gazed down at
her, and was surprised to see that she looked up. He thought he could faintly
hear her call his name. He raised his hand to wave good-bye.
Rose looked up and saw Jack looking down at
her. "Jack!" she yelled. She tried to stand up, but her mother pulled
her back down. "Sit down, Rose. You’ll tip us over!" But Rose still
looked up at Jack, feeling as if her heart was breaking. I never even got to
tell him how I felt. Rose’s prayer that Jack would make it was just one of
many said on the water that night.
Jack looked away finally, and turned to see
Fabrizio and Tommy waiting for him. "Come on," he said. "We need
to find a way to get off, too." He looked and saw that even though there
were many people, there didn’t look to be enough lifeboats.
*****
Jack, Tommy and Fabrizio were lucky. An
officer picked them to man a boat because there were no crewmembers to send.
All three of them were able to get off in the same boat. As the hours in the
boat went by, Jack tried to keep busy. He volunteered to go with the officer
who wanted to go back and look for survivors. He tried to make sure that
everyone stayed as warm as possible. He was the last to leave his lifeboat when
they were rescued, except for the officer. He wandered aimlessly around the
decks of the Carpathia. He wanted to go look for Rose, but wasn’t sure what
he’d say to her. The decks were filled with new widows and fatherless children.
And he was here. He felt a deep sadness, and tried to get the widows and
children to smile, but there was too much gloom. Finally, he walked over and
leaned against the rail, looking out at the water. He had so much to be
thankful for, especially his own life.
And that was how Rose found him. Leaning
against the rail, and what a sight he was. Her heart filled with longing. She
walked up and put her arms around him. She felt him turn in her arms, and the
felt his arms go over her shoulders. "Rose…"
"No, Jack. We’ll talk later." And
she tipped her head back and looked into his eyes. She closed hers and felt his
lips close over hers.
The End.