It was a quiet night. Rose DeWitt Bukater was floating on a wall panel in the freezing water. She looked up at the sky and saw three shooting stars pass overhead. Another soul going to heaven, she thought. She was alone. She knew that. Her sweetheart, Jack Dawson, had told her not to let go of his hand when they hit the water, but, as stupid as she was, she had. Rose had never meant to, but they got separated, and now she didn't know if Jack was alive at all. So, she stared up at the sky, waiting to die, waiting to live—who really knew what their fate was going to be at this point?
"Come Josephine…in my flying…machine…it's up…she goes…up she goes…" she sang in a very hoarse voice.
*****
"Hello! Is anybody alive out there?" called Fifth Officer Harold Lowe, shining a flashlight onto the frozen faces of the passengers. "Hello?" A man nearby was standing on a piece of the deck. He didn't speak English, but called in a foreign language and tried to fully stand up.
"We're coming!" called Third Officer Herbert Pitman. "Hold on!" The man was Chinese. He almost toppled off the piece of the deck.
"Easy, now," said Fourth Officer Joseph Boxhall, helping the man into the boat.
"Get a blanket on him!" shouted Second Officer Charles Lightoller, and Pitman and Boxhall handed him a blanket.
"Keep paddling, men," said Lowe, and Seventh Officer Robert Johnston and Ninth Officer Thaddeus Brighton paddled forward. "Don't hit them!"
"The rest are dead, sir!" said Pitman.
"Keep checking them!" snapped Lowe. He shone the light over a floating table, where a little girl was sitting. She looked up at them, frightened. "Over there!"
"I see her," said Boxhall. They paddled over and Lightoller reached down and picked up the little girl.
"You all right, sweetheart?" he asked. The little girl nodded as Pitman wrapped a blanket around her. Johnston and Brighton continued paddling.
"Over there, sir!" called Brighton as a woman on a dresser shouted to them.
"Over here! Over here!" called the woman.
"We're coming! Hold on, ma’am!" called Lowe. "Paddle faster, men!" Brighton and Johnston paddled faster and they made their way over to the woman.
"Come on, ma’am," said Boxhall, helping her into the boat.
"Here you are," said Pitman, wrapping a blanket around her.
"Thank you, sir," said the woman, sitting down.
"Mommy!" cried the little girl.
"Cora! Oh, Cora! My dear!" the woman exclaimed, throwing her arms around the little girl. Pitman watched the mother and daughter reuniting.
"Help! Help me!" cried a man nearby.
"We're coming! Hold on!" called Boxhall. The boat moved over to the man and the officers helped him in. Pitman gave him a blanket and the man sat down.
"Hello?" called Lowe. "Is anybody alive out there?"
*****
Rose heard the calls and slowly looked over.
"There's a boat," she whispered. She rolled off the wall panel and started splashing around, panicking.
"Hold on, miss!" called a man in the boat.
"Help! Help me!" cried Rose in the loudest voice she could muster.
"We're coming, miss!" called the same man. The boat came over, and they helped Rose into it.
"Here you are, miss," said Pitman, wrapping a blanket around her. Rose lay down beside an empty seat in the back.
"Hello?" Lowe continued to call.
"Sir, that's five survivors. We've already waited too long. Do you think we'll find anymore?" asked Boxhall.
"Shut it, Boxhall! We'll find as many as there are!" snapped Lowe.
"Hey! Over here!" called a distant voice. Lowe looked up and saw the silhouette of a man waving his arms over his head. "I'm over here! Help!"
"We're coming!" called Lowe. "Keep calling! We'll follow your voice!"
"I'm over here!" the man continued to call. The lifeboat reached him and pulled him in.
"Blanket, sir?" asked Pitman. The young man took the blanket and wrapped it around himself. He took a seat behind Rose.
*****
Lowe, Pitman, Boxhall, and the rest of the crew in the lifeboat continued to search for twenty more minutes before returning to the other lifeboats. They were on the water for hours, just waiting.
"Can't believe only one boat came back. Only one damned boat!" snapped the fourth survivor.
"Well, at least a boat came back, sir!" snapped Johnston, and the man quieted down. Rose kept her eyes up on the sky and watched the shooting stars. Lowe pulled out a notepad and pen from his coat pocket.
"Can I get names here?" he asked. He looked at the first man. "What is your name, sir?" he asked the Chinese man slowly.
"Name?" asked the man. "Name!"
"Yes. Your name, sir?" asked Lowe again.
"Huan Yeng," replied man. Lowe wrote it down and looked to the woman and her daughter.
"What is your name, ma’am?" he asked.
"Lynette McBragginson," replied the woman. The young man who was rescued last looked up at her, knowing her from third class. Lowe wrote the name down.
"And the child?" he asked.
"Cora McBragginson," said Lynette, and Lowe wrote it down. He looked to the young man behind Rose.
"Your name, sir?" he asked.
"Jack Dawson," replied the man. Rose felt her eyes going wide. Jack had survived? She had thought for sure that he'd gone down with the ship. Lowe wrote it down and looked at Rose, who closed her eyes.
"Your name, miss?" he asked. "Miss?"
"Hey, miss?" asked Jack, shaking Rose slightly. Rose kept her eyes closed. Jack looked at her face, though the blanket covered half of it. "Asleep." He didn't recognize her, and Rose was glad, because she didn't want to make a scene in the lifeboat. She couldn't help but cough, though, which gave her away.
"Doesn't look asleep," muttered Johnston. "Don't forget loudmouth over there."
"Hey! I shall happen to let you know that I am probably wealthy enough to buy and sell you! Twice!" snapped the man.
"Name, sir," asked Lowe.
"John Billings," he said. Lowe wrote it down and looked at Rose once more.
"Miss?" he asked. Rose sighed and sat up. The blanket that was covering her face fell, though it was still over her head. Jack moved up next to her. "Miss, please tell me your name." Jack looked at her, and she looked at him, meeting his piercing blue eyes.
"Rose?" whispered Jack.
"I'm sorry?" asked Lowe.
"Her name's Rose," said Jack. "Rose D—"
"Dawson. Rose Dawson," Rose said quickly, covering Jack's mouth. Jack felt his jaw drop underneath her hand as Lowe wrote it down.
"Thank you," said Lowe, and he sat down again. Rose lowered her hand, and Jack moved to the back of the lifeboat and pulled Rose back with him.
"You took my name," he whispered. Rose just leaned her head on his shoulder and drifted off to sleep.