AFTER TITANIC
Chapter Two
Rose woke up, staring up at a plain white ceiling.
Where was she? How did she get there? How long has she been in there? And most
importantly, where was Jack, and was he still alive?
"I see you're awake." A friendly
voice entered the room.
Rose glanced to a door, to see a heavy-set
woman smiling in the doorway with her hands on her hip. Except for being
blonde, the woman reminded her of Molly Brown, one of the few first class women
that Rose admired. "Where am I?" Rose weakly questioned.
"The infirmary, of course. You poor
thing. You nearly died out there. Rest is the best thing for you right
now." The nurse strolled over and began fluffing up Rose’s pillows.
"The infirmary?"
"Yep. The Carpathia infirmary. You’ve
been out for two days now. We didn’t think you were going to survive."
"Survive? Oh, my God…Jack! Where’s
Jack?"
"Enough questions. Rest. Getting all
upset is not going to help anything," the nurse cooed, sympathetically.
"But you don’t understand. The man who
was with me…where is he?"
"Sleep," was all the nurse said, as
she strolled out the door.
All Rose could do was lie there and try to
get in control of her reeling emotions. The nurse was right about one thing.
Getting all upset was not going to help her find Jack. If anything, it would
hinder her search. There had to be someone who could tell her where Jack was,
even if he was dead…it was better than not knowing anything.
"Oh, Jack. Where are you?" Rose
whispered, her voice on the borderline of tears.
"Rose?" a familiar voice asked,
barely a whisper.
Rose was startled at the voice; she had
thought she was alone, the person was so quiet. They must have been asleep.
"Rose…is that you?"
Half-afraid to look to see who was talking to
her, in fear that the voice belonged to someone who knew her in first class,
Rose turned to face a curtain, hiding another person on the other side. Knowing
that she shouldn’t get up, she slid out of bed, and onto wobbly legs. She
stumbled over to the curtain, and pulled it aside, to reveal Jack, who was pale
and weak. But his blue eyes were as bright as ever, and his face immediately
lit up with joy at seeing that she had kept her promise and survived.
"Jack!" Rose cried in joy and
relief. "You’re alive! You’re really alive! I thought you didn’t make it.
You were so weak!" She rushed to his bedside and threw her arms around
him. She couldn’t help but notice how cool his hands were, and how weakly he
held her when he hugged her back.
"I’m a survivor, remember? It’ll take
more that an iceberg hitting a ship to do me in." He weakly laughed.
"Oh, Jack." Rose sobbed uncontrollably
as the meaning of the tragedy, of what they’d been through, hit her. "Oh,
Jack, we could have died…"
"Shh. Rose, don’t even think about
that." Jack gently stroked her hair. "We did survive, and everything
will be fine now. You’ll see."
"Well, I see you’ve found your
friend." The nurse broke the moment, appearing in the doorway. "Now,
it’s back to bed with you. You need your sleep." The nurse headed towards
Rose, who tightly clung to Jack’s hand.
"I’m not leaving his side." Rose’s
voice was strong and determined. Wild horses couldn’t keep her away from Jack.
"He needs me."
"Come, now. Don’t be like that. I’m sure
he understands. He wants you to get your rest, so you can get your strength
back as soon as possible."
"She’s right, Rose. That is what I want.
The sooner you’re better, the sooner we can start our lives again." Jack
sided with the nurse, pushing a red curl out of Rose’s emerald green eyes.
"Go to bed, Rose."
"But, Jack…" Rose pleaded with her
eyes, begging him to let her stay at his side.
"Go to bed, Rose. I’ll see you in the
morning. Don’t worry. I’ll be in the next bed right over here," Jack
reassured her, gently caressing her hand. "For me, Rose. Go to bed."
Rose’s shoulders slumped in defeat. When he
asked her like that, she couldn’t refuse him. "All right. I’ll go to bed.
But as soon as I wake up, I’m going to be at your side, and no one will be able
to make me leave…not even you."
"Fair enough." Jack yawned himself.
"Good night, Rose."
"Good night, Jack." She leaned
down, and lightly kissed his lips, before letting the nurse lead her back to
the bed. Now that she knew Jack was alive and well, she could sleep peacefully.