HEARTS CAN BREAK
Chapter Six
Jack's heart pounded. His mind
was whirling. It was more than the extreme cold that was scrambling his senses.
He would give anything to survive this freezing hell with Rose DeWitt Bukater,
but their chances were looking more and more slim.
*****
Rose's breathing was unsteady and
broken with terror as she pushed herself back up the hallway, looking around
and around for a person to rescue the two of them. No one else would be down in
the water-filled sections of the liner.
She grabbed the railings of the metal
staircase she had turned at earlier and hauled herself up, the wet dress
clinging to her like another skin. Drops rained from her and fell to the
slippery floor beneath her.
"Hello?" she cried,
desperate for another human to hear her. There was no answer. She began to run
down the hallways of steerage.
"Hello? Is there anyone down
here? We need help! Hello?"
Not another voice returned her
cries. "Damn it," she mumbled to herself, and turned another way.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps
behind her. She whirled around and saw a bearded older man running frantically
down the corridor. A cap was placed at an erratic angle on his head.
"Oh, thank God," she
breathed, slowing down. He ran into her. "I need your help." She
realized that he was shaking his head.
"Nein! Nein!" he
exclaimed in a different tongue. He began to race past her.
"There's a man back here,
and--wait!" It was too late. He was gone down the narrow passageway.
"Hello?" she called
hopelessly, dragging her feet. Suddenly, the lights flickered again. This time
they stayed out for almost a minute. Rose sagged against the wall, her
breathing loud and rapid. God, she thought, how will I get back to
him?
A warm glow filled the halls
again. She began to mumble rapid prayers of thanks in her head.
"Hello?" Her voice was
so weak now everything in her trembled. Oh, what she wouldn't give for this all
to be a dream, for her to awaken in Jack's arms, for it to be a new day.
Again, the scurrying sound of
footsteps broke her out of her thoughts. She turned and felt her hope rekindle.
A steward was bustling towards her.
"Oh, miss, you shouldn't be
here right now," he said hurriedly. He took her arm and began to drag her
to an exit to the boat deck.
"Wait!" No way was this
man going to drag her from Jack Dawson. "I need your help. There's a man
back here and he's trapped--"
"Come along. No need to
panic."
"I'm not panicking! You're
going the wrong way!"
It was the last thing she could
handle. After all she had gone through--after all she and Jack had done--death
was not going to break their romance. It just wasn't happening.
"Let go of me! Listen!"
she screamed, and balled her small, perfect hand into a fist. Before the
steward could guess what she was doing, she had punched him so hard in the nose
that he was forced backwards, blood streaming from his face.
She leaned against the wall,
chest heaving. What had she done?
The man looked at her. "The
hell with you," he softly exclaimed, before turning and hurrying away.
She groaned in despair and closed
her eyes. No! She would not give up on Jack; she was simply not going to do it.
He needed her so badly.
Once she had gathered her
strength, her emerald eyes opened again. The first thing they saw was what she
needed.
An ax.
It would have to do. She was
running out of time.
She turned and flew down the
hall, her dress waving behind her. Finally, she stopped in front of the
staircase.
The water had risen and was now
lapping on one of the top steps. She inched to the waterline.
"Oh, my God," she
whispered, horror lining every syllable of her words. Was it possible that Jack
was still alive? Was it possible God was listening to her?
She took a deep breath and
quickly removed her embroidered coat, throwing it behind her. A blue light was
reflecting on her face. She laid the ax along the top bars above the door while
she slowly slipped into the water and gasped. It was so cold! She felt
surrounded in ice. Like Jack had said, she was thinking only of the pain, the
pain and reaching him. Her arm wrapped around a beam across the top of the
ceiling. She picked up the ax again and edged along the pole, lifting her
elbow, moving it further along, and pulling herself further toward where Jack
was.
Because of the tilt of Titanic,
the water was becoming shallower the higher she went. Finally, she could stand.
The water suddenly entered her dress. She screamed silently, but lifted the ax
above her head and waded into the room.
"Jack!" she cried. Jack
almost gasped upon looking at her. She was ghostly white and purple, shivering
and chattering with the extreme chill. He looked no better, his blonde hair
hanging damp in his eyes, his pants and boots soaking.
"Will this work?" she
asked, holding up a red ax with shaking hands. Oh, God. He hoped so.
"I guess we'll find
out," he mumbled, stretched his hands across the steel pole.
Rose made her way unsteadily over
to him and hoisted it to her shoulder.
"Wait! Try a couple of
practice swings over there!" She seemed relieved for a sparse moment as
she raced over to the wardrobe in the corner. She swung hard into the wood. The
blade chopped the surface.
"Good!" Jack exclaimed.
"Now, try to hit the same mark again, Rose. You can do it!"
Mounted by Jack's encouragement,
she attempted to slam it again in the exact place she had a moment ago.
When she lifted the ax again, she
saw that the cut she had made was at least two feet from the first one. She
began to tremble. She couldn't do this.
"Okay. That's enough
practice." Jack's voice was so calm. How could he be so peaceful?
She hesitantly waded back over to
him and hoisted the ax.
"Wait!" Jack cried.
"Open your hands up a little bit more." He tried to show her, but the
chain prevented him.
Rose parted her fingers.
"L-like that?" she mumbled. Her complexion had turned to the color of
pale slate. She shivered with cold and fear.
"Yeah," he answered.
"Just hit it really fast and really hard." Then he exhaled a deep breath.
He gazed deep into her jade eyes. She looked back into his enchanting blue
ones. "Listen, Rose," he whispered. "I trust you."
Oh, God, he trusted her. She was
going to hurt him--she knew it. She had no idea what she was doing.
He moved his head to the other
side of the beam and stretched his hands out across the metal pole. His eyes
squeezed shut. "Go!" he cried.
She closed her eyes as well. No!
her head screamed as she pulled the ax back and swung it fiercely down.
Cling!
The earsplitting sound of metal
against metal screeched across the room as Rose yanked the ax away. Jack
noticed no pain--and slowly opened his eyes. She did the same.
By a miracle, Rose had separated
Jack's handcuffs.
He whooped and cried with
surprise, pulling the now laughing Rose into his arms.
"You did it!" he
happily exclaimed. "You--you did it!" His hands entangled in her hair
as, without further delay, he jumped deep into the water.
"Oh, shit, this is
cold," he gulped, the iciness penetrating his bones. "Oh, shit! Shit,
shit, shit!"
Still smiling, Rose grabbed his
arm and began pulling him to the door, still aware that the time Mr. Andrews
had given her was running out.
They waded into the hallway. Jack
let go of her hand and shook his long blonde hair out of his eyes. Down a few
paces, sparks exploded into the water and the electric lights rumbled.
"This is the way out!"
Rose cried. There was no possible way to get past that mass of boiling
fire--they were trapped. She was about to fall to the ground and allow herself
to die.
"We'll have to find another
way." Amazingly, Jack was still extremely composed. She turned to him,
leaning against his shoulder. "Come on!" His voice rose to be heard
over the pounding of rushing water. They both turned and struggled against a
fairly mild current, fighting for their lives, their love, their destinies.
"C'mon, Rose. Only a little
bit more!" Jack basically lifted the shivering girl in his arms, trying to
turn a corner. The sea was streaming by them faster now, and he was having a
hard time putting one icy foot in front of the other. "You can do
it!" He tried to keep positive, but it was becoming harder and harder.
Then he saw it--a metal
staircase, leading to higher ground. It was roped off, but that didn't deter
him in the least. He managed to somehow carry her to the stairs and set her
gently on a step.
At the end of the corridor the
stairs led to, there was a single door, with the words Emergencies Only
inscribed on a golden plate above it. Jack grimaced as he felt water beginning
to again swirl around his feet. If there was ever an emergency onboard a ship,
this was it.
He took Rose's hand and led her
to the doorway, his breathing already slowing. He would see she got safely on a
lifeboat and then fight the ocean alone. He refused to endanger her. For Rose
DeWitt Bukater, the terror on the Titanic was almost over.
He had no idea it was just the
beginning.