HEARTS CAN BREAK
Chapter Seven

Rose followed him, tired and wet, across the already slippery floors. Her heart pounded--they would be stuck down here forever, in a dying ship, until they, too, were claimed by the ocean's fury. She wrapped her hands around his arm, so fearful were her thoughts. Jack turned, looked at her, and kissed her on the cheek. Then he faced the door, grabbed the doorknob, turned, and--

Nothing happened.

The door was locked.

Jack swore back and forth, only quieting when he saw the fear in Rose's eyes. Emergencies only? For God's sake, they leave the door locked on a sinking ship? There was no other way to go. Water was creeping closer to them, already having filled the hall below. There was only this one lone exit, which really proved to be a trap.

He paced for a minute, and suddenly stilled as Rose fell against him in despair. She was counting on him--on him--and he had to get her out of here alive. He owed her that.

Suddenly, the sounds of voices on the other side of the door startled him.

"All right, now. Take your luggage. Keep together! I got enough problems without the lot of you getting more lost."

Someone was there. With the other side was freedom. Hope was rekindled in that instant. He examined the doorknob. There was no earthly way to unlock it--he would have to break down the door.

"Rose," he whispered. "Go stand back. Please. I'm gonna get us out of here." She stepped back.

Jack turned sideways against the door and took a deep breath; letting the strong feeling of need--the need to get Rose out of this place alive--give him strength.

"One, two, three!" he shouted, and threw himself against the door, his shoulder banging into the hard surface. He felt the pain for a split second, and then relief as he fell through the splinters of the hard wood. Rose took his hand, smiling. He had saved her again.

They were now in a higher section of steerage, with the same white walls and white tile floors, but no water. Not yet.

Jack led Rose to the left and glanced down the hallway. There was nothing except more people streaming towards them.

"Here, what do ya think you’re doing?" a steward behind them asked furiously. The lovers ignored him and turned right, locking their hands tighter in their stubbornness to survive.

The steward, however, wouldn't give it a break. "You'll have to pay for that, ya know. That's White Star Line property!"

White Star Line property? White Star Line property! The entire ship would be at the bottom of the sea in a bit more than an hour! Who gave a damn about a door?

Jack and Rose both turned around. "Shut up!" they shouted in unison, and then continued to hurry down the corridor. They didn't notice the man's shocked expression at their words.

They began to hear distant yelling and protests further on ahead. Curiously, they broke into a run, Rose's damp dress flying behind them and whipping around corners.

Soon, they realized the source of the problem. A crowd of third class passengers stood in the main stairwell, crying out. Obviously, there was a gate beyond the throng and everyone was trapped.

Everyone. Was. Trapped.

Jack tried to push his way through a row of men to get a better glimpse of what was going on, but was shoved backwards into Rose, who was visibly shaking with panic.

He opened his mouth to say something when he saw a head of curly sand-colored hair and recognized his friend.

"Jack!"

"Tommy! Can we get out?"

"It's hopeless that way!"

"Well, whatever we do, we gotta do it fast." The words were barely out of Jack's mouth when he turned and saw a dark-haired, brown-eyed man moving towards him.

"Jack!" Fabri yelled.

"Fabrizio!"

He hadn't thought he would ever see his friend again. They embraced swiftly, patting each other on the back. Fabrizio nodded to Rose and then turned back to Jack.

"The boats--they are all gone!" His hands moved with his desperation. His face was lined with disbelief. His accent was thick with fear.

"Listen. We gotta get out of here. This whole place is flooded." Jack had been in that water and could feel it clinging to his clothes.

"There's niente this way!" Fabrizio again waved his arms.

"All right. All right. Let's go this way!" Rose felt herself being pulled by Jack and hurried after him, still shivering from the cold.

All four of the strangely mixed group, one poor, one wealthy, one Italian, and one Irish, ran along the white floors, united by their anxiousness and, in one case, love.

They reached a fork in the path, in which Jack stopped and hesitated. He had never ventured this far within the ship. He had stayed near his cabin and had never wanted to go anywhere else--other than to be with Rose.

"Come on!" Tommy yelled anxiously. Jack could hear the raw terror lining his voice. However, he was unsure of which way to turn. Finally, at the sight of a few stragglers to the right of him, he made up his mind.

"No! Come on! Let's go this way!" Rose followed him instantly, without a second's hesitation, and the others turned after them. Her grip on his hand grew tighter as the fear welling in her heart grew. Why did this ship have to be so damn big? They were lost, truly, honestly lost, and she was suddenly hit by the realization that if they couldn't escape the ship's depths they would die, all together, all down in this prison of a maze, all in the pain and ice and cold. They had outrun the water for the moment, but how long would it be until they were engulfed by it? How long could they last?

Jack held her nearer to his body, steering her around the corners and turns and twists. He could hear something, an extremely faint sound of human voices, other than the foreign sounds of his fellow steerage passengers as they frantically tried to find their way to safety.

A blanket lay on the ground, a piece of luggage abandoned at the door by its owner. He could feel Rose shivering against him and knew she was absolutely freezing. With one quick, nonstop movement, he wrapped it around her shoulders and began rubbing her arms to keep her warm. The shaking didn't stop, but was eased somewhat.

Finally, the voices became louder, more distinct, and he was able to see a flight of stairs, smaller than the ones they had just been at, yet still blaring with the thought of release. Jack sighed with relief and began to lead Rose up the steps.

Then he realized something.

There was a gate, and it was locked.

Again, a metal gate stood in their path. A steward behind it was calmly trying to reassure about ten other men and women who were insisting that they be let free.

"Go back down to the main stairwell. It'll all get sorted out there," he was saying at the moment.

An Irishman leaned against the frame. "Hell it will," he rumbled.

Jack pushed his way through the small crowd, his handcuffs still clanking around his wrists.

"Open the gate," he demanded.

"Go back down to the main stairwell," the steward protested.

"Open the gate right now!" Knowing it was meaningless, he pointed his index finger right at the white suit on the crew member.

"Go back to the main stairs like I told you!"

Everyone's hope was deflated from their lungs like a balloon. Jack turned, sadly, ready to give up.

Before he could resign himself, he saw Rose.

She looked awful. Her skin was getting paler by the minute while her white hands clutched her woolen wrap. She was gasping for air, and she looked absolutely exhausted. The blazing fire that had been burning in her eyes hours ago was now reduced to faintly glowing coals that were ready to blow out.

Inside, Jack moaned in despair. She was about to quit. If she quit, she would die. He didn't have any strength left, and without her will, she couldn't survive. He didn't have the heart to watch her do that to herself.

Who was this skinny wimp to stop them after all they had been through, right when Rose was almost safe? No, he was not going to let this happen. Suddenly, as if it had never been gone, his temper returned in a blur of heat and light.

"Goddamn it son of a bitch!" he screamed as he whirled around and grabbed the gate bars, rattling the steel so hard that the frame trembled.

"Stop that!" the steward continuously cried. "Stop that!"

Rose looked amazed at this sudden burst of energy that had entered her love as Jack turned and, seeing everything in a red haze, threw himself at a wooden bench on the floor, pulling and straining, trying to lift it from where it was firmly fixed to the tiles.

"Fabri, Tommy, give me a hand here!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Fabrizio di Rossi and Tommy Ryan were at his side, tearing as hard as he, until, with a loud rip, the bench was yanked loose from its hold.

Rose was shoving people to the walls, crying, "Move aside! Move aside! Move aside!" as the steward's helper deserted him, leaving the one uniformed man alone and defenseless.

As the last woman was scattered out of their path, Jack, Fabrizio, and Tommy lifted the bench higher and turned it to the exit.

"One, two, three!" Jack bellowed. The three men rammed wood into steel, slamming their tool into the gate.

"Again! One, two, three!" This time, the gate was ripped clean off its right hinges. It lay deformed and bent as they streamed out of it. Fabrizio jumped out first, his limber body swinging flexibly over the bench, which lay in the way. Jack followed as Tommy helped Rose out from behind. When she was close enough, Jack swung her down. "Let's go, Rose," he muttered, his face turning a lighter shade of red. Fabrizio pushed her ahead, concerned for her safety.

"You can't go there! You can't go there!" the steward yelled frantically, hopping from one foot to the other.

Bloody Christ, Tommy thought angrily. They were already going there. With a lack of patience, Tommy balled his fist and smacked the man so hard in the jaw that he fell over. Satisfied, the Irishman hurried to follow his companions.

As they twisted their way up the stairs, Rose smiled at the man beside her, who managed to grin back. She felt her knees buckling at that face, especially as he turned and kissed her. He picked her up in his arms and continued to move while their lips met again and again. Finally, he set her down as she dreamily went behind him. Nothing could go wrong on a night like this, could it?

Chapter Eight
Stories