BREAKING FREE
Chapter Six

Rose watched the people flock into the lift. She watched the women scream and the men lift the body and carry it away. She felt numb as they pulled her from Jack’s arms, barely able to protest. She didn’t speak. She just stared blankly into space, not quite sure how to feel. The only sound which she could hear was the gunshot, still ringing loud and clear over all of the voices.

She lay on her bed, half in and half out of consciousness. She wasn’t sad, just shocked. Finally, after an hour, she got up. She put on some fresh clothes and headed down to the third class rooms. On her way out the door, she caught a glimpse of Cal’s room, door flung wide open by some unknown person. She looked inside and saw familiar clothing and a stiff portrait of her and Cal, commissioned by his father. Seeing the face on that portrait was what made her fully realize just how much her world had changed. Despite herself, a smile of relief spread across her face. She felt like screaming with joy.

That girl, the bored, trapped, sad girl in the picture, had perished along with the man next to her. There was no more engagement. No more life as a woman of society. She could do whatever she wanted now. Of course, she already knew what that was. She went rushing down to Jack.

Finding him was hard. There were so many people in third class! She finally spotted him sitting on an empty cot, looking distressed. She walked over to him and put her arm around him. "Jack, what’s wrong?"

"I’m so selfish."

He was selfish? Had he missed what Cal had to say to him? "What?"

"Don’t you see, Rose? Cal should be alive right now! You should be happy! I was so stupid to do this! I didn’t just ruin your future. I fought to ruin it!" He punched the hard mattress. "Don’t you remember? You weren’t sure. You resisted, and I begged! God, I begged you to run! Now look where that’s brought us! You could have been happy, Rose. You could have had everything. I could have died when I was supposed to!"

Rose released him and stood up, throwing her arms up in the air. Her temper was flaring up. "Happy? Do you seriously think that I would have been happy without you?"

"If we’d never met, if I’d stayed away from you like I should have…" He buried his face in his hands.

"Jack! If you’d stayed away, I would be at the bottom of the Atlantic right now."

"It was what you wanted."

"What I wanted before you came along."

"Exactly. I ruined your life, complicated everything."

"So, you’re saying you would rather see me dead than with you?"

"No!" he said. "It would have broken my heart to see you jump. That was why I followed you that night. When I saw you at that railing, all I could think was, No! But I would like to see you happy."

She sat back down next to him, taking his hands in hers, and said gently, "But I’ll always be happy with you."

He looked at her. "You know it will be hard."

"I don’t care."

"Rose, I have absolutely no money, no home, nothing. You aren’t used to that. Not to mention that your mother will probably never speak to you again."

"When have I ever wanted my mother’s company?" She smiled.

He finally smiled back, realizing that she really wanted this. "So, what will we do first when we reach home?"

They both laughed softly and said, "Coney Island!"

They kissed, knowing everything was going to be all right. They spent the entire night down in third class, getting what food they could and sleeping in the next morning, and even down there, where there was virtually no light, the world seemed brighter to Rose.

The End.

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