A DIFFERENT TALE
Chapter Seven

Jack and I ran down the corridor, trying to make it the upper decks in a matter of minutes.

"What happened to you when we got split up?" I asked, just noticing the bruise on his shoulder.

We kept on running, and he began to tell me what had happened.

"Cal chased me down the hallways, shooting his gun like a madman, screaming at me that I needed to die. At one point, when I was turning to go down another hallway, I slid into the wall. That’s where this bruise came from. Anyway, after a few minutes, the gun ran out of bullets. That’s when he heard you calling me."

Jack paused for a moment to catch his breath as we ran up the steps to the upper decks.

"He closed a door and put something up against it. After a few moments, I broke down the door and saved you."

I smiled and the opened the door to the top decks.

The Titanic was starting to go down, so we ran to the railing where we had first met Rose. Somehow, we made it all the way up. I clung to the railing and Jack stayed behind me, holding the railing as well.

"Whatever you do, don’t let go," he warned.

The ship continued to go up until suddenly there was a loud electrical buzz. The ship split in half, right down the middle.

The side we were on crashed to the water, probably killing anybody who was underneath it at that moment.

It suddenly bobbed back up.

"We need to get on the other side. Come on."

Jack went over the railing and carefully got on the other side of the rail. He offered me his hand and pulled me onto the other side as well.

"Now, listen carefully. The ship is going to suck us down. Whatever you do, don’t let go of my hand. When I say so, take a deep breath and kick for the surface. Do not let go of my hand," Jack ordered.

"Okay, Jack," I answered.

Suddenly, the ship went up to a ninety-degree angle. People let go of what they were hanging onto and splashed into the water.

If they were lucky, they missed the propellers or other things that could cause them severe and permanent damage.

Slowly, the water came closer and closer.

"Get ready, Marie."

He turned and looked at me, his eyes shining with fear.

"Now!"

I took a deep breath, and suddenly we sank into the water.

Jack and I twisted underwater, each of us trying to surface quickly, but to no avail. The longer we held onto each other’s hands, the quicker we sank from the pull of the ship.

A sudden current came just as I was underneath Jack and he was closer to the surface, and I was wrenched from his grasp.

I sank down towards the disappearing ship, and Jack was pulled further away from me.

My lungs were on fire, and I didn’t know how much longer I could hold my breath. But then Jack was beside me again and we kicked up together.

When we were at the surface, I breathed in the cold air. People were swimming by, and I lost sight of Jack.

"Jack! Jack!" I tried to scream over the noise of fifteen hundred other people.

One man was so terrified that he shoved me underwater.

"Jack!" I screamed when I surfaced for a second.

"Marie!" I heard him yell back.

Jack swam up to us and yelled at the man.

"Get off her!"

The man said something, and Jack punched him three times in the face. The man disappeared, and Jack took my hands.

"Swim! Come on!" he commanded.

Jack pulled me, and we found a door that was floating by at that moment.

"Get up on here," Jack said.

"No," I replied.

"Come on! You’ll freeze!"

"So will you."

He shoved me onto the door anyway and wouldn’t let me climb down. I held onto his frozen hands, and after a few minutes, everything got really quiet.

Deathly quiet.

"J-Jack?" I asked through chattering teeth.

"Y-yeah?"

"I…I’ve a-always…l-loved y-you," I said.

He turned his head to face me.

"D-don’t you do that, Marie. Don’t say your good-byes. We’re going to get out of this."

I shivered, and he kissed my hands.

"I…I don’t kn-know a-about y-you…b-but I intend t-to…write a s-strongly worded letter to the Wh-White Star Line." Jack shivered, smiling.

I laughed weakly and shivered again. I stared up at the stars, wondering how long it would be before I had to join the people up in the stars. My hair formed icicles along with Jack’s.

Suddenly, a light flashed around and a man was yelling something I couldn’t make out. I turned my head and saw a lifeboat.

I shook Jack’s arm.

"Jack. The boat is here," I said in a hoarse voice.

He didn’t budge.

"Jack. There’s a boat," I said again, shaking his arm more roughly.

His eyes flicked open a little bit, and relief spread over me.

"I…I’m…n-not…g-gonna…m-make…i-it," Jack said, so quietly I could barely hear him.

I slid down from the door and swam over to a dead man who had a whistle in his mouth. I swam back to Jack and blew on the whistle, calling the boat back to us.

It reached us, and they hauled the two of us aboard.

But was it in enough time to save Jack?

Chapter Eight
Stories