FOR ALL ETERNITY
Chapter Two
The ship was two meters from the freezing
water and moving quite fast. All around, there were screams of terror, while
the boats with those fortunate enough to be saved sat helplessly and watched.
There was the chilling fear of what was happening running up and down the
spines of Jack, Rose, Fabrizio, and Tommy.
"Now, remember, Rose, whatever happens,
stay with me. Don’t forget what I said! A big breath! Here we go," was all
that Jack managed to say before they were engulfed and sucked down by the
massive ship into the dark water below.
As soon as the water covered her completely,
Rose remembered the instructions Jack had given her and immediately started
kicking for the surface. She tried to see Jack under the water, but with the
water being black as the night, with a few bubbles here and there, it was
impossible for any sighting. Starting to panic a little, as Jack had promised
her that he was going to be with her all the time, she kicked with all her
might, and broke the surface.
She immediately scanned the area while
catching her breath. She had not completed a full circle yet when Jack appeared
before her. The relief was quite visible to those who would have noticed, on
both their faces, as they gazed lovingly at one another. Rose was the first to
break their silent amazement.
"Oh, Jack! I’m so glad you’re here. I
tried to look for you when we were under, but it was just too dark. When I
surfaced, there were so many people I didn’t know where I was going to find
you."
"Rose! I don’t want you to ever be
scared again. Like I said earlier, I’ll always be with you. Listen to me now! We
have to swim out of this crowd. Follow me."
Rose and Jack began to swim away from the
thrashing crowd of people. As they neared an opening, Jack saw something
floating in the water, which looked big enough to hold someone. He headed
towards it with Rose close behind. Upon reaching it, he noticed it could only
hold one person and gently helped Rose aboard. As he had previously decided,
her life was more precious than his own.
"Jack, why don’t you climb on, too? We
can both fit. The water is freezing, and I don’t want to lose you to exposure
now!" implored Rose, to a now obviously shivering Jack.
"Rose...the board...can only hold one.
You must keep going for me...I ’m sure the boats will come back for us...now
that there’s no more danger!" stuttered Jack, determined to calm her down
and keep himself alive.
"Jack, when the boats come back and
we’re rescued, I’m going to find some way for me to show you how much I love
you and appreciate what you’ve done for me," promised Rose, who was now
beginning to shiver uncontrollably.
He took her hand and kissed it while looking
beyond her for the first sign of the boats returning. He couldn’t decide
whether he should tell her now about his own feelings, or leave it until they
were rescued. If he told her now and something happened to him, she would be
distraught. On the other hand, if he left it until later to tell her, and
something happened before he could, she would be able to recover faster. After
all, she was from a better class than him! He decided on the latter. They were
going to be rescued, and he could do something really special for her, when he
did tell her. Just then, Rose broke into his reverie with a shout.
"Jack! Look! The boats are returning!
They’re coming back!" Rose could hardly contain herself with joy, although
she was experiencing little stabs of pain with every movement. Jack gathered
enough strength and willpower to turn himself around, in order to see the
returning boats. The couple was so excited that they had not noticed that the
noise level had died down quite dramatically since finding the board. They were
now truly on their way to being rescued!