A FIRE IN THE WIND
Chapter Three
At about 8:30 Rose sneaked away from her
crowd and made her way towards a steward near the third class gate entrance.
"May I help you miss?" asked the
steward in a courteous voice.
"Yes, thank you," Rose began.
"I was wondering if you had a list of the third class survivors."
The steward obediently shuffled through a few
sheets of paper. "Right here miss."
"Is there a man--"
"Rose!"
There it was. That awful, hideous voice
again! Rose sighed, alarmed and turned around to see Cal, his choleric dark
brown eyes looking into her own.
"Excuse us," Cal said to the
steward, polite, but tense.
Cal grabbed Rose's arm with possession and
led her to an empty corner. Rose was trapped in between Cal's arms. Her breath
loud, but calm. Rose looked up at Cal, staring into his eyes as a way of
challenging him. Cal, growing more enraged than ever slapped her.
"You were looking for him weren't you?
Trying to see if the God damned bastard survived? He went down with all the
rest of them, and suffered a cruel, painful death. It was just what he
deserved. He's in Hell with the rest!"
Rose shrunk, tears flying out of her eyes.
There was no possible way that she could keep her composure, as her face once
again dripped with emotion.
Cal's furious eyes stared into Rose's.
"I never want to hear the name Jack Dawson again! No matter what, you will
honor me and forget everything about that--gutter rat! Do I make myself quite
clear?"
Rose closed her eyes, unable to take in the
pain of Cal's face. "Yes." Rose's voice was so soft she needn't
bother to speak at all.
Cal smiled tensely. "Good."
The rest of Rose's journey on the Carpathia
was quite unpleasant. Cal didn't mention anything about his "little"
talk with Rose but he made sure not to let her out of his or Ruth's sight. Rose
felt like a child. There was no way she could find out what had happened to
Jack. Rose felt more lost then ever before. How could she marry Cal?
Rose knew that to Cal, she was just a
possession, not a real person at all. She was just something to show off to his
friends. She had no voice to him.