The last of the desperate screams had faded away, but Rose had yet to notice. She stared up at the sky and imagined she was a star, trillions of miles away, burning brightly. Burning. Hot. What did heat feel like? She wasn't sure she could even remember, though there must have been a time when she felt something besides this numbness that gripped her body. She closed her eyes and suddenly she was on the deck of the ship again, her head tilted up, warm sunlight spilling across her face.
"Are you going to sit like that all day?" Jack whispered, his breath tickling her ear.
She smiled and lowered her head. His honey blond hair shone in the sun. A pair of bright blue eyes peered out at her from beneath a few stray locks. His mouth was curled into a grin. She grabbed his hand. He was warm. He was so wonderfully warm. His skin was lightly tanned—there was no trace of blue. It was all right.
"Is anybody alive out there?"
Rose snapped out of her dream. The cry came again, louder this time. She lifted her head and turned to look in the direction the voice was coming from. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was a boat. Jack had been right. The boats really were coming back for them. She rolled over to face him.
"Jack?" He didn't respond. She shook him. "There's a boat, Jack." Still nothing. "Jack?" she cried, summoning all the strength she had left.
It was no use. He was gone. As the truth sank in, a pain unlike anything she had ever imagined possible wrapped itself around her.
*****
"Miss!" Trudy shook Rose. "Miss, wake up. You're having a nightmare." Rose's eyes popped open. She jumped up and tried to bolt out of the bed, but Trudy held her back. "Miss, you have to calm down," she said soothingly. "It wasn't real."
"Jack! I have to find him!" Rose cried hysterically. "I have to!"
"Calm down and breathe for a moment, and then you can," Trudy said. Rose took a deep breath. Her mind began to settle. It had all been just a nightmare. None of it was real. Jack wasn't dead. The ship hadn't sunk. Jack wasn't dead.
"I just had the most incredibly vivid dream," Rose said. "It was so real. I've never experienced anything like it."
"You sounded like someone was killing you," Trudy said.
"What day is it?" Rose asked, ignoring her comment.
"It's the fourteenth." Trudy sounded confused. "Why?"
"The fourteenth...so there's time," Rose said to herself. "There's still time, if I hurry."
She climbed out of bed and rushed past the startled Trudy. She flung open the doors of her wardrobe and slid her hand along the dresses hanging inside. The small part of her that clung to the belief that it really had been just a dream after all gave up hope as her hand landed first on the dress she had worn that afternoon and then stopped on the one she had worn that night. It was no use telling herself it was a coincidence. That she had dreamt about dresses she actually owned because she had seen them, therefore they were familiar and would make the dream seem more real. She knew it wasn't true.
"Trudy," she said, pulling the second dress out of the wardrobe. "If anyone asks, tell them you haven't seen me at all today." She turned around. Trudy stared at her with an expression that was a mix of shock and confusion. "Please?" she added. "I need you to do this for me."
Fifteen minutes later, she strode into the third class section, determined to find Jack, but as she looked around at the crowd, she realized she didn't have the first clue where he might be. She had found him by pure chance the first time. She didn't know what number his room was or even who to ask. Fortunately, chance—or possibly something else—was on her side again. As her eyes scanned the room, Jack started down the same stairs she had just come down herself.
"Rose?" he asked, his voice rising in disbelief.
She spun around. "Jack!" she cried. She ran toward him. They met in the middle, he halfway down, she halfway up.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, his joy at seeing her obvious.
"I came to find you." Rose smiled up at him, her mission temporarily forgotten.
"Why? Are you okay?" He touched her shoulder. He refused to let himself believe she had come purely based on a desire to see him.
"I'm fine. Jack, can we talk? Alone?" she added.
He nodded. "Yeah...come on." He took her hand. He led her back down the stairs and through a door and then through what looked to Rose like a never ending maze of corridors. Finally, he stopped and unlocked a door. "I don't think anyone's in here," he said, sticking his head inside to check. "Okay, it's clear." Rose followed him inside. She shut and locked the door behind them. "Rose—"
He didn't get the chance to say anything else before Rose threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. He was paralyzed. Rose's body was almost pressing against his. Rose's mouth was on his. It couldn't be happening, could it? He decided he didn't care. He let his hands find the small of her back. He pressed her against him and deepened the kiss.
Neither of them knew how long they'd been standing there when Rose broke the kiss. "I have to tell you something," she said. "And I want you to try to believe me."
After what had just happened, Jack was sure he could believe anything. "Okay."
"The ship's going to sink tonight."
"How do you know?"
"I dreamt about it. I know how it sounds, but it's true. I can't explain why or how, but I just know it's all going to happen, exactly the way I dreamt—unless we change it."
"Did you dream this?"
"No. In the dream this didn't happen until sunset, and we were outside...we've already started changing things. I woke up and all I could think about was getting to you."
Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You wanted to get to me?"
"Yes. In the dream—in what would have been reality—I wasted so much time trying to convince myself I didn't feel something, and when I woke up I knew I couldn't make that mistake again." She laid her palm against his cheek. "I love you."
Jack's mind was reeling. So much was happening so quickly. "Did you say—did you say you love me?"
"I love you, Jack," she said, kissing him again.
He pulled away before the kiss intensified. "You—you really mean that?"
"I mean it."
And just like that, he realized he believed everything she'd said about her dream. He couldn't have explained why. He just knew it was all true. But more importantly, he realized he didn't have to keep trying to deny his feelings anymore, no matter how little right he had to them in the eyes of the world. "I love you, too."