JASMINE
Chapter Nineteen

The Escape and the New Beginning

By now, the water was rising up to the upper hallway of the ballroom, which was where Rose and Jack were. Jack was panicking, and Rose could see the panic reflecting in Jack's blue eyes. Rose was at a loss. "What do we do now, Jack?" she asked, her voice reflecting panic.

Jack looked up, and he eyed the crystal chandelier which was right above him. He thought, I swear I can almost reach that with my hand. He extended his hand upwards, and sure enough, it was touching the tip of the chandelier. "Come on, Rose…" he called out. He grabbed Rose's left hand with his right. Then he grabbed the pole of the chandelier as he stretched his other hand. He felt quite nervous, because he wasn't sure if he could pull himself and Rose up on the chandelier. But he breathed hard, and suddenly he felt a rush of adrenaline pumping through him, and suddenly he felt like Superman as he felt a surge of super strength and super energy flow through his body, and he immediately pulled himself and Rose up on the chandelier.

Rose gasped as she watched the water rushing up to them. She had seen water before, but not like this! She closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. She gasped in helplessness as she could feel the coldness of the water waft up and chill her. The ocean she had seen had been quite calm and placid. The water that was raging up below them was furious and appeared to have strength and energy of its own. It appeared to have its own soul and a mind of its own. It appeared to be reverting back to its innate nature of wildness, and appeared to be angry that it had been subdued by the Titanic and by modern science. The raging water below Rose appeared to be vengeful at humans for controlling its nature, and appeared to be extracting its revenge by showing itself in its true form to Rose. Rose thought to herself, in a reaction to her observation, Please God, let me live, and I'll respect nature for as long as I live!

Rose and Jack were quickly and silently moving across the ceiling of the ballroom. They were grabbing extensions from the ceiling while doing so. Rose was stunned by what was going on. Earlier, the Titanic had appeared to be an unnatural and supernatural behemoth. It had appeared to have a strength and ingenuity that was bequeathed to it by the wonders of modern science and engineering. Earlier, it had sailed with pride and arrogance across the Atlantic Ocean, as if to say, I am stronger and more superior than you. I am able to conquer and tame you. The Titanic had, after all, been dubbed the unsinkable ship. Rose, however, realized that this was a farce, because she was seeing that the Titanic was indeed vulnerable, because it was sinking under its own weight. Rose realized that the very engineering feats that were designed to make it unsinkable were now sinking it. Rose realized that the Titanic was falling victim to its own strength. This was indeed defeating the claim that modern science and modern man could conquer nature, which was a phrase that she had heard leaders and scientists claim constantly. The Titanic would leave a permanent scar on the world, most notably the West, and would seriously shake the West's confidence in conquering nature through science.

Jack said, "Come on, Rose. Hurry up." No sooner than Rose and Jack had escaped from the ballroom than they opened the door, and they saw a huge column of ice cold water greet them. Jack said, "Well, I guess we have to swim." Rose and Jack froze in the water as they swam. Jack strained his eyes as he scanned the ceiling for a place to rest on. They couldn't swim in freezing water while holding their breaths forever. Jack and Rose eventually came to rest on a rail, and they placed their hands on the railing while swimming out of the room.

"Jack…J-J-Jack…" Rose shivered, her teeth chattering. "I'm so cold!"

Jack said, "Come on. Don't give up now!" Jack and Rose finally made it to the door. They opened the door and exited out through it.

They were up on the deck of the ship where they were witnessing true mayhem. People were in a panic. Indeed, the superficial order had given way. People were abandoning their practices of self-restraint, and everyone was truly out for him or herself. This was especially true of the upper classes. The engineers might have prided themselves on their ingenious design of the ship, but apparently they hadn't counted on it sinking, because they hadn't designed enough lifeboats for the ship. The lower classes had realized that the ship was going down, and everyone, lower, middle, and upper classes, was making a frantic scramble for the boats, which they realized would be their only way of surviving. However, the ship's crew was shouting out, "Women and children only…women and children only!" The ship's crew was also making it clear that the upper class people would get the first priority on the boats.

Rose noted that there weren't enough boats, and she said, "Captain, there aren't enough boats. What are you going to do?" The captain was too distraught to answer. He appeared to be entering a state of delirium, and moments later, shot himself in the mouth with a pistol, thus killing himself.

Jack said, "Come on, Rose…"

However, they were stopped by a crewmember. The crewmember didn't see Jack and Rose as lovers and lady and gentleman. He saw Jack as a grubby lower class man who was trying to escape with a high society woman. He let Rose into the lifeboat, but he stopped Jack. He said, "You can't come." The lifeboat that Rose was in was being extended out to slightly beyond the deck of the ship. However, when Rose saw that Jack wasn't coming with her, she immediately stepped out of the boat.

Jack looked at her in shock as he called, "Rose!"

But Rose fiercely retorted, "Jack, if you aren't coming with me, then I'll die with you and we can both go up to heaven together!"

Jack was quite touched by her comment, and he said, "Oh, Rose!" Then he pecked her on the lips, and smiled.

The other upper class people, including Cal, however, were quite keen to escape. Cal by now had completely forgotten about Rose and Jack. However, he found himself in quite a quandary, because he wanted to escape, but couldn't because he wasn't a woman or a child. He immediately spotted a crying young girl, and a look of feigned concern appeared over his face. He picked up the child, and held her as though she was his daughter. He then looked at the crewmember and said, "Can I take my child with me?" He was smiling at the man as he said this, and the man smiled, and nodded his head. Cal was quickly on the boat, and while there, he immediately forgot about the child.

Ruth and the other upper class women were also scrambling to get off of the ship. The crewmembers were frantically trying to dictate their entry onto the lifeboats. Ruth was a little concerned about Rose's welfare. After all, she hadn't seen her daughter for a day, but her concern for her own life overshadowed her concern for the welfare of her daughter. Ruth thought to herself, this thought relieving the guilt she was feeling that she was neglecting her daughter's welfare, Oh, well. I'm sure Rose is on one of the lifeboats. I'll probably meet her in New York! Ruth was smiling as she thought this. However, it turned out that all of the ladies would not fit on one lifeboat, so some of the ladies had to be accommodated on other lifeboats. Then the lifeboats were lowered into the water. Once in the water, the ladies on Ruth's lifeboat, including Ruth herself, were totally lost. All of their lives, they had been acting as high society ladies, and had not a clue as to how to survive. They curiously looked at the oars, and Ruth said, "I guess we row with these." A feeling of disgust shot through her body, because she realized that that was laborers' work, and she was above that!

Mrs. Jones said, "I don't want to row!"

It was at that point in time that an older and hardened matron said, "Shut up and row, all of you!" The ladies did as they were told.

Rose was looking at her mother in the lifeboat, and she sighed in disillusionment. She thought, My mother doesn't even care about me! Rose could feel her heart sinking with the ship as she realized that her life and the order that her life had assumed was falling apart with the ship. Rose could see the false order that had held her life together and had surrounded her falling apart all around her. She could see this in the way that people were being assigned to the lifeboats. There was absolutely no rhyme or reason to the assignments. Instead, the assignments reflected the harried and frantic nature of the crewmembers, who had no idea how to handle a catastrophe. Some boats were lowered into the water empty. Rose thought to herself sarcastically, Well, when there's a shortage of lifeboats to begin with, that is an unwise move! Other boats either had one person on them, or had a few, and some boats were stuffed to overcapacity, so that they began to capsize in the water. The people on the overstuffed boats had a cruel way of dealing with this overcapacity. They mercilessly shoved some of the people out of the boats and into the water against their wills. The people who were shoved into the water would die there, and they knew it, but the people in the boats were too concerned with their own welfare to care. From their narrow and selfish standpoints, they were thinking, Well, I'm glad I'm not the one who's going to die. Let someone else die. I want to live! It didn't stop there. In the boats where there were too few people, the members were bickering amongst themselves as to who was going to row, and how. Not only that, but in these lifeboats, none of the people appeared to be willing to do the teamwork necessary to do the rowing to ensure that the people on the boats would row to safety.

Sometimes, some of the people who had been shoved off of the boats frantically clung to the side of these boats and were yelling, "You have under capacity. Could you let me aboard?" The people on the boats dealt with these people by using their oars to drown them, literally. They saw these people as filthy boarders who were trying to do them in. Rose could see that the ship had split into two, and that one part of the ship was capsizing into the water. The upper class people on the part of the ship that was capsizing did not want to fall to their deaths into the water, but the force of gravity was forcing them towards the water. They held onto the rail in an attempt to cling on to life. However, the rail was icy, and many fell to their deaths into the water. Rose went over to look at them, and she saw that for all of their money and status, their true and vulnerable nature was reflecting on the panicked and scared looks on their faces. Rose could see that the face is truly an expression of the soul, as their faces were reflecting their nervous and scared selves. Somehow, Rose could see that these people knew that they had led false and sinful lives which were full of greed, and that they were going to meet their maker and would have to account for their deeds and their nature to their maker. It would be at that point in time that they would be naked in front of the supreme one, and that they would have to account for their deeds with their souls. Rose smiled and thought to herself, Justice is delivered!

The lower class people could see that the ship was sinking, and they wanted off of the ship as well. However, the crewmembers were stopping them. Rose's heart sank, because she knew that the only thing that was keeping these people from surviving was their social status, which Rose had come to realize was superficial to begin with. The lower class people were saying, "Please, let me aboard the lifeboats!" The crewmembers responded by firing bullets into the thickening ranks of the lower classes, killing quite a few in the process. Some of the lower class people were bold and muscled their way to the boats, and some of them were overpowering the crewmembers by allowing their compadres to lower the boats into the water.

Rose sighed, because she knew that there were more lower class people who were trying to escape, but couldn't. She was right about this. She did not know it, but the doors to the third class deck were locked, so that the lower class people were literally locked into their rooms to die. Some of the lower class people were crowding around the doors, frantically trying to open them, but to no avail! Others simply resigned, and some mothers had left their fate, as well as the fates of their children, in the hands of God, and were reading bedtime stories to their children, who were in bed, pretending as though nothing had happened, and they would wake up the next morning as usual. Well, they would wake up the next morning, but not as humans!

Rose looked down into the water, and she saw that her mother and the other ladies who were on the lifeboat were rowing like frantic chickens--literally! Rose could see that these women hadn't the slightest clue as to how to row to safety, and neither did anyone else who was in the lifeboat. These women were simply frantically rowing, as were the other people. Well…when they weren't bickering with each other, hoping that divine intervention would happen and they would magically be rescued! It wouldn't happen, thought Rose. These people would simply row and row, waiting to be rescued, waiting for something, waiting for death! Rose looked down at the people in the lifeboats, and she thought to herself, Boy, am I glad I climbed off of the lifeboat. These people aren't human, they're demons. They haven't the slightest bit of humanity or compassion for anyone else, and they only think about themselves, even when their own survival might depend on teamwork and caring about the welfare of others! Then it dawned on her. Boy, I'm glad I met Jack! In our short time together, he and Jasmine have taught me that compassion, caring, happiness, self-respect, respect for others, and other humane things are the most important things in life! She breathed a sigh of relief.

Rose looked around her, and she could see that other upper class people were unsuccessfully clinging to the deck of the ship for sheer life. However, the overwhelming force of gravity triumphed, and the people were forcefully rendered to their watery graves. Rose could hear them screaming, and she could see the look of fear on their faces as they realized that their time had come. Rose could see, by the look of sheer fright on their faces, that they knew that they had eventually reached the end, and would soon pass to the other side, the spiritual realm, where they would meet their creator, and would be stripped of all of their false high social status, which included, rank, title, money, and created social recognition which they had forced on the rest of an unwilling society. They had used America's corrupt, unruly, and premature capitalist system to procure wealth through illegal and unethical means. They were the robber barons and the captains of industry in American society who profited off of the blood of others. They had taken advantage of the system to procure their money. Then they had gotten drunk off of the status and the advantages that wealth offered them, and they had tweaked the system to ensure that they would stay on top. They had realized that it was nice to live lives of leisure, even if that means breaking the backs of those below you and ignoring them. However, the working classes had been unwillingly supporting them, as the working classes felt this burden literally forced on their backs. Rose smiled as she thought to herself, Well…it's payback time! What goes around comes around!

Rose realized that she didn't belong in such a fake society. She thought, Such a society is no society at all. I am seeing, right now, that the order in this society is disintegrating into its true form, which is chaos and mayhem. It was chaos and mayhem, all along. However, it managed to be disguised as order so that it could function, however incoherently and dysfunctionally! I don't belong in such a society, and I never did. I want to escape!

She would get her chance. Jack grabbed her hand and said, "There are no more lifeboats, and we can’t stay on this ship forever. We have to jump now!"

Rose's eyes widened as she looked at the water below, which reminded her of an unforgiving and watery chasm and grave, she said, "Jump into that!" She didn't have time to say anything else, because, at that moment, Jack grabbed her hand, and both of them sprang off of the deck of the ship. Rose flashed back memories of her trying to commit suicide by jumping off of the deck, and Jack saving her. That had been her first spiritual experience. Then, Jack and Rose had had another spiritual experience on the deck of the ship, when they had held each other by the bow! Now, they were jumping to freedom off of the deck of the ship! Rose thought to herself, the deck must be spiritual! Then, thud! Their bodies hit the water with a powerful force. The force hurt Rose's body, and she immediately began to shiver.

Jack found a piece of plank, and he moved it under Rose's body. He said, "Here. Rest on this!"

Rose did as she was told. She said, "Jack! Get on it!" But alas, the plank was only large enough to support Rose, and there wasn't a lifeboat around.

Additionally, the last of the Titanic was sinking into its watery grave, and Rose gulped as she saw the last of the lights on the ship begin to go out. She strained her neck and her eyes for sight of her room. Suddenly, she was accosted by a flashback of her lighted room, and she shook her head in shock.

She was shivering, and she chattered her teeth. She saw that Jack was shivering even more. She said, "Jack, please don't go!"

It was too late. Jack's body was freezing and beginning to go into shock, which is the first stage of the deadly hypothermia. Something told Rose that Jack wouldn't live to see the next morning. Jack put his hands on hers, and somehow, Rose could feel a warmth emanate from his hands into hers, and the gaze from Jack's eyes pierced hers with an intensity. Jack said, "Look, Rose, you're going to be free…free. You hear me? You'll die in a nice bed. You'll never know poverty or despair. You're going to live a happy life, and you'll do what you want. You'll live life on your own terms. For me, it's been a great experience just to meet you. Jasmine was right. You are a special lady! I mean…I mean, it's been a treat just to fall in love with you…" Then he looked at Rose with a look of sincerity and true love in his eyes.

Rose whispered, "Jack…I love you…"

Jack responded, "I love you, too, Rose…" It was then that the cold was really getting to Jack, and Rose could see that the life was being snuffed out of him. Somehow, the cold water was crushing Jack's soul. Rose could see that Jack's soul wasn't strong enough to brave the water. Rose could feel the water choking her soul, but somehow, something in her was keeping the water from snuffing her life out.

It was late at night, and the water was full of bodies, dead bodies, and lifeboats with lifeless people in them. Rose woke up, and she touched Jack's cold and limp hand, which was lying on her plank. He's dead! Rose could see the light from a ship, and she called out to it, "I'm here! I'm here!" The light from the ship illuminated the water, and the crew on the boat could see lifeboats and people in the water.

It was on the other ship that a crewmember told the pilot, "Hey, wait a minute. I think that this is the course the Titanic was traversing!"

The captain said, "But there's no ship here!" Then a dumbfounded look came over the captain's face as he said, "Don't tell me it sank!"

The crewmember said, "Well, there's only one way to find out. Go look!" So the crew shone the light more intensely over the surrounding water, and sure enough, they saw bodies, and in disbelief, they surmised that the unsinkable ship had sunk!

Rose sighed relief when she saw the ship coming her way. She screamed, "I'm here! I'm here!" The ship came close to her, and the crewmembers got off and rescued her, as well as the other surviving passengers. They sailed to New York.

In New York, Rose got off near the Statue of Liberty. She sighed in relief. She was in America, the promised land. She remembered the phrase, ‘Give me your tired, your hungry, and your restless…’ America was a place where people started all over again. They left their old lives and their old nations behind, and became new people! Into the melting pot goes a Prussian, a German, an Englishman, a Frenchman, and out comes an American! She would go through the same process. She looked at the Lady holding the torch of liberty, and all of a sudden, she felt free. She thought to herself, I'm free at last! When she got off of the ship, she reached into her coat pocket, and she pulled out the Hope necklace. She blanked out, and she completely forgot about Cal. She thought, Why, this was the necklace that Jack gave me!

One of the crewmembers asked, "Madame, what is your name?"

Rose replied, "Rose Dawson!" Well, she felt as though she had married Jack, somehow.

Rose was walking around, feeling quite relieved that she could start over again. Meanwhile, Jasmine was watching her, from her invisible place in the fabric of time. Jasmine was relieved that Rose had finally found freedom. Jasmine thought to herself, Well, now Rose will get to do what she wants! She's really come a long way from the day I initially set eyes on her, and I think she's matured to the point where she will be able to make the right decisions!

Many years later, Jasmine met Rose. The year was 1996, and Rose was on a ship which was trying to find the remains of the Titanic. Jasmine asked Rose, "So, how did your life turn out?"

Rose jumped up, and said, "Oh, thank you so much. I mean, you don't understand. I remained single, and I loved it! I flew, I rode horses, and I did what I wanted!"

Jasmine said, "Well, that's good!"

Later, Rose went to sleep, and she passed on and went to heaven. Suddenly, she was walking up the stairway. When she got up to the top of the stairway, she saw Jack there, and Jack was smiling. He said, "Welcome to heaven, Rose!"

The End.

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