Written by Space Roses
Based on some situations originated by James Cameron.

I clung to the door Jack had placed me on. He hung onto the side of it, still floating in the freezing water of the North Atlantic. "Jack?" I whisper, but he doesn’t respond. "Jack?" I whisper louder. This time he grunts and shifts his eyes up to look at me. "Does it hurt to die?" I ask him. For a few minutes, the only sound I hear is Jack’s shivering. Then he answers my question.

"When I was a kid, I never thought of it as just dying, but as sailing away to something new and exciting."

I lapse back into silence as I think about what he said.

Lay down
Your sweet and weary head
Night is falling
You have come to journey’s end.

I try to pull myself into a tighter ball and look down at Jack. I had suggested trading spaces with him, but he wouldn’t hear of it. I close my eyes and remember my grandmother’s death when I was nine. When my mother found me crying, she told me to stop, because when someone dies, their journey was over and no tears could change it. I want to cry now, but it is too cold. Everything feels frozen inside of me. Is this how my journey will end? Clinging to a door in the middle of the ocean?

Sleep now
Dream of the ones who came before
They are calling
From across the distant shore.

Jack’s voice jerks me awake as I am drifting off to sleep. He is calling to someone. "Pa?" he asks. His voice frightens me just as much as the fact that he is calling for his father and just yesterday he told me that his father was dead. Was it really just yesterday that we were both aboard the Titanic together? I grab Jack’s arm and shake it.

"Jack! Jack, wake up!" The sound of my own voice seems foreign in my ears. His head jerks up and I smile. "Remember, we can’t fall asleep, or we’ll miss the boats that are coming back." It was a hope we had been voicing for several hours, but no boats were in sight.

"The boats must have been delayed. They’ll be here soon." Jack’s trembling voice tried to disprove the fears both of us were feeling.

Why do you weep?
What are these tears upon your face?
Soon you will see
All of your fears will pass away.

Suddenly, I can’t help it. All of the tears melt and I start to cry. "Why are you crying?" Jack asks.

"The boats aren’t going to come back. If they were, they would be here now."

Slowly, one of Jack’s hands reaches out of the water and grabs mine. "Don’t say that, Rose. They’re just a little ways away right now, I bet," he whispers hoarsely.

My heart clings to what he is saying, even though I know it is a false hope.

Safe in my arms
You’re only sleeping.

Despite my best efforts, my thoughts begin to dwell on dying. I had heard that dying like this wasn’t so bad. You just drifted off the sleep and didn’t wake up again. I close my eyes and feel my father’s arms around me, keeping me safe. It is a comforting thought.

What can you see?
On the horizon.
Why do the white gulls call?

I reopen my eyes and look across the ocean, straining desperately to see anything but the rolling waves. Nothing. No boats, no anything. The cries of the other people in the water grow fainter and the sound of the ocean becomes more pronounced. Will the boats come back?

Across the sea
A pale moon rises.
The ships have come
To carry you home.

As I lay there, staring up at the sky, I see the pale moon burning through the clouds and lighting up the whole ocean. "Look, Jack," I whisper. I know he will probably have trouble seeing it, but I want him to stay awake. The coldness is reaching into me and hiding the sensation of being cold. It scares me, and I know it is worse for Jack. I think about what Jack had said and sighed. The Titanic was supposed to carry me to my new home, and instead it might have carried me to my eternal home.

And all will turn to silver glass.
A light on the water
All souls pass.

The moon is turning the ocean to silver, like a sheet of glass. It is a pretty sight, but I can’t help thinking all the lives the water has claimed this evening and all the others it might claim before this night is over. I again search the water for any sign of a boat, but find nothing. Maybe Jack is wrong.

Hope fades
Into the world of night.
Through shadows falling,
Out of memory and time.

As the hours pass, I feel what hope I have left evaporate into the night. The ocean grows deathly silent and even I no longer have the strength to talk to Jack, to keep him awake. He told me to live, but I can’t see how. Sheer determination alone cannot keep a person alive, can it?

Don’t say
We have come know to the end.
White shores are calling
You and I will meet again.

Will I ever see my mother again? While on the Titanic I had told Jack I was getting off with him and I had not thought about leaving my mother behind because I knew I could always contact her if I wanted, but now, facing death, I realize just how much I love my mother and how much I want her with me in my final moments. Some say death is the end, but I want so desperately at this time to believe it is the beginning and that everyone I loved in life will be there with me. It might be a futile hope, but a comforting one.

And you’ll be here in my arms
Just sleeping.

Sleep sounds so good. I want to close my eyes and sleep, but I find myself staring up at the moon, singing. It is some little song I had heard somewhere, but it doesn’t matter. It keeps me awake. It keeps me hanging on. It keeps me alive.

What can you see?
On the horizon.
Why do the white gulls call?

It is then that the sounds reach me. The sound of oars dipping into the water and pulling back up, the sound of voices shouting. It is a rescue boat! They have finally arrived. Voices drift to me, snatches of orders.

"Don’t hit them!"

"Be careful."

"Hello?"

"Is anybody alive?"

I want to cry out. but my voice is gone. I am too weak. Instead. I decide to tell Jack.

Across the sea
A pale moon rises.
The ships have come
To carry you home.

"Jack! The boats have come." I whisper. but Jack doesn’t respond. I pull myself up to look at him and it’s then that I realize he’s gone. I release the grip Jack has on the door and watch him sink into the water. With his death, whatever strength I have left dies also. I lie there for a few minutes, crying, wishing I, too, can die, and listening to the boat get further away. It is then that I remember the promise I made to Jack. He told me to live, to get married, to have babies, and to die somewhere safe and warm in my bed. I can’t let him down. "Come back!" I cry out, but my voice is too weak and the boat gets further away. With each try my voice gets weaker. Frantically, I look around and see one of the officers, who froze to death with his whistle still in his mouth. I throw myself into the water and swim over there. I grab the whistle from his lips and begin to blow into it. The boat hears me and begins to alter course. If I can stay alive for a few more minutes, I will be safe.

And all will turn to silver glass.
A light on the water
Grey ships pass
Into the west.

I was saved that night and was brought to another ship, which took me to New York City. I was saved by a human boat, but Jack was saved by a different one that night, and I only hope that his adventures are still continuing as he sails deeper into the west.

The End.

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