Written by Jacob Black Luva
Based on some situations originated by James Cameron.
The sun cast dancing beams of
light as she approached him. His back was turned to her, brooding his
rejection.
"Hello, Jack." He
turned around, surprised. "I changed my mind," she stated. He grinned
widely. It was that ear-to-ear smile that she loved. The nothing to care about
smile. The smile she would never forget. Approaching him, she smiled, too. The
sun cast a colorful reflection on the water, making the water dance with fire.
"They said you might be--"
"Shh," he said, putting
a finger to his mouth. "Give me your hand," he said, holding out his
own. She placed her hand in his, marveling at how perfectly they fit together.
She stared into his ice-blue eyes. There was something so alluring about him.
She couldn’t take her eyes off his angel face. "Now, close your
eyes." She didn’t want to close them. She wanted to look into his face
forever, to search the icy depths of his eyes. "Go on," he urged her.
She closed them and smiled. He placed his hand on her waist and took her other
hand softly in his. "Step up." She did. She marveled at his clear,
perfect voice--the clarity of an angel’s voice. "Now, hold onto the
railing. Keep your eyes closed. Don’t peek," he said, leaning over her
shoulder.
"I’m not," she said,
smiling.
"Step up onto the
railing," he instructed. She did, with his help. She could feel the
setting sun warm her face and she smiled again. He stepped up behind her. She
slackened her grip, knowing he was behind to catch her if she fell. "Hold
on," he repeated. She tightened her grip on the railing. "Hold on.
Keep your eyes closed." She could almost see him smiling. That made her
smile, too. "Do you trust me?" What kind of question was that? Of
course she trusted him!
"I trust you." He
took her soft, delicate hands in his own rough ones and spread them out on each
side. She smiled again, wondering what he was doing. He put a hand on her waist
and leaned over her shoulder.
"All right. Open your
eyes." She opened them and gasped. The sunlit water was rushing beneath
her, and the wind blew in her face, whipping her hair and her scarf around.
"I’m flying, Jack!"
He took both of her hands in his and leaned over her shoulder again.
"Come Josephine, in my
flying machine, going up she goes, up she goes." We both chuckled at that,
and he wound his fingers through my own again.
Slowly, he folded them in and
looked at me. She was lost in his ice blue eyes again, searching in their
depths for something. She didn’t know what. Everything she had, her whole life,
was right in front of her, looking her in the eyes. Her angel.
He leaned towards her and
captured her mouth with his in a sensual kiss. His tongue explored her mouth
with desire, with soft reassurance. She put her hand around his neck, pulling
him closer to her. She smiled through his mouth.
The moment she would never
forget.
*****
Rose lay in bed, the painful
memories coming back to her. It hurt to remember. But she could not forget what
had been her life, what had saved her. He had saved her, and for that she would
never forget him. The memories must not be forgotten, but stored in her brain
for remembering.
She had promised him, and she had
fulfilled her promises. Every single one of them. The memory crashed over her
and she curled up in pain. She wrapped her arms around her chest, holding her
heart together as it broke into a million pieces. She was engulfed in a
flashback.
*****
He had been right about the
water. It hit her like a thousand knives, all piercing her at once. He had been
right; you couldn’t think about anything other than the pain. But there, too,
he had been wrong. The only other thing she could think about was him. Jack.
Jack, willing to risk his life for her. Jack, loving her like no one had ever
loved her. Jack, who had saved her from the hell that was her whole life. Jack.
They found a floating piece of
wreckage from the ship and both tried to climb onto it. Not being able to
handle weight, it toppled over, taking both of them with it.
"Stay on it. Stay on,
Rose," he told her.
"Jack," she
whispered. She shivered. The air was colder, making her shiver violently. It
was so cold, their breath stood out clearly in the air. He swam around the
piece of wreckage so that they would be able to see each other’s faces. A man
swam up behind them. Jack turned around, looking at the man.
"It’s just enough for
this lady. You’ll push it under," he told the man.
"Let me try at least, or
I’ll die soon," pleaded the man. Jack held up a hand to stop the man.
"You’ll die sooner if you
come any closer," he warned the man.
"Yes. Yes, I see. Good
luck to you, then." Jack nodded a silent thanks. "God bless!"
the man called over his shoulder. Jack turned back to her and started rubbing
her arms to warm her with friction.
"Keep moving, Rose. Keep
moving," he said, looking over his shoulder again. Her heart went out for
the poor old man. She wanted so badly to help him.
But she couldn’t. She was
helpless herself. They all were. From behind them, an officer blew his whistle,
trying to send a help signal.
"I love you, Jack,"
she said.
"Don’t you do that. Don’t
you say your good-byes. Not yet. Do you understand me?" he asked.
"I’m so cold," she
whispered.
"Listen, Rose. You’re
gonna get out of here. You’re gonna go on and you’re gonna make lots of babies
and you’re gonna watch them grow. You’re gonna die an old…" A shiver
rippled through him, breaking his speech. "An old lady, warm in her bed.
Not here. Not this night. Not like this. Do you understand me?" he stuttered.
"I can’t feel my
body," she whispered.
"Winning that ticket,
Rose, was the best thing that ever happened to me…it brought me to you, and I’m
thankful for that, Rose. I’m thankful." He broke off as another shiver
rippled through him. "You must…" Another violent shiver broke through
him. It was pain for her to watch him like this. "You must…you must do me
this honor. You must promise me that you’ll survive, that you won’t give up, no
matter what happens, no matter how…hopeless…" The most violent shiver rippled
through him. "Promise me now, Rose, and never let go of that
promise," he pleaded.
"I promise," she
said, meaning it with all her heart.
"Never let go," he
whispered.
"I’ll never let go, Jack.
I’ll never let go," she whispered. He kissed her hand lightly and smiled.
She must have fallen asleep, either that or became unconscious, because when
she woke, she heard someone or something moving through the water. "Jack.
Jack. Jack! Jack? There’s a boat, Jack." She shook his arm roughly.
"Jack?" The tears that came to her eyes froze instantly as she
realized what had happened. He was gone. The boat passed them. Not being able
to speak clearly, she lay her head on the plank, sobbing softly. "Come
back," she nearly whispered to the boat. "Come back!" she called
to the boat, a little louder, but still so softly that they didn’t hear her.
"Come back!" she repeated. "Come back!" This time, she said
it a little bit louder. No answer. They still didn’t hear her. "Come back!
Come back!"
"Hello?" yelled one
of the people in the boat. "Can anyone hear me?"
"There’s nothing here,
sir," said another man.
"Come back!" cried
Rose again. "Come back!" She pried Jack’s frozen fingers from hers.
"I’ll never let go. I promise," she said. And with that, she kissed
his hand and let him fall into the water, down into the deep. It would be his
watery grave forever. The tears came back to her as she watched him fall. She
wished she could have died, too; she would at least be able to see him again.
She would never forget the man
she loved.
*****
Getting lost in memories and
remembering them are two different things, Rose decided. Getting lost in memories is when you are
too caught up with what you remember to dwell on the present. Remembering
is…well, remembering the memories. And she had done that; she had done
exactly what Jack had asked her to do. She had fulfilled his promises--every
single last one of them.
Another flashback of memories hit
her like a thousand bricks.
*****
"I worked on a squid boat
in Monterey." The sun cast a warm glow across their faces as they talked.
"Then I went down to Los Angeles, to the pier in Santa Monica, and started
doing portraits there for ten cents apiece."
She looked away. "Why
can’t I be like you, Jack? Just head out into the horizon whenever I feel like
it." She waved a hand towards the setting sun to illustrate her point.
"Say we’ll go there sometime, to that pier, even if we only ever just talk
about it," she said.
He shook his head. "No.
We’ll do it. We’ll drink cheap beer. We’ll ride on the roller coaster ‘til we
throw up," he joked. She laughed. "Then we’ll ride horses on the
beach, right in the surf." He looked away. "Now, but you’ll have to
do it like a real cowboy. None of that sidesaddle stuff."
"You mean…one--one leg on
each side?" she asked, as if she could hardly believe it.
"Yeah."
"Can you show me?"
she asked him.
"Sure, if you’d
like," he said, smiling.
She looked away and smiled.
"Teach me to ride like a man."
"And chew tobacco like a
man," he said, laying on a fake western accent.
She laughed. "And spit
like a man," she said, imitating his accent and laughing.
"What? They didn’t teach
you that in finishing school?" he joked.
"No!" She laughed.
The promise she would never
forget.
*****
The moment she had never
forgotten, the man she had never forgotten, and the promise she had never
forgotten. She had done all those things. She had drunk cheap beer. She had
ridden on the roller coaster until she threw up. Then she had ridden on a horse
in the surf with one leg on each side. Just like they promised they would do.
That was the one thing she regretted. They had never been able to do the
things they had promised they would do.
She opened up her suitcase and
took out the overcoat that Cal had given her on that fateful night. She reached
into the right pocket and drew it out. It was a beautiful silver chain with
intricate designs, and at the end was a blue diamond. The Heart of the Ocean.
It was cut in the exact shape of a heart--a blue heart.
She smiled and slowly took it out
of the overcoat further. Time to return it where it should be.
She got out of bed and hobbled
outside. She put her hand on the railing and stepped up. Slowly, she held it
out over the water.
"One final gift, Jack."
One final gift until she would be with him forever. She gasped as the necklace
fell--fell into the deep depths of the blue ocean. Fell down to the murky
bottom of the Atlantic, where its watery grave should have been on that fateful
night in 1912.
She hobbled back to her bed. She
could feel it coming. The time would be soon. Had she ever felt this tired
before? When she reached her room, she collapsed onto her bed in tiredness. She
got between the covers. She sent a silent prayer to heaven, where he was
waiting.
"I’ve kept your promise,
Jack. Now, be with me just a little bit longer." She took one last look at
her pictures and then dozed off. Somewhere, while she was asleep, a bright
light formed ahead of her. Knowing it would be impossible to resist the light,
she followed it, for one could not defeat the embracing arms of death.
The angel led her out of her
room, out to the deck of the ship, and down into the watery depths of the
ocean. It was not long before she could see the shape of the ghost ship in the
distance, and it was even a lesser amount of time before they reached it. At
last, she would be at home.
They entered the ship, the
hallways eroded from the water. Suddenly, everything started to reconstruct
itself. Now she knew where she was. She followed the light up the hallway to a
door. She realized that her hand had been closed. She opened it. She was
surprised to see the note from so long ago.
Make it count. Meet me at the
clock.
She entered the grand salon.
There were hundreds of people in the room. All, she knew, had perished along
with the ship. There were Tommy, Fabrizio, and Cora, the little girl that Jack
had danced with at the steerage party. How could she ever forget that night?
She couldn’t, she knew. It would be engraved in her memory forever. She was
astonished to see that she was in the body of her seventeen-year-old self. To
her left stood Captain Smith, and beside him stood Mr. John Jacob Astor. Ahead,
standing beside the staircase, was Mr. Andrews. She wanted to greet him, but
something else distracted her.
He was there, up by the clock,
waiting for her like he had so many years ago. Jack. She rushed up to him and
embraced him. Leaning in, she kissed him passionately. She could feel him smile
through her lips and it made her heart race. Everyone was applauding their
reunion, their meeting at last. The heat rushed to her cheeks as she thought of
this.
"Jack, I did everything you
wanted me to do. I rode on a horse in the surf with one leg on each side. I
even flew an airplane! I had children with the man who loved me for who I was,
and not for what I could bring him. I--"
He cut her off, putting a finger
to her lips. "I know you did. I was there with you the whole time. You
made me the proudest man in heaven for what you did. I was with you the whole
time." He wound her fingers through his again and again. "I was there
when your first child was born, holding your hand and worrying like a father
should. I was there at your wedding day, holding your hand through it all. I
was there with you, Rose. I was there." He flashed his beautiful grin at
her. She couldn’t help smiling back. "You made each day count, Rose, and
for that, I’m proud of you--the proudest man in heaven." He kissed her
again and she responded passionately.
It was the memories of him that
she would never forget, and she had never forgotten them. Now that she was
reunited with him, they would watch over her children like a couple should.
She could never forget him.
The End.