UNTITLED STORY
Chapter Two
Jack felt his hand being pried away from
Rose’s. He reached out frantically, trying to grab it again, but she was gone.
Everything was black and he couldn’t tell which way was up. He wished he had
put on a lifebelt now, because he could not make his legs and arms move
together. A wash of water pushed him now. Was he going down? Just then, his
head broke the surface of the water and he gasped for air. Immediately, his
ears were assaulted with the screams and cries of the thousands of people
around him. He called out for Rose again and again. He soon knew she would not
hear him over the screaming masses. He knew he needed to find something to help
him float, for his strength was leaving him quickly. He saw some large pieces
of debris floating a ways from where he was and decided to try to swim to them.
He quickly realized that this was not possible in the icy water. Suddenly, he
felt someone yanking his collar.
"Here. I’ll help you. Come this
way."
It was a man with a lifebelt who had seen him
trying to swim for the debris not too far off. He was now dragging Jack through
the water as they made their way. When they reached what looked like an
overturned table and a folding chair, they were able to climb up and out of the
freezing waters.
"I’m J-Joshua Landsley," the man
said between shivers.
"Jack Dawson," Jack said, as he
shivered, reaching for the man’s palm to shake it.
"What shall we do now?" Joshua
asked.
"I guess w-we w-wait," Jack
replied. "It will just take them a f-few minutes to get the boats
organized and then they’ll be c-coming b-back."
"I h-hope you’re right, lad."
Jack tried to breathe evenly, but his violent
shivering made that increasingly difficult. He hoped he was right. He knew they
wouldn’t stand a chance if they didn’t come back.
A long while passed and he looked over at
Joshua. They were huddled close together now and Joshua appeared to be
struggling.
"L-look at the lot of them," he
said, as he looked out on the sea of floating bodies. "J-Jack, it’s so
b-bloody cold. I d-don’t think I’m to make it out of this one."
"I know, J-Joshua." Talking to the
man seemed a lot easier, even though they were strangers "T-try to hold
on. The boats will come back. They h-have to. I d-don’t know about you, b-but I
intend t-to write a s-strongly worded letter t-to the W-White Star L-Line about
all this." He tried to smile.
Joshua nodded in agreement. He knew he was
doomed. Jack seemed a lot stronger than he did.
*****
What seemed like an eternity passed until
they were safely onboard. She hesitantly started looking into the faces of the
people being brought onboard, searching for Rose. Just then, she heard a voice
behind her.
"Ruth!"
She turned to look into the face of Caledon
Hockley. He half-embraced her. She looked at him expectantly.
"Where is Rose?"
His eyes told her she was not with him. She
collapsed into him, sobbing, as he tried to comfort her.
"I couldn’t stop her, Ruth. She went to
find that boy, that steerage trash." Cal spat out the last words. He
thought it best to leave out the part of her jumping from the lifeboat for now.
"How could you let her go just like
that?" she yelled between sobs. Her Rose, her only child, was really gone.
Cal held her uncomfortably, not knowing what
his next move should be.
"Ruth, I will go search for her. Perhaps
she and Dawson were able to board a different boat. If she is on this ship, I
will find her," Cal said, trying to sound hopeful.
Ruth nodded silently. He had let her go. She
had thought Cal had loved her daughter. Then why didn’t he run after her and force
her into a boat?
"Thank you, Mr. Hockley," was all
she could manage to whisper. She would not let herself put her hopes into Cal.
She couldn’t. She had to accept that her daughter was gone and not coming back.
She shrank into a nearby chair. A steward offered her tea and she gratefully
took it and drank in the warmth.