Titanic

Suicide attempt

Kairi ran across the ship, crying and pushing people out of her way. More than once, she rudely ran into people, all of which stared after her. The richer folk did their stupid "Oh my" routine when she ran past them, but she kept on running regardless.

Marshall was laying outside on a bench, having a smoke and just staring up at the stars. But while his eyes were looking up, his gaze was far, far away from the night sky. He couldn't get the image of that woman out his head. Those beautiful eyes... no wonder he couldn't get her out of his head. He stayed like this, but suddenly someone ran by him with loud footsteps and... was that crying? He jolted himself up, and his eyes widened slightly as he stared after the young woman running toward the back of the ship.

Kairi kept on running until she reached the bow of the ship, then she slowly started walking toward the railings, once throwing a glance over her shoulder, breathing heavily. Just in front of the railing, she stared at the raging ocean the propellers were messing up with their speed. Slowly, she reached out and grabbed the railing, then she got herself onto the railing, grabbing the pole to help herself get over the railing. Slowly and carefully, she climbed over the railing, moving her dress out of the way at one point, and glancing forward to make sure no one was seeing this. Now standing behind the railing, she slowly turns around and faces the deep ocean, still breathing heavily. She was slowly leaning forward, as much as her arm would let her, taking short and very anxious breaths. All she had to do was let go of the railing-

"Don't do it." Marshall called out to her suddenly.

Kairi snapped around, and found herself facing the brunette she had seen earlier. "Stay back. Don't come any closer" she cried out.

But he would't, he continued to take small steps closer, extending his hand toward her, even though he was about three feet from her. "Come on. Just give me your hand. I'll pull you back over-" he said

"No! Stay where you are!" stopped him about two feet from her. He tried to take a very small step closer, but her cry stopped him cold. "I mean it! I'll let go!" Kairi said nervously, turning back toward the ocean at her last sentence.

Marshall stood there silent for a moment. Then just as she turned back around, he took the cigarette from his mouth and stepped a little closer to Kairi, holding it up to make sure she wouldn't jump. Carefully, he stepped closer and just to her left and threw the cigarette into the ocean.

He stood there for a moment, then he said quietly, "No, you won't."

"What do you mean, no, I won't?" she said, looking and sounding annoyed. "Don't presume to tell me what I will and will not do. You don't know me."

He shrugged and said, "Well, you would have done it already."

"You're distracting me. Go away." she said, nervously looking back at the ocean.

He shook his head, and started to remove his heavy jacket as he spoke, "I can't. I'm involved now. You let go and I'm going to have to jump in there after you."

Still breathing heavily, she slowly blinked but she stayed to her decision, "Don't be absurd. You'll be killed"

Marshall started to untie his left shoe as he spoke. "I'm a good swimmer"

"The fall alone would kill you" she said, but saying the line made her heart beat faster than it already was in fear.

He nodded, taking off his left shoe onto the deck as he spoke, "It would hurt. I'm not saying it wouldn't. To tell you the truth, I'm a lot more concerned about that water being so cold." Both of them stood there silent, while she glanced back at the ocean below her. Finally, "How cold?"

"Freezing. Maybe a couple of degrees over." Marshall untied his right shoe and took it off, then dropped it on the deck. "You ever, uh..." Marshall started, "ever been to Wisconsin?"

She was looking at the ocean, then his random question finally got to her. Snapping her head around, "What?" she said quietly, confusion written all over her face and voice.

He smiled slightly as he said, "Well, they have some of the coldest winters around. I grew up there near Chippewa Falls. I remember when I was a kid, me and my father, we went ice fishing out on Lake Wissota" When she didn't respond at all, he then tilted his head slightly before continuing, "Ice fishing is, you know, where you-"

"I know what ice fishing is!" Kairi said angrily, closing her eyes in exasperation.

"Sorry" he said, briefly holding his hands up in surrender. "You just seemed like, you know, kind of an indoor girl" The smile disappeared from his face as he continued, "Anyway, I, uh... I fell through some thin ice and I'm telling you...". At this point, he was looking down at the ocean near her, glancing at her when he next spoke. "-water that cold, like right down there... it hits you like a thousand knives stabbing you all over your body". She glanced back down at the ocean, and slowly looked back at him, fear now obvious in her eyes. "You can't breathe, you can't think—at least not about anything but the pain" he continued, slowly sighing and staring at the ocean for a few seconds, while she glanced between him and the ocean. Slowly sighing again, he continued "Which is why I'm not looking forward to jumping in there after you". While he continued, he took his lighter coat, putting it on the deck. "Like I said... I don't have a choice" he said, and she just stared at him slightly as he continued, "I guess I'm kind of hoping you'll come back over the rail and get me off the hook here."

"You're crazy!" she said after a few moments, thinking he couldn't possibly be serious, or something like that.

He merely nodded, leaning forward halfway through his next words, "That's what everybody says, but with all due respect, miss, I'm not the one hanging off the back of a ship here". She didn't respond, so he slowly extended his hand, making sure to put it in her view as he spoke, "Come on. Come on, give me your hand. You don't want to do this." She gave a small little start when she saw his hand, but for a few seconds, she didn't move. Then, ever so slowly, she reached her right hand to grab his. As she grabbed, she slowly and carefully turned around to be face-to-face with him, still hanging onto the railing. They looked into each other's eyes.

"Whew!" he blew out, looking vastly relieved. "Marshall Dawson" he said.

"Kairi Dewitt Bukater" she answered after a few seconds.

Marshall briefly made a face, then he tried to suppress a chuckles as he spoke, but it showed in his voice anyway, "I'm going to have to get you to write that one down". This comment made Kairi give a surprised little giggle, then he said, "Come on."

Kairi stepped onto the first railing, and was about to step on the second pole of the railing, but she slipped on her dress.

"AHH!" she screams as she fell, pulling Marshall against the railing. He was the only thing still connecting her to the ship, while she was desperately flailing and trying to grab hold of something, anything.

Marshall's face was strained hard with the situation, and he was trying hard to pull her up. "I got you! Come on. Come on!" Marshall yelled, and he started pulling Kairi up, and she managed to get her free hand onto the railing. But her grip slipped there, just as his grip slipped.

Marshall was barely in time to get both his hands holding hers. "HELP! PLEASE!" Kairi screamed. "HELP, PLEASE!"

"PLEASE HELP ME!" screamed Kairi, flailing and desperately clinging to Marshalls's grip.

"Listen! Listen to me!" he told her, giving her the best steady face he could give in the situation. "I've got you. I won't let go. Now pull yourself up. Come on." Marshall grunts as he tried to pull Kairi up, while she did her best to do what he told her.

"Come on. That's right. You can do it." he told her gently, slowly getting her up over the railing. With a great effort and grunt, he finally pulled her back over the railing and onto the ship, but he somehow landed on top of her in the process. They stayed in that position for some seconds, staring in each others eyes. '' Thank you, Marshall''