My Heart Must Go On

Freezing

Never let go. Never let go. Promise. Promise. 

Jack's vision was black, his lungs were screaming, his skin burning. 

Jack. Jack, I'll never let go. I'll never let go. 

Jack wanted to give up. He needed to give up. Just give up

Jack! Come back! JACK!! COME BACK!!! 

Jack burst of off the water. He cried out. 

"Rose!" He screamed. "Rose, where are you?" There were people, frozen people everywhere. Jack tread water slowly, wishing, hoping, praying that Rose was not one of them. He saw a tipped over life boat and climbed on top. He was weak, so weak. But he had to go on. For Rose. They had promised. Jack blacked out. 

                                ***********************************

Rose stared up at the statue of liberty bleakly. She had always imagined this as a glorious scene, but this? This was just a reminder of how great the tragedy was. She had been invisioning her and Jack finally being able to be free, to be in America. Now? She had no clue what to do. 

"Can I have your name, love?" An officer with a clipboard asked. Rose had no doubt in her mind what her name was. 

"Dawson. Rose Dawson."

                        ******************************************

Rose stepped off the Carpathia, staring around her. She had no idea where to go, since her life had changed now much aboard the Titanic. 

"Hello again, Ms. Dawson," said a voice from behind her. Was it Cal? Rose whirled around. No, it was Officer Max Grembly. 

"Hello," Rose said. 

"You going anywhere? Do you have a house or a family?" He asked.

Rose shrugged. "I got separated from my family," she said, and thankfully, he just took it that they were gone for good, sunk in the ocean. "So I really have no clue where I am going."

Max looked sympathetic. "Well, there are a few cheap apartments her to where I live, I could walk you there."

Rose smiled weakly. "I don't have any money now..."

Max quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a few hundreds. "Is this enough?" He asked. Rose gasped.

"I couldn't accept that, I couldn't possibly-that's absurd!"

"Please take it. You need it more than I do."

Rose hesitantly reached out and grabbed the money from him. "Thank you," she whispered, all the while thinking that Cal could learn a lesson or two from this Officer. Then Max Grembly walked her to where he lived. On the way, he asked questions. 

"So, who were your family members? The ones that died?"

Rose quickly made up names wildly in her head. "Um, Ruthie Dawson was my mother and Caleb Darwin was enga- um, just a family friend." 

"It's such a tragic story, the Titanic. I'm sure it will be all over the news, how the ship that "God himself couldn't sink" is now lying at the bottom of the ocean. He glanced at Rose. "And all those people. You're lucky to be alive."

Lucky. No, Jack had saved her. He killed himself to save her. 

"Was this Jack Dawson then your husband?"

"Um..yes," Rose said. She wondered what it would be like married to Jack. It would certainly be better than marrying Cal. 

"Well, here's the apartment!" Max said. He handed her a slip of paper. "Here is my name, address, and phone number, if you need anything." Rose nodded, and walked into the apartment. There was a man at the front desk.

"Hello," Rose began. The man looked up. "How much money does it cost to stay here?" 

"Fifty dollars a month."

"Oh..." Rose said. "I don't know if I'll be able to afford that for long. You see, I lost all my money on the Titanic, and--"

The man's eyes widened. "You were on the Titanic??"

Rose sighed. "Yes..."

The man handed over a key and a room number. "Go on, go on, you can stay here for free, you've been through a greater ordeal than you know!"

Rose hurried up the stairs. Didn't she know? She had lost Jack. That was worse than any other tragedy in the world. She quickly opened her apartment door, and let the tears fall.