A New Beginning

Chapter 18: Breaking Point

Chapter 18: Breaking Point

Emma is now lost in a panicking crowd. It seems to her that she's the only sane one left. She's forced forward by the advancing people, reality setting in at last. She's being tossed around like a rag doll so much she's wondering if it's even worth getting into a boat anymore.

She pulls the officer's coat tighter around her, attempting to keep her body heat in. Tears are flowing down her cheeks, her fate mysterious and possibly at an end

Several gunshots ring out into the cold night air, as an officer attempts to keep the crowds back, but it causes more panic of the helpless and unarmed passengers. There are several screams and more crying, Emma is one of them.

She tries to run away from the horrors and goes past the first-class band playing a sonnet she recognizes. She stops and watches them in amazement, despite everything that is happening, they remain calm, playing to comfort those who are dying.

Emma goes up to the nearest violin player and digs around in the pocket of the officer's coat. Sure enough, she finds a few coins. She places them on the violinist's lap. The man looks up at her in confusion but then smiles.

"For a job well done," Emma says.

"Any requests my child?" he asks quietly.

"Come and See, Come Let us by Heart," She answers, tears in her eyes. The only hymn that she could remember from her Sundays in Church with her family.

The leader of the band shouts the number and the musicians take their positions. The soft, sweet melody radiates out into the panicking crowd. Emma's eyes fill with tears again and she smiles.

"Thank you," she says. The band nods at her and Emma starts moving towards the stern and possibly a lifeboat. She knows most of them are gone by now, but if there is a chance to get aboard, she'll take it, despite the chaos and the seemingly pointless hope of doing so. She heads towards a large crowd of people, many screaming and crying, hoping for help.

She fights her way to the front until she hears the words...

"Lower away!" from a nearby officer.

She makes it to the rail and sighs, that hope for help is indeed pointless from the beginning. She didn't make it to safety. She broke her promise to Peter... She fights back more tears and leans over the railing next to the divots to watch the boat being lowered into the black sea.

At least they're safe... she sighs.

She watches from the crowded railing and suddenly a woman with long curly red hair suddenly leaps back onto the ship.

"Is she insane?" Emma gasps. It suddenly dawns on her, the red curly hair and doing something so dangerous...

"Rose!" Emma screeches.

She sees the woman climb back over just a deck lower from where she stands. She does some calculating and knows where to find the woman.

Emma begins shoving through the crowd, trying to make her way inside. She needs to see her friends for it may be the last time they will ever see each other. Her heart beats quickly, maybe there is hope that they can all escape and see the morning light. It seems like such a silly hope, but it's still there for her to grasp onto.

"EMMA!" Rose yells. Emma turns to see her friends standing at the foot of the Grand Staircase.

Emma runs forward and embraces her friends, tears in her eyes.

"Oh my God Emma!" Rose wails. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. How are you, Jack?"

Jack just smiles and hugs Emma tightly.

"I knew you'd make it up here, I knew you would!" he says.

This happy moment seems so silly considering the situation they are in, but a joyful reunion nonetheless. If any of them make it off the ship, this would be a moment of remembrance.

"Was that you who jumped out of the boat?" Emma asks.

"It was," Rose says. "I couldn't leave Jack. I just couldn't"

"That was stupid but very gutsy." Emma smiles meekly. She knows she would probably do the same if Peter was the one staying. "That's how I could tell it was you. Now we need to find a way to avoid the water."

"We need to stay on the ship as long as possible," Jack says. "We need to go towards the stern."

Meanwhile, Cal has watched the entire scene of Rose jumping back on deck unfold. He could not believe how stupid Rose was and how impulsive she could be; this was something he had attempted to suppress in her when they were engaged. He, at first, couldn't believe that Rose had managed to rescue the gutter rat in the first place, but to see the three nuisances as they embraced in petty joy made him sick to his stomach. He had managed to put a bullet in the one boy, who was probably going to bleed to death. Now he desperately wanted to put one in the girl too. He meant it when he threatened to shoot all three of them; they had ruined his engagement to Rose and encouraged her to run off with a man she had just met. His hands shake inside his coat as his anger boils up to an unbelievable level. He grips the silver revolver he managed to retrieve after Jack was forced to drop it when he was arrested. He grips the trigger angrily debating whether God would damn him for all eternity for doing so. He might hit other people...but his reasoning... they are going to die anyway, lets put them out of their misery.

He and Lovejoy follow the trio as they make their way outside, moving with the crowd, now that most of the boats are gone, hoping to stay on the ship as long as possible in hopes of rescue. Cal knew that the water is freezing and staying aboard longer increased a chance of survival in the treacherous seas. His finger shifts on the trigger several times in his pocket. He inhales sharply, there is a gap in the crowd where it is only the three of them moving, he whips out the gun and aims. Cocking the back, Cal squeezes the trigger.

A sharp pain hits Emma's shoulder, she stumbles backwards. Jack and Rose can only watch helplessly as the force of the bullet hitting her upper arm forces Emma over the railing and into the water before anyone could stop her.

"NO!" Rose screams in horror, her heart breaking in two. She has little time to do anything before another gunshot rings out. Jack grabs her arm and the two run through another door and into the freezing water inside once again. The carved cherub at the foot of the center railing explodes beside them. Jack pulls Rose toward the stairs going down to the next deck. Cal fires again, running down the steps toward them. A bullet blows a divet out of the oak panelling behind Jack's head as he pulls Rose down the next flight of stairs. Cal then steps on the skittering head of the cherub statue and goes sprawling. The gun clatters across the marble floor. He gets up, and reeling drunkenly goes over to retrieve it.

More gunshots ring out behind them, Rose screams and they're forced to run again. The bottom of the grand staircase is flooded several feet deep. Jack and Rose come down the stairs two at a time and run straight into the water, fording across the room to where the floor slopes up until they reach dry footing at the entrance to the dining saloon. They must go back towards the stern. Cal reels down the stairs in time to see Jack and Rose splashing through the water toward the dining saloon. He fires twice. Big gouts of spray near them, but he's not a great shot. Having no regrets for what he has done pursues them until he knows it is fruitless. The water boils up around his feet and he retreats up the stairs a couple of steps. Around him the woodwork groans and creaks. The two of them were going to die together, despite everything, they would no longer bother him.

"I hope you enjoy your time together!" he yells over the rushing water and goes to see about getting aboard a boat.