Jack's Rose

At 2:20 a.m. on that fateful April 15 of the year 1912, the British ocean liner, the most famous ship of the era and perhaps even till date, The RMS Titanic sank into the North Atlantic Ocean, not very far from its destination. The massive ship, which carried 2,200 passengers and crew, had struck the iceberg about two and a half hours earlier. The so-called unsinkable ship had finally sunk.

Who on earth doesn’t know this? But very few know how this incident changed the lives of thousands, people who died, people that were related to them, and the lucky few who survived, like myself and Mrs Rose!

I was 8, and although I do not have a lot of memory of that time, I feel I am gonna take those memories even in my rebirth, is that’s a thing!

I saw 4 kids, two of them about my age and the other two slightly elder to me and surprisingly they looked just the same, I didn’t know what twins were until I had seen them.

All the 4 kids were always accompanied by a middle-aged woman, their nanny, and their mom never left their sight either. I saw their father a couple of times especially during mealtimes in the larger banquet hall.

I so much wished I had a nanny and a couple of more siblings to play with, but I was not that lucky.

I saw those 4 kids every day and so much wanted to play with them, but their nanny never let anyone get closer to the kids.

I was always had only mom and dad with me; dad didn’t leave sight of mom, and mom didn’t leave sight of me.

I so much wished I could just get lost on this huge vessel and do anything that I wanted, and not being told not to do this or eat this or sleep now. I had such a boring life after all.

But no doubt, I loved the time I was having on the ship. Father had acquired a new business in Manhattan, and we were moving there from London. He had sold our big house to a new merchant and purchased a new house in the city.

He had been there a couple of times in the last few months, but it was the first time we all 3 were travelling together.

In fact, it was the first time ever I went anywhere outside London and I was super excited.

Mom had told me so many stories of this statue at the port where we were about to deck when we reach. Father told me about these huge waterfalls he saw during his last trip in the winter and how it was frozen.

I couldn’t wait to see all these with my own eyes! I just hoped they were not lying, in order to convince me to leave my friends Tina, Sam & Jane with who I played each evening.

Sometimes, especially on the first day, I did feel sick a couple of times, I think it was due to my excitement and mom overfeeding me, but otherwise, it was so much fun! I even wrote a letter to Tina, Sam and Jane, which I planned to post after we reach New York.

Then that fateful evening, the 14^th of April, dad had met a prospect from his business community and had a meeting scheduled with Mr Rover late night after dinner. So he got all dressed and for the first time in all these days left my sight! I was so relieved. Mom was a bit down with slight fever and perhaps sea sickness, so she fed me dinner and put me on my bed and she went off to sleep herself; leaving the suite room unlocked as dad was expected to be late. It was the best opportunity I had in my whole life. It felt like I owned the ship. I had planned in my mind that I am gonna sneak out, go from one end of the ship to the other, and oh yes, the downstairs. I wonder how the part of the ship which is underwater looks like from the inside, I have wanted to see it like always since I saw the ship for the first time.

And there I was on my mission.

I very silently opened the huge door, very carefully stepped out and even more silently closed it back.

No one could doubt it that it was even opened.

I carefully had planned that I was not supposed to be spotted in the banquet and dinner are as many of them knew mom and dad, so I could be into trouble. I went on to explore the stairs and downstairs where I was confident no one knew me.

Wow! It was the best moments of my life. Little did I know that my life was about to change forever.

It must have been a little over half an hour when I think I reached a couple of levels below where our room was. Until now I exactly remembered that I had taken only lefts and down, so I could simply turn back and do rights and ups. It was all sorted.

Just then I reached a dead-end lobby in front of which was a big door which was unguarded. I was at first shy to try to open it and so turned my back and was ready to make my way back to my room. It was enough adventure for the night, but just then the door opened, and I saw a room full of people, eating and dancing, and there were so many little kids, just like me, wow! I was so happy, would I find Jane, Tina, and Sam here? What if they are here to surprise me?

I simply walked in without anyone even noticing, that was the second mistake I made that day, the first being leaving my room, or perhaps the 2^nd right thing I did in my life, the first being leaving my room.

I have never known which one of the two stands true and I think I will never know, and I don’t want to either.

After spending about just a few mins there, which seemed like an eternity I wanted to now go back to my room and to mom, I was just too tired and sleepy by then.

As I started to leave there was a big thud and it felt like an earthquake, or you can call it a bumpy ride. It was fun for a moment until I realized what was it in some time.

I ran towards the door to get out of that huge room when I saw the nanny, who never let me even go near those kids on the upper deck, but she was not dressed like the nanny and there were some other kids with her. There were 5 of them and I intuitively went behind her. She was rushing them to a tiny hallway and tucked them all into something that looked like a room, but I can bet it was not big enough for 6 people. I then realized I need to get back to my room and I turned back again but I was lost. I tried remembering which turns I took but I couldn’t recall, the tiny hallways looked very familiar, there was no painting hanged to differentiate one gallery with the other. But I was brave, I didn’t cry. I kept walking and hoping I was going in the right direction.

After about 15 mins or so I saw the same lady outside the same door, and I realized I was only going round and round. My tears had no control and I burst out crying, “ I am lost!”, “I am lost!” I cried.

The nanny came running to me, I think she recognized me, I was not sure, but she was very kind, she asked me why I was here. But I couldn’t tell her my secret, I only said, “I am lost!”

“Don’t cry, don’t cry my child, I think have seen you before on the upper deck, you are travelling with your parents, right?”

“yes,” I replied.

“Let me take you upstairs! your parents must be worried”, she comforted me.

And she called out, “John, please take care of the kids, I will be back in a jiffy,”

Little did she know that it was the last time she is gonna see her husband and her kids.

She took me by my hand and walked me towards the upper decks. But to our dismay, the entry to the deck was “temporally” closed. We tried hard to convince them to let me at least go back to my parents as I have lost my way, but it was all in vain.

Before we could figure out what was happening, there was chaos everywhere, rumours of water filling the lower decks were doing the rounds and I could no longer hold back my tears. I started to cry at the loudest I ever did.

Mrs Rose, I learnt her name when I heard another gentleman calling out for her, from the other end of the corridor.

“They aren’t letting me go downstairs to my bedroom, my wife and kids are there,” he panicked.

“and they aren’t letting me go up the deck, to drop this little boy safely back to his parents,” she replied.

I think I cried so much that I finally fainted. And I don’t remember anything after that.

When I opened my eyes, I was in the middle of the ocean on Mrs Rose’ arms.

Everyone around was sobbing and all looked very scared. I later learnt that her kids and husband went down with the ship.

After we reached New York, she tried searching for my parents, but we soon learnt that they went down with the ship as well.

She had no one, and neither did I. She was 38 and me 8.

Our lives were never the same after midnight on the 15^th of April. And before we both could know it, she was my everything and I was her life.

And today on her funeral, while I am standing here at the age of 69, I can’t thank her enough for doing whatever she did. She was my mom, my dad, my siblings, my friends, she was simply my whole world! I was her Jack and she as my Mrs Rose!

I till date, I don’t know if leaving my room that night was the best or the worst thing I ever did in my life!