I was sat in my granddaughter's living room, enjoying a cup of tea when I heard something on the television that caught my attention. Some man was talking about how he and his crew just recovered artifacts from the Titanic wreck site, I grabbed my cane and practically drug my tired body to the kitchen. "Grandfather what are you doing?" my Granddaughter asked. "Shh turn the tv up" I said turning my attention back to it. As I watch the screen the reporters flashed to someone washing grime off of a drawing, a very familiar drawing.
"My God." I muttered. "Lizzy Please go get the phone."
"What for Grandfather?" Lizzy asked.
"So you know about the necklace we're searching for?" Mr. Lovett doubted me.
"Yes, of course. I am the one who bought it." I sighed as I wheeled my wheelchair over to the artifacts they had taken from my cabin.
"Caledon Hockley is the name on the insurance claim. "
"Caledon Hockley died on the Titanic, there is no record of him after." Said the guy with the smily tee.
"I suppose that it true since after the sinking me as Caledon Hockley ceased to exist. But I am or was Caledon Hockley. I bought the necklace for my ungrateful fiance, Rose DeWitt Bukater." I explained.
"You've never mentioned her before." My granddaughter, Lizzy said.
"Well, I was once told by someone who meant a whole lot to me to keep unpleasant thoughts out of my mind." I laughed lightly.
"Do you know what happened to the necklace?" They asked me.
"I suppose it went down with the ship." I lied, but not wanting these people to know the truth.
"Of course." Lovett muttered.
"Could I see my drawing?" I asked trying to change the subject.
It was the first time in 84 years I set eyes on that drawing, it was faded and tattered now but it still was as beautiful as the day he sketched it on that pad of paper.
"You really think this is you?" Lizzy asked also looking at the drawing.
"I know it is, I was quite the stud in my day." I said sounding like my old self
"See the date? April 14th 1912, the exact day Titanic sank." Lovett pointed to the signature.
"Yes, I know. I remember the day clear as glass." I squinted my eyes to see the detail better.
"Cal, I have a question for you." Lovett's tone lightened.
"What is it?" I said curiously .
"Can you take us back and tell us what happened?" Lovett asked nicely
"Of Course, but how you see the wreck may differ from how it went." I said closing my eyes and imaging the day I first set eyes on the Titanic.
"When ever your ready" Lovett said starting a recorder
Even though it had been 84 years since I set eyes on the ship. The memories of the liner never left my mind, projecting images and videos of a life that I never wanted to remember. I remembered everything about the ship, from the floor to the ceiling, as though I had never left. The china was brand new, never been used. The windows shone with so much light, it was nearly blinding. You could smell the fresh paint, even when I touched one of the walls in the first class corridor, a bit of it rubbed off on my figures due to the fact it was still wet. The beds were pristine and had never been slept on. My life was going to change on this ship, I just knew it from the second I stepped foot on it.
My fiancé and I were going back to America, to get married. Her mother was with us, of course. The only reason I was planning on marrying her was because my family expected it of me and they certainly needed the money since Rose's father had passed.
It was a suffocating relationship to say the least, it's hard to communicate with someone whom you share no interests with. She was a beautiful one, yes but beauty isn't everything. She deserved someone who could truly love her and I just couldn't be the one. I believe she might have had a hatred towards me, however.
It was the first day on the ship and we were in the first class dinning hall. Rose and her mother and I were all sat around, discussing unimportant things. Everyone was chattering, ignoring me completely. I asked Rose if she wanted to go get a breath of air with me out on deck, she pretended not to hear me. They chattered on and on and the room seemed to be getting smaller and smaller to me, I felt as if it were about to collapse on me. Was this my life? Could I not do anything to change my miserable existance? Surrounded by people who only wanted money and not me in the slightest. I had to get out, I couldn't live like this, not I a world that was suffocating me.
"Excuse me." I said, throwing the napkin off of my lap and on to the table.
I ran, I ran faster than I ever had in my life. I ran all the way to the stern of the ship and looked over the railing. It was a long way to fall, but it was my only way out. I climbed my way over the railing safely as I held onto a light post and then hung on to the railing, I didn't want to fall before I was prepared to jump. I took one deep breathe and closed my eyes.
"You don't want to do that." Someone said from behind me.
I glanced over to him as he walked closer and closer, I turned my head away from him. He was a man about my age, possibly a little younger. He looked like second or third class, steerage. He had messy blonde hair and bright blue eyes, he was quite the attractive one, not that I'd admit it then of course.
"Don't tell me what to do." I shouted with anger as tears began to stream down my face.
"Just give me your hand, I'll pull you back over." He stuck out his hand for me to take.
"I will not! If you don't leave me alone, I'll jump right now." I warned lamely.
"You won't, if you were going to you would have done it already." He said as he took one last drag from his cigarette and threw it over board.
"Don't presume to tell me what I will and will not do, you don't know me." I told him as he began to take off his jacket.
"If you do it, I'm just gonna jump in with you. I'm involved now, I just can't ignore you." He took of his shoes.
"You're crazy! Don't be foolish My life has nothing to do with yours" I lightly laughed at the boy.
"No offense, sir but you're the one hanging off of the back of a ship. I'm not worried about the fall though, I'm more worried about water being so cold." He said as he gazed over board.
"Why? H-How cold?" I shuttered.
"Freezing, maybe a couple degrees over. Once we hit that water, it'll feel like we're being stabbed by a million knifes. You won't even be able to move or think about anything other than how cold it is." He tried to scare me but what I hadn't noticed is that he was slowly moving closer to me.
"Really?" My body was beginning to shake from the cold.
"Yes, I'm telling you the truth. When I was a kid I fell in a lake while ice fishing with my father and I couldn't even breathe." He explained as he grabbed on to the railing.
Then I thought, maybe I shouldn't do it. I slowly turned around for him to be able to help get me away from certain death and stuck out my hand. He helped me get lifted up and almost off of the railing.
"My name is Jack, by the way, Jack Dawson." He said as I almost got back on board.
"Caledon Hockley." I smiled as he laughed lightly.
That's when my foot slipped and before I knew it, I was hanging overboard my life on the line. Jack held onto my hand and tried to pull me up. He kept calling out, telling me that he had me and everything was going to be okay which obviously a lie. Suddenly, I didn't want to die anymore. I felt like there was someone who actually cared if I lived or died. He finally had enough strength to pull me up and got me back on the ship, I tumbled over top of him and began to laugh. We were both laid up on deck, laughing, as officers ran over to us.
"What is going on here?" One of them demanded to know.
"Nothing is going on here." I said but they still grabbed Jack by the shoulders and roughly put his hands in cuffs.
"Let him go this instant! He was helping me, not harming me!" I yelled to the officer.
"What would a third class piece of scum be helping you with?" He laughed as I saw Rose and her Mother run to me.
"What is going on here?" Rose demanded fiercely.
"For God's sake! Nothing is going on, free the man from those cuffs or White Star will be getting a complaint from me and you'll all be fired!" I warned seriously.
"Alright, alright then. What ever you say Mr. Hockley." The officer said as he released Jack and then they went back to their posts, still keeping an eye on us.
"Are you okay, Cal?" Rose asked but I knew that her concern was fake.
"Yes, yes. I'm fine, you two can go back to dinner now. I'll be in my room if you need me." I insisted.
She and her mother left, even though I could see in Rose's eyes that she knew something was wrong. She didn't trust Jack just because he was steerage.
"Well, I can not think of a suitable way to thank you for this. Money seems to be not enough, I could offer you an invitation to dinner tomorrow night, however." I said as I picked his jacket off of the deck, slipped some money into the pocket and handed it to him.
"You really don't need to thank me, but I will accept that invite." He said as he pulled on his jacket and tied his shoes.
"Before dinner tomorrow, if you don't mind, I'd like it for us to meet up on deck and talk for a while. I'd like to get to know you properly." It wasn't normal for a first class passenger to want to be friends with steerage, but at that point loneliness overruled normality.
"Okay." He agreed and shook my hand.
"Goodnight, Mr. Dawson. Thank you, once again." I politely said and turned away to go back to my cabin.
"You too, Hockley!" He shouted after me and I couldn't help but chuckle.
That night, I gave Rose the Heart of the Ocean. She acted as if it were a burden instead of a gift, which I could not understand, that necklace was worth so much, not just value but sentimentally too. What would our marriage be like? She could not stand to even be in the same room with me for more than she had to, she never wanted to just spend time with me.
Back in my room, I was lonely once again. I thought of locating Jack, but he probably was asleep or didn't want to talk to me. Maybe I mistook the whole thing as a possibility of a friendship, maybe he didn't care for me. Would he be just like the others, just want my money? I was making too much of this whole situation, I thought. What was wrong with me? Why did I care so much for this peasant boy?