TITANIC ~ A Yoonmin Story

Don't Let Go

Collapsible A is overloaded and half-flooded. Men cling to the sides in the water. Others, swimming, are drawn to it as their only hope. Pilwoo, standing in the boat, slaps his oar in the water as a warning.

"Stay back! Keep off!"

Hoseok, exhausted and near the limit, makes it almost to the boat. Pilwoo clubs him with the oar, cutting open his scalp. "You don't... understand... I have... to get... to America."

Pilwoo points with the oar. "It's that way!"

Hoseok floats, panting each breath in agony. His spirit leaves him. Cal seems to be moving in slow motion to him, yelling and wielding the oar. A demon in a tuxedo.

Yoongi and Jimin still float amid a chorus of the damned.  Yoongi sees the ship's officer nearby, Chief Officer Wilde. He is blowing his whistle furiously, knowing the sound will carry over the water for miles.

"The boats will come back for us, Jimin. Hold on just a little longer. They had to row away for the suction and now they'll be coming back." 

Jimin nods, his lovers words helping him. Jimin is shivering uncontrollably, his lips blue and his teeth chattering. "Thank God for you Hyung."

People are still screaming, calling to the lifeboats. "Come back! Please! We know you can hear us. For God's sake!" One woman shouts. And another man joins in with her cries. "Please... help us. Save one life! SAVE ONE LIFE!"

In boat six, Mijeong has her ears covered against the wailing in the darkness. The first class women in the boat sit, stunned, listening to the sounds of hundreds screaming.

"They'll pull us right down I tell ya!" Cha Unjin states.

"Aw knock it off, yer scarin' me. Come on girls, grab you oars. Let's go." Wan Bao leads. Nobody moves. "Well come on!" The women won't meet her eyes. They huddle into their ermine wraps. "I don't understand a one of you. What's the matter with you? It's your men back there! We got plenty a' room for more."

Cha snaps. "If you don't shut that hole in yer face, there'll be one less in this boat!"

Mijeong keeps her ears covered and her eyes closed, shutting it all out.

In boat one they are facing the same predicament. Sir Cosmo and Lady Chwa Seong sit with ten other people in a boat that is two thirds empty. They are two hundred yards from the screaming in the darkness.

Fireman Han speaks up. "We should do something." 

Lady Chwa squeezes Cosmo's hand and pleads him with her eyes. She is terrified.

"It's out of the question." Sir Cosmo says.

The crewmembers, intimidated by a nobleman, acquiesce. They hunch guiltily hoping the sound will stop soon.

Twenty boats, most half full, float in the darkness. None of them make a move.

  ゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。☆。・゛★゛・。

Yoongi and Jimin drift under the blazing stars. The water is glassy, with only the faintest undulating swell. Jimin can actually see the stars reflecting on the black mirror of the sea.

Yoongi squeezes the water out of Jimin's long coat, tucking it in tightly around his legs. He rubs Jimin's arms. Yoongi's face is chalk white in the darkness. A low moaning sounds in the darkness around them.

"It's getting quiet." Jimin shivers.

"Just a few more minutes. It'll take them a while to get the boats organized..."