Page 216 of Massimo

A minute later, Zollner came out jingling a pair of car keys between his fingers.

“Yaaaay!” he said excitedly, like a child who had just found a prize. “Now – will you walk to the car, or must I drag you?”

All I could do was stare into the dead man’s eyes.

When I didn’t answer, Zollner sighed theatrically.

“You really could make this so much easier on yourself,” he said as he dragged me off the porch and towards the car.

Please, God, I prayed through my tears. Please let Massimo be okay.

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Massimo

I jumped off the dam rather than dove because I figured it would be better to break my legs than my neck.

I needn’t have worried – the water was deep enough.

That was the one piece of luck in my favor.

Seconds after I jumped, I plunged into hell.

Not a fiery abyss, but chaos and cold.

Ice water swallowed me whole.

Everything was black, and a deafening roar filled my ears.

I whipped around like a monster had me in its jaws.

I covered my head with my arms to protect my brain –

But the rest of my body slammed into outcroppings and boulders.

I held my breath for as long as possible – maybe two minutes, though it felt like an eternity – but I finally broke through the surface to try to get some air.

I ended up with a mouthful of water and got plunged back under.

I was sure I was going to die –

I saw Lucia’s face in front of me in the darkness –

And then I slipped into a slower part of the maelstrom.

I raised my head above water to catch a breath –

And I saw my salvation.

A freshly downed fir tree was drooping over the water 50 feet away.

I kicked with all my might until I was underneath it and managed to snag a branch.

Water roared all around me and dunked me under –

But I was able to grab another branch, then another.

Bit by bit, I pulled myself towards land…

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