Unceremoniously, I’m knocked off of my axis. I flinch, hoping that I haven’t been pushed into his blade. When there’s no sharp pain digging into my neck, I shakily breathe out. Eyes fluttering open, they widen in horror as I see what’s happened. The knife previously held against me is inside of him. Jutting out from just under his jaw, dark red blood pooling out of it and showering down his skin.
I move to tug his hold off of me, a terrified scream leaving my lungs as he doesn’t budge. My feet are slipping as I attempt to scramble away, not having enough strength to escape him, even as he must be dying.
Footsteps pound closer, racing towards us, but they aren’t quick enough—how could they be when he had been threatening their every step? I almost wanted to smile, knowing that they were all reaching for me. Trying to save me.
But the smile never comes, not as Dad uses the last of his remaining strength to pull me off of the ledge, plunging us fifty feet down and into the depths of the unforgiving ocean. Only when we hit the water do his hands unclasp me.
Every inch of me aches as I attempt to break the surface, swimming against the harsh conditions. The motion of the water around me is constant, rising and falling in patterns I can’t decipher or predict. My lungs protest the lack of air, and salty waves prod past my lips. I burst through the weight of the sea long enough to breath twice before I’m smacked under by an unrelenting force.
My nose burns with the intrusion of the freezing cold water, only adding to the panic pumping through me. The waves are too strong to fight and I’m not a very good swimmer outside of a pool to begin with. Panic sets in and I wonder how long it will be before I give up.
The desire to fight is there, but it’s slowly being crushed by the ocean around me. The last two years of my life flash around in my memories, adding to my misery. How can this be how it ends? What did I do to deserve such a fate?
I start to wonder if I should pray. I’ve never done it before, but fear this thick will make you claw at any possible hope. Before I can contemplate it further, my head starts to go fuzzy like I might faint. My limbs go entirely numb as I become tired and lethargic.
The little light reflections from the structure above are all I see as I begin to truly sink.