Page 42 of Where He Ended

- Chapter 16 -

Dominic

Isee her sucked underand my world narrows until I'm staring down the pinhole of a funnel. At the end of it exists nothing but her. Only Laiken.

If she dies . . .

I'll have nothing left.

“Laiken!” I roar, rushing over the sloppy-wet bank, racing through the shallows under the bridge. It's dark here, like life is taunting me by making everything harder. She's gone. I know she's gone, but I can't accept it.

It's like that day where I rebuked her in the hallway. I'd left her in my wake, and in spite of putting walls between us, I still felt her.

I feel her now. Our connection is a wire that's thinner than the air. It’s invisible and fragile, yet also stronger than any other part of my body. Splashing through the river, I swim. My shoulders connecting with debris swept up by the old storms-branches, leaves, and dead animals. I'm in the River Styx, and I thought I'd paid my dues long ago, but the ferryman is hungry to take the last spark of love from me.

I try to shout her name again. Inhaling water, I choke then dip my head under the rapids. It's muddy, my vision blurred by bubbles. My eyes burn from the dirt but I keep them stretched wide. Searching. Seeking. Praying.

Long hair swirls in front of me. It beckons like a ribbon attached to the greatest gift ever known. As I've done so many times before, I curl my hands in her hair and tug. I break the surface with a painful gasp. She comes up with me, eyes closed, face tinged blue.

No!I think, swimming for the shore.This isn't happening!

I can't let it.

I . . .

Won't.

Lose her.

I weigh a thousand pounds and the river scrapes at my heavy, soaked legs, but I manage to walk up the slippery shore. Collapsing to my knees, I set Laiken on the grass. Her long hair coils like the chain of an anchor. I brush it away from her fish-belly-white cheeks.

“Laiken!” I shout, my voice breaking.

She doesn't respond.

Putting my ear to her chest, I listen. Her heart whispers to me. Cupping her jaw, I seal her mouth with my own andbreatheuntil her chest fills. I learned many things in school. I thank the Heavens that CPR was one of them.

Two minutes—two agonizing minutes—and I push more air into her. Laiken jerks, muscles twitching as she expels water. The relief that sinks into me topples me towards the edge of tears. “Thank god,” I say, pushing her onto her side. “Just let it out, and breathe. Just breathe.”

Laiken spews more river water from her nose and mouth. Rasping, she gets on her hands and knees. Her hair curtains her face, clinging to her shoulders and back. Coughing violently, she lifts her eyes to meet mine.

I know what she sees.

It's impossible to hide the love I have for her in this moment.

“Come on,” I say quickly, scooping her into my arms. “We need to get you inside, where it's warm.”

“Wait,” she croaks. Her head turns as she pushes against me. She cranes to look at the bridge. “We need to go back, there was a knife, my father's knife, it—” her voice crumbles under saturated coughing.

“We'll worry about it after. It can wait, this can't.”

“Dominic—”

“Stop trying to convince me to turn around!” I growl, jogging towards the cabin. “Everything else that isn't about youcan wait!”

She looks up at me with wide eyes. In my arms she's so small, and even with the water soaking her clothes and long hair, she weighs nothing. “Dominic.” I challenge her with a silent glare, warning her not to argue more. But her exhausted, tiny smile says she has no plans to fight. “That's number three.”

“What?”

“You saved me. You did itagain.” She laughs weakly. “I hope you don't expect me to repay you. I'll never be able to, at this rate.”

I let myself return her smile.

What I really want is to tell her that she doesn't need to try to repay me.

She'salive.

That's more than enough.

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