35. Raphael
Raphael
35
Plunging into the ocean feels similar to when you first submerge in an ice bath. The shock that follows sends a brief wave of numbness through the body and soothes the burning coming from my shoulder.
Breaking the surface, I shake the hair from my eyes and take a couple of needed breaths before a hand latches on to my ankle below and pulls me under.
The salt in the water stings my eyes when I open them to look down at Xiao. He’s practically trying to climb me like a tree to get to the surface, his eyes wide in panic, which is when I see what’s wrapped around his ankle.
He somehow got tangled up in a rope. The weight is pulling him under, and the bastard is trying to take me with him.
Xiao’s knife is still buried in my shoulder and is likely the only reason I’m not bleeding more profusely. But it’s also preventing me from using my arm very much, which means I’m going to have to fight this bastard with one hand.
Reaching into my belt, I pull out another knife and swing at Xiao, catching his arm. Blood pours from the cut, instantly clouding the water.
I’m not afraid of sharks, but I know we don’t have long before the blood in the water attracts them, and then I’ll have another enemy to deal with.
Xiao uses his other hand to seize my wrist. As we sink deeper into the ocean, we wrestle for control of the knife in my hand. Xiao’s desperate, causing his movements to be erratic, and I watch in dismay as the knife slips from my hand, vanishing into the unknown below.
That was my last weapon.
Except for.
No.
If I pull that knife out, I risk bleeding out. But I don’t have a choice. I need to get free from Xiao.
A quick glance above makes my stomach drop. We’re sinking farther and farther from the surface.
When Xiao grabs for me again, he reaches for the knife buried in my shoulder. I can’t let him get it, so I lift my elbow and sock him in the jaw before wrapping my hands around the knife and yank it free.
Searing-hot pain explodes from my wound, causing black dots to dance in my vision, but I force myself to focus. Swinging my arm forward, I bury the knife in Xiao’s neck. His eyes go wide, and his mouth falls open as all the air escapes his lungs. I watch the life leave his body, and the light disappear from his eyes.
Kicking his dead body away, I watch him sink farther down into the dark abyss, a cloud of blood surrounding him as he disappears into the black.
Xiao’s gone.
He’s dead.
He’ll never be able to hurt Lily or Mei or anyone else ever again. The memories will fade in time, and Lily can rest easy, knowing he can never make new ones.
I turn my attention to the surface, illuminated only by the yacht’s lights. It’s so far away.
I’m not going to make it.
My lungs already burn from a lack of oxygen.
My strength is waning.
The sound of my rushing blood fills my ears.
I float in the water, weightless and numb, unable to keep going.
Black blurs my vision as I stare at the world above.
Lily’s up there.
She’s safe. They both are.
My family will make sure they stay that way. Even though I can’t be with them, knowing they’ll be okay, knowing that Xiao can never hurt her again…is enough for me.
I’ve always wondered what death will feel like. I always imagined that it would come from the end of a gun.
But this…death by drowning? It’s almost peaceful. It’s not the worst way to go, I suppose.
Death comes for me. Approaching from above, like a pale figure, here to take my dark soul back to hell where it belongs.
As I close my eyes, my last thought is a wish. A wish that I had gotten to tell Lily that I loved her.