CHAPTER 44
“So what is the ending of the story? Why don’t you go into deeper water?”
“The murderer and his group left, but I couldn’t leave her.
We don’t have burial customs like you do—or if we do, I don’t know them—so I didn’t know what to do with her.
But I couldn’t leave her. And when the scavengers came”—he took a heavy breath—“well, I chased them off. Or I tried.” He swallowed hard.
“At some point, I messed up. A barracuda got close enough. It drew blood and then….”
Tears seemed to threaten and he looked like he was pushing them back with a smile—or trying to. “She was always so afraid of sharks—her brother got eaten when they were very young—so when they came near, I couldn’t let her. I…I….”
He tried to continue but couldn’t. His hand stayed on the scar like the wound still hurt even then. “In the end, it hurt so much and I was scared and I…I left her. I let them…I…”
Tears caught in his throat with a choking sound, and he still looked like he was trying to fight them off. Why, she didn’t know, but she figured there was no safer place than in her arms. She hugged him.
He hugged her tight, perhaps tighter than he ever had before. And then, like a dam breaking or a storm front hitting, he cried.