“Delilah!”Reef shook me as I came to, coughing and spitting out water as the air fiercely returned to my lungs. He gripped me tight, holding me close. “You scared me.” We embraced for a moment, happy to be reunited.
“R-r-eef,” I stuttered, cold and tired.
He pulled back, staring at me as I spoke. “We have to kill them.”
“Delilah.” He brushed my cheek sweetly. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “Yes. We have to do it. Tonight.” He hugged me close as I glared at the fishing boat bobbing nearby. “I need you to get me back on the boat.”
Reef kissed me. “Be careful, Barracuda.” I smiled, half laughing and half crying as he dipped into the water.
I waded in the ocean for a moment when he reappeared, gently nudging me. I grabbed his top fin, rage and anger fueling me as I pulled my knife from my back pocket and flipped it open. “Let’s end this.” I tapped Reef’s back as he began to swim towards the boat.
“I’m telling you!” Dale yelled. “I don’t fucking know how she did it, but she escaped!”
“For fuck’s sake, Dale! Didn’t anyone ever teach you how to tie a proper knot?” He and my dad continued to argue as Reef helped me onto the boat, my knife firmly between my teeth as I climbed on board. He descended back into the water as I crouched, gripping the blade and quietly stepping around, attempting to remain unseen.
“I tell you what, Dale. You can figure this shit out, ‘cause I’m going back inside that cabin and drinking until the sun comes up!” My dad barged into the cabin, slamming the door behind him as Dale stood at the back of the boat, frustrated.
I crept closer, readying my knife and raising my arm when he turned and stopped me. “Chief!” he screamed, forcing my hand open as I dropped my knife. “Chief! I got her!” Dale punched me in the stomach as I barreled over. He grabbed the back of my neck and held me against his chest, pulling out his own knife as the blade kissed my throat, my father rushing out.
“Now hold on. Stop it. Let her go, Dale.” My father slowly stepped forward.
“Let her go? You just let me toss her into the ocean as bait, and now you want me to let her go?” He pushed the knife harder against my skin as I cried out. “No!”
“Now you listen here! I’m the Chief of Police! Let her go, or I’ll be forced to arrest you.”
Dale laughed hysterically, the blade moving along my skin. “God, you’re funny. But no, I think not.” He began to drag the blade as my father yelled with me.
“Reef!” I screamed.
Almost immediately, Reef lunged onto the back of the boat, knocking me free from Dale as he fell overboard. My father tumbled over, hitting his head. I scrambled along the wet deck, one hand holding my neck as I turned to look at Reef, smiling as I nodded.
He slowly sank back into the water as I raised my head and exhaled into the cool air.What a fucking night.
“Delilah,” my father cried, and I tilted my head to see him on his back, blood covering his face. “Help me,” he pleaded. “Please.”
Something dark shifted inside me. I grabbed my knife, the blade scrapping the deck as I slowly stood. He watched me as I approached him. “Delilah this, Delilah that. Oh save me, Delilah!” I waved my butterfly knife around, toying with it. “Boy, I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t drown when you let him use me for bait!” I snapped.
Reef suddenly appeared at my side, looping his fingers through mine. My father’s face twisted, completely lost.
“Daddy, this is Reef. Reef, this is my dad, the man who beat me and my mother every day until it killed her. Then, he beat me twice as hard twice as often until I finally was able to get away.” Reef glared at my father with disdain. “I thought by leaving, I could start over and have a normal life, but that didn’t work, now did it, Daddy?” I growled as my father continued to bleed out. “No, when I finally made it to the West Coast, I started going to school and really fitting in…until one day, I was put in a really naughty situation, and my father’s temper came out. I had no control over it; it just happened. And then, it kept happening, again and again and again, until I was forced to leave. So I cameback home. It’s funny, I thought by returning, my life was over.” I glanced up at Reef with a smile. “But it has only just begun.” He kissed me, the two of us breathing in one another. I had to force myself away as he nodded, releasing my hand. I stood over my dad, watching as tears fell from his eyes. “Oh, I almost forgot. Reef is your killer shark. And I’m your Angel of Death, obviously,” I giggled.
“What happened to you?” he asked.
My expression fell as I dropped to my knees. “You did.” I shoved my knife into his abdomen, quickly yanking it back before plunging it back in again, repeating the motion again and again. My father cried out, screaming for help as I laughed, puncturing his chest and stomach.
“Help! Help!” I mocked, giggling as I continued, listening to the squelching sound of his flesh, his blood covering my face as I stabbed him. “No one can hear you scream!” I stopped, panting as I used all my energy. He gasped, wheezing as his bloodshot eyes landed on me. “Tell me, how does it feel to be so helpless?” I asked. “To know that, deep down, the evil you carry and took out on your family is what created this.” I motioned to myself. “How does it feel to know that you didn’t just kill mom—you killed yourself?”
He tried to speak but couldn’t, dying, laying stock still as he stared up at me. I smiled, relieved by his death.Finally. I’m free.
Reef helped me to my feet. “What now?” he asked, rubbing my lower back as he kissed my neck.
I looked over to see an orange flare gun, grabbing it as I grinned up at him. “I say we burn it.”
Reef’s mouth curled, as equally excited as I was. “You got it, Barracuda.”
Reef dove into the water as I stared at my father’s corpse. “You don’t deserve my kiss,” I snarled. I walked to the back of the boat, spotting Reef’s fin as I gently lowered myself into thewater and onto his back. He carried me away from the boat, allowing just enough distance as I raised my arm and aimed.
