“Michael… please… just let it go. Letmego.”
“See? You aren’t listening.” He presses his hand against my face and presses down, using me to help him stand. “I can’t let you go. Not to your fucking stepbrother. To absolutelyanyone. It’s why you have to die.”
My chest constricts and I grind my teeth together.
“No.”
“Yes, but don’t worry, you and your stepbrother are going to Hell together. I’m sure you’ll see him there.”
His boot presses hard into my chest, and no matter how much I fight to find a way to stay put, I’m forced backward. The second the planks vanish from beneath me, weightlessness grips me. I attempt to kick my legs to hook aroundsomething, only to realize my legs are bound.
“I wish you could’ve seen how good you had it.”
“M-Michael, p-please don’t—” My plea ends in a gasp as I tumble off the dock’s edge. “NO!”
The lake isn’t fully frozen, but slushed over, and I hit it with a muffled thump before the ice gives way. The water swallows me, biting into my skin like a thousand needles. Above me, Michael leans over the edge, his shadow from the moonlit night stretching across the fractured ice.
“Don’t do this!” My scream rips out with the shock of the cold, ragged and desperate.
“Beg me to save you. Beg me to take you home.”
“FUCK YOU!”
I had stayed still, knowing thrashing would drag me down faster, but the instant my lower half sinks below, instinct takes over. I kick, trying to fight the inevitable. The lake doesn’t care. Within seconds, the water climbs past my ribs, then my shoulders, pulling me under.
“Goodbye, Ayden.”
I suck in one last desperate breath before my head plunges beneath the surface.
I’ve never known a cold like this. It’s as if a bullet tore through my brain, every nerve screaming, begging me to claw my way out. Ice crawls through my veins, and I can’t tell if I’m moving or if my body only thinks it is.
My arms drift uselessly above me while my legs kick like a frantic fish. I force my eyes open through the burn, but the surface doesn’t get any closer. The water swallows every effort.
I never understood helplessness until now. When my feet slam against something solid below, realization strikes like a blade—I’m not rising. I’m not escaping.
I squeeze my eyes shut and scream, bubbles ripping free, the last of my breath leaving me. The fight drains away.
No point in resisting the inevitable.
Holy shit. He really killed me.
Keo…If I die, would you?
I love you. I’m sorry.
54
Imake it to Sapphire Valley in twenty minutes. Honestly, it’s a miracle I didn’t get pulled over or crash considering I was pushing one-twenty everywhere but through this community.
The moment I pass Echo Ridge, a car blocks the road, cutting me off from driving straight up to the cabin. I slam the brakes, barely stopping in time before I’m out of the car and sprinting the rest of the distance.
I’ve never been a runner, it’s why I was a linebacker, but when I hear a voice tear through the night — “FUCK YOU!” — my body moves like it’s been trained for this moment.
That was Ayden.
No.
I push myself to run faster, because every second matters. All I can hope is that I don’t hear a gunshot. Please, god—if one of you could listen—please don’t let me be too late. Don’t let me be this close only to fail.
