Perfect.
Once inside the boat, I unfastened the tether and pulled the cord.
It didn’t start. “Come on you, fucker!” I pulled again and again and again. Finally, it started.
“Hey! What the hell!” The boat’s owner stood on the deck at the rear of his cabin.
“I’ll bring it back!” I cried out.
I have to find him. Please, God, let me find him.
Chapter 34
Rafael
Blackness consumed the world as the night sky unleashed a torrent, obscuring my visibility and flooding the boat with water.
Lightning tore through the sky, reminding me of the day the sea snatched Mattie from my hands while the thunder roared, beckoning me like a demon hungry for another victim.
I saw in my mind the man I’d become. Sad. Lonely. Desperate for anything to numb the pain, like I’d been in the cabin. The boat rocked as the lake’s choppy water tossed it about. I’d fall over if I stood, and the waters would take me.
I wanted it to end.
I wanted to spare myself of this pain, and I wanted to spare Cody of seeing my slow demise. My angel deserved joy, not whatever I’d turn into. Nobody deserved this except me, and I couldn’t take it any longer.
It was time to let the water finish what it started.
I rose to my feet, trying to keep my balance as the boat rocked wildly.
There was no life vest, no second chances, no take-backs. Once I dove into the water, the current would pull me under.
The shaking hadn’t stopped since I left the cabin. I knew Cody thought I drank the Isopropyl. I tried. People who need alcohol will go to desperate measures, but I couldn’t keep it down. I wanted to, but I couldn’t. My body would feel everything, and maybe that was better. Maybe I deserved it.
My head felt like it was in a vice—too much crying and panicking. It would all be over soon. I stepped closer to the edge until something smashed into the back of the boat, making my body soar backwards and land on the floor with a thud.
“Get in this fucking boat, you asshole!”
Cody? No.Cody wasn’t supposed to see this. “Go back to shore, Cody!”
“Not until you get in this boat. Now,” he screamed back.
“Please! Please, go back, Cody. It’s fucking dangerous out here! You deserve more than me. You deserve more than I can give you.”
“Shut your mouth and get in this fucking boat!”
“No. I can’t do it anymore. Please, go back.”
Cody stood up. “I’m coming, Rafael. I’m taking you back to the cabin, and there’s no stopping me.”
Both boats continued smashing into one another as the waves grew bigger. “Stop, Cody! Please go back. Please.”
He didn’t say anything as he gripped the sides of his boat and stepped onto the ledge to jump to mine. The winds picked up, and the rain poured in heaps. Waves crashed into the boat. Another wave tipped his boat wildly.
Time stopped as I watched him fall forward. His head smacked off the side of my boat. I lunged forward to grab his arm, but he slipped out of my hands. His body fell into the dark waters, where it disappeared into the abyss.
“NO!”
I dove in. Darkness enveloped me, but I saw Cody’s pale skin for just a moment before he sank deeper, disappearing altogether.
