28

Move!
But I don’t know how to! I don’t even know how to swim!
Oh, quit with the I don’t know how! If you don’t move now! We are gonna die! And if I die, how would I be able to put you in place?, my subconscious snarls at me.
You would have no need for that once we die, I shout back.
Don’t just give up! Move your arse girl! I move. Oh, not like that!
Crinka think! Think! Think!
I try to lie down on the water, but that doesn’t work. So, I started pushing my body forward. It’s a lot of work, but I’m moving. Yay me! I try to increase my speed. It’s difficult, but I’ve reached the boat, staring at Sia’s back. The water washed away my scent so he hadn’t noticed me. Judging from the slight tilt of his head, it’s obvious he’s looking for me. Does he think I have drowned?
“You know if you wanted to hide, you could have stopped breathing and stopped your heart from beating.”
I freeze upon hearing his voice. Sia turns around, pushing his hair out of his eyes. “See? I got away with it, and you got in the water.”
“Oh, just shut up and help me up,” I say annoyed, lifting up my arms.
He arches a brow. “I don’t trust this. How am I sure you won’t pull me in with you?”
“You’re not,” I say dryly. Impatient, I add. “Sia, just help me in! I’m freezing!”
“Okay! It’s not like please exists in your dictionary.”
He mutters something about me being a bitch, before grabbing hold of my hands. Using all the strength I can muster; I pull him in with me. Water splashes, I laugh. Sia doesn’t resurface and I stop laughing. Good Lord, did he really drown? I scream when I am being pulled underwater. I struggled out of his hold, and shot up, coughing. Is he trying to kill me? Is that it? Sia resurfaces, and he has the audacity to laugh. What is so funny about it? I almost died!
“Stop laughing!”, I scream in his face.
“Sorry. That was so funny,” he says in between laughs.
“It’s not! No, it’s not! I nearly drowned!”
Sia rolls his eyes. He has stopped laughing, but he is still smiling. I just wish I could slap that stupid smile off his face. “You wouldn’t have drowned Crinka. I was holding you”.
“And so?”, I say, my voice rising. I pushed him back, my hands pressed to his chest. “And so? Do you hate me that much that you want to kill me?”, I yell in his face, pushing him back again.
“Kill you? Why would I want to kill you?”
I laugh bitterly. I’m so angry, I want to cry. “Oh, I don’t know! Why don’t you tell me Sia?”
Sia is perplexed. He should stop acting and just tell me. I pushed him back again. “What the fuck are you talking about? Why are you pushing me? Everything was going so well, now you’re flipping out on me like you’re bipolar or something. What the fuck did I do to you?”
Did he just call me bipolar? Very well then, I’ll show him bipolar. I pushed him again. “Are you asking me? Are you seriously asking me that question?”
“Yes, and I’ll ask it again, because I don’t understand what this is all about.”
“I couldn’t breathe Sia. I couldn’t.”
“Is it my fault that you can’t hold your breath underwater? Is it?”
I am hurt. Swallowing hard, I say, “No. It is not my fault. It is mine. For making the choice to be like you.”
After throwing his words in his face, I climbed into the boat, and paddled hard away from him, till I could no longer hear his voice. Sia doesn’t come after me, and I like it that way. The atmosphere is tense, quiet, but it doesn’t remain that way for long, thanks to the appearance of an animal, breaks the silence. I know one when I see one. Sharks. The worst living animals live. I don’t see the point of their existence when they don’t contribute to the welfare of other animals. Instead of paddling away, I stay rooted in place, watching the sharp thingy on its back, zigzagging in the water at an alarming speed.
I recover quickly, my mouth being the first to do so. “Sia! Sia! Sia!”.
Guessing by the look on his face, he has seen it too. He calls my name “Crinka! Move!”
My hands helplessly reach for the oars and I can’t even hold it properly. As a result, it falls into the water. “I can’t” I shout back.
“Then jump!”
“I can’t! I can’t swim!”
“You did great just a minute ago. Calm down and just jump!”
“I can’t okay! Look, just come and get me!”
I am so scared; I can piss my pants. Sia is swimming towards me, and so is the shark. I think Sia got all the muscles thanks to swimming. He was really good at it. I wish I was good at it.
The shark reached me first, its teeth gnashing at the boat. I scurry to the other side. The stupid shark has punctured the boat with its teeth, and the boat is teetering off the side, my side.
“Crinka jump!”
The candles fall, and the broken parts of the boat are burning up. The boat is sinking and I’m going to drown, if I don’t burn first. I am sweating profusely from the heat of the flames, and my vision is starting to blur. The shark sensed the fire, and has dived into the water for safety. I’m getting choked up, so I did what I thought best, and let go of the boat. I swim blindly away from the burning boat, but I know I’m not going to last on the surface for long. And that’s when I remember Sia.
“Sia! I’m drowning!”
Sia reached me a moment too late. I stop struggling, until I see the shark under water. It’s moving towards me, I’m too young to die and not by a shark attack, that will be too embarrassing for a wolf. The shark closed its teeth on my shoulders and I yelled, shaking my body as though that would get it off me. Sia grabs the shark with its sharp thingy, after it has a chunk of my flesh in its mouth. Its jaws are snapping, eyes wild. He delivers a kick to the belly, and the shark growls in pain. He ignored it and focused on me.
The pain in my shoulder is horrible. I touch it, to see my hand covered in blood. My mouth opens, but no words came out. I think I saw my bone.
“Hold onto me. I’ll try to get us safe from here.”
I only nod, throwing my arms around his neck. The pain increases as more blood drops. Sia walks fast and I hide my face in his hair. The pain is unbearable. I’m laid upon the sand. Sia ripped off my shirt, tying up my injured shoulder with it, muttering apologies every now and then. I wonder what he’s apologizing for. This is what he wants is it not?
I place my hands on his arm. I don’t think I would make it.
“Sia, tell Lyles I’m sorry.”
“Tell him yourself. Crinka, you’re not going to die, okay?”
I chuckled. It’s weak. “Don’t act like you care. If I don’t make it, promise me you would break the bond.”
He glares at me. “I care about you Crinka! When will you see that?”
“Well, it’s kind of hard to see right now,” I say humorously.
What? I don’t want to spend the last minutes of my life bitter.
“Crinka,” he says, shaking me.
“Go away Sia, let me sleep. And seriously stop acting like you care. I die, you break the bond, and live a happily never after with your one true love,” I mumble, closing my eyes once more.
“Crinka! Crinka! Wake up!”
I tune him out. I don’t want to wake up. I want to sleep and never wake up. Hopefully, this time, I will get what I want. To sleep and never wake up.
*********
Anita watched idly as Lyles paced the wooden floor boards, running a hand through his hair. His glass full of wine remains untouched and Anita wished he would just drink it, so he can sleep. Lyles needs sleep. Lots and lots, and that’s why she overdosed the sleeping pills. Hopefully he would take it, doze off, and she can go meet Sia. He had touched her again, and she let him, but she didn’t let things escalate. If she had, heaven knows Lyles would have marked her in the process. And getting rid of his mark, would kill her. She didn’t want Lyles and his good looks, and baby blue eyes. She wanted Sia and his cold eyes, and his strong hands, and scars. She wanted him, and not this man before her.
“Are you sure you found her?”
Annoyed, she rolls her eyes. “Of course, Lyles. I’m not lying. You heard her voice yourself. It’s just that you were a little drunk.”
“Something is wrong somewhere Anita. I don’t think she’s okay.”
“Your cousin is fine. Stop worrying and just relax.”
She reaches for the wine glass and sashays towards him, bringing it to his lips. Lyles takes the glass, only to set it back on the dresser. Anita scowls, returning back to her stand by the door.
“I don’t know why I keep having this feeling that Crinka is not okay.”
“It’s just a bad feeling Lyles. It will pass. Just have your drink and rest. All will be well in the morning.”
“And what about now?”, he snapped. “Why are you so eager for me to take my drink anyway? You put something in it didn’t you?”
Shit!
“No. Why would you think like that? I did no such thing. Don’t you trust me?”
“Forgive me if I don’t, but you’ve been acting strange these days. If it is not poisoned or even drugged, then drink it.”
Anita did not move. Lyles let out a bitter laugh. “I knew it. How am I sure you didn’t put Crinka in the situation she’s probably in?”
“Think about what you like Lyles. And just for the record, I pray that stupid bitch dies. She’s so full of herself and so evil. If Crinka doesn’t die Lyles, I will never accept you as my mate,” she says before storming out.
Lyles looked at the ceiling and sighed. He came to the conclusion that he did not need Anita. What he needed now was for Crinka to be alive and well. He couldn’t ask for anything else.