His Love, My Hell, Her Justice

th the motion of the waves, threatening to detach from its rusted cable and plunge me into the churning abyss below. My phobia was a suffocating b

omless, swallowing the last vestiges of daylight. My mind flashed back to a childhood nightmare: being dragged

nd lifeless, flashed behind my eyelids. Isolde. Her last word echoed in my ears, a

t touched the grated floor of the cage. The rusted gate creaked ope

sound of the waves amplified, a guttural roar in my ears. I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting the rising gorge in

by the wind and the crashing waves. Some were pointing, others looked horrified. T

She was enjoying this, every agonizing second of my torment.

and analytical. But there was something else, too. A flicker of something in his posture, a slight stiffening of his shoulders,

he crane lurched, and the cage began to descend. Slow

so hard I thought it would burst through my chest. My vision tunneled. The water r

me, pushing and pulling. I thrashed, my hands gripping the bars, my lungs screaming for a

rifice. Her last moments. Was this enoug

mber in the vast darkness. I would fight. I woul

. Shapes moved in the depths, distorted and terrifying. My mind screamed, but my body remained still, a defi

numbing my limbs. My lungs burned. Just when I thought I

et, glor

raw. My entire being ached, every muscle screaming in protest. I clung to t

y eyes, stinging from the salt, searched for Ezekiel. He was still there, his face unreadable. Isolde,

rged anew, hardened by the ordeal. The

e, but steady. "You promised.

on me for a moment, a flicker of something I coul

he said, his voice fla

's. "She did well, considering her little phobia, darling. But no

g strength. "You promised. Help f

nd a medic to her address. B

ed over me. At least someone was going. But "basic first

My baby! I think... I think something's wrong!" She clutched her belly, colla

concern. He immediately scooped her up into his arms, hi

th genuine alarm, a stark contrast to the cold indifference he

know, Ezekiel. It feels... it feels like something is tearing inside

ords hit me like a physical blow,

shivering in the cage. "Brielle, look what you've done!" he sna

xplain, to tell him about her lies, her manipulatio

nd help anyway. You abandoned her. This is yo

ugh for her to get out. Don't help her. Leave her there. If she has any sense, s

ck to me, disappearing into the darkness. Isolde glanced back

the wind, in the roar of the ocean. He was gone. He

the water, allowing me to struggle out onto the pier. My legs were weak, my body

d, the words choked wit

ping hole where my heart used to be. My legs refused to move. I lay there, curled on the pier, the

to another. "Did you hear what Ezekiel said before he left? 'Just make

first aid" for my mother, then resci

ushed beyond its limits by fear and grief