Perfect Flaws

40. An Abyss of Death

Elijah

I'm drowning in nothing but death. Sharp icicles of pain digging into my skin. It's pitch black, too silent, and I'm numb to the cold holding me.

It isn't until seconds later I see the massacre before me. The bodies floating into the unknown and the crimson tinted water bathing me.

Children of mothers sinking too far down, grandparents of grandchildren gone before old age could take them.

Rubble of the ship scattered everywhere, sharp pieces still exploding into the water. The pressure straining my ears.

My senses explore me, adapting to their new home. Realization floods into me, people I love shooting me into panic and heartache.

Dal, Rhea, Nala, even little Campbell.

Adrenaline and fear of losing everyone drums into me, forcing me, pushing me to swim to the surface.

I fight against the ache in my bones, the sizzling pain from torn skin. I fight my way to the fresh air above me. My lungs filling up with more water than air.

The first strike of air almost fails me, overwhelming me with life, bringing me to a brink of death.

I look around, the ship in flames and sinking. Bodies. Too many bodies floating just under the surface, scraps of metal scattered. The water reflecting a beautiful but horrifying hue of red and orange.

"DAL?" I'm screaming. "RHEA?"

I can't see them, I can't hear them, and I'm losing my mind. The tiny grasp of sanity I had, slipping from my finger tips. I'm spiraling into nothing.

Memories, too many fucking memories flashing at me, like cameras of hate trying to blind me.

This feeling is too familiar. It's too close to my heart, to my mind.

I will not lose anyone else. I can't.

My joints and bones stiffening in the cold water, worsening the pain in my movements as I swim around, looking for anyone, someone.

"Elijah?" I hear.

Relief attacks me, settling into me. I turn around, Dal just a few feet from me.

"Are you okay?" I ask, examining the blood dripping down his cheeks. "I think so," he mumbles, looking at the horror around us.

In seconds he pales, blood draining faster than it's leaking.

"Nala," he panics. I stop breathing, my heart constricting against the blood pumping in me.

"Where is she?" I breathe.

Without a word, he dips below, leaving me to a world of anxiety.

Please be alive. Please.

I look around, searching for Rhea.

Violent pain rips into me at the thought of her being one of these lifeless bodies. Floating in stillness, as if time stopped when they died. "Rhea?" I call out.

Nothing.

"Nala? Come here sweetheart, I'm over here," I'm crying.

Where is everyone?

The bodies are all the same to me. Death is everywhere, and it reeks of slaughter.

I dip into the water below, searching the faces of sinking corpses. Not one face is the one I want. The girl I kissed just hours ago. The only reason I'm here, drowning myself into suffocating torture.

Where are you? My mind is chanting the words over and over.

Until the last bit of air leaves me, stopping me in place when I see her.