Chapter One: Before
I could see my reflection in her dark pupils. Closer and closer we got, until our lips were a millimeter apart. Her eyes shut, my eyes shut, her head turned left, mine turned right. The ocean crawled to our ankles. It seemed like a perfect moment, though it had happened many times.
But then her heels rotated. They dug into the damp sand. Our lips were centimeters away now, then inches, then yards. Her head, with eyes still closed, hit the rushing water. The current sucked backwards. Away from me. Her white hair soaked, smiling still, she floated away.
I fell to the ground in shock. I scrambled to get up and save her. She was face up in the water, eyes still sealed, sparkling smile still showing. My body felt like it was being disassembled as my feet splashed in the water, sprinting to get her.
“Charity!” I yelled to her. “Charity! Can you hear me? CHARITY!” I kept screaming. The water gradually rose to my knees, my waist, my chest, my neck, and she was getting deeper and deeper. Breathing in, I submerged my head in the sea.
I couldn’t see her in the dark water. All I could see was the light from the stars above fading into the dark depths of the ocean that was strangling my beloved.
I had no more breath. I needed to get up. Flapping my arms like butterfly wings, I ascended to the top. My head popped out of the water, my lungs heaving and my eyes burning from the salty ocean. My vision was so blurry, I couldn’t see the dark water anymore. All I could see was Charity’s face, pale and wet from the water she died in.
