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KWAN
“Beau!” Jesus Christ, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He was out there in the water, and then he was gone.
Fuck.
I sprinted down the beach, my feet pounding the sand. I fell over rocks and lost my footing more than once before dashing into the ice-cold water. I needed to get him out of there quickly before he drowned.
A couple of seconds was all it had been, and when he broke the surface of the water, taking another breath before going under again, I committed to memory the last location and dived in, frantically searching beneath the waves.
This time of day, it was almost dark, and I struggled to see anything, the last ravages of the sun barely lighting the sky. I came up for more air to see him right there, a few feet in front of me, his arms searching for something to hold on to. I struck out, struggling against the tide, but he disappeared again, this time staying under.
I dropped below the surface again, catching a glimpse of his white T-shirt as he sank further, and I reached out, grabbing hold of it before he disappeared again. I couldn’t lose him, not now.
He was cold, frighteningly so, and if he wasn’t dead already, the chances of him dying from hypothermia were high.
I hauled him into my chest, swimming backwards, our heads above the water until I was able to touch the sea bed. This was harder than I’d thought, but there was no way I’d let him go. I dragged his seemingly lifeless body up the beach and out of the water, falling backwards so he was lying in my lap.
His lips were blue, his beautiful eyes closed, and I felt around for a pulse, feeling it flutter weakly beneath my fingertips.
Footsteps sounded behind me, and he was eased from my arms and laid on the sand.
“Oh my God, Beau. Ziggy will kill me if I don’t save you.”
I turned around to see a heavily tattooed paramedic grimacing as he worked on Beau, turning his head to the side. A trickle of water left his lips before the paramedic tilted Beau’s head backwards, giving him two lifesaving breaths.
“Goddammit, Beau.”
Whoever this guy was, he knew him, and I watched helplessly as he started CPR, just a couple of compressions to his chest.
No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. I ran my fingers through my hair, panic and fear racing through my mind. If Beau didn’t make it, if Beau died right here on this beach, I’d never forgive myself.
The tears didn’t stop as I watched them work on him until finally, he coughed, water falling from his mouth.
He tried to sit up, but the paramedic laid him gently down, turning him to the side and placing a foil blanket over him, talking softly all the while he treated him.
I crawled over towards him only to be stopped by the other paramedic, a similar foil blanket wrapped around my shoulders.
“Hey, we don’t need you to be dying from the cold. You need to get warm too. The sea’s freezing even at this time of year. Do you know what happened?”
“I just saw him in the water and ran in to save him. He’s, he’s m-m-m-my boyfriend.”
The other guy turned to me. “You’re Kwan?”
I nodded, finally feeling the cold seeping into my bones. “Is he going to be alright?”
“We need to get him looked at and warmed up. You need to come too. Can you walk?”
I managed to stand unaided and watched with growing concern as they loaded Beau onto the stretcher, walking him up the beach to the waiting ambulance.
They loaded him first, and I climbed into the back too, along with the tattooed paramedic.
He attached a myriad of monitors, and Beau just lay there, unaware of what was happening to him. I reached out and took his hand. He was like ice, but at least some colour had come back into his skin. He was no longer tinged with blue anyway.
As the ambulance pulled away, the paramedic sat down, an iPad in his hand.
“So, how do you know Beau?” I asked. “You have the advantage over me, seeing how you know who I am.”
“I’m Marc, Ziggy’s boyfriend.” Ah, now I knew exactly who he was and was grateful that his best friend’s boyfriend was here taking care of him. “And you’re Kwanchai?”
