AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Come on, fight.
I fight against the pain and kick my way to the surface, and, somehow, I make it. I guess I’m stronger than I thought. I take in a gasping gulp of air, water running out of my mouth. Cold has seeped into my lungs, my bones, my heart, freezing me from the inside out. And from the outside in. I can feel myself freezing, my body shutting down. I don’t have much time. If he doesn’t wake up soon, we’re both goners. I grab Marco and shake him so hard, it feels as if I’m making his bones rattle.
“Wake up!” I scream in a voice full of water.
I hear coughing, and I struggle to see past the water dripping down my face. Marco is choking, and I turn him to his side, holding him as he expels more water.
Has he woken up? Thank God.
He turns around violently in my arms, nearly elbowing me in the ribs, as he flails wildly about. He looks around disoriented, and I’m not sure that his eyes are seeing anything. He’s waking up, fighting to breathe, and drowning all at once. And I’m over here, unable to help him any more.
My body is just giving up at this point.
“Marco?” I murmur, feeling my body grow heavy and slow. It’s stopped fighting, and I can’t force it to struggle anymore.
“Olivia?” Marco screams, fully waking up and wiping the water from his face quickly. He looks around like an insane person, coughing so hard he’s about to lose a lung.
“I’m here,” I sputter. “I’m here. I can’t…”
There’s water in my mouth again. I’m drifting away from him. Away and under.
“Olivia! Jesus Christ, Olivia? What are you doing…?” Marco is spitting water, crying. “What have you done? Why did you save me?” He screams it, sounding mad and desperate and dying at the same time.
“Wh-what?” My nose goes under the surface, and I fight with my last strength to kick upwards.
“Why did you save me, you idiot?” is the first thing he says to me when I come up for air. “Why did you save me?” Is he screaming right now?
Screaming at me because he’s alive?
What is wrong with him?
I open my mouth and water rushes in. Marco starts swimming towards me.
“Why did you save me, Livy?” he screams again, then he abruptly goes under, but he comes back up again immediately. He’s coughing so much. He needs a hospital. “What a stupid thing to do, Olivia, what a—”
And then I hear nothing more, because I’m completely submerged underwater. That’s it, I’m done. No matter how much I scream at my body to fight, it can’t. My mind is going numb, and the pain of the cold recedes.
I feel myself sink, but I feel nothing else. No sadness, no regret. It’s kind of peaceful, dying like this.At least, he’s awake, I think.At least, I did that. At least—
I’m jerked violently by the elbow, and next thing I know, cold air is on my face, and I’m above water, something holding me afloat.
“No no no no no,” Marco is murmuring next to my head, and his arms form a circle around my neck, keeping me on the surface. “Hey, open your eyes, don’t fall asleep on me. Come on.”
“I’m so tired,” I murmur, “I want to sleep.”
“Not right now, my queen.” He grabs me and starts treading water towards the bank. “Did you save me? How did you… Did you touch the Ducati?”
“I did, you idiot,” I hiss, and then my mouth is filled with water, and he is shaking me roughly, screaming my name.
“Olivia, baby, you have to help me, you have to keep your head above the water.” His voice is shaking as if he’s scared. But that can’t be right. Marco isn’t scared. Ever. “Can you do that for me?” He’s begging me now.
I spit out water, I fight to open my eyes.
His are frantic, watching me above the water. He is spitting water too, his nose barely staying above the surface.
“Ok?” he says, eyebrows meeting.
“Ok,” I gasp. “Get me out of here, I’m dying.”
