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I take in a shaky breath, and a loud noise hits my ears. The back of my mind registers danger, but I’m not sure from what. Then a cold gust of air hits my wet clothes before I feel it. The water. It comes up faster this time. It’s also colder. Freezing cold.
I take a deep breath as it covers my face completely. I can’t move. The weight of it too heavy and my body too weak. It’s so cold that it almost feels like I’m burning at first before the chill sets in.
I can’t lift my head, and I open my eyes, and they burn, but I can see the bars. I’m so close to life but closer to death. It’s like when I was five, and I’m back in the bathtub once again with my mom’s hands on my chest, holding me down. I kicked and fought with everything I could, but I was too weak to fight her off.
She was screaming at me, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying. Just saw her mouth moving while she cried tears into the water that was drowning me. My father heard the commotion, pushed her to the side, and pulled me out. I never saw her again, and I never asked why. She didn’t want me, and my father didn’t want to lose his only son. It wasn’t because he loved me; it was because he would have no one to take his place once the Lords decided he needed to hand over Carnage to his child.
It’s the only reason I’m still alive to this day. I blink slowly, my throat burning as I watch the water splash out over the edges of the pit I’m locked in.
My eyes close, and I arch my neck, needing to breathe. My body fights the confined space, pressing against the bars. I thrash back and forth, hoping to splash some of the water out so I can breathe, but it feels as if it continues to fill itself.
Unable to take it anymore, I part my lips and try to breathe, swallowing some. Pain explodes in my chest. It causes my body to jerk involuntarily. The panic forces me to try and breathe again, and I swallow more of the salty tasting water. I’m pretty sure I’m seizing from the harsh movements my body is doing on it’s own.
Drowning has always been my greatest fear, and the Lords chose to use that against me. All I can do is accept it now.
Just when I think I’ve decided I’ll die in the pit, the water is sucked out, and I begin to cough up water onto my face while gasping in cold air that burns my throat. I hear the loud sound of the locks unclasping and the scraping of metal before the bars disappear and hands grab at me. I’m yanked from the pit and tossed onto my stomach.
A hand beats on my back and I convulse lying on the cold concrete. Hands all over…pulling and yanking. I’m being stripped of my wet clothing.
“Good job, Son.” I hear my father’s voice over my coughing and gasping. “I knew you could do it.”
I pull away from him but fall to my face. I lift my heavy eyes to see a figure hanging over in the corner. He’s got a head of dark hair that falls over his forehead. He’s naked and covered in dirt. He hangs by his cuffed wrists above his head. His eyes closed. I’m not sure if he was the one helping me or if it was my mind playing games with me. But his eyes crack open and meet mine before I pass out.
THREE
SAINT
INITIATION
COMMITMENT
Junior year at Barrington University
“Get in and get out,” Haidyn speaks, checking his Patek Philippe watch for the fifth time in the past minute.
Kashton grunts. “You act like I want to hang out and have a beer.” He straightens his suit jacket, eye-fucking the bleach-blond waitress who walks by and winks at him.
Haidyn shoves Kashton’s arm, getting his attention. “Out of the four of us, you’re the one who would make us stay longer than we should.”
Kashton nods in agreement. “If only.” He winks back at the blonde when she chooses to walk by once again.
“He can’t fuck you, darling.” Adam waves her off. “His dick doesn’t work.” Her eyes widen on a gasp before she spins around and takes off. He looks over at Kashton, who only laughs at him. “I’d like to get out of here before the sun comes up,” Adam adds.
I hate to break it to them, but we’ll be here for a while. “Everyone has their card memorized?” I ask, tucking my hands into the pockets of my black dress slacks.
“Yes, Dad.” Kashton smiles at me.
Adam nods, and Haidyn taps the side of his head to acknowledge that he remembers it.
“Then let’s go.”
We were each given a card with a name, location, and time. For this initiation, we must work together. If you ask me, the Lords are fucking with us. They want us to fail, get angry with one another, or toss each other off the side of the megayacht we’re currently on. Or get caught so they can set us up to be killed as well.
“Anyone else feeling seasick?” Kashton places his hand on his chest and sways back and forth.
“It’s like three hundred feet long. I can’t even tell we’re on water,” Adam answers him.
“We’ve been on the yacht for an hour,” Haidyn reminds him.
