Page 111 of Phoenix

When I reach him, I can see the blood crusting to his head, and it becomes clear to me he fell when he came down to get his phone.

“I’m going to help you up. Can you move your arms? Your legs?” He nods, showing me he can. No spinal injuries. Good. “Give me your hand. I’ll pull you up.”

I keep a solid grip up top and extend my hand out to him.

He reaches forward to take my hand and his grip is weak, at best, but I tighten mine. When I’m confident I have him, I haul him up and into my side.

“Hold on to me. Do not let go. The water is moving really fast and it will carry you away.”

I need to be blunt to make him understand.

He’s younger than the boy above on the street. No more than seven or eight, which makes the process of extracting him easier.

With calculated steps, I guide us through the water, which is now nearly at my chest. It’s not far from the small ledge Cory was on to the opening in the storm drain, but the circumstances make it feel like a mile.

It’s becoming harder and harder to balance with the force of the current picking up, but within a few steps, the grate on the drain is directly in front of us and I can see Arya and the boy on the street, peeking down into the opening, looking for us.

“I’ve got him! I need you to move aside so I can send him up.” I shift Cory around, but in order to send him up, I’ll need both hands, which means I have to let go of the metal bar that’s holding me upright.

With a steady breath and a prayer, I let go of the bar and slowly bring my hand down. I have my feet firmly placed on the ground beneath the water and when I feel confident, I lift Cody up, easing him headfirst out of the drain.

We carefully snake him through until his shoulders are clear and I take a step forward for a better stance when the ground disappears beneath me.

“Fuck!”

I slip, falling forward, smashing my face into the concrete wall in front of us and crash below the surface of the water, leaving Cody hanging, half in the drain, half out.

The current is spinning me, pulling me under. The cold water is engulfing me—threatening to pull me into the darkness—just like it did when I was a kid.

I thrash, fighting to break through to the surface. I focus on living. On breathing. I fight down the panic, keeping Nora’s face in my mind until I crash upward, breaking the surface and taking that first breath of oxygen.

But it’s short lasting.

The current slams me into a wall just to the right of the drainage opening and instant heat and pain sears through my leg. It’s the worst physical pain I’ve felt in my life.

“God fucking damnit!” I cry out into the air. When I reach down to feel my leg, my fingers connect to a piece of metal, rebar maybe, that has pierced through my thigh, from back to front.

My chest is rising and falling rapidly. The shock of the pain setting in. My eyes scan the area wildly and settle on the storm drain in enough time to see Arya has Cody’s shirt in her mouth, and is pulling him to safety.

Thank God. Thank God.

Okay, Carmichael. You’re not going to die today. Get the fuck off this wall and get out of this water.

It’s caressing my lips now. There will not be a stitch of oxygen left down here in the next five minutes. I have to act now. Right now.

I try to move my leg, to pry it off the rebar, but pain shoots from my thigh up into my back, pulling a pain-filled scream from my throat.

Arya reacts to the noise, barking wildly, searching for me.

“Arya! No! Stay!” I shout, but my dog, my ever loyal dog, worms her way down beneath the grate into the drain to help me.

She disappears under the water and my world stops.

Silence for one second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

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