Page 55 of Almost Ours
No. Find him.
Darkness swallowed me. The ice above blocked out the world, and down here, there was nothing but a thick, endless void. My body protested every movement, my limbs sluggish, the cold turning them to dead weight. I kicked harder, forcing myself deeper, my arms cutting through the frigid water as my vision blurred.
Where is he?
My lungs burned. My fingers were going numb.
Then–a flash of something bright.
Red.
Connor’s jacket.
I lunged toward it, my hands outstretched, blindly grasping. My fingers brushed against fabric, then something solid. An arm.
Got him.
I wrapped my arm around his small, limp body and kicked hard, my legs barely responding, the cold turning them sluggish and weak.
The weight of him dragged me down. My chest screamed, my head throbbed, my vision started to blacken at the edges.
Up. I have to get up.
I forced my body to move, pushing toward where I thought the surface was.
Everything looked the same.
No light. No direction. No way to know if I was even going the right way.
My lungs clenched, burning, every instinct screaming for me to open my mouth, to breathe, to give in.
No. Hold on.
I kicked harder, dragging Connor with me, my arms tightening around his limp body. I had to get him out. I had to get him back to Harper. She was waiting up there–waiting for him to break through the surface, waiting to hear his voice, waiting for me to bring him back to her.
I couldn’t fail her. I couldn’t fail him.
My legs were sluggish, my body numb, but I forced myself to move. One more kick. One more push. Just a little more–
Then I slammed into something solid.
Ice.
No. No, no, no.
Panic surged through me, sharp and all-consuming. I shoved at the barrier, my hands slipping, my lungs convulsing.
Where’s the hole?
I twisted, searching, but there was nothing–just an unbroken sheet of ice.
I was trapped.
I stoodat the edge of the pond, shaking so hard I should’ve felt it–only I didn’t. I couldn’t feel anything. Not the cold biting at my skin. Not the sharp wind whipping past me. Nothing except the suffocating weight crushing my chest. My legs gave out without warning, the strength draining from me until I dropped to my knees on the frozen bank. The ice beneath me groaned in protest, yet I couldn’t move.
My throat burned, raw from screaming, though no sound came anymore.
Around me, the world kept moving, but it didn’t feel real. Nina’s voice–frantic, desperate–was trying to calm Liam down, muffled and distant, like I was hearing it through water.
