Page 93 of In Every Lifetime
Somehow, this stupid man laughed. I didn’t hear it but felt the familiar shake of his shoulders.
“Never again,” he promised, his hand coming to the back of my head. “Where is he? What did you call him?”
I looked up and around us, straining to see any figures in the dim light.
“Levi… his name is Levi,” I said, the words feeling heavier the moment they left me.
I turned back to Fai. He looked drained, his skin no longer deathly pale but still far from its usual warmth. His lips were still a faint blue and shadows were carved deep beneath his bloodshot eyes.
“I-I don’t know,” I admitted, my voice faltering. “I lost him in the river. I wasn’t even… looking for him.”
Fai stared at me, still bewildered. “You pulled me out?”
I nodded with a tear-filled laugh. He opened his mouth, but instead of words, more water came spilling past his lips as he continued to cough it up.
“We need to get you out of here.” I looked up to the bridge, unsure how I was going to achieve that feat.
My body ached from the dive off the bridge—a reckless choice that, in hindsight, could have killed me. The bridge itself was far out of reach now, surrounded by steep, mountainous hills rising around us, the kind you’d have to climb on your hands and knees.
I started weighing my options: trying to scale the mountain to get him back up to the bridge, or following the river downstream where the terrain was lower. But going that way meant risking running into Levi—if he’d made it out.
The truth was, the moment they went over the edge, I’d stopped thinking about Levi entirely. My only focus had been Fai—getting to him and getting him out of that damned river.
There was a high chance Levi was still in the river. While I had the ability to plan my angle and take a deep breath before I broke the surface, Levi and Fai had gone in flailing and fighting. Neither was prepared, and the collision with the surface could have very well knocked them out. Levi could have drowned immediately. But there was always the chance he had made it out and was coming back to find us… me… again. We needed to get off the riverbank to avoid that very scenario. I didn’t want toknow what he would do to Fai this time, especially because we had foiled his original plan.
The screeching of sirens began to sound in the distance, growing closer to us. I looked at Fai in surprise.
“Did you really think I came here without calling someone?” he asked, a brow raised, though his voice was still barely above a croak.
A teary laugh fell from my lips. “You’ve done stupider things.”
He rolled his eyes and threaded his fingers through mine. “When I got the call, I ran to get to you, but Goldie called the police… and Will… and probably Nate.”
He pulled me down beside him, and my legs—shaking and spent—finally gave in to the rest they’d been begging for. The rain still fell, softer now. A gentle hush against the world. In the distance, the sun sank low, and streaks of orange broke through the heavy clouds.
Sirens wailed, growing louder as flashing lights cut through the dimming sky. Vehicles screeched to a stop atop the bridge, and I watched as police officers and paramedics spilled out in urgent motion. I shoved my fingers between my lips and let out a sharp whistle, the sound slicing through the noise. Heads turned. I waved them toward us.
Only then did I let myself fall still beside Fai. We lay shoulder to shoulder on the rough stones, the river curling around our feet and rain falling in slow, scattered drops as the last light slipped behind the mountains.
At last, the day gave way to its end.
