Page 76 of Blue in the Deep Blue Sea

I walked over and crouched beside her. As she reached for Isabella’s hand, her own arm trembled. I slipped an arm around her and gently took her hand in mine.

Holding her against me, I held onto her hand while she cried. Her mouth fell open, and all that came out were broken screams, swallowed beneath the endless rain of tears streaming down her face.

“I got you,” I whispered against her forehead. “I got you, Blue.”

I closed my eyes and held her tighter, so close I could feel her heartbeat pounding against my chest.

“If we bury her here, and if we ever leave…” she whispered between sobs. “She’ll be all alone.”

Her voice cracked.

“Just like me.”

“No, no.” I lifted her face, making her look at me. “You will never be alone as long as you have me.”

“But what if you leave me too?”

I looked into her tear-filled eyes, and no words came.

Instead, I pulled her closer.

One tear slipped down my cheek.

Fuck.

She broke me. She shattered every piece of me I’d buried years ago and left nothing behind. Every feeling I’d hidden beneath the mask of a cold-blooded playboy with no heart surfaced, and in a single day she reduced me to this wreck.

“I will never leave you,” I said, a lump rising in my throat. “As long as I breathe.”

I held out my hand, my pinky extended.

She stared at it for a moment, remembering us as kids. Our first promise.

Slowly, she hooked her pinky around mine, then pressed her thumb against my thumb, sealing it the way we always had.

“I’ll bury her,” I said. “You stay here.”

“I want to go with you.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell her no.

I got to my feet and held out my hand. She took it, and I pulled her up beside me.

Life is a fucked-up version of survival while someone else pulls the strings. I never believed in God, but if I ever did, I’d only have one prayer.

If any of us made it out alive, let it be her.

I dug a small grave, deep enough to hold Isabella’s body. Gabriella sat nearby, staring at the patch of earth, her eyes never once moved towards the sea she feared so much. After I laid Isabella to rest, Gabriella reached for a small pink flower she’d found growing between the rocks and placed it gently on her chest.

“I think she liked pink,” she sniffed. “I hope you find peace.”

I covered Isabella with dirt and stones. Then, using small pebbles, Gabriella carefully made a cross at the top of the graveand tucked a few more flowers around it. She made sure Isabella would rest in peace.

Night slowly settled over the island, and we made our way back to the lighthouse, carrying everything we’d managed to find. I heard her stomach growl more than once. Every time I asked what she wanted to eat, even though we barely had any choices, her answer never changed.

She couldn’t.

I opened the door and let her step inside first. She walked straight to the table and sank into one of the chairs.