MIRA

I watch the river swallow him whole. I’m helpless.

For a heartbeat, I stand there paralyzed, shaking, breath trapped somewhere between my ribs and throat. Dark spirals move on the surface of the river, already pulling Adrian away. Is he alive? Is he dead? I don’t know. I only know he’s injured.

Then I move. I don’t think, don’t care that the water looks like the mouth of something ancient and hungry. I just jump. The cold slaps like a punishment. Like a thousand knives ...