Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 129986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
“You think you can talk to my man? I will break you in half,” she says, giving me a once-over that lets me know she is not impressed with my scrawny ass.
“You have the wrong idea. I was not flirting with your boyfriend. At all.”
She points to the phone. “I have proof, bitch.”
“No. You can’t see my expression from this angle. If you could, you’d see it looks like when you take a big whiff of soured milk. No offense. I’m sure he has his charms, but I don’t see them. I’m guessing a well-meaning friend of yours snapped that and not you because trust me, if you’d have been there yourself, you would not think I was flirting with him. If anything, he was—” I stop myself a little too late, realizing I’ve said too much. Telling her he came onto me won’t make her feel any better.
She takes an intimidating step toward me. “You wanna finish that sentence?”
“Not particularly,” I murmur.
“You think I’m not enough for my own boyfriend?”
“Definitely not.” I shake my head vehemently, not just because I don’t want her to beat me up, but because I hate to think she thinks that. “And I think if he makes you feel that way, maybe he’s not the one.”
She gives me another shove backward. “You need to stay out of my business and away from my boyfriend. If I catch you talking to him again, you’re dead.”
There’s literally no chance of that.
I might say that if she didn’t keep pushing me, but she’s starting to piss me off. “Look, it’s not my fault your boyfriend started talking to me out of nowhere. I have no interest in him. Whatever your friend thought they saw, they were mistaken.”
Kalea smiles, and I can feel trouble brewing. Before I can say another word, she picks me up and hurls me into the pool.
Bodies move swiftly out of the way as I land gracelessly in the water. My arms shoot out, terror seizing me as I plummet beneath the surface, sucking water into my lungs before I can think to close my mouth.
I can’t swim.
I can’t drown, either, so I claw desperately at the water, trying to doggy paddle like I did when I was a kid.
Calm down, calm down, calm down.
It’s a frantic chant in my mind as I get my feet under me at the bottom of the pool. I use them to launch myself upward, then I try to use momentum to get to the surface. I don’t know why it’s not working, if my movements are too choppy, if I’m too panicked. All I know is there’s water in my lungs and I can’t breathe even though my body is begging me to.
I can’t breathe.
My lungs burn and I start to feel sick from the lack of oxygen. I kick and move my arms, but they’re getting heavy. So is the water. Everything feels so heavy, and the panic gets more desperate as my body pleads with me for just one gulp of air.
I’m going to die.
I read once that when your brain is cut off from its oxygen supply, you hallucinate. I guess that’s the only explanation for the dark angel I see piercing the water’s surface, shooting toward me like a bullet. His big, beautiful black wings unfurl and I feel a sense of peace that he’s coming for me.
I shouldn’t feel peace in the moment I lose control of my limbs because even though my thrashing wasn’t making much impact, I know if I don’t fight my way to the surface, I’ll drown.
The surface is too far to reach, and my body isn’t under my control anymore. My lungs are the last to give up. I can’t hold my breath anymore. The impulse to breathe is too all-consuming. I need it.
When I can’t hold my breath anymore, I suck in more water that feels like liquid lead as it fills my lungs.
I know I’m lost.
I feel myself sinking, falling back toward the pool floor as consciousness dips in and out of focus.
I almost hit the pool floor, but then my angel is there. He grabs me and pulls me toward him, then his strong wings wrap around both of us and I’m not afraid anymore.
I could cry, I’m so happy.
She won’t feel afraid.
There’s peace in the last moments before you leave.
It brings me more solace than I thought possible to know this is what she’ll feel when the clock runs out. I was so afraid it would be all sadness and fear to be ripped from the Earth before you’re ready to go, but it’s not.
I wish I could be there with her for all the rest of her moments, but I know she’ll join me soon, and nothing will ever part us again.
If I weren’t in a pool full of water, I think tears would be falling down my face. I curl close to my angel, feel the comfort of his powerful wings embracing me.