Twilight; The Red Ribbon of Fate

CHAPTER 1 | EPIPHANY

The murky abyss churned, tide swallowing me whole; ever shifting, listless tapestry of shimmering green and blue jewel tones. With each passing second, I descended deeper, the darkness enveloping me in its familiar embrace. There was a strange comfort in accepting my fate, in becoming an anchor lost within the depths, released from the weight of existence, no longer dragging others down.

I was at peace with death, it was tranquil, uncomplicated, cathartic even.

As the minutes slipped away, blending into an indistinguishable blur, time became a hazy concept, distorted and elusive. What little time left on my non-corporeal clock was evaporating, much like all the air from my lungs. The broken minute hand twirled aimlessly while the hour hand raced, the sound of its frantic ticking easily omitted. On the quiet tides, ever-present time loses its power, and the world above fades into insignificance.

Yet, amidst the isolation, his presence remained my solace. His incandescent form, a beacon of frozen beauty, drifted beside me. The pallor of his alabaster face, now a mere ghost in the shadows, held a haunting allure. In this penultimate moment, his touch was a fleeting caress, his skin a perfect canvas of iridescence. He was here with me, at the end of it all, my ethereal Adonis, my Romeo.

No one would mourn my absence, for I was already fading into the forgotten corners of their memories. I held onto his hand, our fingers intertwined, a fragile connection in the face of oblivion. One last touch, a last whisper of affection before succumbing to the deep.

All sight, sound, and life disappeared, swallowed by the glassy void. It's icy hold offered no trepidation, no hesitation, only a serene acceptance of the endless. The silence was deafening, only interrupted by the faint echoes of distant currents. The weight of the water continued to push against my body, a heavy shroud that silenced any lingering doubts. And so I sank, surrendering myself to the stillness that transcended the emptiness of life above.

This was it—my end. I was ready. No more pain.

As my eyes closed for the last time, without warning, I felt myself being lifted by an unseen force. A dark figure held me, ascending like a bullet through the hazy water. We breached the surface; the roar of the ocean assaulted my eardrums, salty waves lapping my raw, frozen skin. Between the rhythmic sloshing of water and the incessant cawing of seagulls, my dead weight plopped onto the shore. Pebbles and other small rocks dug into the thin material of my soaked long-sleeve shirt, cutting into my back and upper arms.

I struggled to understand a muffled baritone voice, low and fraught with panic. It was calling my name, begging, crying for me.

Who was speaking?

Jagged pieces of a recent memory bobbed to the surface of my mind. The viridian escarpment overhanging First Beach, treading wave after tumultuous wave, succumbing to the dark, frigid depths... Where was I? How did I get here? The realization was slowly starting to sink in. I must've gotten knocked unconscious by the waves, and someone dragged me onto the shore.

A foreign pressure bared down on my chest, my lungs crushed under its weight. I was in so much pain, but couldn't scream. Air. I needed air. I needed to breathe. My insides were burning, a fullness, all encompassing flames I couldn't escape, melding into the force that indiscriminately bruised my ribs. The blunt pressure happened again. My hands formed into tight fists. Gritty, wet sand stuck to my fingertips, bunching under my nails. Too much.

With what little energy I had, I bolted upright, leaning on my elbows for support. I purged the vile contents of my stomach, my lungs—all of it. I managed a prolonged, shaky breath, remembering how to live one huff at a time. It felt like a thousand tiny shards of glass coated my throat. Each inhale and exhale were labored, burning; the steady trickle of seawater that continued to ooze from my mouth stopped. As I regained full consciousness, adrenaline flooded my veins, causing my heart to race at full speed, pounding under the paper-thin layer of my lavender tinged skin.