Run, Cole.
My father’s scratchy, drowning voice plays in my head like a distorted record.
“Oh, Cole, darling.” Mum smiles, her eyes kind. She’s always looked so kind and approachable. She’s never had a malicious look or action. At least, not on the surface. “Silver is playing hide-and-seek.”
“Silver!” Sebastian runs towards the pool, but I beat him to it and jump in.
It takes everything in me to ignore the blood changing the colour of the water as I grab her by the arm and wrench her to the edge.
Her face has paled. Her chest doesn’t move up and down.
She’s not breathing. Fuck.
“Silver!” My hand shakes as I pull my palm away and see the blood oozing from the back of her head, turning her blonde hair red.
I lay her on the tiles and press down on her chest.
Come on, Silver. Come on, you can’t leave me!
Please don’t fucking leave me.
“M-my doll?” Helen runs towards us. “Why isn’t she smiling?”
Sebastian blocks her way, pointing his gun at her head. “Stay the hell away from my daughter.”
“Sebastian, can’t you see? She needs me. My doll needs her master.”
“Not a move, Helen,” he growls.
“Or what?” She tilts her head to the side. “You’ll kill me? We both know you can’t do that. Let me see my doll.”
I continue pressing on Silver’s chest. Her lips are turning purple. With every second passing, she’s dying.
Every single second, she’s slipping through my fingers.
A shriek comes from Mum, but I don’t look at her. I don’t pay her attention. Then I hear her wresting with Sebastian for the gun, but all I care about is Silver.
Come on. Come on.
“Leave her alone.” Mum stands above me, holding the gun. “Let her go. You’re killing her, Cole.”
“You killed her! You did!”
“No.” She shakes her head frantically, stepping back. “I didn’t. It’s not me. It’s not —”
Her words are cut off as she trips. Her head bumps against the railing of the pool with a sickening thud, and then she falls down…
Down.
Down.
Her blood turns the water crimson.
She doesn’t float.
Neither Sebastian nor I move to help her.
I’m still compressing Silver’s chest, my own chest feeling as if it’s clearing out of oxygen.