There is just one step between life and death. Such a small step. So easy to take…
“Damn you, dad, damn you”.
She tried to jerk her hand away from the gruff man, but he would have none of it. And the embarrassment to have herself drag away from a party at her age just added more fuel to her anger.
“Fuck”, she cursed again when one of her high heels broke and she all but had to lean on him to steady herself.
“Shut it, kid”, he finally said once he had her seated in his car, tired of hearing her curse like a truck’s driver.
“I’m twenty-two, for God’s sake” came her shouted reply. “How am I going to face my colleagues at work? Oh, my God, I’m going to die from embarrassment on Monday”.
She groaned and hid her face with her hand’s palms, while her father started the car and drove, not caring about her anymore.
There, he had done it again: controlling every step of her life. From the moment she was born, until this very day. “You have to go to that all girl school”, “you have to go to that university”, “you have to work in that city”. Bloody hell, was it his wish that she was born a girl, it wouldn’t be surprising. But the more, he was ordering her around, the more she wanted to rebel.
“You are an intelligent girl, how come you behave so stupidly is beyond me!” That was his forever line, and quite honestly, she was tired of it.
“I’m not a girl anymore, when will you learn it?” She snapped.
“Certainly not with you still acting like one. You can’t even dress properly!”
She flushed; her hands automatically pulling her miniskirt to have it hide more of her legs.
“Well”, she tried sounding not affected. “You cannot expect anyone to go to a nightclub with a gown either.”
“I’m not expecting my daughter to go to one for sure.”
“Everyone does that nowadays!”
“You’re not everyone! And what does it give you anyway, to be up at one o’clock mixing with those, those…”
He couldn’t even bring himself to spell it. If he thought his daughter was barely covered at all, then for the others, they could all be naked, for what they were wearing was close to nothing.
“Your mother, had she been alive to see this, would have been very disappointed.”
“For all I care”, she replied staring at her window, her chin on her right hand, her brows furrowed.
“Don’t you dare talk like that!”, he snapped letting his eyes went to her head for a second before returning them to the road. “Where did I go wrong with you?”
Was that exasperation in his voice? She shot her head in his direction.
“From the very first day I believed”, she replied hotly. “You may have as well let me die with my mother, for the result seems to displease you more than what you bargained for.”
“Don’t put it on me.”
“Then on whom shall I put it? Maybe mother Elisa for I remembered the sister couldn’t shut it for one sec. Had I been able to, you could be sure I would have lost my virginity right in front of her to have her finally close it.”
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His grip tightened on the steering wheel until the end of his fingers turned white; his cheeks flushed with fury, and, with his brows furrowed making them seemed like one, her father made a sound she couldn’t quite decipher, between a groan and a shout.
“And have you”, he shouted more “Lost your virginity?”
“I would have”, she shouted right back, “had you not come today. But be sure I’m losing it next week, no matter what.”
Was she really having this conversation, seems like it. Wasn’t it the twenty-first century? She felt more like an outcast: still being a virgin at her age, still living with her dad, still not owning her own car to ride wherever and whenever she wants.
He stepped on the gas, exceeding the speed limit, but wasn’t caring. The car was already on the bridge, their home a couple of kilometers ahead. The night was so dark, nor the stars and neither the moon could be seen. The clouds so thick seemed so heavy. The sky was rumbling, but with their shouts, neither of them was hearing it.
“Have you lost your mind? You co-”
His other words were absorbed by the frightening sound of a thunder, and the next moment, the bridge was falling apart. The shock set the air-bags free, but those weren’t welcome. They were feeling the ground literally opening, and were falling into the nothingness, fear giving them a new found reason to shout at the top of their lungs. Then came the contact with the sea, so sudden and brutal. Annabeth roughly smacked the side of her head on her window, her father’s iron kit which was on the bench behind was moving like a pinball and knocked her father twice with a heaviness that will certainly leave a mark. There wasn’t any time to catch a breath, the car, which steadied itself for two seconds, was now been swallowed by the sea.
The blonde woman was highly panicked, alright, but still breathing. With her hands shaking like they never did before, she was struggling to unbuckle her safety-belt and at the same time shouting for help to the dark night.
“Oh my God, oh my God” she started singing understanding that no one was coming. The water at her feet was so cold. Now free from the buckle, she started kicking the window to make it open, when the door refused to budge. “We need to get out of here, dad…”
She finally turned around only to freeze. By her side, her father wasn’t moving at all and she feared the worst. Blood was all over his face, on the air-bag and also on the steering wheel. She forgot all about a possible exit and leaned on help her begetter. The water was moving fast, he had the regain consciousness and quickly. She shouted his name while still working her fingers on the buckle. Many times had she yelled, but he didn’t wake up. The water was almost over their shoulder, the vehicle, slowly sinking.
Was it raining inside the vehicle too? No. It was her tears, so many tears that she could barely see. Her voice was now a strained sound that was shouting his name over and over again, cracking with each breath. His safety-belt finally gave in, but his closed eyes froze her movement for a moment. And at this very instant, it wasn’t the coldness of the sea that had her shaking like she was, but the sight of her dad, not moving an inch, while their death was been slowly confirmed. By all means, will they die like this, their last memory a quarrel? The tears wouldn’t stop.
Get a grip she told herself trying to ignore the coldness cutting her like millions of knives.
“I will get us out of here”, she was promising. “Do you hear me, I will get it right and I will never forgive you if you die here.” She took one last deep breath preparing for the submersion.
Now under the water, but both of them free, she was trying to open the blasted door. She tried kicking, pleading, but the window pane wouldn’t lessen, nor her door open. Her father’s side was, she remembered. He liked the wind in his hair when he was driving, and she thanked God he did.
She started with him, trying to make him passed the rectangle exit. He wasn’t. She took off his blouse and this time, it did the trick. She hurried herself out too and went to hold his body from drowning further in the water. Annabeth wished she had more than just two lungs. While the vehicle was sinking more, she was glad she wasn’t in it, but at the same, it wasn’t making much difference, for she couldn’t move anymore. Holding her father by the left shoulder, she was still struggling with the right one, to have them out of the water. But she couldn’t swim anymore. Was it cramp? Was her brain lacking oxygen? She didn’t know. What was evident was that she couldn’t go up anymore and her father’s weight was pulling her down. The fight was hard. Every muscle in her body, every cell wanted to live, but they couldn’t outweigh what was now evident. They’ll die.
Funny how in the end, she was very much as a liar as her dad. There wasn’t a promise he wouldn’t break. She just wanted him to fulfill just one, even the smaller would have been welcome: to be there for her. Darkness was slowly blackening her vision. One last thought occurred to her. Should she leave her father to try and save herself while she could still do it? No, she replied to herself without hesitation. By all means, no. Should he die, then she will gladly follow. For never, even when she lost her temper, had she imagined a world without her only relative. He may not be perfect but he was and would always be, her father.
She wished she had been kinder though. She wished she hadn’t come to that nightclub. She wished he didn’t follow her. She wished they didn’t quarrel. She wished the bridge didn’t break. And in the end, she wished she had listened to him for once.
All of it was swallowed by darkness.