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“Faroe!” Jane’s cry cut through the ringing in her ears.
A pained gasp escaped from Faroe’s mouth as her body hit the metal surface of the boat.
“Faroe, he just shot you twice in the gut!”
Faroe let out a raspy laugh that sounded more of a sob, “I..I can’t tell”
“Faroe, please…” Her tone was panicked, desperate, yet gentle.
Everything was distant. Every drop of rain an icicle plunging into her skin. Jane’s hand pressed firmly against the bullet wounds; it was about the only thing keeping Faroe grounded.
“He’s standing ove—“
“I can help you. Let me stop the hurt.”
The man’s voice wasn’t right. He spoke as if in a trace, his mind taken by whatever lurked in the depths of the ocean. There was the distinctive click of a gun being cocked.
“I…Don’t…Need. Your. Help.” Faroe shifted her weight.
A shot rang out.
“Faroe!”
An impact to her chest.
“Faroe?”
Burning pain.
“Faroe?”
The rain played a discordant song on the metal.
“Faroe…”
A gasp for air. “Jane…I...”
“Faroe, it’s okay, you’re going to be okay.”
“I can’t feel…”
“Save your breath.”
“Jane…”
“I’m here, Faroe, I’m right here.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I…Faroe, you have nothing to apologize for…If anything, I should be the one saying sorry.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know…Faroe, I-“
“Th-the Dark World?”
“I’ll meet you there, my friend.”
A sudden splashed in the water. Faroe jerked her head towards the noise; Jane was just as quick to start describing the scene.
“Christ, Faroe, something’s, something’s coming out of the water. The officer has moved to the edge of the boat, but…there…Fuck, Faroe! It’s tentacles, some sort of monstrous creature rising from the depths!”
“You have some spirit, don’t you?” The officer had turned to face Faroe, taking slow steps towards her. She didn’t understand how she was still alive. It seemed to be some cruel joke the universe had been playing on her since, well since the moment she’d been born, destined to be the one who stayed alive while everyone she loved died. She’d been fighting her entire life, and she was tired.
“Please…” she hated the sound of her voice then: small, weak, pleading, helpless.
“No need to say ‘please’, friend, I’ll make sure this one goes into your head.”
Maybe this was finally it, here on this rusty boat, in the freezing rain, unable to see, taken out by some man influenced by a being beyond this world. Maybe it’s what she deserved, a death far from clean or peaceful.
“Okay,” defeat consumed her.
“Faroe, No! You’ve been through so much, you’ve survived so much! Don’t give up, don’t go down without a fight! You can do this, we can….Oh…Faroe the tentacles are wrapping around him…”
“What the-“ Words cut off by a scream, a scream cut of by a crunch. Crunching, and squelching, and tearing. And a thud. The officers body, or at least the mutilated remains of it, hit the deck.
“He’s been torn in two, his body crushed like it was nothing more than a dead leaf! The tendrils, they are now coming out of the water on all sides of the ship, moving about the deck. Faroe, we need to move!”
Faroe didn’t move, only barely opening her mouth, “Jane.”
Jane hadn’t given up yet, she spoke urgently, “Look, Faroe, we need to get out of here. We need to to move.“
“I…” something struck Jane hearing Faroe barely able to muster the strength to say a single word, feeling her still body and labored breaths that were beginning to grow fainter, seeing her blood-stained shirt and the approaching monster. A realization that felt like being pull apart by those ruthless tentacles. A realization that they finally got into a situation, no that she finally got them into a situation they couldn’t get out of. A realization that Faroe didn’t intend to escape, that she couldn’t escape. A realization that this was the end, for both of them. Her hand found Faroe’s, held it with a strength Faroe couldn’t reciprocate. Jane did the only thing she knew to do, the only thing she could do; she began to hum the tune she heard Faroe hum to herself countless times before, the tune that always seemed to sooth her. If she couldn’t save Faroe, she hoped she could at least make her last moment one of peace.
“Dad?”
~
The air filled with a crackling energy that gradually grew stronger. An unintelligible whisper followed the energy. Jane could barely make out a nearing figure, her eyes too blurred and her mind too addled to focus on details. It reached a hand out towards Faroe’s body; Jane fully expected the Dark World to be the next thing she saw. But as the figure touched Faroe and that energy coursed through her body, Jane’s eyesight cleared to reveal the wraith as it faded away with a scream. Then came a sharp inhale.
“Faroe!”
“Jane? Jane! What-“
“Faroe, you’re alright! Well…relatively speaking.”
“What happened?”
“The wraith! He appeared, and he…he whispered something I couldn’t understand, and he-“
“He repaid his debt,” Faroe finished.
“Faroe, your wounds.”
“I can hardly feel them, I think…” Faroe trailed off, a squelching noise replacing that of her voice. “Jane…”
“One of the tentacles has wrapped around your leg, Faroe!”
The monstrous limb jerked Faroe by the leg. Jane made an attempt to grab onto the boat’s railing, but they were far too quickly pulled out of reach. Faroe fought against the tentacle, trying to pry it loose or injured it in anyway possible. It was all in vain.
“It’s pulling us towards the…shit, Faroe, hold your breath!”
Before Faroe could finish taking a breath, they sunk beneath the surface; cool water rushed into her mouth.
She violently coughed, a reflex to get the water out that did little more than expel the last of the air remaining in her lungs. The tentacle had let go, but the weight of the water was a new anchor holding her down. Jane was describing something, what Faroe could assume was the creature, but her mind was elsewhere.
The endless expanse of the sea compressed into porcelain walls around her.
(She could hear the song even over the roar of the running water.
“Can I play? Can I play?” Faroe bounced next to the piano bench, gazing excitedly at her father who occupied it.
“Did you hear something, Mr. Piano? I thought I heard someone, but no one is here,” Arthur asked the instrument as he peered around the room, pretending not to see his daughter “Hmm, I must be loosing my mind,”
“It was me, daddy, it was me! I’m right here!” She began to wave her arms as she jumped. Arthur turned to face her, feigning surprise, “How long have you been there?” Faroe giggled. She bore that smile of hers that shone so bright he could feel it’s warmth like a fire from a hearth. Lifting her into his lap, he gently set her hands on the piano keys.
Faroe wasn’t a fan of baths. To her, the mud that often dirtied her skin was a sign of a day well spent. She didn’t understand why grown ups fretted about it so much. She did get to play with her rubber ducky though, so she supposed baths weren’t all that terrible.
The water was up to her shoulders. She waited patiently for her dad to come turn off
the facet, listening to the tune as she did.
The sounds of her father’s piano drifted through the house. She liked to listen to it; it was a reminder he was still there, even if he didn’t spend much time with her anymore. Sometimes, she wondered if that reminder was the very thing keeping him away, if he simply enjoyed playing the piano more than he enjoyed playing with her.
Now she followed the music to his office, her latest artwork clutched in her hands. Knock, knock, knock. No answer, the music continued. Reaching with her free hand, Faroe turned the doorknob. The door opened with a creak, and the music stopped abruptly. Her father looked down at her, irate, “I thought I told you to leave me alone!”
She could hear the song one second, the next everything was muffled. The sound of the running water pounded in her ears. Tess said dad would come turn it off, but it was still on and he had not come. Her vision blurred. She watched as the yellow shadow of her rubber duck disappeared over the edge of the bath, taken by the overflowing water. Her eyes stung. She pressed them shut. Her lungs ached. Where is daddy? She wanted him to make the pain go away. It was all too much. Where—
She let go. Water rushed into her mouth, but she barely noticed through the profound release of tension from her chest. The pain and fear slipped away; everything became peaceful. Her mind was fuzzy. She could swear the bellow of the facet started to sound of the song dad and her would play together. It lulled her into nothingness.)
Was it her fate to die this way? Was it foolish to think that her dad’s choices, her choices, meant anything to the universe. Maybe the journey had changed, but the destination never faltered. Was any of it worth it? If she was to drown either way, what did a few extra years mean. If her body lay at the bottom of that tub rather than this ocean, maybe Parker, and Teddy, and Arthur would still be alive.
No. If she died here it wouldn’t change the past, it wouldn’t bring them back. If she died here, they died for nothing. She had to keep living, for them. If she died here, Jane would be sent back to the Dark World. She had to fight, for her.
(When the world came back into focus, she was cold. A cold that sat deep in her bones, that left her shivering uncontrollably. Water weighted down her hair and itched her lungs. She was wrapped up in a towel and her dad’s arms.
There was no more music filling the room, only choked sobs,
“Faroe, my baby, im so sorry….Fa—)
“-roe! Are you listening to me? Swim, we need to get back to the boat!”