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“I can’t swim,” he hoarsely whispers.
Kino gets one last look at Keef and his tired eyes before someone tugs him down into the water. Kino forces his feet to stay planted firmly, keep himself steady as men push behind him to freedom. His hands are sweating but for the first time since he can’t even remember how long, his body is cool. The breeze hits his face.
Freedom.
It’s right there. One jump away. His legs have become stone. The loud, brash floor manager is suddenly at a loss for everything. Everything he endured and suffered for ends with a jump. He hears the thunderous splashing of the water below as bodies drop in. His pulse is racing. His feet begin to move.
His feet are moving?
No. He’s being pushed. The soles of his feet scrape against the tiles beneath him. They feel like rubber. There isn’t tile underneath him for long. Kino’s eyes widen and his arms jut out as if he would be able to catch himself. The wind blows through his hair with an obscene amount of pressure. He closes his eyes, the spray of the water hitting him and he lets go.
For a single moment, he’s flying.
Kino Loy is flying.
Then he hits the water with an embarrassing thud and his eyes shoot open. The water immediately burns. He can hear men dropping in next to him before the water fills his ears. His arms begin to fight. His legs kick underneath him. He’s gasping for air and swallowing water like those are suddenly the only two things he knows how to do. His head bobs up above the surface to draw in a large gulp of air before his body drags itself down again. He thinks a man fell on top of him. He can’t tell. His arms still move like they’ll be able to do something if they just keep moving.
This can’t be it. All that suffering. All the tension now built into his spine that he’s certain will never go away until he dies. He’s so close. So close to being out. To being free. To being home.
This can’t be it.
His vision starts to fade. His legs still kick underneath him. His body feels like stone again. He’s going out fighting. He wasn’t supposed to. Not that he was ever supposed to be here in the first place. In his last moments his mind is flashing to the judge that sentenced him here. He wants to think of something else. Keef’s eyes flash in his mind. Dark. Determined. Kino has him to thank for making him fly.
He’s sinking. His limbs are finally starting to quit. The water is cold. He’s fully soaked through. His body goes deeper down. There’s no air for him to try and gasp at. He feels like he’s floating despite how heavy his body is. He’s dying.
Kino Loy is dying.
He feels the burning in his throat before anything else. Kino’s eyes shoot open as he begins to cough and vomit. He sits up as he hacks his throat raw. When he finally breathes in without any liquid forcing itself into his lungs, he draws in more air like he can’t ever remember experiencing this. His eyes are on fire. Every limb of his feels numb and heavy. This is what he assumes it’s like to be a corpse.
But the wind blows over him and he’s soothed. Only for a fleeting moment before he keels over and coughs his lungs out again. He can feel sand beneath him. When he’s done choking up water, he looks up at the dark sky. Two men gather around him. He doesn’t recognize their faces but they all share the same clothing. They begin to murmur and fuss over him. Kino’s head turns behind him, finding men surrounding small fires. There are others washed up like him. He’s not sure if they’ll wake up the same as him. Kino hopes they do.
The two men over him murmur something about getting him something warm and assure him they’ll be right back over. He can feel the sand pelting his sides as it shoots under their feet as they walk away from him. Kino draws in another deep breath, letting himself collapse back to lay there. He shuts his eyes under the dark sky. There are stars in his eyelids.
He sees those dark eyes again. He whispers grateful words under his breath, realizing those eyes will haunt him forever.
Kino Loy lives.