Page 90 of In Every Lifetime
I watched him crack the seal of the bottle, and I closed my eyes. I squeezed them shut, refusing to watch Fai lose the one thing he had fought so hard for—to lose the battle he had been fighting his entire life.
I waited, what was only a second felt like a lifetime, but I heard nothing else. I opened one eye, then the other, to see Fai still staring at the bottle, but he hadn’t moved.
“What are you waiting for?” Levi taunted, his tone growing impatient. “We don’t have all day. Drink up.”
Fai’s eyes met mine as he spoke. “No.”
Levi’s grip on me tightened—his body vibrating. “‘No’ is not an option. Drink it, or I'll shoot her.”
“I said, ‘no.’” Fai spoke again, his hands lowering for the first time. He wouldn't be surrendering like this. Never again. He was taking a risk, praying that Levi wouldn’t hurt me, and I was so damn grateful he took that risk.
Levi, however, wasn’t. He threw me to the ground—my side colliding with the wet asphalt—as he stalked toward Fai, his gun raised.
“Damn it!” Levi screamed, pushing the gun against Fai’s forehead. “I said drink!”
The world stopped.
Time ceased to exist.
My reality moved in slow motion. Fai looked past Levi’s shoulder to me, his eyes meeting mine once again. The rain soaked every part of his body as the crash of thunder in the distance roared through the canyon. He was weighing his choices.
There wasn’t a world in his mind where he made it out alive. Either he would be shot now, point-blank, or he would give in to Levi, taking a drink and losing more than just his life.
Fai was accepting his death.
He smiled at me. It was soft, and full of more love than any words could be. I could see the years of shared memories dancing through his eyes. He took one breath, and then another, before closing his eyes.
I braced for the gunshot, but Fai, as always, did the unexpected. He had accepted his death, but he refused to leave me alone with Levi. He refused to leave this world without knowing I was safe. After dropping the bottle, he grasped Levi’s shoulder and threw his own body hard over the railing of the bridge, taking Levi with him.
They went over the edge together, their bodies tangling as they vanished beyond the bridge and into the river below. I ran—a scream tearing from my throat—just in time to see them strike the water, then disappear, dragged under by the relentless current. The deep blue swallowed them whole, and with it, everything that mattered to me.
“N-no,” I muttered, looking around desperately for help—but I was alone. Tears spilled down my cheeks. “No,” I said aloud, pulling off one shoe, and then the other, my eyes fixed on what I thought was Fai’s body in the distance.
If the fall didn’t kill him, if the temperature didn’t, it would be the sweeping currents. He couldn’t battle against them, not alone.
I stepped onto the railing. One foot and then another, climbing over the side, the cool metal hitting my back. I took one deep breath—letting it out slowly—and then another. I let the air fill my lungs, and I held it.
I held it while I let go of the bridge. While I jumped.
