Strings of Fate: The First Loop

CHAPTER 18

The storm screamed outside like it knew too.

And suddenly, I was running.

I didn’t even think. I just ran.

Down the hallway, barefoot and dripping, past the lobby where someone called out after me. I didn’t stop. I pushed through the glass doors and out into the downpour.

The cold smacked me in the face. Rain lashed against my skin. The wind clawed at my dress.

But I kept going.

My feet hit the sand, cold and slick beneath me. Lightning cracked across the sky, a jagged scream of light, followed by the crash of thunder that seemed to shake the earth itself.

I ran to the bonfire spot, now nothing but char and damp logs.

Nothing.

I ran to where we sat, where we played games, where James and I walked.

I dropped to my knees in the sand and raked through it with shaking hands, salty water—was it rain or tears now?—streaming down my face.

“Please,” I whispered. “Please. I can’t lose this. I can’t lose her too.”

The rain blurred everything. I couldn’t see. My hands trembled, half-frozen.

The wind shrieked louder. The sea surged forward, the waves now waist-high, crashing over the shore like it wanted to devour the world. Still, I waded in, searching, searching.

The water was a roar in my ears.

And then—suddenly—I was knocked down.

A wave. Sharp, powerful. It slapped me sideways and dragged me down, into the surf.

I tumbled, hit the sand, scrambled to stand—but another wave crashed in and pulled me farther.

The sea was stronger than me. So much stronger.

My arms flailed. My mouth opened and saltwater flooded in.

I tried to scream.

Nothing.

Just water.

Just darkness.

My lungs burned. My ears rang. My thoughts splintered.

Somewhere above the thunder and the rage of the sea, I thought I heard it.

“Betty!”

James.

His voice, distant, panicked.

“Betty, where are you?!”

I wanted to answer. I wanted to call him, shout his name back.

But the water filled everything.

My vision blurred.

My body spun.

And the storm swallowed me whole.

I managed to push myself up for a split second, coughing the seawater out of my lungs, choking on air and rain and salt.

"James!" I screamed with everything I had left.

But before the name could echo, before hope could answer, the ocean answered first.

Another wave.

It hit like a truck.

I didn’t even have time to brace.

It dragged me backward, sucked me under like I weighed nothing, and slammed me against something—solid, sharp.

A rock.