Page 167 of Broken by my Bully

For a moment she stands with arms outstretched, wobbling on the rocky riverbed, giving me a bright smile that makes my heart light up.

A second later, she’s on her way to find out if heaven really exists.

She told me once God hated her because, after her mother died, He turned her father into an animal.

Maybe it’s true, because the river changed that day. It went from playfully pushing me around to dragging us both under like a sea monster. All because Haven jumped in.

I barely react in time to grasp her arm, and then I’m knocked off my feet, too. It’s like an invisible hand dunks my head under the water. Once, twice, three times, until my nose and throat are burning from icy water going places it shouldn’t.

“Haven!”

An arm flashes, then a leg, but there’s too much angry water between us.

“Haven!”

As if she heard me calling her name, she bobs up and tosses her head to look back at me. The terror in her eyes makes me want to pee myself, because I’m so far away I can’t do anything but watch her struggle to stay afloat.

Until she hits the rock splitting the flow of the river in half.

Horror flashes into pain.

I hear her howl before water rushes over her. But she’s pinned against the rock just long enough for me to reach her, to catch her, and to haul her against me before we’re swept down the river again.

Yards later, I snag the root of a fallen tree. The storm water must have uprooted it last night, because it was still standing the last time me and Haven were inthis area.

I drag us closer to the tree, letting its trunk shield us from the worst of the creek so I can catch my breath.

She’s holding on to me, and I’m holding on to her, and we’re both shaking and crying as water pounds against our shivering bodies. But my hand is slipping, and it’s going to take both of our strength to get to the bank.

“Grab the tree!”

She shakes her head against my chest, and I grit my teeth as I struggle to hold on to the root.

“Be brave!”

She’s got her arms and legs wrapped around me, and when she doesn’t react, I know it’s over for both of us. We’re still on kinda even ground. A few yards away, the land slopes down to the Agony River.

My hand slips.

We’re both dragged away from the tree.

But just as we shoot past the last crooked root, Haven shoots out a hand and seizes it.

She holds on so tight that when the river pushes us, we swish straight through the current, toward the bank. When Haven’s hand is ripped from the root, I’m close enough to the tree to grab the trunk with one arm, and Haven with the other.

We kick and claw and scramble our way out of the water, the tree shielding our bodies against the worst of it.

Haven coughs and splutters as much as I do as we fight to breathe and puke out water at the same time.

Then we’re both quiet, panting.

“Screw being brave,” Haven murmurs, her arms thrown dramatically over her head. “I’ll stick with being a coward.”

“Good.” I’m on my stomach, my skinny chest pushing me up and down as I try to catch my breath. “’Cos I’m tired of saving you all the time.”

“I don’t want to die, Kai,” she whispers.

I roll my head to look at her. “Then don’t, stupid.”