Page 15 of Holding the Line

It stank of someone powerful pulling strings.

Marsh leaned back in his chair, mind racing.Someone who had the authority to sanitize official documents.Someone with enough clout to make police reports disappear and override medical protocol.

He hadn’t found the name yet.

But it was there.A shadow in the gaps.In the absences.In the redacted ink.

Eli had lived with that.And survived it.

And Marsh had looked him in the eye and accused him of being fake.

His stomach turned.

Marsh didn’t need to read between the lines.He knew the kind of power some people could wield.Knew what it meant when someone like Eli chose silence over retaliation.

He sat back, stunned.

For a long while, he didn’t move.

Eli wasn’t just carrying scars.He was surviving.

And Marsh had thrown those wounds back in his face like they were weaknesses.

He cast his eyes at Eli’s stats again and cursed, turning quickly to wheel out of the lab.Something was very off.All his stats were off the charts, he was redlining, and something had to give.

****

The water was the onlyplace Eli still trusted.No lies there.No hidden hands waiting to strike.Just breath, stroke, breath, flip when he got to the end of a length.

He swam until his skin puckered, until his arms trembled.Until the weight of his memories threatened to drag him down and make him disappear.

You’re nothing, Elias.

You think that medical uniform makes you special?Makes you safe?The Colonel’s voice slithered in through the cracks in Eli’s mind.

He kicked harder.Another lap.His lungs burned.His vision blurred.

They’ll never believe you.You’re the unstable one.The liability.

Marsh’s voice folded in next.

You’re not honest.You’re not real.You’re just filler.

His strokes faltered.

His thigh cramped.

Mid-stroke, the pain hit—sharp, electric.He tried to compensate, but the other leg followed.He gasped, inhaling water instead of air.His lungs screaming for air

He flailed.Swallowed more.

Once.

Twice.

Three times under.

And then he stilled.