Blood in the Water

4295 words

Episode 9: Blood in the Water The photo trembles in Elias’s hand, the edges curling from the damp air, the image of her face—smiling, alive, untouchable—blurring as his vision swims. Rylan’s grip on his wrist is a vise, hard enough to grind bone, his breath hot and ragged against Elias’s ear. “Don’t be stupid,” Rylan growls again, his voice a low, desperate snarl. “You drop that, and what? You think it’s gonna magic her back? It’s just a picture. It ain’t her.” Elias’s jaw clenches, the ache in his chest sharper than the pain in his arm. The underground chamber around them feels tighter, the walls slick with condensation, the air heavy with the metallic tang of rust and something older, darker. The pool of black water in front of them doesn’t ripple, doesn’t move at all, but it watches. He can feel it, a presence in the stillness, hungry and waiting. The photo feels like a weight, a tether to a life he can’t reach anymore, and the Warden’s game—always twisting, always demanding—has led him here, to this impossible choice. “You don’t get it,” Elias mutters, his voice rough, scraped raw from hours of silence and shouting. “It’s not just a picture. It’s the last thing I’ve got. And if this—” He nods toward the pool, its surface like...