Drowning

He lay quietly, without struggling. All was black. A cool, salty breeze swept over his bare arms, bound tightly together with painful, stiff, scratchy rope. A black hood was tied tightly at his neck, and he could hear little else than the gurgling and slapping of the water hitting the piers. Once in awhile a foghorn would groan through the smoky harbor, causing the man to jump. He was a boy really, only 16. 16 and already in trouble. Carefully he shifted his weight; he wasn’t sure where he was on the pier. He could be inches from the edge or in the very middle. He had no idea; he had just regained consciousness. A shiver ran down his spine. The events of the night before were slowly coming back to him. He sighed. Suddenly he heard steps tapping hollowly down the pier. The hood was ripped roughly from his head, snapping his neck back. He glanced up at the tower standing in front of him. Even the moon seemed subdued in this man’s presence. Immediately the boy started trying to explain. “I swear, I didn’t see anything! I won’t tell anyone! I don’t care what you did! Come on man, I swear I didn’t see anyone! Nothing happened!” The man turned away, disgusted. He muttered something in Italian and the other man laughed, but quickly stopped at the look on the man’s face. The sophisticated man turned back to the boy lying helplessly bound, goose bumps standing out on his thin arms. He knelt down slowly, as if making a point that he didn’t want to be down at his level. He smiled, his brilliant teeth standing out against his dark face. The boy recoiled slightly fear. The man grabbed his chin. “Buonritorno cara.” He whispered in his face. He stood up abruptly. The boy sighed in relief. Maybe they wouldn’t do anything to him after all. He quickly started talking again. “I really din-” he didn’t even finish his excuse. “Basta!” The man shouted, kicking him painfully in the stomach, the boy’s body scraping painfully against the dock as he inched closer to the edge. He turned back to the short man that was with him. “Avanti!” he muttered. Over his shoulder he called, “Arrivedercci”, laughed, and walked back down the dock. The short man roughly tightened the boy’s bonds and started dragging him to the edge. “No, come on man! Don’t be his slave! Think for yourself! What if you’re caught? Come on, please, please don’t throw me it! Come on, please, I’m only 16, please, please!” He squirmed and writhed in fear. “Please, please…” The short man hauled him to his feet; the boy teetered on the edge of life and death. “Please, please….please…” he whispered, staring at the cold gray water. “Arrivederci.” The man echoed quietly and pushed the boy easily off the pier, turning before he even hit the water. Shocked, the boy lay stiff and scared. The cold water enveloped him, closing in over his head like a coffin. The water snapped him back to life. Not thinking, he almost started to scream. A large, quivering bubble escaped from his mouth; iridescent and precious. He immediately yanked hopelessly at the ropes, polluted water stinging his eyes. He stared at the underside of the water, undulating and quivering as it had forever. Moonlight crested every nuance of the water as he slowly sank farther and father away from it. He hit the bottom softly, without realizing it. Everything was beginning to look blurry; dark was darting around the edges of his eyes. More water escaped from his nose, tiny beads made their way up to the surface. His lungs were burning. His mouth begged for a breath. He kicked and struggled desperately at the ropes, trying to work them loose. They only burned and turned his wrists raw, though. His mind screamed; his only thought left was to survive. He had to breath; he started top open his mouth, and looked up at the far away surface. His death approached slowly and cautiously. He slowly accepted it, crying a little, even though it didn’t matter in the seawater. He could see the watery outline of the moon. It slowly faded from his sight, and he gave in, took a breath of water; coughed, only to breath in more water. Water sloshed into his lungs, filling them, weighting him down more. His oxygen was gone, and he slowly drifted down to the bottom of the sea floor: his grave forever.