I dived my head into the water and looked around. I found Christopher sinking deeper into the waters, so I quickly wrapped my arms around his waist and brought him to the surface. While I was looking around for the raft, I slapped his face. “Christopher, wake up! John’s dead! We’re still alive! Don’t leave me. Please! I don’t want to be alone.”
At that moment, Christopher’s eyes were closed, and he did not move. His face was rid of any signs of life. Even his breathing was turning faint, but the only thing I could do was apply pressure onto his wound and swim faster. When I saw a raft, I yelled out, “Let us on! Please! I beg of you!”
The raft slowed down. Some men helped both me and Christopher get on. I let Christopher lean on me as I continued to press on his wound, doing my best to slow down the bleeding. I even gave him CPR in case he did not get enough oxygen.
After a long while, despite all that, Christopher was still unconscious. I was starting to panic. “Christopher, you lied to me. You told me you would take care of me for the rest of my life, that you would introduce me to your parents. You haven’t done any of that. How could you lie to me?”
I used all my strength to pound at his heart, clearing the water out of his mouth. I wiped away the tears that fell onto his face and listened for a heartbeat. But all I could hear was a very faint beating, and it was growing weaker.
I could no longer hold it in and started crying. Christopher was the only person that ever treated me well. I could not even think about going on living without him.
“Christopher. Are you really going to leave me alone? Is life really worth living without you in it?”
I paused. “We didn’t even have a wedding yet. I want a grandiose wedding that would tell the world I’m married to you. I want all the women out there to be jealous of an ill-fated woman like me for finding a man like you. I want your parent’s blessing. Can you please wake up? I’ll do anything you ask, anything. As long as you wake up.”
I took a deep breath. “Is death the only way for us to be together?”
If Christopher really died, there would be no point for me to continue living. He was the one that gave meaning to my life. I was happy because of him and he was the reason why I’m alive.
I continued to pat on his chest like a machine, and kissed him.
“You dummy. I told you to leave without me. I’m going to have to punish you when we get back.” As I was at the brink of despair, Christopher coughed and opened his eyes. Hearing that made me tear up.
“How could I do that? What would I do if I turned around and lost you?” I wiped away my tears, but more came down.
The raft was drifting aimlessly at sea. From afar, we could see that the ship was completely submerged. There were not even remnants of it left on the surface as the sun slowly rose. Even though we were surrounded by the sea, the heat was unbearable. We had no food or clean water. Maybe death was the end of us.
In the end, all we could do was to die slowly like everyone else on the ship. Some got swept away by giant waves, while others starved to death. I held on to Christopher with all my strength and felt his breathing slowly dwindle.
Christopher still had the knife in him, but I dared not pull it out. I knew full well that it would only cause him to bleed out if no medical attention was given promptly after. It was the first time I actually regretted not studying medicine. If I did, I could at least help Christopher alleviate some pain at the moment.
“Lyle, I’m scared. Are we going to die? I don’t want to die. There are so many things that I still want to do.”
“Don’t worry. Rescue is definitely on its way. I’ve sent out a signal before all this. I’m not letting you die here.”
“But you’re hurt. What can I do? I don’t want to die!” Crystal started crying.
