MasukELLE The officer burst out of the water, dragging Raymond with him. Raymond’s body was limp, soaked, and lifeless. Water streamed from his clothes, his hair, and his mouth. His skin was pale—too pale. His lips were tinged blue. They hauled him onto the ground. “BEGIN CPR!” an officer ordered immediately. “GO!” They started compressions on him—hard, fast, and forceful. There was nothing. "Again!" The offer yelled. Still, there was nothing. “Where’s the ambulance?!” “Two minutes out!” “Shit! Well, don't stop! Keep going!” They kept pushing. Breath. Compression. Breath. Compression. But Raymond didn’t move. His chest stayed still. His pulse didn’t return. One officer paused just long enough to exchange a grim, devastating look with another. “We’re losing him. Load him up, now!” They lifted him onto a stretcher. I screamed his name until my throat collapsed. The baby was rushed toward another ambulance. Officers swarmed around me, cutting the ropes from my wrists. B
ELLE The officer burst out of the water, dragging Raymond with him. Raymond’s body was limp, soaked, and lifeless. Water streamed from his clothes, his hair, and his mouth. His skin was pale—too pale. His lips were tinged blue. They hauled him onto the ground. “BEGIN CPR!” an officer ordered immediately. “GO!” They started compressions on him—hard, fast, and forceful. There was nothing. "Again!" The offer yelled. Still, there was nothing. “Where’s the ambulance?!” “Two minutes out!” “Shit! Well, don't stop! Keep going!” They kept pushing. Breath. Compression. Breath. Compression. But Raymond didn’t move. His chest stayed still. His pulse didn’t return. One officer paused just long enough to exchange a grim, devastating look with another. “We’re losing him. Load him up, now!” They lifted him onto a stretcher. I screamed his name until my throat collapsed. The baby was rushed toward another ambulance. Officers swarmed around me, cutting the ropes from my wrists. B
ELLE The officer burst out of the water, dragging Raymond with him. Raymond’s body was limp, soaked, and lifeless. Water streamed from his clothes, his hair, and his mouth. His skin was pale—too pale. His lips were tinged blue. They hauled him onto the ground. “BEGIN CPR!” an officer ordered immediately. “GO!” They started compressions on him—hard, fast, and forceful. There was nothing. "Again!" The offer yelled. Still, there was nothing. “Where’s the ambulance?!” “Two minutes out!” “Shit! Well, don't stop! Keep going!” They kept pushing. Breath. Compression. Breath. Compression. But Raymond didn’t move. His chest stayed still. His pulse didn’t return. One officer paused just long enough to exchange a grim, devastating look with another. “We’re losing him. Load him up, now!” They lifted him onto a stretcher. I screamed his name until my throat collapsed. The baby was rushed toward another ambulance. Officers swarmed around me, cutting the ropes from my wrists. B
ELLE I didn’t realize I was screaming until my throat felt sore. The sound coming out of me wasn’t human. It was raw. Shredded. Violent. It ripped through the dead, hollow water park like something dying in the dark. “RAYMOND!” I screamed his name again and again, until my voice broke so painfully it felt like something inside me snapped. But nothing I did… nothing I said… brought him back up. The water swallowed him whole. And his struggling… stopped. My heart clawed at my ribcage. “No, no, no, no…” Tears blurred everything. My vision shook. “Raymond, please… please move… please come up… please breathe…” I dragged my body forward even though the ropes cut deeper into my wrists, tearing skin. I didn’t care. I would have ripped my own arms off if it meant reaching him. But the world didn’t move. The water didn’t move. Raymond didn’t move. I felt something inside me collapse. Something so heavy I couldn’t breathe. Melody laughed. Actually laughed. A sharp, gleeful, insan
RAYMOND I hated the words I had said to Elle, hated myself for saying them. But I had my reasons. Besides, I was right. Watching Melody use our child to threaten Elle was the worst thing I had ever gone through. Then there was the moment when Elle stared at the baby. I was both made whole and broken. How could a mother be forced to go through such? For the first time, she got to see her child. But she was tied to a chair and couldn't touch her little one. Yet all that mattered to her was the fact that our little princess looked like us. That fleeting moment was the happiest I had seen Elle in months. I wished it wouldn't end. Wished she could hold her in her arms. Hold the child, we haven't given a name, so tight. While pregnant, Elle had asked us to wait till after she gave birth before we picked a name. And after our baby was snatched from us, I couldn't bring myself to ask her for the name she would've loved to give her. I mean, how could I? She was already broken, an
ELLE It took everything in me to steel myself, to not let the fear in me slip. To not let everything crumble before me. If Raymond was this shaken, then it meant...it couldn't be. I couldn't let my mind travel so fast. There had to be hope. We were definitely going to get out of this situation somehow. We had to. For our child. For us. Melody watched us with a curled lip. “Touching. Really. I almost actually... cried." Then she scoffed. "But don’t get too comfortable.” Raymond lifted his head again, his voice razor-sharp. “How did you get out, Melody? How are you even here?” She smiled. “Simple,” she said. “Like I always told that idiot, Richard—who never listened—always make sure people owed you a debt. In my case, it was my uncle. A very rich uncle.” She began pacing, her steps echoing across the empty pool. “He bribed some officers. Threatened a few more. Paid others to fake my death. One simple staged incident, and poof—little Melody no longer existed in the system







