All Chapters of The Prank That Stole My Last Breath: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

The ocean water was freezing, the sort of icy cold that seeped through the skin and right into my bones. It was even more painful than when I was trapped in the freezer last year.My spirit floated in mid-air, watching as my blue-tinged body lay limply in the sandy bottom of the cave.Marissa Payton, my adopted younger sister, swam over to me. Her swim fins stirred up a cloud of silt, which landed right on my face and covered it. Stretching out a leg, she kicked hard at my body."Look, Jamie! Nat sure is going all out in her act this time. She isn't moving at all."Her delighted giggling came over the communicator, the sound filled with triumphant glee.The voice of James Payton, my older brother, swiftly came over the line, his tone coldly indifferent as he said impatiently, "Stop that, Natalie. It's enough to put on this show once. There's no need to keep pretending. Now, hurry up and get up. Stop wasting everyone's time!"I stared at James, my older brother by blood, as he hel

Chapter 2

It wasn't long before a strong underwater current swept by, dragging me along with it. With nothing to hold me in place, my corpse began drifting slowly across the cave floor.Marissa glanced back, and when she realized that my corpse was heading toward the bottomless abyss of a trench nearby, not only did she not speak up about it, but she even kicked her legs faster. The intense currents stirred up by her rapid movements acted like another force pushing at my corpse from behind.I could do nothing but watch as my body slid toward the trench.Although James detected some movement behind him, he didn't turn around to look, simply saying through the communicator, "Natalie, don't bother with any tricks. No one is going to save you."The cold words slammed into my spirit like a physical force, but he wasn't done yet."If we don't teach you a lesson this time, you'll never learn how to be more understanding."And so, he swam off with the others, leaving me further and further behind.

Chapter 3

The sun was blinding in its intensity.The diving team surfaced from the ocean, one after another, before climbing onto the yacht.The first thing James did after boarding the yacht was search the deck for any signs of me. When he failed to see me, his expression darkened."Where's Natalie?" he asked one of the crew members.The crew member was briefly surprised before answering honestly, "Mr. Payton, Ms. Natalie hasn't returned. We didn't see anyone coming up just now."James' fingers tightened into fists."That's impossible. With her personality, she would have immediately returned here to complain about whatever minor grievance she's suffered."At that moment, Marissa came over while toweling her hair."Jamie, Nat must be hiding in the lower deck and playing a game of hide and seek with us. She must be hoping that you'll go looking for her so that she can cry up a storm and have you cajole her."That made sense to James, causing him to let out a scoff. "She's hiding, huh?

Chapter 4

The coast guards moved swiftly, two fully armed officers boarding the yacht in no time.Seeing how grim their expressions were, James tamped down his usual arrogant demeanor and frowned slightly."Officers, is there a problem? We're from Payton Corporation."The officer in charge let out a snort before pulling out something from the waterproof bag on his back.It was a pink swim fin, the edges sliced to shreds from sharp rocks. A few tattered strips of flesh, waterlogged and bleached by the seawater, still clung to it.The instant James saw the swim fin, his pupils blew wide open.I recognized it as well, as it was the only gift James had given me last year on my birthday.At the time, he had said, "Nat, I hope that you'll always be as free as a mermaid."The officer spoke up, his voice sounding particularly serious as the storm raged around them."Does this belong to someone on your boat? We were patrolling the deep-diving zone earlier when we received an alert about abnormal

Chapter 5

Like a madman, James scoured every inch of the yacht. From the kitchen to the engine room, the storage compartments and even the bottom of the lifeboats, he turned everything upside down in his search for me.Nevertheless, there was no sign of me.The veins on his temples throbbed violently while his chest heaved with his harsh breathing."Impossible… That's impossible…" he kept muttering to himself, almost like he was trying to hypnotize himself.Marissa leaned against the doorway with her arms crossed before her chest, her expression eerily calm."Jamie, don't panic just yet. Nat must have hired a passing boat to bring her back to harbor first. Think about it. Is there anything she isn't capable of doing? Don't you remember how she secretly called for a helicopter to take her home the last time you two fought?"James stopped in his tracks and stood there in the middle of the deck, allowing the rain to beat down on him as he vehemently tried to convince himself.He thought, "Ye

Chapter 6

James had no idea how he managed to drive to the funeral parlor on the east side of the city. Along the way, he ran four red lights and almost crashed into a bus.Marissa sat in the back seat, completely silent throughout the journey, though she chewed on her nails nervously.The morgue was located in the basement of the funeral parlor and was so cold that it could even freeze bones. Meanwhile, the fluorescent lighting above hummed with electricity, the clinical white making everyone appear ghastly pale.James had to support himself with the wall as he made his way inside. His legs were trembling violently, and it felt as though the ground was heaving beneath his feet.A black body bag lay quietly on the gurney in the middle of the room, with the coroner standing beside it, his face blank."Are you the victim's family?"James nodded, his lips completely colorless.The coroner reached out and unzipped the body bag, revealing my corpse for everyone to see.I stared at my face, wh

Chapter 7

The detective tossed the diving equipment onto the stainless steel table, the ringing of metallic objects striking each other resounding shrilly in the morgue."Mr. Payton, look over here."The detective then pointed at the valve on my main oxygen hose. It had been twisted all the way shut, to the tightest position possible."According to our technical analysis, this valve was forcefully shut by human hands. We managed to lift complete fingerprints from it."Here, he paused before darting his gaze over to Marissa, huddled in a corner of the morgue."The fingerprints were a complete match with Marissa Payton's right thumb and pointer finger."There was a loud ringing in James' head, as though a bomb had gone off in his mind. He whipped his head around to glare intently at Marissa.Marissa's entire body started to shake violently."It wasn't me… Jamie, I can explain… I just wanted to play a joke on Nat… I didn't know it would—""There's another thing." The detective cut her off.

Chapter 8

James let out a roar that was more animal than human before lunging toward Marissa. He wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed tightly."Why! Why did you cut off her oxygen? Why did you steal her bailout cylinder?"Marissa's eyes rolled to the back of her head as she was lifted off the ground by James. Her legs kicked uselessly in the air, while her nails gouged bloody lines down James' face."Y-You… a-agreed to it…" She struggled to get the words out, her face flushing red as she choked. "On April Fools' Day… Y-You said it was… okay to prank her… to teach her a lesson… she won't forget…"When James heard that, his grip loosened.Marissa was right.The night before we were supposed to depart, Marissa had sought him out, sweetly begging him to let her play a prank on me again since it was April Fools' Day tomorrow. She claimed that she was only planning on turning off my oxygen for a few seconds, just to give me a good scare.He was busy browsing documents at the time, so

Chapter 9

The crisp click of handcuffs locking rang out once, twice, thrice.James, Marissa, and Jackson were taken into custody on suspicion of murder and causing death through failure to act.The light in the interrogation room was incredibly bright, so much so that it was difficult to even open one's eyes fully.James sat in a steel chair, his wrists shackled to the table and leaving him unable to move.The interrogator pushed a photo toward him.It was a family photo of the two of us and our parents, taken before they passed away. I was standing beside James, my eyes curved into crescents from a smile while I clung to his arm with both hands.At the time, Marissa hadn't yet joined our family. He would still stroke my head and comfort me, telling me not to be scared as he was there.James stared at the photo for a moment before huge drops of tears started splattering onto the table, and he began slapping himself.Once… Twice… Thrice…Then, he would switch sides and repeat the motion.

Chapter 10

The gavel fell with a solemn, heavy thud."The defendant, Marissa Payton, is convicted of intentional homicide. The offense was committed with extreme cruelty, and the circumstances are particularly heinous. She is hereby sentenced to death."The moment Marissa heard that she had received the death sentence, she was dumbfounded. Her body spasmed violently before a dark stain began spreading at the crotch of her pants.She slumped into her chair and wailed, "I can't die! Jamie, help me! Please save me! I'm your beloved Mari, aren't I? Didn't you say that you loved me most? Jamie! Jamie!"Nonetheless, James remained unmoved at the defendant's table next to hers. In fact, he didn't even turn to look at her."The defendant, James Payton, is convicted of negligent homicide, with serious aggravating circumstances involving failure to act, and is sentenced to 15 years in prison."The defendant, Jackson Morris, is convicted of homicide by omission and the crime of harboring an offender.

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