Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Prank That Stole My Last Breath: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

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

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?

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

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.

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.