Page 124 of The Savage

I’m shaking.

No, it’s more than shaking. It’s splintering.

I reach the bottom landing, clutching the railing as a flash detonates through my skull.

White lilies tumbling across a church floor.

The smell of smoke.

A woman’s gasp.

A voice… Maddie’s voice I recognise now, shouting RUN.

Blood on my hands.

A hand grabbing my wrist – not Renzo’s – and a cruel voice whispering, ‘Look what you’ve done. You will burn in eternity for this.’

I drop to my knees as the world buckles sideways.

‘No… no…’ My breath tears out of me. ‘Please… please stop…’

But the flashes keep coming, tearing open the thin seams of whatever is left of me. I can’t breathe, can’t think straight.

I press my palms to my eyes hard enough to hurt. And when I open them… the waves are lapping close.

Too close.

Dark as ink and hungry.

Maybe I should walk in.

Just for a moment. Just to quiet everything. Let it wash me clean.

I stumble forward and my toes curl on the cold stone. I flinch, but I keep going. Not far, not far, not⁠—

Behind me, a voice erupts through the air like thunder. ‘Giada!’

My whole body jolts.

* * *

Renzo

There she is!

Down by the shoreline, bent over like she’s holding her guts in with her bare hands, hair wild around her face, breath coming in sharp, broken sobs.

And she’s too close to the fucking water.

My heart claws through my ribs. What the fuck?

‘Giada!’

Her head jerks up and I see her eyes, huge, red-rimmed and terrified.

I slow only because if I reach her too fast, she might break in half.

Or throw herself in.