Tangled in His Obsession (Seraphina)

The black car plunged into the water, and immediately the murky pond swallowed it whole, leaving no trace of the roof in sight. By the pond’s edge, the three men stood scattered, their gazes fixed on the nearly submerged vehicle, silently waiting.

The young man in the passenger seat was clearly pissed, kicking a stone on the ground with force.

The boss heard the noise and whipped his head around, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“That woman promised us a billion!” the young man spat out, nearly losing his mind at the thought, “Why the hell did we have to kill her? We’re only getting a measly million out of this! A million versus a billion, can’t you do the math?”

The boss’ hand shot out, grabbing the young man by the collar, “A billion? Do you look like someone who’d ever see that kind of money? Even if you did get your hands on it, you think you’d be living to spend it?”

Fuming and unable to retaliate, the young man’s anger bubbled over, and he suddenly threw a punch at the boss’ face.

The boss hit the ground, his mouth bleeding, and after spitting out a mouthful of blood, he got up and the two scuffled viciously.

The driver, torn himself, didn’t intervene, just silently watched the pond that had swallowed the car.

Meanwhile, inside the car, Seraphina used the precious time before the cabin filled with water to desperately attempt an escape.

She first reached for the release button of the rear seat, folding it down and crawling into the trunk, trying to force open the lid to escape.

But no matter how hard she tried, the lock wouldn’t budge, the lid immovable.

Water began seeping into the trunk, and after what felt like an eternity, Seraphina gave up.

By the time she made it back into the cabin, the water had risen above the seats.

The December chill was biting, but Seraphina felt none of it.

Darkness enveloped her; she couldn’t see a thing, searching every nook and cranny of the car to no avail for something, anything, that could be of use.

her fists against

much left undone, too many people she hadn’t loved.

efforts, the doors

engulf her completely, Seraphina struggled for breath,

would fade to nothingness. But to leave without a

anything to stay afloat. Her hand found the driver’s seat, and with a sudden realization, she pulled with all her might, yanking out the headrest—exposing two cold metal

completely, she smashed it against

driver, having had enough, was about to break it up when he noticed an unusual

his eyes narrowing in suspicion, and then he shouted, “Hold

consciousness was blurring, but as she finally pried open the window, a sliver of clarity returned. She clambered through and into the

her eyes, but she knew she couldn’t surface; to do so would

she knew she had to tap into her deepest reserves to

through the water, a hand suddenly grabbed

broke the surface in a desperate attempt to escape, but after only a gasp of air, the hand

ounce of energy but couldn’t shake the grip. It

her thoughts fading, her body going limp. She stopped struggling, allowing herself to

grip on her

freedom but had

shooting up through the water’s

pond was now

the men on the shore,

looking steely and composed, cradled the

thrust into his hands, and he wrapped it

the cold or worry, as he pressed on Seraphina’s abdomen

an eternity, Seraphina violently coughed up