19 The Sea Ghost

A red iron mechanic horse galloped on the mountain. A young teenage boy with amber eyes was driving his new red velvet baby. It was the new bolt speed model manufactured by Volkov Corporation which was called SpeedBolt. The speed that all media honorary compared it to the lighting god. It was an innovation that none of the other automobile companies could imitate. It was true that Volcov was the true top leader in the automobile industry. His father gave him because he was his favorite.

Stamped his feet on the pedal to accelerate the speed, the boy had no single idea about the danger of it. The gage’s pointer rotated to a higher and higher number, not the max speed yet as Alex and Natalia were the passengers, anyway it was fast enough to make them could not sit still. Natalia insisted on being his passenger because the boys were only fifteen that day. It was illegal to drive at that age but for the upper of the upper class like them, they did not have to worry about it. If the police came with or without the knowledge of their surnames, he could pay for them to keep silent and chase them away. They would be happy with the money they got for the debt payment or a luxurious dinner for once in their life. Still, Natalia insisted to come with them, a caring woman she was and always be. She sat in the back seat and Alex in the front seat. Ben raced his new baby on the mountains in Milo. Their resort was at the top of the hill, above the others. Ben would take his passengers to the destination within a few minutes.

“Ben, slow down,” warned Alex. He pretended to be a good boy in her eyes. If there were only two, he would not say this and might request for the max speed.

“Are you alright, Nat?” He asked the woman in the back seat.

“I’m alright,” she said softly but could not hide her fear. However, Ben pretended not to be aware of it and claimed to his friend that it was alright. “Don’t worry. I will fly to our castle within seconds, WooHoo!”

Don’t do that.

“What?”

Alex looked at him. “What?”

“Did you say anything?”

“No, but slow down.”

“Nat? Did you say anything?”

“No, dear.”

Stop being senseless! Slow down. Fucking shit, you must hear me!

But Ben could not hear himself. Driving at this speed made him feel like conquering the world. He took over the iron machine, whipping the metal animal. Unfortunately, the iron horse was not a good obedient pet. His goal completely failed. The car slipped into the sea below. Lucky that he did not open the vehicle’s roof, but the automatic airbag overdid its duty as it knocked his head bumping to the seat, and turned him unconscious for a while.

The same old event he tried so hard to prevent but it was impossible so he just let it happen, again and again.

“Alex…Ben...Alex…Ben”

Ben was in his memory and now he was in that young Ben. The windshield was cracking. The water gradually leaked inside. The boy inhaled so hard to open all his senses. In a blink of an eye, he destroyed the airbag that prevented him to move and then took off the belt. In horror, as he turned to check on Alex, his best friend was not saved from the airbag. Alex probably got attacked several hits when the car tripped. The door at his side got hit and the metal cover crushed his body. The hard plate entrapped the tall boy while the airbag blocked Ben to rescue him. A Volcov heir was totally unconscious and badly injured. Ben looked at the erosion on the windshield. He knew he must hurry before the car sank deeper and deeper and the water poured inside.

“Nat!” As he checked the woman behind him, more terrified and worse than Alex, her lower body was trapped and crushed completely. She was done.

“No…no…no…I’m sorry, Nat. I’m sorry” His mouth trembled. His mind almost left him.

“Help…him…save…him,” she said while the blood covered her sweet face.

He tried to focus on his best friend, the metal pieces that Alex’s body got entrapped slowly split out so Ben could drag him out of it. However, they had to pay for the price too, this method allowed water to get inside.

Ben reached for Natalia’s arm but she lost. Her eyes still opened wide as though she wanted to ensure Alex would survive. Her breath was no more. Her blue eyes, the only blue in the Volcov family, were blank.

“Nat? Please? Stay with me, with us.” She did not either move or speak. Her chest was motionless. She was dead…for real. “Please, Nat. Breathe!” The metal moved but her spirit went far away and did not come back to this body anymore.

“No, please, wake up. I help you out.” He called her and used his power to save her as he had done to Alex. At that time, Alex’s breathed slowly on his lap but in an unnatural position. Ben knew he had no time to help her; or else, Alex would follow her too. The water level increased with every breath he took.

I can’t do anything. I’m sorry.

“Nat…I’m sorry.” He reached to her and pressed his lips to those lips, gently. They were still warm as if she was alive. “I’m sorry,” the boy was crying as if his heart was crushed too. Ben looked at the windshield, suddenly, it crumbled. Water mercilessly attacked but they also had the chance to get out. He wrapped his arms around Alex and got out of the car. His eyes stared at Natalia who was sinking with his baby’s wreckage, buried under the seabed.

Ben was standing watching Alex sleeping on the hospital bed surrounded by his family. He waited until they were about to get out of the room. Before they went out, Vlad, sharing the same appearance as his first younger brother, came to him and gently touched his shoulder.

“It’s an accident, Ben.”

It’s not. I caused it. I did it.

The young man held his tears, knowing wholeheartedly that Alex’s big brother would thank him without knowing the truth, without realizing he talked to the murderer.

“I’m sorry. My carelessness, my fault only.”

“What’re you talking about? You saved my brother’s life. Be brave. Thanks for taking care of him until we come. You can rest, Ben. It’s my turn now and Nik will come tomorrow.”

“I’ll do it. Bro, don’t you work?”

“That one on the bed is my brother, is he? Don’t worry. But if you want to stay, it’s okay. Let me send them back. I’ll come back soon.”

He gave him a loving hug. How could Vlad be so kind and perfect at the same time? Nik bounded his head to represent his gratefulness. Fyodor, the father, smoothed his head. Ben eyed them until they were gone. If they knew the truth, they would never forgive him. They would curse him instead.

Alex was not unconscious as they thought. He slightly opened his eyes to check the door. As those black stones met Ben’s, they turned red.

“Bring her back,”

Ben lost his courage to respond.

“Bring her back!” and he coughed. Ben hurried to the water and offered him a glass. His friend pushed it away. The glass fell on the floor, broken into pieces. “I asked to slow the pace! I asked you!”

I should have listened to you.

“I know! I’m sorry. I’m very sorry. It’s my fault,” He accepted the condemnation without fighting against it. The tears flooded his eyes. “Please forgive me.”

“I want to see her. Where do they keep her body?” Alex ignored his injury and tried to leave the bed. Ben pressed his chest. “Don’t move!”

“Fuck off!”

“Stay! She’s not here…”

“Where is she? They arranged the funeral?”

“The sea”

“….what?”

Ben swallowed his saliva. His mouth became dry. His hands got cold. “It’s too deep. They said we’d better let her sleep there. If we try to salvage the car, it may damage her corpse. And it takes time. Your father thinks that it’s too risky. Her body is in the water…if we…rescue her…we got only her parts. Your father doesn’t want to destroy her.”

Alex howled like a dying wolf. Hit his fits on the bed and he collapsed on the pillow. Ben saw his tears quietly flow onto those pale cheeks.

“They forgive you so easily. They don’t know the truth, right?”

Ben could not face Alex. He sat on the chair next to the bed. “My father told me to tell them the story. They don’t know I was the driver. They thought Nat was the driver.”

“It’s your fucking car! She sat on the back seat! No one takes a look inside the car? No one?”

“…I’m sorry. My father bought their words, the rescue team…It’s…”

Alex could not hear anymore. He showed his back to him.

“Alex…I’m sorry. I—I must tell lie. Father fought me to do so!”

“I heard enough.”

“I didn’t intend to kill her. I love her as you do!”

“But you kill her. You kill her!” Suddenly, Alex coughed again but harder.

“Hey…are you alright?”

“You…*Cough…Kill…*Cough”

Ben moved closer. “Friend…” He gently placed his hand on his back. Alex reflected at once. He cast his hand away but it was not casting. Ben flew away and bumped into the wall. Moreover, all the furniture was scattered away. They looked at each other, astonished. The room gradually shook as if there was an earthquake. A few minutes it disappeared.

“Alex?”

“What happened to me?” He looked at Ben in horror as if it was his work as if Ben made him like this. “What did you do to me?”

“I didn’t do anything. I mean that recent earthquake…and.” Ben managed to put everything back in the same position before any nurse or Vlad returned and suspected. At that moment, the boy moved to the window and looked at the people below. No one seemed to be aware of the earthquake. Lighting flashed in his mind. He turned back to the patient who was still speechless due to the previous event. “You’re like me. You’re one of us.”

Alex shook his head. “How can I…” He unfolded his hand and the water jar next to him moved away, falling to the ground. It made the tall boy drawback. Ben stared at the objects on the table which were vibrating. The guilt seemed to be ignored for a while. He was amazed and impressed.

“You’re like me! This is why I love to call you my brother.” Ben wrapped his arms around his best friend’s neck. “Thank god, it’s you. We’re best friends and we’re powerful. That’s why you recover so fast.”

“And you forget your Nat?”

Ben released Alex at once. “Of course not, and never. But you can’t push me away. You need me to help you. Or you want them to know that you receive the gift.”

“Gift?” Alex laughed through his throat. “I can return it to whatever. I trade everything to make her back. I want my mother back not this shit!”

The scent of her dry lips still lingered on his lips. Ben exhaled deeply. Alex pushed him away and moved to the door. “Don’t go! We have to talk.”

“I don’t want to talk anymore. I don’t want to see your face again.”

As Alex turned, the cold pale arms locked on his neck. Those strong arms dragged him from Alex. “Alex!” he did not hear himself shouting. No, Alex could not hear this Ben. The young Ben ran after him and the present Ben was dragged into the water. He recognized those arms. He remembered her scent even though she was a corpse because she often came to him in this form.

“Nat”

He did not see young Alex and young Ben anymore except water.

“It’s cold, Ben. Underwater, I’m cold.”

Ben was incapable of crying or yelling. He let her drag him into the deep blue sea. “I’m cold.”

Natalia Volcov

He was inside his wreckage, on the back seat, with the woman he loved. Nat was not the same beautiful woman but a deteriorated corpse. Scared? No, never. Blessed to see her even those lifeless eyes had tears. He embraced her face. It seemed like Nat wanted to say something. It seemed like she wanted to revenge on him but all she could do was dragging and remaining to be a dead body.

“You come to my dream again.”

Yes, this was his dream, his sweet dream. Her eyes were open. Her mouth was unmoving. If he could make her alive again and talk to him with this mouth, not just a telepathic sound, he would have faith in God which he had never had.

He kissed her.

But she was not a sleeping beauty.

God was no more or already left men. Most importantly, he was never the favorite child.

Talk to me again. Haunt me again. Keep doing it. Scare me. Frighten me. Keep visiting my dreams. Keep letting me beside you. They buried you in the sea. I will bury you with me.