CHAPTER 1

HOOK LINE AND SINKER

A Year Ago

It’s been a year since I decided to step out of my comfort zone, out of the violent life that I was so use to living. I found myself in a different game, not the usual of deceit, lies, and chaos. The predicaments I almost always find myself in had been constant but, not now. I was trapped in this wooden box, and it was my own fault. It filled up with water. Fast. There was no turning back from this decision. It was pitch dark and I couldn’t see my own hand. I don’t scare easily but, I was scared. The water was salty and it was really cold. Hypothermia started to set in and my shaky hands felt the grain of the wood box. I knew that I would run out of breath soon. Fear flooded me just as quickly as this box was being flooded with sea water. WTF! I closed my eyes and I could see the man who put me here, a total douche bag. His dark eyes stared into the water. Waiting. He was waiting to make sure that I was dead. Sort of dead.

I mean, it had to be this way. This is how I had to die. Well−dying my kind of death anyway. It was the only way that I could give life to another. Long enough to figure out how even in death, I could be of some use. That should at least count for something in this human life. I was a total ball sack to everyone I came in contact with and with her, I was no different. I never told her how important she was, especially when it counted. I treated her like crap and she loved me anyway. She never said it but, I knew it. I didn’t deserve it. I didn’t deserve her. I was always a screw up, selfish, an idiot, and now was my time to make it right. This was the only way. This was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever had to do and I’ve done some pretty hectic…okay…completely stupid things in this life. Facing death is what I deserved and making sure that she lived was my purpose. How many people on this planet can say that they found their purpose before they died? Not many. It was getting real now. The water was above my nose now and I struggled to get one last gulp of air. I cried out her name like a bitch and I knew that it would be over soon.

When I closed my eyes again, I saw the man who put me here for one last time but, this time he was ready to dive in and save me. Idiot. He truly was. He was pacing on my boat back and forth. I could only hope he would not stop this. I’d kill him myself if he dragged me out of this box. I felt like a cry baby. A wimp. Thankfully, he hesitated and did not dive in. He did his part. He did exactly what was asked of him. Now after my death he had one more thing to do. In my last minutes, I had to trust that this stranger would keep his word. Trust that God would somehow have mercy on my soul. I was no fool I had to trust that I would not be forgotten by those few people who loved me. My return would have to be timed exactly. For now, I would go to sleep. This was it. The moment. The water filled up the last inches of the box. I was fully submerged, in the dark, and heard my muffled heart beat in my ears through the water. My eyes burned form the salt water but, through the back of my eyelids I could see light. My eyes popped open and there it was the symbol in the shape of a broken angel wing tattooed in white on my left wrist. How ironic for a boy who had been a demon all of his life. It glowed a brilliant white and blue light. My muscles tensed up from the cold and from the debilitating thing that was death. I didn’t have it in me to fight any more. I inhaled.