Chapter 4
I could tell Lily was already burning up with fever. Her eyes were glazing over, her thoughts slipping out of focus.
But what could I do?
I was dead. I was powerless. I wanted to cry, but I had no tears left to shed.
I reached out to grab Lily, but my hands passed straight through her body.
"Lily, no, please. I'm begging you. Stay alive. Please, just stay alive."
Lily collapsed before she could jump. She blacked out right there.
I let out a breath of relief.
But the next second, I was pulled away from Lily.
Some invisible force was dragging me elsewhere.
When I steadied myself, my spirit was already beside David.
He was still trying to reach me, stubbornly, obsessively.
He dialed my number over and over, cursing me out every single time.
He even sent me a text: [Do you have any idea what kind of kid you've raised? She's hitting people now? Sarah, I swear... Let's just get a divorce.]
Finally. David had finally brought up divorce.
All those times I'd suggested it, he'd refused.
He'd told me I was crazy.
And now, just because Riley took a fall, he wanted to end our marriage.
He wrote: [If I stay with you two any longer, Riley's gonna end up dead. I can't let her take that risk anymore.]
When I read that, I couldn't help but laugh.
How pathetic. I was the one who died at Riley's hands.
Riley was the one who tricked Lily onto that ship. She was the one who used Lily's life to force me on board.
When she first confronted me, Riley said, "Just divorce David, and I'll make sure Lily stays safe."
I knew reasoning with her was pointless, so I pulled out proof that David had refused to grant me a divorce.
Riley went ballistic, shrieking, "No, that's impossible!"
So the moment the tsunami hit, she shoved Lily into the ship's hold.
"Sarah, you and your daughter both deserve to die." Her face was pure evil.
I didn't think twice. I threw myself in after Lily.
At least we didn't die on the first day of the tsunami.
But nobody would ever know what the two of us went through during those two days.
I was just grateful that Lily had been unconscious.
If she'd been awake to watch me slip beneath the waves, the pain would've destroyed her.
For the next three days, David stayed at the shore with his team, running rescue operations.
At least he remembered he was Lily's father.
After apologizing to Riley on Lily's behalf, he messaged her: [Please take care of Lily for me.]
Riley: [David, I have feelings for you. I want to be with you. Isn't it a little distant to talk to me like that? Don't worry, I'll treat Lily like my own flesh and blood.]
A faint smile flickered in David's eyes at her promise.
But the moment a team member handed him the missing persons list, his face went dark again.
"How much did Sarah pay you to keep pushing this?"
The team member stared at David in disbelief. "Captain, your wife really is on the missing persons list. We've already confirmed it through surveillance footage."
"Even if she was on that ship, there's no way anything happened to her."
The team member couldn't understand why David was so insistent.
Watching him, I couldn't help but smile. So David still remembered.
The way we first met was kind of ridiculous, actually. He was a professional rescue diver who could barely swim.
He fell into the water, and I was the one who pulled him out.
"She saved me. You think she can't save herself?"
"But..."
"No buts." David cut him off. "Keep searching for the others, not Sarah. She's giving me the cold shoulder. Once she starts missing Lily, she'll come crawling back. I already threatened divorce. No way she holds out."
I threw a punch straight at his face.
He couldn't feel it, but I sure felt better.
A few more days passed.
David still hadn't heard from me. Meanwhile, my body was starting to turn transparent.
I knew I was about to disappear.
But I wanted to see Lily one last time.
"Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently powered off."
David was still calling me, stubborn as ever. I watched him, exasperated. "David, I'm dead. Forget about me. Just go check on Lily, will you?"
It had been days since I last saw Lily. I had no idea what Riley might be doing to her.
"Captain! We found it! We found it!"
"You found Sarah?"
"No, not your wife. We found the last footage from the ship before it sank."
David's eyes lit up. "Let's go take a look."
My heart raced along with his.
Was David finally about to see Riley's true colors?
I remembered that the surveillance cameras had been running the entire time.
If they found that footage, they would see Riley pushing Lily.
"Hurry up," I whispered into David's ear. "You need to see who Riley really is."
"I don't care how much you love that woman. Even if you want to marry her, fine, I'll support it. But she cannot be my daughter's mother. She'll get Lily killed.
"David, don't make me hate you even in death."
Before I could finish, Riley's voice reached us before she did. "David! Something's wrong! Lily's gone!"