The ropes that have bound me fall away.

Yet, there is still so much more to do before I am truly free.

I push against Susan’s body with all my strength. She shifts slightly and then rolls to one side.

The momentum starts the canoe rocking.

Then, the bow of the craft hits a rock, begins to twist and before I know it, the canoe is tilting over.

Ice cold water washes over my head.

My arms thrash, driven by desperation.

The body of Susan is sinking. All the while, the powerful current is dragging us toward the waterfall.

“Oh, God! Help me. Save me!” I scream inside my thoughts, tearing dark emotion from my soul. My prayer feels like a rocket bursting, exploding the guttural memories of Dwayne whispering in my head.

My bulging eyes take in the water all around me.

The body of Susan continues its path toward the bottom of the river.

A trail of bubbles follows her down.

I swim after her.

The temptation to breathe grows ever stronger.

My hands flail, beating against the current, searching for something, anything substantial to hold. Finally, I grasp Susan’s long flowing hair and grip it as tightly as I can.

My chest feels like it is about to collapse.

I fight toward the surface.

My mouth opens involuntarily, preparing to inhale an unwelcome burst of water but instead, finding oxygen.

The fingers of my right-hand grasp at a slippery branch overhanging the turbulent river.

The fingers of my left hand continue to grip Susan’s hair.

The frigid current continues clawing at our bodies, attempting to pull us under.

Waves dance over my head, water stings my face, blinding me, suffocating me… My right arm aches as I slowly pull myself along the branch toward the edge of the river.

Susan is a dead weight, dragging behind me.

Inch by precious inch we move toward the shore…Finally, with a strength that I never knew existed within me, I drag our dripping bodies from the river and onto solid ground.

Then, dizziness overwhelms me and I collapse.

Time passes quickly as we lay in the arms of oblivion.

Eventually, I open my eyes and see nothing.

I am lying face down.

Granules of foul-smelling dirt bite into my face.

My head pounds as I roll over to face the harsh yellow sun.

Orange shades of light flow across a vivid blue sky.

Somehow, I have survived to see the morning of a new day.

My legs are numb, totally beyond feeling. Even during a warm summer, the rivers of the Canadian north run cold.

I stagger to my feet and struggle to focus.

I am alive but soaking wet. My still muscles ache from the beating I had been given before being set adrift.

My head swivels.

An unfriendly-looking forest grows all around the small patch of sandy beach that I’m standing on.

How have I come to be here?

The fog of my memory clears…I remember Bruce dropping a screwdriver beside my head, just before he was dragged off to be hanged…just before Dwayne dragged Susan and I to the river tied us up, and then set us adrift in that filthy old boat.

The canoe was almost the death of us.

Shivers move along my body as these memories become ever more vivid.

My mind snaps into the present, prompted by the strong scent of wood smoke. Smoke? Yes, I can see a thin trail of smoke is rising from a small fire about one hundred feet away.

Susan is huddled beside it.

I stumble toward her.

Even as we embrace, I can hear our recent enemy, the waterfall, roaring in the distance.

Then, as we settle beside the fire to warm ourselves, we begin to plot our return to the island.

Our only ambition in life has become to stop Dwayne or to die trying.