Chains in the Deep

“The first version, everything is true. The second version, just needs a few… crucial details added.”

“I’m six years younger than you, wholeheartedly devoted to you. My father didn’t approve, but he indulged me in the end.

“He was the hospital director. I begged him… to make some small ‘adjustments’ to the order on the organ donation waiting list. So, a name at the top was quietly skipped over.”

I laughed cruelly, “Your girlfriend, she could have survived.”

In an instant, Alistair’s gaze turned cold enough to freeze marrow. He lunged at me, his hands like iron clamps, gripping my throat tightly: “Is it true?!” The words squeezed through his clenched teeth.

For over ten years, his gaze finally showed intense emotion-boundless hatred.

“You… can… strangle me… now…” I gasped out the words, struggling for air, “as long as… you won’t regret it…”

“Why would I regret it?! Why should I regret it?! Your confession only makes your death more ‘justified’!” His grip tightened further.

“She’s… already dead… can’t come back…” I stared at him with bloodshot eyes, “but… Lucy… don’t you care about her either? In Lucy’s chest… beats… her heart!”

Alistair’s hand trembled violently and released me.

I collapsed onto the deck, clutching my aching throat, coughing with all my might, tears and mucus streaming down, my eyes bloodshot. My heart pounded wildly in my chest, as if it would leap out of my throat the next second.

I raised my tear-filled eyes and saw him sitting back in his original position, his gaze returning to cold scrutiny, like a hunter waiting for his prey to breathe its last. He waited for me to finish coughing and gestured for me to continue.

“The second detail.” I gasped, my voice hoarse, “I know her heart was donated to Lucy back then, and you know it too. But at the time, none of us had any other thoughts, nor did I. Lucy had congenital heart disease, and she was only ten when she received the transplant.”

“Ten years of marriage, you don’t love me, won’t show me affection, I’ve accepted that. But I miss the gaze that once enchanted me so much.”

“Your ex-girlfriend was ‘killed’ by me, so I had to try my luck in other ways. So, when Lucy turned twenty-five, I found her. She was pure, kind, and easily trusted me, just like your ex-girlfriend, and we quickly became close friends.”

“During the times you avoided me, I would visit her home. Meanwhile… I filled her house with miniature cameras, preparing a ‘reunion’ for you.”

“You met Lucy because I guided it in secret. She never knew our relationship, and conveniently, you hid our marriage from her too. -I allowed your closeness with Lucy, but that doesn’t mean I’ll let go.”

“After that, I watched you both daily through those cameras. You had a natural closeness to Lucy, seeing your former lover through her. And I, by watching you, greedily absorbed the love that didn’t belong to me, just like I used to spy on you kissing your girlfriend outside the hospital room.”

“Something you would do.” He sneered, with undisguised contempt, “Addicted to spying, obsessed with control, I’ve experienced enough over the years. But this doesn’t seem to be enough to make me ‘reluctant’ to kill you.”

“And there’s a third detail.” I bitterly tugged at the corner of my mouth, “Speaking of control, Alistair, you might never imagine to what extent I can go to control you.”

“Lucy received the heart transplant, but her heart function remained fragile, with rejection reactions. Her health was always weak, and she had several surgeries later, even had a pacemaker installed. You know this too.”

“What are you trying to say?” Alistair’s face suddenly turned serious.

“The pacemaker has a feature called the ‘cardiac event recorder,’ similar to a flight recorder. It can periodically upload heart data via wireless signal to the monitoring center, allowing doctors to remotely track the condition.”

Thump… thump… thump…

I clearly heard my heartbeat, growing faster and heavier.

“This means the pacemaker has wireless signal transmission capabilities. Since it can transmit signals,” I stared into his eyes, speaking each word deliberately, “then, with some special ‘modifications,’ it can also… receive signals.”

“You… you wouldn’t…” Alistair’s pupils contracted sharply, his face showing genuine astonishment for the first time.

I began to undress.

Thump… thump… thump… The sound of my heartbeat was exceptionally clear on the silent sea.

The black sailor, who had been dozing off, now widened his eyes.

Thump… thump… thump…

“Her surgeries were all done at my father’s hospital. Shortly after her last surgery, I also had a minor operation.”

“A miniature device was implanted in her pacemaker; and next to my heart,” I removed my outer clothing, then the inner garments, standing bare-chested in the cold sea breeze, facing the ocean, the sky, and him, “a matching device was implanted. So, her heart… can receive my signal.”

Alistair always kept the lights off during intimacy and was reluctant to touch my body. He never noticed the fresh scar on my chest.

“From then on, her heartbeat and mine… were connected.”

“Today, if you kill me, somewhere on the other side of the world, a heart… will also stop beating.”

In his shocked and bewildered gaze, I revealed a cunning and mad smile.

“Want to… give it a try?”

Before the words were fully spoken, I had already leapt up, rushing towards the ship’s railing, and plunged into the icy, bone-chilling deep sea!

Instantly, endless seawater surged from all directions!

It invaded my mouth and nose, choked my breath, and wrapped my entire body heavily and coldly.

The chaotic roar of water pounded my eardrums.

Dizziness, suffocation, my body sinking rapidly like a stone, plunging into the dark, lightless abyss.

With my eyes open, in a daze, I saw the blue sea swaying above, saw sunlight piercing the surface, scattering broken, flickering spots of light.

I saw the hospital room door I passed at nineteen.