"The superyacht was moving too fast, and the waves were high. We lost Mr. Jesse," the captain admitted.

My father splashed wine across the man's face. "What does any of that have to do with me, you idiots? Go find him! Why should I have to tell you the obvious?"

The commotion startled my mother. She approached with a frown. "What's wrong? That useless little thing still hasn't come up on deck?"

My father tugged his tie down in irritation and unbuttoned his collar. "The bodyguard said he hasn't been following us. They're searching now."

My mother sneered, showing no concern, "Oh, I see. He's hiding behind an emergency float or somewhere like that. It's just another stunt for attention. I've seen it before. Once, he hid in a closet and refused to come out just to avoid piano practice."

"But that isn't it," I screamed.

Back then, my ears hurt. My hearing aid had broken, and every sound had been unbearable. I couldn't take it anymore, so I had tried to escape the noise.

My mother could not hear me. She took a sip of champagne instead. "Leave him alone. Let him stay in the freezing water a little longer. He'll climb back soon enough. I wouldn't dote on a pathological liar and drama king."

Tears rolled down my cheeks. "The sea was bitterly cold, Mom. I can no longer climb back onto the yacht. I can't do it anymore."

The sky had turned completely dark, nearly black. The only light on the water came from the emergency boats and the superyacht, casting a harsh glow over the freezing sea.

The wind grew colder. The waves worsened. I curled into myself at the corner of the deck, arms wrapped around my knees. I could no longer feel the cold, yet I still shuddered.

I had thalassophobia.

When I was five, Amber shoved me into the deep end of a swimming pool. I nearly drowned. I could never forget the feeling of water closing in on me. It became a nightmare that never left.

It also became a sore point for my parents. My father called me a coward who couldn't overcome trauma like a real man. He said I was a disgrace to the family.

"We still couldn't find him, sir," Max, the bodyguard captain, reported as he and his team returned from the sea. Anxiety showed on their faces.

My father's frown deepened, but not from concern for my safety. He hated the embarrassment. To him, it meant his authority as a father had been challenged.

"How the hell is that possible? How can it be so hard to find a boy?"

"Maybe some fishermen rescued him," Amber said lightly between licks of her ice cream.

She swung her legs from her seat. "Maybe he's laughing to himself, thinking about how worried we'd be. Jesse's always been good at hide-and-seek. And he knows Mom and Dad would worry as time passed. Then you'd pay more attention to him. I bet that's what he's doing right now. Later, he'll ask for compensation."

My father lashed out, kicking a row of chairs aside. "That little shit! How dare he try to manipulate us? He'd risk his life just to get his way? Who taught him to play dirty?"

My mother grimaced in disgust. "Today is supposed to celebrate Amber's achievement, and he's already trying to steal her spotlight with this nonsense. I swear, we should send him to one of those genius boot camps. It would be better than having him at home, where I have to look at that annoying face."

I hovered near Amber. I noticed how her lips glistened with butter and cream.

I would never taste that again.

"Why did you have to lie, Amber?" I asked my unhearing sister.

"I've never said anything like that, Amber! You told me to count how many little ducks there were, so Dad would finally love me when I got it right!"

Amber could not see me. She finished the last of her ice cream, licked her lips in satisfaction, and grinned sweetly. "Dad, don't worry. Jesse is old enough to take care of himself. He'll come back."

My father nodded and gently draped his coat over her shoulders. "I know, sweetie. I'm glad I can always rely on you. Come on, let's go inside for the cake."

My parents and sister retreated into the comfort of their warm cabin. I could hear their muffled laughter and cheer through the thick window, yet I could not enter.

They cut into a massive three-layer cake. Amber fed the first piece to my father and the second to my mother. They broke into laughter, like one big happy family.

It stung. I never felt like I had a place among them.

I turned to the sea. My body bobbed in and out of the water, drifting alone toward the distant abyss, carried by the waves as fish nibbled at what remained of me.

I turned back to the cabin and shouted as loudly as I could, "Open the door! It's me! It's cold and dark out here! Someone, please bring me home!"

I shouted until I could no longer hear my own voice. No one answered. Only the sound of waves striking the hull filled the silence.

…

My father finally lost his patience. "Steer the ship back to shore! I've had it with his dramatic behavior!"

The superyacht's crew obeyed his command. Perched on the rail, I watched as we sped farther and farther away from my body.

"Don't go! Mom, Dad, I'm right there! Just there! You only have to turn around and look. If you turn around… If you could just turn around… you'd see me. I'm not hiding!"

The superyacht docked at the pier. It stood empty, save for a few dim streetlights. There were no fishermen in sight, and no sign of me.

My father refused to give up. He ordered Max to retrieve the security camera footage from the harbor officer, yet he still saw no sign of anyone returning from the sea.

"That brat's still out on the water?" he said in disbelief, his confidence beginning to crack.

He still could not accept that something might have happened to me. I had always been a stubborn, tenacious little pest. No matter how many times he kicked me or shouted at me, I kept running back to him.

My mother took out her phone and opened her tracking program. They had planted a chip in my watch so they could locate me at all times. It was the only act of care they had ever shown me.

"We'll find out where that brat is soon enough. And he's going to get a good beating for all the trouble he's caused us!" she snarled as she tapped the small red dot blinking on the screen.

A minute later, the map finished loading. The red dot blinked from the sea, 20 miles from the pier, and sank below sea level. It dropped from -5 miles to -10.

My mother's hand trembled with shock. She almost dropped the phone. "What's going on? Why is his watch sinking into the ocean?!"

My father glanced at the screen. His face went pale before he forced himself to recover and sneered, masking his panic, "That brat threw his watch into the sea! He knows we're tracking him! That little shit knows exactly how to play with our feelings, doesn't he? Looks like he's been studying how to piss us off in his spare time!"

That made my mother relax. Her panic hardened into embarrassed fury. "How dare he?! That watch is a limited edition! How could he throw something like that away for his childish games?!"

I hovered between them and stared at the sinking red dot.

I knew what that meant. My body was sinking.

The watch had always been too tight. I could never take it off. Now both of us were sinking into a cold, pitch-black abyss of water.

My father pulled out a cigarette, his movements sharp with impatience. It took him several tries to light it.

"Call the authorities. Make it their problem," he instructed. "When we finally get that no-good brat back home, he's going to be locked in the basement without food for at least three days."

…

The coast guard arrived quickly. Two patrol boats and a lifeboat pulled into the harbor.

Captain Cameron Meyer studied the red dot on the screen, his expression grave. "Are you sure this indicates a watch he threw away, not the boy himself?"

My father exhaled smoke and avoided the captain's gaze.

"Look, he definitely threw it away. He's a strong swimmer. There's no way he's stupid enough to stay in one spot for that long," he said in a flat tone. "Check nearby islands or boats. See if anyone's spotted him or picked him up."

Captain Meyer furrowed his brow and reviewed the wave intensity data. His frown deepened.

"In my experience, this object is sinking at a steady rate. A small item like a watch wouldn't do that," he said. "If what we're seeing isn't a watch but a person, then at this depth… There's no chance he's alive. I'm afraid our mission has shifted from search and rescue to body recovery."

My father's cigarette trembled. Ash dropped onto his hand and burned his skin, but he did not react. He stared at the captain. "What? Body recovery?!"

"Did you just curse my son?" my mother shrieked.

She grabbed the captain by the shoulders, her fingers digging into his uniform. "He's hiding! He's hiding! He's a pathological liar, a useless brat! He does things like this!"

Captain Meyer ignored her and gave a signal. Several guards, already in diving gear, lifted their oxygen tanks and slipped into the water.

The sonar radar let out a sharp, piercing beep. As the divers descended, the signal arcs on the screen faded.

I realized, with a dull ache, how unsettling it was to see my mother in hysterics. She was finally looking for me, even if it was too late.

The lifeboat rose and fell with the waves. Pale spotlights swept across the surface in steady intervals.

My parents stood on deck as the wind disrupted their carefully styled hair and the spray soaked their expensive clothes. They looked diminished. They still could not accept that I might already be dead.

The captain's radio crackled.

"Mr. Folly?" one of the divers said. "We found something lodged between coral reefs about 100 feet down."

My father gripped the railing so tightly his knuckles turned white. "What is it? Is he hiding there? Pull him out right now. I'll break his bones!"

Moments later, bubbles churned at the surface. A diver emerged, raising a single shoe. Its white sole had yellowed from the saltwater. The material had begun to separate, but the laces remained tied. An ugly smiley face was drawn across it.

The diver set it on the deck with a small splash. Water dripped from it and spread toward my father's polished shoe.

My mother froze. She covered her mouth as her eyes filled with tears. "This… This can't be…"