"Why didn't you leave me!!" She was sobbing. Clutching the rusty handrails of the boat weakly.
Johann went blank. He tried to respond but his mouth wouldn't open. The freezing gales collided with his torn attire and he held onto dear life trying not to be plunged in the sea around them.
"Nico! He left me! He left me!" She was trying to throw water at him. Her hands were barely moving. Drained from all energy she slumped down on the damp wooden body of the boat. Staring up at the stormy sky through her teary eyes, rain fell indiscriminately on their bodies.
No.
It wasn't falling.
The sheer velocity of the drops felt like tiny pebbles being thrown down from above, like God's wrath punishing him for failing.
Failing as a father, as a friend and as a countryman.
Now he drifted off with a girl on a small wooden boat away from the sea, the mainland being devastated by the bombs. The mushroom clouds would soon materialize, larger than any building he had ever seen in his life.
The shore was already long gone but he could hear the buzzing of planes overhead and the explosions of bombs upon bombs going off behind them.
The sky was bright red and the sun was no longer visible, the rain fell like a harsh shower of blood and the water clashed with their bodies even through the broken bulwark.
The girl would soon die if she kept lying at the end point of the boat.
He forced himself up on his knees and pulled her up by the arms. She resisted, yanking his arm and flailing around, kicking and punching him with all her might but her strength quickly dissipated and she cried out.
"He was your father Molly. He wanted you to li-"
"NO! STOP! STOP! HE LEFT ME! HE ISN'T MY FATHER! MY FATHER IS DEAD! AND NICO LEFT ME TOO!"
She banged down as hard as she could and a plank came lose. He had to hurl her arms up to keep her from sinking the boat. Her eyes were red and her face, which had been radiating playful energy with her curious eyes had turned into a grim spectacle of regret and grief.
"HE SHOULD'VE NEVER PICKED ME UP FROM THE FARM!"
This time, even he didn't realize just how hard he had slapped her.