Andrew isn't having a good day.
On his way home after a long day of job hunting and door dashing, a goddamn semi straight up comes outta nowhere and slams into the side of his car, sending him flying into the air and plunging his car upside down into an irrigation ditch.
Now the crash itself wouldn't have been so bad if the damned semi hadn't crushed the driver's side door with such force that it trapped him inside and locked him into his seat, water rushing in through the broken windshield and windows so fast that it prevented me from attempting any escape before the car was filled with water completely.
Couldn't even hold my breath due to something big and sharp puncturing my lungs during the initial collision. That meant he was probably going to be the fastest ever to die from drowning.
But that death never came.
Instead, the moment he felt the water fill his lungs completely, everything went still. The burning in his chest faded, the panic dulled, and a strange numbness spread through his body. He could see the muddy water around him, could feel the weight of the car pressing down, but for some reason, he was… calm. Breathing. No, not breathing—more like huffing and puffing. The water moved in and out of him as though his body had decided that drowning was optional.
Andrew blinked, his thoughts sluggish but steady. What the hell…?
Through the fractured glass, he caught sight of something glowing faintly in the depths of the ditch. A light—pale and unnatural—pulsed like a heartbeat. Drawn to it, his hand twitched against the restraints of his stiff limbs, and he realized that despite his crushed ribs, despite the pain that should've been screaming through his body, he could move. Not easily, but with a strength that felt impossible.
The glow grew brighter.
Then a voice—not from outside, not from inside, but from everywhere—echoed through his mind.
"So… you survived the impact. That makes you mine now."
Andrew's vision swam as something ancient and heavy pressed into his chest, right where his lungs had been punctured. The pain was gone, replaced by searing heat and blistering cold, like molten metal and liquid nitrogen forging and freezing itself into his very soul. His heart stuttered, then roared back to life with a rhythm that wasn't his own.
The space around him churned violently like water around the car, spiraling upward as if caught in a whirlpool. The glow from the growing depths surged closer until it enveloped him completely, filling the ditch with a greyish light.
Andrew wasn't sure if he was still living, had just died, or if he still even existed.
But one thing was certain—his day had officially just gotten a whole lot worse.