In Too Deep by D C Grant

to keep upright as he was propelled down the passage towards the open front door. When they reached the open doorway, Rhys gave him a shove forward as he released his arm. Josh staggered forward, fell down the steps onto the sandy lawn and landed on his face on the ground. He pushed himself up, spitting sand from his mouth, and saw Bevan standing next to him. A crowd had gathered. Someone was holding up a mobile phone.
    “Stay away from Gina,” Bevan warned him. “I see you with her again and I’ll beat you so bad you won’t ever look pretty. Got that!”
    He didn’t see the kick coming. It caught him in the stomach and he curled up before vomiting onto the grass. Bevan laughed and someone in the crowd said, ”Bro, that was wicked, let’s load it onto YouTube.”
    Bevan followed the rest of the crowd back in the bach, the door closed and Josh was left alone in the dark.
     

Chapter Eighteen
     
    Josh lay where he’d fallen, spitting blood until a couple came down the steps and walked out on to the road. They didn’t see him in the dark shadows of the house and he waited until they’d gone before he pushed himself up, using the side of the house as support, and moved around the corner of the house. He reached the empty deck and tried to look inside the house, but all the lights were off in the large room and he could only see shadows. The music was low and the sliding doors were closed.
    He left the house behind him, only just managing to stay upright as he walked through the dunes and onto the beach beyond, walking down to the water’s edge. Small ripples of water washed over his feet, filling his shoes but he didn’t care. The moon was behind him, having just come over the Waitakere Ranges, and its dull light lit up the phosphorous on the waves as they ran up the sand. He looked beyond to where the waves were breaking. The swell was building up and pushing up the waves.
    There was an ache in his chest. It was the same feeling he’d had when he was at his grandmother’s house on Christmas Day. In the clear moonlight, with the cold water at his feet, he recognised the ache in his heart as despair. Gina had betrayed him, Bevan had beaten him, his father had robbed him of his future and his mother had abandoned him. Even now there was probably a YouTube video of his humiliation being posted on the internet for the whole world to see. There was nothing left to live for.
    The waves soaked the bottom of his jeans. He stepped forward, going deeper into the water. The waves pulled him in further as the denim of his jeans became sodden and heavy. He’d heard that drowning was a painless way to die. He waded in further and the water came up to his knees. He wondered how long it would be before his body washed onto to shore, if ever. Perhaps then Gina would regret what she had done to him and maybe even Bevan would feel guilty.
    He shivered. The water was cold and his sodden jeans were becoming heavy. Not much further now and the water would be up to his hips. Somewhere in the darkness there would be a rip and if he found it then the water could take him. All he had to do was close his eyes and let himself be carried away.
    A wave broke against him, the water now up to his waist. He turned his back to the waves to take a last look at Piha. When the sea came to take him, he didn’t want to see it coming. He wanted his last vision to be of the place that he loved so much.
    Almost all the lights were out in the houses up on the hill. The ranges were a shadow against the deep blue of the sky, the light of the moon silvering the edge of the hills. To his right was Lion Rock, guarding the beach as it would for many years after he was gone.
    Another wave surged around him. He could feel the tug at his feet as the water rolled back. All he had to do was lift his legs and the sea would carry him away.
    He stopped. The sensations of his recurrent dream overwhelmed him: the wave pushing him down, the water in his nose and mouth,