“Don’t panic.”
“Yes, but if the bleeding continues, Adam will die.”
Erma was unable to think calmly. Facing her, sitting on a rock, lurching back and forth, as if falling asleep and waking up at the last moment before falling, her brother stared at her indifferently. He’s drifting, she thought. He’s drifting away and I’m losing my mind. She cleared her throat and ordered her eyes to stay dry.
Adam was pale. The fatigue accumulated these last days reinforced his sluggishness, but his wound and the scarlet river that escaped added to it. All his movements were in slow motion. He wanted to speak. His lips moved slowly as if searching for his words while drunk.
“Erma, I’m in pain.”
The girl untied the cord that bound the flap of her bag. She put a tourniquet at the root of the severed fin
