Koji’s pain quickly took over. He pressed firmly against the wound to try and stop the bleeding. His shirt turned crimson. How did it all get out of hand so fast? He stumbled backward, the pain suddenly crippling. Franklin was still down. Koji’s legs felt like lead moving across the sand and back toward his truck. All I need is to get sewn up and I’ll be just fine, yeah, he thought. He looked back toward Franklin, who hadn’t moved. Koji stumbled farther, falling to his knees, his stomach on fire. There was so much blood. He lay down on the sand. It was becoming hard for him to concentrate, so he focused on the lightening sky and the sound of the waves, which offered comfort. He knew someone would eventually find him. What a fucking foolish way to die, he thought.

They were all so young when they met for the first time, not ten feet away from where he lay on the sand, the day he couldn’t stop looking at Mariko. He saw her again. And Razor. He hoped his friend would forgive him for missing another union meeting. He hoped Razor would understand that he couldn’t let Mariko lose her house. Koji closed his eyes, thinking he heard someone running toward him, hoping it wasn’t Franklin. His stomach burned, his body reeling from the loss of blood as he felt himself slowly disappearing, moving farther and farther away from everyone and everything he loved.

* * *

Koji touched his stomach, the wound long healed. He’d been lucky the knife missed puncturing anything important. Once in a long while, he still felt a twinge of pain if he overdid things. The scar had faded to a pale white still visible across his midsection. It had taken him almost six weeks to heal and six more before he could be out in the fields and cutting again. He worked through the pain, slowly building back his strength. It was nothing compared to the pain he’d felt learning Razor had been killed after the meeting that night on his way back to the plantation. He would have died, too, if it wasn’t for Mama Natua.

* * *

“He stabbed you?” Daniel asked. He was stunned at first, and then angry.

Koji cleared his throat. “I lived.”

Daniel raked his fingers through his hair. “What kind of person would do that, stab an old friend?”

“A desperate one.”

They sat in the warm silence of the truck and Koji turned to see Daniel lost in the enormity of it all.

“You could have died,” Daniel finally said. His voice was tight with disbelief.

“Wasn’t my time yet,” Koji said quietly.

“What happened to him?”

Koji shook his head. “Gone,” he said.