The fact that he was wealthy never bothered me in the least, though I never asked Charlie for a dime. With FAU paying my room and board, along with a decent salary, I was able to sock away enough over the years for a down payment on a house.

Having lost my job, I was now going to need those funds to survive.

Bal Harbour Island is a seaside resort located in northern Miami- Dade County. A favored hideaway of the rich and famous, it is single-family homes nestled in gardened, gated communities, and high-rise condos lining private white beaches and azure coastlines. Upscale shopping malls and restaurants run north and south along its main thoroughfares, and yachts inhabit the deep water channel of its intracoastal.

Mother and Charlie were in Manhattan for the week. We had spoken briefly on the phone, with me assuring her that I was fine, and that rest and relaxation were all I was interested in. I told her not to worry, that I'd see her soon enough.

Their apartment was a four-bedroom condo on the tenth floor, facing the ocean. It was late by the time I settled in, so I took a quick shower, slipped on my favorite boxer shorts, and crawled into bed in one of the guest rooms. I left the balcony door open, the salty breeze and pounding ocean soon guiding me into a heavy sleep.

* * *

It is dark.

It is dark and I am in the water. Deep, frigid water.

I am in the Loch.

I am drowning!

Kick to the surface! Gag, spit, tread water.

My capsized rowboat sinks beneath me.

Salmon everywhere, jumping, snapping. I'm swimming in a school of fish!

Look around. Search for land, but the fog is everywhere, and the sun has set. Which direction is home?

Stay calm, Zachary, don't panic… just tread water and wait… wait until the fog fills.

Help! Can anybody hear me?

Muscles growing heavier, I'm so tired, so numb.

A powerful current swirls around me… is something down there? I'm scared.

Help! Help! Ahh…

Gulp! Underwater! I'm underwater! Something has me, has my ankle! Sharp pain… what is it? What has me? Is it my rowboat? Am I entangled in the bow line?

Panic… struggle… twist… fight to get air …

"Ahh! Ahhh!"

Catapulting out of bed, still half asleep, I bellowed a bloodcurdling howl and ran blindly from the bedroom—the wrong way! Past the billowing curtains, I sprinted straight out onto the balcony, my momentum flipping me head over heels over the aluminum rail!

Hands that once plucked footballs from the air lunged one last desperate time, my left smashing uselessly against the balcony's concrete lip, the right managing to grasp the aluminum rail's divider that separated the two plastic balcony panels.

"Owwff!"