Leander left without Cassie. He swam from the sub, hope sinking as the submersible plunged to the far depths behind him. He would tell Dio he could not find the submersible. That way his comrade, his friend, could imagine his family had time to go back to the surface. He could imagine his family still lived. Leander would carry the weight of what truly happened himself. The image of the girl, teeth sunk into her mother’s hand, ever-present.
