The atmosphere in the cabin grew more and more unpleasant every day. Roach showed us a piece of paper that he had torn from some building. It was an announcement from the FBI. Together with my photo, name and physical characterization, it said " missing ". This confirmed something that I had already wondered about - the FBI was still looking for me.

Grommet and Roach didn't talk to me at all and Bodhi followed their actions carefully. Especially after they tried to kill me. Before continuing on Ozaki Eight, Grommet suggested that we should go skydiving for fun. After picking out the highest peak of the mountain, just before the jump, Bodhi noticed something wrong with my parachute. It was packed in a way that would prevent it from opening and ensure my death.

This made Bodhi explode in anger and fight both Roach and Grommet. That turned into a violent and bloody mess. He was ready to fight his brothers in order to protect me. That's how much I meant to him.

Not long after this incident Roach and Grommet confronted Bodhi. They had decided to leave us.

" I'm sorry, Bodhi, " Roach said. " You know I have always respected you a lot but this is different. You can't have both him and us. And I suppose you have chosen already. "

Bodhi was playing with his cigarette. " I have. I just thought better of both of you. Have you forgotten everything Ozaki taught? "

" Ozaki never taught that betrayal is something that should be accepted. We'll be better off on our own than share our lives with this one, " Grommet gave me a quick, hateful look.

They left soon after. Bodhi spent a lot of time watching the direction they went. They were his brothers long before me.

" I'm sorry, " I nudged him. " It's my fault. "

" It's not your fault, brother. Their path is their choice that we cannot be responsible for. We'll just have to finish this on our own. "

It was two of us against the world. The following ordeals we completed together. Every time I felt like this ordeal was the last one for me. Even with all of Bodhi's encouragement, I didn't feel prepared for this. If Bodhi knew my fears, he would have said this wasn't my path. And he would probably be right. But I couldn't leave him alone. I was ready to die with him.

With no ropes, no harnesses and no second chance we climbed the rocky Angel Falls and jumped down into the foamy water underneath to complete Master of Six Lives and Act of Ultimate Trust. Just as my head submerged under the water, Bodhi was there to pull me out with nothing but a few bruises on him. Sometimes it seemed like he couldn't get hurt at all.

However the biggest challenge was repeating Life of Water. I ruined it the first time he tried and chose to save me rather than finish the ordeal. We had to wait more than a year for a proper wave to come. And when it did, it wasn't easy to get to it. Both chased by the FBI, we traveled to the Pacific Ocean secretly. A storm generated massive waves there. Hundred feet. More. The ocean itself helped us. It carried our boat right toward where the greatest waves were born.

It was terrifying. The sky was black and blue. The biting wind splashed water into our boat and rocked it badly. Our skin burned when the freezing rain stung it and the ocean roared so loudly we could barely hear each other's voices.

Bodhi's eyes sparkled in admiration.

" Isn't that beautiful? " he screamed while pointing to the majestic, large mountains of water crashing into white foam right there in front of our eyes. " Isn't that beautiful, brother? "

He reached for my hand and shook it.

" See you soon, Utah. "

Only then I understood that this was a suicide. We weren't going to return. We got no PFDs, we were 150 miles from shore. No one would ever find us lost in this grave of water. I didn't mind dying with him. I kissed him tightly for the last time before we dropped our raincoats and plunged into the black water with our surfboards.

I wondered what we looked like from the shore. Two fragile human figures fighting walls of water, giants trying to devour us. I concentrated on the figure of Bodhi in front of me. Then the force of the wave ripped the board from under my feet.

The little air I had in my lungs slowly escaped. My windpipe burned, I needed to breathe. As hard as I tried, I couldn't emerge. A series of moments of my life ran in front of my eyes like movie stills – my career as an extreme athlete, meeting Jeff, his death, joining the FBI, and finally – meeting Bodhi. The last thing I saw before tumbling down into the depths of the ocean, was Bodhi's dark wetsuit.

Suddenly the black water and howling wind were replaced by almost frightening silence and bright light. It was the brightest and the most beautiful light I had ever seen. Strangely, as bright as it was, it wasn't dazzling me. I could see everything clearly. I was still at the beach, standing on the shore. My clothes were dry and the ocean was calm, too calm.

The beach, light and beautiful, was empty. A wonderful peacefulness and harmony wrapped around me. I couldn't see Bodhi anywhere. Before I could freak out about what was happening, I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around swiftly.

In front of me there was Jeff . My jaw tightened, I couldn't believe my eyes. He looked exactly as I remembered him, dressed in the same motorcycling clothes he was wearing that fateful day. Yet something was different about him. He was radiant, embraced in the same brilliance that surrounded everything.

I reached for him, expecting my hand to go through him as if he was a ghost. But my fingers met his chest, a living body, the fabric of his clothes. He was real. I could only imagine one reason why I was seeing him.

" Am I dead? "

" Not quite. " He smiled. That was the smile I loved, cheerful and roguish at the same time. " I'm so proud of you. Ozaki's ordeals. "

" I wish you'd be here to experience it with me. "

" That's why I needed you to meet me one more time. I have been watching you ever since that bike ride and you don't know how much it hurt me to see you like that. You quit your life completely. You quit everything that made you you. Because of me, Utah? "

I couldn't take my eyes off him. My first love, my first boyfriend, my dead boyfriend. My memory brought me back to the moment that shattered my world seven years ago and I saw everything as clearly as if it was happening now. Me standing on a lone stone column, waving for Jeff to come. He jumps, over-speeds and falls to his death. It was the life that was ripped from me. Pain washed through me as I asked a question that needed an answer for seven years.

" Why? "

" There's no why. It just happened and you have to accept it. "

Our foreheads touched as I held his face in my hands. I was scared to let him go, that he might disappear into thin air. Desperately I looked into his eyes.

" Take me with you. That's why you're here, right? You'll take me with you. "

Jeff smiled sadly and shook his head, his eyes fixed on something behind my shoulder. When I turned my head, the stillness of this beach was gone. In the distance, I saw the roaring ocean, the dark sky and the gruesome high waves. I saw my own body lying on the shore and leaned over me there was Bodhi.

I couldn't hear his voice but by his body language, I could tell he was distraught. He was shaking me, massaging my chest and putting his mouth on mine. But I knew he wasn't kissing me. He was trying to bring me back to life.

Jeff looked back at me. " You want to leave him like that? "

I watched Bodhi still continuing on CPR. I wondered when would he stop. After five minutes? Ten? Fifteen? No, he wouldn't. I knew that if there was even the slightest possibility of bringing me back, he'd never stop saving me. I looked back at Jeff.

" He loves you. He may never say it out loud but he loves you and he needs you very much. Believe me when I say that before you came, he had nothing at all to care for. You might very well be the best thing that has ever happened to him. "

I took his hand into mine. He was so real it was hard to realize that he was actually dead. And I was too. At least for now. Jeff caressed my hair and looked deep into my eyes.

" Let me go, Johnny. Once and for all. I'm fine. Stop scourging yourself about something that was completely out of your control. My time came that day. And when your time comes, I promise I'll be there to get you. Not now. Not today. " He looked at Bodhi. " Love him and let him love you. "

Jeff came closer, his lips touched my cheek and suddenly I was falling. The bright light moved away from me, the peace and silence vanished. I was falling from the somber sky, through the stormy ocean, the waves crashing around me. I felt very light as if I didn't have any weight at all. The rain, the wind, the waves flowed together into one sound, a voice that became clearer as I was ready to hit the ground.

" Breathe! Come on, Utah! Breathe! "

My eyes snapped open and my body hurt. I was cold. My breathing was wet and my mouth salty. My lungs were full of saltwater that I exhaled back into my mouth. Bodhi was hovering over me, his hand on my chest as if he was trying to feel my heartbeat. I was on the shore, the wet grains of sand stung my hands and face. I was alive. I was back.

I started to cough, pushing the water out of my body. When I sat up, the storm was still mauling the ocean.

Bodhi hugged my shoulders and kissed my forehead.

" We made it, " he whispered into my sandy hair.

" Did we? "

" Yeah. You only lost your balance near the very end. "

I was quiet, still tasting the salt in my mouth. We were surfing miles from shore. How could we get out like that? Was it really the ocean or was it Jeff?

" I never thought we were going to get out alive. "

" Neither did I. But the ocean decides for itself. Apparently, it didn't want us and gave us back to the Earth. I dived in, got you and let the waves carry us to the shore. "

So that was it. The last ordeal. However, I couldn't believe in the good will of the ocean. As we left the beach, I took one last look at it. It roared loudly in dissatisfaction that we had escaped. Jeff was gone. Forever.

After completing all of Ozaki's ordeals Bodhi's personality changed a little. He became more harmonious and peaceful. His mind was not under stress anymore, he didn't have to constantly figure out new ways how to avoid the police and still follow Ozaki's teachings. We returned to our remote mountain cabin and continued with our lives together.

We were both still wanted by the FBI. I was a missing person, he was a criminal and they were definitely still looking for us. I doubted they'll ever stop but Bodhi knew other places where we could hide, if necessary.

Sometimes I thought about Grommet and Roach. I wasn't mad at them for trying to kill me. I understood them, I felt what they were feeling. All of us had extreme hearts. I wondered if they also managed to complete the Eight.

Bodhi and I didn't give up extreme sports. No way. We were just more cautious about doing it. We had too much to lose – each other.