My Husband Gave Her My Parachute Chapter 09

It was the action camera Claire had kept strapped to her chest. It had recorded her jump.

Most of the reinforced casing had caved in. The lens was shattered, but the memory chip was

intact.

Ryan knelt among the rocks and lifted the camera. His blood-covered hands shook so badly he

could barely hold it.

The casing felt cold. Bits of flesh and dried blood clung to it.

He pressed the playback button.

The screen lit up with flickering static. Then audio came through the speaker, mixed with heavy wind noise.

The recording captured the last two minutes of Claire’s life, along with the conversation before

she left the plane.

The footage shook, the view flipping between sky and ground.

First came Mia’s voice from inside the cabin, deliberately soft.

“Ryan, did she talk to me that way because you’re so good to me?”

Then came his own answer.

“Ignore her. She’s always like this. I’ll make her answer for that attitude when we land.”

Then Claire left the plane.

The roaring wind almost drowned out everything else.

Ryan heard two short, sharp sounds. Claire was pulling desperately at the deployment handle. All she got were severed cords.

Mia’s laughter came over the radio.

“I win, Ryan! She didn’t even check the spare rig!”

His own voice followed.

“You’re such a troublemaker. Let her choke on seawater for a while. Then send the rescue boat

m”

Still on his knees, Ryan listened to the words he’d said himself. His throat suddenly tightened,

and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

He couldn’t claim someone else had said those words.

Mia hadn’t said them for him. Claire hadn’t misheard.

He was the one who’d told them to let her keep falling

He’d switched out her rig. When she’d asked him for help one last time, he’d refused.

The recording kept playing.

Black Hawk Canyon drew closer. Jagged rocks filled the screen.

Claire’s voice came through.

“Ryan, that’s not the sea down there. It’s Black Hawk Canyon, nothing but rock. Mia cut my parachute lines. When you took my rig, you took my chance to survive. I hope you two stay together forever. And I hope you never get another night’s sleep.”

The image jolted violently.

Then came the sound of her body hitting granite.

Bones shattered. Organs ruptured. Then came one last gasp, brief and barely audible.

Then nothing.

Only the wind, blowing through the rock crevices of Black Hawk Canyon.

Ryan lifted his head and screamed at the lead-gray sky.

He couldn’t get a full sentence out. He just kept screaming.

He pressed the bloody camera to his chest. Curled up among the cold, loose stones, he sobbed so hard his whole body shook.

“Claire, I’m sorry… It’s my fault. I know that now. It’s my fault. Come back. Open your eyes.

Just look at me…’

No one answered.

The search-and-rescue team stood around him. Not one of them spoke.

The wind swept between them, bitterly cold.