Chapter 9
I had died, but my soul still lingered in this world.
I saw Waldo’s face, smudged with dirt and tight with panic, as he turned to Derek. “Mr. Grant, where’s my mom?”
When Derek made it back up the cliff alone, Waldo’s eyes darted everywhere. But he didn’t see me anywhere.
Fear gripped his small frame until he finally screamed. His voice was raw. “Where’s my mom? Why didn’t she come up? I want my mom! I want her!”
His cries echoed through the canyon, heartbreaking and loud.
Derek’s face had gone pale, like the strength had been completely drained from his body. He collapsed to his knees in silence.
On the other hand, Maynard didn’t even spare me a glance. He insisted I was faking it again—just another tantrum to get attention.
“Patricia, stop hiding. I’ve had enough of your childish games. Come out! We’re going home.”
But I would never respond again. Because this time, I was truly gone.
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Derek was teetering on the edge of a breakdown. His face was pale and hollow. He muttered like a man possessed, “Get the rescue team. Now!”
Maynard scoffed. “What? Are you playing along with her too? Really, Derek?”
Derek stood slowly, then suddenly grabbed Maynard by the collar and shouted in his face, “Get the damn rescue team! Patricia fell. She fell down the cliff!”
Maynard still didn’t believe it. He refused to accept that I was really dead.
It wasn’t until the rescue team searched the base of the cliff for three days and nights that they finally found my mangled, unrecognizable body.
Only then did reality punch him in the gut.
The moment he saw my twisted, lifeless body, he collapsed to the ground and screamed, “No! No! This can’t be real. It’s a lie. This isn’t Patricia. This isn’t her!”
I had never seen Maynard look so lost, not even when Darlene had been injured. It wasn’t grief for me; it was panic. He realized he had lost control.
Did he really love me? I didn’t think so.
He was just addicted to what I gave him–attention, comfort, usefulness. He had never loved anyone more than himself.
Derek looked down at my shattered body, then closed his eyes as if trying to erase the image.
But when he opened them again, he smiled bitterly. “Happy now, Maynard? Look what you did. Patricia’s dead. You got what you wanted.”
Maynard probably felt satisfied the moment I was out of his life.
Maynard tried to defend himself. His voice was cracking. “It was her… She was trying to hurt Darlene. It was her fault… not mine.”
1/2
Chapter
+25 BONUS
But Derek didn‘
dn’t flinch. “You still believe Darlene’s
up a
He pulled out his phone and pulled
This mountain was a popular tourist everything–the jump, the landing
But she forgot about one thing-
video.
crap?”
spot, so it was covered with surveillance cameras. Darlene had planned spot. She had made sure she wouldn’t die.
surveillance cameras.
The footage showed Darlene grabbing incident.
my
hand and jumping down. She was the real culprit behind the whole
Derek had already handed
the footage
over to the police.
Darlene had been supposed since.
to face prison, but she vanished before
the police
could
get to her.
No one had seen her
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