Impact.
Fatalities.
The words rolled through my head like distant thunder.
They had been on that plane.
Eva.
Chloe.
My family.
My legs weakened, and I gripped the edge of my desk to keep myself upright. Only hours earlier, I had promised my daughter that I would meet them the next day.
Instead, I boarded a different plane.
Not to join them.
But to identify them.
Two days later, I stood on the runway as the cargo doors of the aircraft slowly opened.
Cold wind swept across the empty tarmac while the ground crew moved with precise efficiency. Their boots echoed softly against the concrete as they worked.
Two white coffins were carefully lowered from the plane.
One large.
One heartbreakingly small.
My wife.
My daughter.
The sight hollowed me out from the inside.
Eva had spent months planning the trip because she wanted Chloe to see the mountains and temples of Nepal. Chloe had spent weeks telling anyone who would listen that she was going to fly higher than the clouds. They boarded that plane full of excitement and promises of adventure.
And I stayed behind to finish a meeting.
For years, I had convinced myself that the sacrifices I made for my business were temporary. I believed there would always be time later to make things right with the people I loved. Standing on that cold runway, watching those coffins descend from the sky, I finally understood how wrong I had been.
I was supposed to join them the next day.
Instead, I came home early.
And the only thing I brought back from Nepal… was my family in coffins.
1
JIYA
“Would you like anything else?” the man asked. His blue eyes sparkled on his kind face.
“No, thank you,” I said, glancing at his name tag, which readJack.
“So, you work over at the hotel?” he asked, squinting and reading my name tag. “Jiya.”
