Microstory 57: Adaptation from Back Burner

This is adapted from "Back Burner" so it's a little rough. It has much better flow in its original form, with the correct pace.

Years ago, my fiancée, my best friend, and I went skydiving. I had pulled my chute before realizing that my fiancée’s wasn’t working. She fell to her death, and I irrationally blamed our friend for it. Over the course of the next five years, he and I grew apart. I graduated from the police academy, and eventually became a detective. He continued to spiral, and found himself surrounded by worse and worse people every week. I tried to stay out of the investigation of his crimes, but he kept crossing lines. It was like he wanted to get caught. In fact, I couldn’t help but think that he wanted me to catch him. My captain and I finally gave in to his presumed wishes. That night, I was chasing him through the streets of Kansas City. For some reason, he chose to go up to the roof of one of the tallest buildings. When I finally reached him, and he had nowhere to go, he started ranting about how she actually always loved him, and not me. He revealed that he blamed himself for the incident as well, even though it was determined to be no one’s fault. Before I was able to respond, he started running towards the edge. I bolted forward and tried to stop him, but lost my balance, and we both fell. I quickly resigned myself to the fact that I was going to die the same way she did. But that isn’t what happened. Night turned today, and we were back in time. I looked back and saw the airplane flying away. I thought I was being given a second chance to save her, but there was too much space between us. There was no way for me to catch up to her before the lower limit. Our friend was closer, and could potentially save her. But would he?