The staff hung the crossbar, and one by one, they were given safety belts. Louis was the last. It was his first time, and he was a bit nervous, so he diverted his attention to Elisa.
“Are you afraid?” Elisa shook her head, showing more composure than Louis. She wasn’t sure if she would be afraid herself.
Seeing the height made Elisa want to experience the feeling of falling from such a height. But she couldn’t help but think of her dad, who had died falling from almost the same height. While others came to the amusement park to have fun and relax, she was thinking about these things. Perhaps it was because she had dreamt of Koby last night, making her overly sensitive.
The staff interrupted her thoughts, “Alright.” The machine started, Louis held onto the crossbar, turned his head to look at Elisa, who looked a bit pale. His expression softened, “I’m here, no need to be afraid.”
Elisa glanced at Louis, feeling that something was not quite right, but the strange feeling suddenly surged, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on what was wrong.
As the machine slowly started to rise, Elisa finally realized what was wrong. When the staff had secured Louis’s safety belt, there was no sound of the buckle clicking in place.
In an instant, a “clang” sounded in Elisa’s head, and she saw that Louis’s safety belt had come loose. She immediately shouted, “Stop, the safety belt is loose!”
But it was too late. The machine shot up violently halfway into the air. Elisa’s voice was drowned in the howling wind, and the people around her were screaming. Even if she screamed her lungs out, no one could hear her.
Louis, closest to her, had heard. At the moment the safety belt came loose, he had sensed it. It was impossible to secure a person in mid-air. In the rapidly ascending airflow, he was somewhat helpless, but thankfully there was a protective bar in the middle. He held onto it tightly as the parachute machine reached its highest point and began to plummet. The intense feeling of weightlessness made his body shift.
Without the protection of the safety belt, a person could easily be thrown out. Elisa looked at Louis, struggling and trembling in her seat, her eyes red, tears uncontrollably falling with the wind.
Some people would scream out of fear, but Elisa was different. The more scared she was, the quieter she became, just biting her lip, her face pale as if she had lost her soul.
This was the feeling of falling from a great height – terrifying, body consumed by fear, cold sweats breaking out.
Elisa had seen people play on parachute machines before, always thinking it was over quickly, but this time it felt extremely long.
Louis said something beside her, but Elisa didn’t hear a word, her mind full of the fact that Louis’s safety belt had come loose. He could very well end up like her dad, falling from such a height.
When the machine finally stopped, everyone unfastened their safety belts and left, except for Elisa, who remained seated. There was not a hint of color on her face, as if she had just experienced a life-or-death situation.
Louis first propped up the safety bar in front of him, then grabbed Elisa’s hand, repeating, “It’s okay, don’t worry, nothing happened.”
Louis was also scared, but now he was more worried about Elisa. She bit her lower lip so hard that it bled.
Bending over, Louis held Elisa’s icy face, occasionally rubbing her ears with his fingertips. “Elisa, look at me, I’m standing in front of you, perfectly fine.”
Elisa’s scattered pupils slowly focused again, and Louis’s figure reappeared in her vision. Suddenly, she burst into tears, a sound so dismal that it pierced through the surrounding noise, reaching its utmost sorrow. She reached out and clutched Louis’s neck, trembling in his arms.
If something happened to Louis… if he disappeared in front of her, what would she do?
The staff came to apologize, but Elisa just glared at them, saying, “Can carelessness be compensated for with a mere apology?”
Her gaze seemed to want to strike them, and the staff, feeling guilty, backed away, not daring to look her in the eye.
Management also came over; something had happened, and a crowd had gathered.
“What’s going on?” “It seems like the safety belt wasn’t secured properly. They’re discussing compensation.” “Why do those two look like Elisa and Louis?”
More and more people recognized Elisa and Louis. Louis didn’t want to make a fuss about the matter. He had finally managed to make time to have a private date with Elisa and didn’t want to waste it on this.
The staff mentioned compensation, but Louisdidn’t find the amount worth it, and besides a bit of fright, he wasn’t injured.
Louis led Elisa away, and as they left, Elisa looked back at the staff responsible for the parachute machine.
The staff here were professionals; they wouldn’t be careless enough to forget to secure the safety belt. And she distinctly remembered that the staff member had double-checked her safety belt, pulling it outwards with force. So… was it intentional?
Elisa realized this and shivered. The first person that came to her mind was Hamish. Given Hamish’s current situation, he was capable of anything. To him, it would just be using someone as a scapegoat.