The Wedding of a Dead Girl Chapter 2

I moved back into the empty house. The silence was deafening. The faint metallic scent of old blood still lingered in the air.

I sat on the couch, staring at the family portrait on the wall. My heart felt like it had been carved out.

My parents had been deeply in love. Dad was frugal but would spend a fortune on a dress if Mom liked it. When she got sick, he worked three jobs to buy her the best supplements.

Grandma treated Mom like her own daughter. When Mom was hospitalized, Grandma stayed by her side, wiping her face, feeding her.

My brother, Noah, was our pride. He gave up a scholarship to Stanford to stay close and donate his kidney to Mom.

We were the envy of the neighborhood. The perfect family.

Why?

I searched every inch of the house for clues. Mom's bedside table still had Dad's hangover pills. Dad's side had books on post-transplant care. Grandma's room was tidy, the jade bracelet Mom gave her stored safely in a velvet box. Noah's room was filled with medical journals, notes on kidney health scribbled in the margins.

Nothing. No secret diaries, no hidden debts, no signs of an affair.

Finally, I turned to the surveillance footage.