Alive

Three months after my sister's funeral, I received an invitation to her wedding.

At first, I thought it was some kind of mistake.

But then I saw the name on the invitation.

The bride bore exactly her name Amelia Okafor.The same sister whose funeral I had attended.

The same sister whose photograph was still sitting beside my mother's bed.

The wedding was scheduled for Saturday at a small hotel outside the city. The groom's name was Daniel

I didn't know anyone named Daniel, except Amelia's fiance

I took the invitation to my mother.

She read it once, and the color drained from her face.

“Where did you get this?”

“It was delivered to the house.”

She walked to the kitchen, tore the invitation into pieces, and dropped them into the bin.

“Forget you ever saw it.”

That was when I knew something was wrong.

My mother had never been good at hiding things.

On Saturday morning, I went to the hotel.

The building looked almost abandoned. There were no decorations, no guests, and no cars outside. I checked the address again to make sure I hadn't come to the wrong place.

The receptionist gave me a strange look when I asked about the wedding.

“There is no wedding here.”

I showed her the invitation.

She became quiet.

“Room 217,” she said.

“Why?”

She looked toward the hallway.

“Someone has been paying for that room for the last three months.”

I went upstairs.

The door to Room 217 was unlocked.

Inside, I found a white wedding dress hanging beside the window.

It was Amelia's.

I knew because I had helped her choose it.

On the table was a letter with my name on it.

I opened it slowly,my hands were shaking

'I know you're going to be angry with me, but I need you to understand why I disappeared. Dad found out what I had discovered. If I stayed, he would have killed me'

I stopped reading.

My father had died five years earlier.

Well that's what i thought.

A sound came from the bathroom.

I turned around.A man stepped out.

I recognized him immediately. It was Daniel.

My sister's fiance.

The man who had supposedly died in the same car accident that killed Amelia.

“You're alive,” I whispered.

“So is your sister.”

I was so shocked that I couldn't speak.

Daniel explained that the accident had been staged. Amelia had discovered that our father had been involved in a huge financial fraud before his supposed death. She found evidence that could expose him, but before she could take it to the police, he found out.

He had threatened her.

Daniel helped her disappear.

They staged the accident so everyone would believe they were dead.

“Then why bring me here?” I asked.

Daniel then handed me another envelope.

“Amelia wanted you to know the truth.”

I opened it.

Inside was a photograph of Amelia standing beside a woman I didn't recognize.

On the back, she had written:

She knows what Dad did. Find her before he does.

I looked at Daniel.

“Who is she?”

Before he could answer, the hotel lights went out.

Someone locked the door from the outside.

Then I heard a familiar voice in the hallway.

My mother's voice.

“I'm sorry, sweetheart. You were never supposed to find out this much.”

Daniel looked at me.

For the first time, he looked genuinely afraid.

“My God,” he whispered.

“What?”

He stared at the door.

“Your mother was the one who helped your father fake his death.”

And suddenly, I understood why she had burned the invitation.