The Day of My Brother's One Month Party, My Family Was Destroyed

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On the day of my baby brother's one-month celebration, my parents put me in charge of collecting the gift money, saying it would all go toward my dowry someday.

The relatives teased and laughed.

"Now big sister's got herself a little bodyguard."

Someone else raised a glass, wishing my parents a son and a daughter, a full and blessed family.

I smiled and kept my head down, tucking away the red envelopes one by one.

I didn't even stop to wipe the sweat off my face.

"It's hot out. I bought a watermelon and left it chilling in the room. Let me bring it out to cool everyone down."

My father stood as he said it.

My mother walked into the kitchen too and picked up the cleaver.

The light flashed off the blade and stabbed into my eyes.

My whole body jerked violently, and I bolted into the stairwell like something had broken loose, and threw myself off the eighteenth floor.

At the same moment.

My father opened the foam box that was supposed to hold the watermelon.

Inside lay a body that had long gone stiff.

It was my brother.

……

"First victim: Nancy Dickerson, female, nineteen. At eleven thirteen this morning, she fell to her death from the eighteenth-floor stairwell."

"Second victim: Clint Dickerson, male, Nancy Dickerson's brother. Found dead in the bedroom, also at eleven thirteen."

Joy Carter, an intern with the City Criminal Investigation Unit, read from her notebook as she reported.

The forensics team was working the scene.

Dana Lawrence, captain of the City Criminal Investigation Unit, let his eyes settle on my body, then lifted them toward the floors above.

"Did we pull the hallway footage from when Nancy Dickerson fell?"

Joy nodded and took out her phone.

On the screen, I sat in a chair by the door, head down, collecting the gift money from the one-month party.

Partway through I stood and stepped away, and in less than a minute I came back and sat down again.

The time reached eleven thirteen.

My father's voice came from inside the apartment.

The next second, my hands went still.

Like I'd heard something horrifying.

I threw myself out the stairwell window like I'd lost my mind.

Then the screaming exploded inside the apartment.

Joy's face had gone pale.

"Captain Lawrence, the time Nancy Dickerson jumped lines up exactly with when the brother's body was found."

"And there's still a missing minute in between."

"Is it possible she killed herself out of guilt?"

Dana narrowed his eyes at the me on the screen.

"Her hands were shaking while she collected the money, her eyes kept drifting. Something was clearly wrong."

"But if she really was the killer, why would she murder her own baby brother?"

Joy didn't have an answer.

"We're going up."

"Yes, sir!"

When they reached the scene, the relatives were pressed into a corner, nobody daring to speak.

Dana walked straight up to my parents.

"Mr. Dickerson, Ms. Lambert, my condolences."

"We need to go over what happened."

"When was the last time either of you saw your son?"

My mother sat with my brother in her arms, her eyes hollow, and said nothing.

My father's voice was hoarse.

"After we got up this morning, we went to the kitchen to get the food ready. Clint was in the master bedroom. His sister was looking after him the whole time…"

"The relatives arrived, so I had Nancy come out to collect the gift money."

"Her brother was asleep in her arms, so we didn't want to wake him. We never thought…"

His voice caught there.

"So after that, Nancy Dickerson didn't go back into the master bedroom?"

"I don't know."

My father fell silent for a dozen seconds, his eyes a little lost.

"Officer, the way you're asking this. Are you suspecting Nancy?"

"You think Nancy put Clint in that foam box?"

"That was her own baby brother!"

"Mr. Dickerson, please stay calm. We're just following procedure and ruling out everyone."

Dana turned as he said it and looked over at the relatives, asking whether anyone had seen me go into the master bedroom.

They all looked at one another and said no.

Aunt Diane added,

"But I ran into Nancy in the bathroom."

"When?"

"Ten forty."

That matched almost exactly with the gap where I disappeared from the footage. Dana frowned.

Just then the forensic examiner came over to my mother; they needed to take my brother's body for further examination.

The instant my brother was lifted out of her arms, my mother's eyes rolled back and she fainted dead away.

My father caught her, and in that moment he looked ten years older.

Watching them, something inside me felt hollow and empty.

Why would I suddenly kill myself?

Did I really put my brother in that foam box?

I couldn't remember any of it.

The last thing I remembered was my father saying, "I bought a watermelon."

My mother walking into the kitchen. That cleaver catching the light.

Dana had someone help my mother out, and softened his voice.

"Mr. Dickerson, I know how hard this is right now, but we need to confirm the scene of death."

"I've been observing since the moment I walked in."

"But…"

He looked around.

"Where's the foam box from the scene?"

My father was quiet for a moment, then turned.

"Follow me."

He led Dana to the door of one of the rooms.

Dana stood in the doorway, his brow slowly tightening.

"Inside Nancy Dickerson's bedroom…"

"Why are there this many foam boxes?"