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Chapter 4

Author: Alakazam
On the first day after my death, Alden had his lawyer prepare the divorce papers.

He signed his name at the end and sent me a picture of it. [I’m giving you one last chance. Come back and apologize to Solana, and I won’t make it official.]

The message did not go through. He assumed I had blocked him and smashed his phone in a rage.

“She’s really getting out of hand these days!”

My mother, meanwhile, converted my room into a walk-in closet.

She bagged up all the strawberry ornaments I had collected. She planned to throw them out in front of me once I came home.

“We need to break her out of this habit for good. From now on, she doesn’t get to touch anything Solana likes.”

Solana tried on one of my white dresses and looked at my mother in the mirror. “This is what Sofia wore on her wedding anniversary.”

My mother adjusted the hem for her. “It looks better on you.”

Solana was silent for a moment and did not take it off. She only said softly, “If she sees this, is she going to go buy another exact same one?”

My father was on the phone with the company’s legal counsel.

When he heard this, he sneered, “She won’t get the chance. I’ve already had her suspended from her position. Once she’s back, she’s going to spend two years at the branch office out of town.

“She can come back when she stops copying you.”

They had already planned everything out for me. They had changed my job, had sold my clothes, and had signed me into therapy, all so I would leave Solana and learn to be my own person.

No one knew that down in the hospital morgue, a nurse had already dressed me in a clean hospital gown. I would be staying there for the time being because they could not reach my family.

In the afternoon, the hospital handed the matter over to the police.

The police went to the Creese family home first, and Solana opened the door.

The moment she saw the officers, her first reaction was to turn around and yell, “Dad, Sofia called the cops.”

My father strode over with a livid expression. “Who’s she trying to sue? Is it a crime to discipline our own daughter?”

One of the officers, Jonathan Xanders, frowned. “Is Sofia Darnell your daughter?”

“Yes.”

“Where is she right now?”

My father answered impatiently, “She’s probably hiding somewhere! You go back and tell her not to think that calling the police will get her out of apologizing to Solana.”

Jonathan stared at him for a few seconds, then said, “Last night, Metro General Hospital tried to reach you multiple times. Were you one of the people who answered the call?”

Alden walked out of the living room. “It was me. What, did she sue the hospital too?”

Solana grabbed Jonathan’s sleeve. “Is she really in the hospital? Is she hurt? How is she doing?”

He did not answer right away. He only took a necklace out of an evidence bag. It was a silver keychain of two strawberries pressed tightly together.

She was stunned. This was the birthday gift she had given me when she was eighteen. She had bought a pair. One for her, one for me.

Later, she had decided it was childish and had thrown hers away somewhere. Mine, however, was still by my side twelve whole years later.

She reached out but did not dare touch it. “Why do you have this?”

Jonathan said in a serious tone, “At 12:17 a.m. last night, Ms. Sofia Darnell was pronounced dead after resuscitation efforts failed.

“Her body is still at the hospital. We need immediate family to come with us to identify the body.”

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    On the first day after my death, Alden had his lawyer prepare the divorce papers.He signed his name at the end and sent me a picture of it. [I’m giving you one last chance. Come back and apologize to Solana, and I won’t make it official.]The message did not go through. He assumed I had blocked him and smashed his phone in a rage.“She’s really getting out of hand these days!”My mother, meanwhile, converted my room into a walk-in closet. She bagged up all the strawberry ornaments I had collected. She planned to throw them out in front of me once I came home.“We need to break her out of this habit for good. From now on, she doesn’t get to touch anything Solana likes.”Solana tried on one of my white dresses and looked at my mother in the mirror. “This is what Sofia wore on her wedding anniversary.”My mother adjusted the hem for her. “It looks better on you.”Solana was silent for a moment and did not take it off. She only said softly, “If she sees this, is she going to go

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