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Home / Mystery/Thriller Short Story / Never Married, Yet I'm on This Wedding Tape / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of Never Married, Yet I'm on This Wedding Tape: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

17 Chapters

Chapter 1

I bought a DVD for 1.50 dollars from a livestream that sold used items when I had actually been trying to buy the old DVD player sitting next to it.The host was a man in his 40s. As he opened a cardboard box, he said, "Everything here is secondhand. I can't promise that any of it works. All sales are final. No returns or exchanges."The DVD player was three dollars, and a pile of loose DVDs lay beside it. The streamer picked one of the DVDs up and gave it a wave. "I'll throw in a DVD so you'll have something to play."I loved collecting old things, so I bought them without a second thought.…The package arrived the next day. The player was covered in dust, and its casing was scratched in several places, but it still powered on.The DVD had no cover and sat inside a yellowed plastic case. A single word was scrawled across the disc in black marker.It read, "Wedding".Other than that, there was no date and no names.I planned to throw it away. But I was the kind of person wh

Chapter 2

The bride in the video turned and looked straight into the camera.My heart skipped a beat. For some reason, it seemed as though she wasn't looking at the cameraman. She seemed to be looking at me.Then, she suddenly spoke. "I've finally found you."Her voice was soft, but I heard every single word clearly.A chill shot down my spine.The people in the video were moving around. Only she stood still, staring into the camera."If you're watching this DVD, it means he found you," the bride said.I froze. What did she mean by that?Before I could react, the screen went black, and the TV lost its signal.I grabbed the remote and hit the play button over and over, but nothing happened.The eject button didn't work either. The player seemed to have broken down.After messing with the player for over ten minutes, I finally unplugged it.A few seconds later, I plugged it back in, and the player started working again.But the DVD inside it was gone.I stood there, stunned.The tra

Chapter 3

Every guest in the photo was dressed in black. Other than the bride, no one else was smiling. They just sat quietly, watching the groom on the stage.The whole scene felt eerie.My hand started shaking as I held the photo. It was summer, and the AC wasn't even on.But I felt an unusual chill.Just then, my phone suddenly rang. The caller ID indicated… Mom was calling.I let out a sigh of relief. After pulling myself together, I answered."Why did it take you so long to pick up? I've been calling you for forever," Mom said.That's when I realized she had been calling me for the past ten minutes."I was busy earlier. I didn't hear my phone." My voice sounded hoarse.As soon as she heard me, she started fussing like always. "Don't work yourself too hard. Why is your voice so hoarse? Take some medicine for it later, okay?"Then she changed the subject and asked, "Did you contact that guy Mrs. Wane introduced to you? You're not getting any younger. It's time to settle down. Yo

Chapter 4

After a long silence, the magazine seller, George Zahn, finally spoke. "Where did you get this?"I looked at the shipping label in my hand and explained, "I bought it online."George shook his head, not believing me. He said, "That's impossible. That man died years ago. All his stuff was cleared out. There's no way he gave it to you."I gasped and blurted, "No way! He was just livestreaming two days ago. How could he be dead? When did he die?""Three years ago," George replied. "He died right behind this street. The guy had a heart attack and passed away before they could get him to the hospital."I still looked doubtful. Seeing that, George told me the livestreamer's real name. It was Aidan Cooper.George said, "If you don't believe me, ask around. His stall was taken down after he died."Still in a daze, I asked around, but everyone gave me the same answer.When I returned to the magazine stall, my mind was completely blank.Aidan died three years ago? But he had sold me tha

Chapter 5

I stood at the entrance of the flea market, holding the letter. The sun was blazing overhead, and it was over 90 degrees, but my fingers were ice-cold."To the Next Bride."Those four words were written on a brand-new brown envelope, made of the same paper as the one that had held the black-and-white photo.A cinnabar symbol was drawn on the seal, just like before. The color was much brighter than the last one, as if it had been drawn recently.I didn't open it right away.George's words kept echoing in my head. "He's coming for you."I gripped the letter and quickly left the flea market. I found a cafe with people inside and took a seat. The place was full of young people. The music and loud chatter helped me calm down a little.I placed the envelope on the table, took a deep breath, and opened it.There was a folded piece of paper inside. It was old and yellowed but kept in perfect condition.When I unfolded it, my breath hitched. It was a copy of a marriage certificate.

Chapter 6

Every stroke, curve, and amount of pressure in the signature on the marriage certificate matched the way I wrote my signature now.I didn't even know how I managed to walk out of the cafe. The sun was so hot that the asphalt felt soft. My legs felt weak as I walked.I folded the marriage certificate copy and put it in my bag, along with the letter George gave me.It was already 2:00 pm when I returned to my apartment complex. The sun was bright, and a few older women sat under the trees downstairs, chatting.I usually never spoke to them, but for some reason, I slowed my pace that day."Hey, did you hear? That old man in Block No. 3 had another episode a few days ago," a woman in a floral shirt said in a hushed voice. "He was lighting candles in the hallway in the middle of the night. It even brought the fire department over.""You mean Old Man Zane? He's had that condition for years, hasn't he? It comes and goes," another woman with curly hair replied."Exactly. He seems perf

Chapter 7

About ten seconds later, the words on my phone screen disappeared on their own, and my phone returned to normal, as if nothing had happened.The back of my shirt was soaked with cold sweat.Wedding gifts.The words brought back a memory I had long buried deep inside.I vaguely remembered a redwood chest in the attic at my old home. It had been locked in there ever since I could remember.Mom said it was full of Grandma's old things. They weren't useful, and she just never got around to dealing with them.When I was a child, I sneaked up there once. The chest was very heavy, and an old brass lock hung from it. A pair of peacocks were carved into the metal.Before I could get a good look, Mom caught me. I had never seen her so angry. That night, she took away the attic ladder and even changed the lock on the door.Back then, I thought that she just didn't want me digging through old things. But now that I thought about it, I realized that her reaction was far too extreme.I imme

Chapter 8

The moment Mom saw me, she froze. "You don't look so well. Are you sick?""I'm okay. The trip just wore me out." I brushed it off.Mom kept going on about how I had lost weight, looked too pale, and probably wasn't eating well again. I didn't hear a single word of it. I kept watching her expression, looking for any sign that something was off.Back at the old house, everything looked just as I remembered. The living room still had the same furniture I had grown up with. A photo from my college days still hung on the wall, and everything was arranged neatly in place.But when I said I wanted to check the attic, Mom paused while carrying a dish."What's there to see up there? It's covered in dust." She didn't even turn around. "Have your lunch first.""I just want to take a look. I think I left something up there." I tried to make it sound casual."I packed all your childhood things away in the closet. There's nothing up there that's yours." Her voice grew tense.I said nothi

Chapter 9

"For my own good?" I set the chest down, pulled the copy of the marriage certificate from my pocket, and handed it to Mom. "Then tell me what this is."She took the paper. After one glance, she seemed to lose all strength. Mom slowly slid down the wall until she was sitting on the floor.I could hear the old clock ticking away in the living room downstairs. The attic was so quiet that all I could hear was our breathing.Mom lowered her head, and her shoulders trembled. After a long time, she finally spoke. "I thought I'd never see this again."Her voice was so soft that I could barely hear it."Since you've already seen this, let me ask you something." Mom looked up at me. I couldn't read the emotions in her eyes."Did you see his face?" she asked.It was the same question George had asked."No," I replied. "Someone had scratched out his face."Mom looked relieved, yet somehow even more afraid.She struggled to her feet and walked over to the chest. She then pulled a red cord

Chapter 10

My body reacted quicker than my mind did. Tears streamed down my face as a sharp pain pierced my chest."His name was Julian." I could hear my voice tremble. "His name was Julian York, wasn't it?"Mom knelt and hugged me. Tears were streaming down her face too."I'm sorry, Vera. I'm so sorry," she said. "We only did it to protect you. The doctor said if you remembered again, you wouldn't be able to bear it.""What happened?" I grabbed her arm. "Tell me. Tell me everything! I have a right to know."Mom wiped away her tears. Just as she was about to speak, someone started knocking on the front door downstairs.The rhythm was the same as the knocking I heard two nights ago. It was heavy, fast, and continuous. It was as if someone was pounding on the door.Mom's face turned ghostly white, even paler than it had been when she first saw the chest. She grabbed my wrist so hard that her nails dug into my skin. "Don't make a sound," she said frantically. "Don't go downstairs. Pretend n

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