Letting My Brother's Best Friend Take My V-Card

HARD REALITY

The cab slowed to a stop in front of an unassuming building that looked more like a small-town office than the epicenter of so much grief. I clenched my hands in my lap, my fingers. digging into my palms as I stared at the faded sign. Police Station.

Beneath it, in smaller letters, was the word I had been dreading since we landed: Mortuary.

Laura shifted beside me, her breath hitching as her hand tightened around her bag strap. I didn't look at her. If I did, I wasn't sure I'd be able to keep the tears at bay. "Ready?" she asked, her voice thin and strained.

I swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah."

The moment we stepped out of the cab, chaos descended. Reporters swarmed us like flies, their shouts overlapping until their words blurred together.

"Jessica! Laura! Can you confirm if-"

"Are the bodies identifiable-"

"Are you going to keep the baby even if your husband is dead?"

Cameras flashed, and the bright light stung my eyes. Laura flinched, her arm brushing against mine, but before either of us could say anything, the station door burst open.

A tall man in a wrinkled suit strode toward us, waving off the reporters. "Step back!" he barked, his tone sharp enough to cut through the din. He reached us in a few long strides, his expression tight and impatient.

"Detective Raynor," he said curtly ushering us toward the building. As the door swung shut behind us, muffling the noise outside, he muttered under his breath, "Vultures." I didn't respond. I wasn't sure I could.

his voice softening as he gestured us down a narrow hallway. His

shadows on the scuffed linoleum floor. The air smelled faintly of coffee, paper, and something metallic that I couldn't quite

began to speak, his tone measured but heavy. "A cargo ship found part of the wreckage last week. Pieces of the fuselage, some personal belongings, and..." He hesitated, glancing back at us. "...some

currents could've carried debris miles-

nodded numbly, and I followed suit.

HARD REALITY

388 (voucheri

players. All gone. It's a big

hollow, like an echo in an empty room. I didn't respond.

steel door at the end of the hall, and Raynor paused, his hand

you to prepare yourselves," he said softly,

easy. The bodies were in the water for

in my throat. Laura gripped my arm

wave of cold air washed over me. The room was stark and sterile, the hum of fluorescent lights mingling with the faint whir

their sterile surfaces gleaming under the harsh light. A man in scrubs stood near a workstation, his expression grim but

us. "We'll start with the first one," he said, his tone

screech of the sliding tray making

was swollen and discolored, barely recognizable as human. My chest tightened, and I had to look

me. "Do

Josh. I can't tell you how I

back into place. "Next," Raynor said, his voice