Her parents stood in front of a coffin.

Their baby girl. Their life. Gone.

Taken away that miserable morning a few days ago. A morning that her parents will never forget.

~

She was on her way to wake her daughter up to go to school. When there was no response, she opened the door slowly and peeked around it. The scene was oddly serene. She attempted to wake her sleeping daughter. It was strange, she was usually a light sleeper and would wake at the drop of a hat. Her mother kept shaking her.

Why wasn’t she waking up?

She stared at her sleeping daughter but didn’t see any type of movement that would indicate breathing.

She shakily moved forward, lowered herself and laid her head on her daughter’s chest.

No heartbeat.

No breath.

Nothing.

Her breath hitched and then she let out a scream, loud and full of sorrow. Her husband came running up the stairs to find his wife sobbing uncontrollably next to their daughter’s bed. All of the color drained from his face. He went to sit next to his wife and they stayed like that, mourning for the rest of the day.

~

It was a gloomy day. Three days after she was found dead in her bedroom. The room was filled with her friends and family, all mourning, all viewing her, all wondering how she died.

On one side of the room there stood a boy. A peculiar boy with white hair and a victorious look in his eyes leaned against the wall.  No one noticed him; to them, he wasn’t even there.  He was surveying the room with a look that showed he was enjoying this. Enjoying their pain.

He saw her friends there, who all sat on one side of the room crying on each other’s shoulders. He could hear them talking about her. They blamed themselves for it. They said they should have known, should have realized something was wrong and confronted her about it. He let out a breathy chuckle. If only they knew what really happened.

He shifted his eyes to another part of the room. In the middle, her boyfriend was kneeling on the ground. His body racked with sobs. She was his future. He had envisioned them together. They were supposed to have a big wedding and children. He loved her with everything he had and now she was gone. The white haired boy’s smile grew.

He averted his gaze to watch the most important people, her parents. Tears were constantly streaming down her mother’s face. Her dad was trying to be strong for her, but he was ready to break down. They were such a perfect family. They had everything they wanted and their beautiful daughter was perfect to them. They lost her in the blink of an eye.

The mysterious boy smirked before fully standing and leaving the funeral home. Before he exited, he turned around to pass his gaze over the room one last time.

Her mother shivered and abruptly turned around to look at the door. Their eyes met for a brief second before he was gone. Anger built up inside of her, she was unsure why. Who was he and why was he here?

Her husband’s arm tightened around her and she turned back to bury her face in his chest. Thoughts of that boy lingered in her mind. Could he have been responsible for this?

~

Her death will forever remain a mystery.

She was a healthy young woman with no medical issues.

The examination showed no causes of death. Nothing was wrong with her body.

Her mother sat in their living room staring blankly at the wall. Thoughts were racing through her head but one thought was louder than the others. She shouldn’t have died.

It was almost as if her soul and will to live just left her body.