They replay that night in fragments now: the way her veil caught the light, the sound of their first dance, the exact second when joy slipped into horror. Her husband remembers the weight of her in his arms, the helplessness of begging someone you love to breathe, and realizing there is nothing left to bargain with. The guests remember the music refusing to stop, as if the speakers didn’t understand what had just been taken.

In the aftermath, grief moved into every corner of their lives. The invitations, the dress, the carefully chosen song list became artifacts of a future erased in a heartbeat. Families who expected to toast a new beginning instead learned how to hold each other up at the edge of an unimaginable ending. There are no answers that make sense of it, only the fragile decision to keep living in a world where forever can vanish between one step and the next.