The Assistant: 2

46

billie pov

i stare at the body that's supposed to be my wife. that's not her. no. even though the woman looks very similar this is definitely not my wife.

my wife has a tattoo on her neck. there's no tattoo there. my wife has a nose piercing,there's no piercing.

their nose shake is similar but aaliyah's nose is slightly smaller than this woman's. aaliyah's lips are more fuller than this woman's. aaliyah has a beauty mark on her arm and this woman doesn't.

"this isn't aaliyah" i state

"oh. can you explain why you believe this isn't her?" the autopsy reporter asks

"yeah that's not my daughter" aaliyah's dad say while holding amari "her eyebrows are better"

"everything is off. i know my wife and she doesn't look like this" i say

my phone starts ringing and i see it's kourtney callings "i'm going to step out to take this" i say before leaving out the room

i answer the call and kourtney immediately says "mom,im about to send you the link of something im highly confused about. how did they get a picture of mom's body?"

"what! wait what!" i say confused

"there's a picture of mom going around on twitter,isn't that where you went right? to see her. someone took a picture of her"

"no i'm confused,they don't have the right person. it's another woman they have here"

"i just sent the link" she say

i pull my ear away from the phone and open my text messages. i click the link and my jaw drop when i see it is aaliyah's dead body.

"i'll call you later" i say before hanging up and staring at the picture.

i head back into the room and quickly show the autopsy reporter the picture. "it kinda looks like a room that's not an autopsy certified room" she say

i'm waiting for the detective to get here so i can show her this.

"what is it?" aaliyah's dad ask

"i don't want to show you.its bad" i say

"i can handle it billie,just show me"

i show him my phone and he gasps in shock. i get amari from his hands and hold my son tightly.

once the detective gets here i show her the picture and she becomes shocked. "we are going to find where she is" she say

i'm mad that it wasn't her to begin with. showing me another woman claiming that to be my wife is absolutely bizarre.

the memorials for everyone that died in the shooting is being held tonight. of course i'm going to also have a separate one for my wife.

this one is for the people that worked in the building with me.

"you keep saying that yet you can't find her. there's a picture that my daughter had to see of her mom on social media before the detectives in charge of her case could even find it" i say

"i know. it's just hard when we have no trace where her body went"

"i understand" i say

-

i look at myself in the mirror ready for the memorial. i head downstairs and aria is sitting down watching tv.

"i'm heading out" i say

"are you going to be okay? you've been shutting off lately" aria say

what do you think? my wife is dead.

"yeah,i'll be fine" i say

"it's okay if you're not. i just don't want to see you silently suffering. you can let it out" she say

i don't say anything but leave out the house. i get in the backseat of the black car.

"how are you billie?" andrew asks

"i need my wife" i say

the ride becomes silent after that and i pull out my phone heading to my camera roll.

i click a random video of us. "this is stupid" aaliyah said as i pointed the camera in her face

"what's stupid baby?" i asked

"i'm trying to doordash some chilis and they don't have what i want for the doordash option. that's stupid because why do you not want to bring it to people homes" she explained

i laughed before asking "what you trying to get?"

"the cajun pasta" she said

"mhm oh well, guess you not getting none" i said before laughing

she looked dead at me before tackling me which lead to us both laughing. "i hate you" she said

"you're lying,you know you love me" i said before giving her a kiss

"i do, you're my pretty ass wife" she said before kissing me back

i pulled away before i said "i'm going to go get you some"

"really?" she asked happily

"yeah" i said before smiling at her

the video ends and i head to tiktok. i watch funny videos on my for you page and before i know it we arrived.

i get out the car and reporters begin throwing million of questions at me. i walk past them ignoring them and heading inside.

i head over to the families of the lives lost and talk to each and every one of them. what shocked me the most was then offering the same condolences to me about aaliyah.