Brenda is baffled when her late son’s wife denies knowing her and stunned when she visits her son’s grave and sees her daughter-in-law’s headstone nearby. She seeks answers from her son’s best friend, but his suspicious behavior drives Brenda to unravel the mystery alone.
Christopher was only 27 when he died in a tragic accident, leaving his mother, Brenda, to face an endless abyss of grief. Her world was shrouded in darkness following his death, and her health suffered.
Now, after a year in a clinic, Brenda had traveled hundreds of miles to visit her son’s grave. Bearing the weight of grief that no words can express, she got off at the metro station in the city where Chris had lived, died, and was laid to rest.
As Brenda headed to the station exit, she saw a familiar face in the crowd: her widowed daughter-in-law, Harper. Brenda had planned to meet Harper after visiting the cemetery and now hurried after the young woman to surprise her.
“Harper! Harper? Wait a second!” She patted the woman’s shoulder from behind.
“I’m not Harper. You’ve got me wrong, lady!” The young woman arrogantly brushed away Brenda’s hand and rushed away.
That’s strange! Brenda thought. My eyes couldn’t be deceiving me. She has the same eyes…same hair color…and voice. She is Harper!
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
But the lady had vanished into the crowd. Brenda hailed a cab outside the station and headed to the cemetery. She was haunted by the encounter throughout her ride and couldn’t understand why Harper had acted so strangely.
“Ma’am…we’ve arrived,” the cabbie said as he pulled over at the cemetery gate, jolting Brenda out of her thoughts.
The silence was haunting as Brenda searched the row of graves for Christopher’s resting place. A wave of emotions washed over her when she found it. She broke into tears as she brushed her trembling hands on Christopher’s tombstone.
Disbelief surged through Brenda when her gaze shifted to the neighboring grave.
The epitaph etched on the headstone horrified her.
In Loving Memory of Harper. S.
January 8, 1995 – December 3, 2020
Forever cherished, Forever missed.
Rest in peace.
“Oh my God…Harper passed away last week and nobody told me?” Brenda gasped, unable to believe her eyes.
A haunting question immediately loomed in her mind: “If Harper is dead, then who was the girl at the subway?”
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
Brenda snapped out of her thoughts when she heard someone raking dry leaves. The cemetery’s groundskeeper was working nearby. Brenda approached him and asked if he could tell her about Harper’s funeral.
The guy lit a cigarette and sighed, exhaling a puff of smoke into the air. “It took place last week. It was strange… There weren’t any mourners, just the funeral service employees. They brought the coffin, buried it, erected a simple headstone, and left. It wasn’t even a proper funeral.”
“Did anybody visit her grave after that?” Brenda frowned.
“Not that I know of, Ma’am,” he replied. “I work here all day and live on the grounds. I keep watch over the cemetery all the time and haven’t seen anybody visit that woman’s grave.”
“Alright…thanks,” Brenda said and turned around. Nothing made sense to her.
Curious to unravel the mystery surrounding her daughter-in-law and her demise, Brenda decided to meet Jake, her late son’s best friend and business partner.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
Jake was caught off guard at seeing his best friend’s mother unexpectedly standing on his doorstep, smiling at him. He invited Brenda in, but she could sense his uneasiness.
When Brenda entered, she saw luggage in the living room, and she immediately asked Jake about his travel plans.
“I’m leaving this state, Mrs. Sutton. Been a rough year since Chris passed,” Jake said, a strange disappointment and worry etched on his face. “The company is bankrupt so I decided to move somewhere far away from all the mess I’ve been dealing with.”
“How can the company be bankrupt, Jake?” Brenda raised an eyebrow.
“What’s going on? I saw Harper’s tomb beside my son’s grave. Nobody even told me she passed away! Tell me…what happened to my daughter-in-law? How did she die?”
“Mrs. Sutton, I… I didn’t want to disturb you. After Chris’s passing, you were so disturbed and heartbroken. When I learned you’d be spending a year in the hospital, I was afraid your condition might worsen if you found out about the company’s financial crisis and what Harper did,” Jake said, haunting Brenda further.
“What did Harper do, Jake?” Brenda asked. “I want to know everything.”
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
Jake took a deep breath. “Well, Harper inherited the company after Chris’s death, but she declined to manage it because she didn’t know anything about the business. So, by mutual agreement, I stepped in to manage the company because I was already Chris’s business partner.”
“Honestly, the business hit rock bottom after your son’s death. We were on the verge of declaring bankruptcy when Harper suggested finding investors and taking out loans to revive the company,” Jake explained.
“But…you said Harper declined any say in the business,” Brenda said, her suspicions raised.
“Yes, but we were all desperate to save the company. We agreed to Harper’s idea. But just a week ago, Harper withdrew the five million dollar loan money and fled. The police started looking for her.”
“Oh, my God! Harper stole the loan money?” Brenda gasped in disbelief. It was too hard to accept that her late son’s wife had destroyed his hard work after his death.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
“We never expected her to backstab us like this, but she paid the price for her betrayal,” Jake added. “The cops discovered a burned car that had crashed into a cliff near the woods. It was Harper’s car. She met with a tragic accident and died immediately.”
“What? Oh my God…” Brenda exclaimed.
“The police recovered a woman’s completely burned body with Harper’s gold letter ‘H’ pendant. There were charred remains of hundred dollar bills. Everything else was incinerated…the case was closed as accidental death.”
“Jesus…Harper ruined everything,” Brenda said. “But wait…what about Christopher’s hard work? It doesn’t make sense that the company went bankrupt after he died.”
“I understand your frustration, Mrs. Sutton,” Jake said. “But circumstances spiraled out of control. Harper paid a heavy price for her actions, but her funeral was dignified. Many guests attended and everyone grieved her tragic death…despite the wicked thing she did to all of us.”
“Harper’s funeral??” Brenda grew suspicious. The cemetery groundskeeper had told her nobody attended Harper’s funeral. Something seemed incredibly fishy to Brenda. Jake’s anxiety and restlessness, coupled with his sudden decision to leave the city, fueled her doubts further.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Unsplash
“Uh, when is your flight, Jake?” Brenda asked.
“Early tomorrow morning…6 a.m.,” he said.
“Do you mind if I stay here for the night?” Brenda asked, a plan brewing in her mind. “I’m wary about renting a hotel room all alone for tonight in a strange city.”
Jake thought for a while but eventually agreed and showed Brenda to the guest room. Brenda put out the lights but never slept. Instead, she anxiously waited for Jake’s bedroom lights to go off so she could search for a clue to help her connect the dots.
Once Jake was asleep, Brenda headed to the living room and rummaged through Jake’s luggage. Her hands trembled with a mix of anxiety and fear. What if Jake was pretending to be asleep? What if he caught her prying? The consequences haunted Brenda. But she was determined to unravel the truth.
Brenda’s search turned into her worst nightmare when she uncovered two fake passports hidden within a secret compartment. One featured a photograph of her supposedly ‘dead’ daughter-in-law, Harper, but under a different name.
“Sarah? Oh, who are you trying to fool, Harper?” Brenda muttered.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
“John?” Brenda’s face twisted with suspicion when she saw Jake’s photograph under a different name in the other passport. “What’s going on here? Are they involved in something deeper…something I can’t even imagine?”
She then found two plane tickets to London booked under the fake names. A weird sensation crawled up Brenda’s gut.
Jake and his accomplice, Sarah, who was actually Harper, were up to something foul. Something had to be done.
She quickly put the luggage back as it was and hurried to the pharmacy at the end of the lane. Minutes later, she returned to Jake’s house with sleeping tablets.
Brenda was already in the kitchen making breakfast when Jake hurried downstairs at 5 a.m.
“Good morning, Jake! Have breakfast before you leave for the trip!” Brenda smiled warmly. “Here’s your orange juice.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Sutton, that’s really kind of you.” Jake sipped from the glass Brenda gave him. “It tastes…uhm…nice….”
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
Around twenty minutes later, Jake dozed off on the couch, just like Brenda had wanted. Harper couldn’t fly without a passport and plane ticket, so now, Brenda had to wait for her to call or text Jake.
“What’s taking her so long? It’s 5:30,” Brenda mumbled under her breath.
Suddenly, Jake’s phone rang, shattering the stillness in the room. The caller name, “Sarah,” flashed on the screen. But Brenda never answered the call. Eventually, a message notification appeared.
“How could you oversleep, idiot? Have you forgotten we’re flying to London today? I’m getting a taxi and coming to your house right now.”
“Come…I’m waiting for you…HARPER!”
Brenda grinned wickedly as she hid behind the front door. Around 30 minutes later, Brenda peered through the peephole and saw a taxi pull up outside. She quickly called the cops.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
The door creaked open, and Harper stepped inside. Brenda could not believe her eyes when she saw her face. Her daughter-in-law was very much alive!
“Jake! Are you kidding me? Get up,” Harper barked at an unconscious Jake lying on the couch. That’s when a familiar voice spoke from behind, startling her.
“ARE YOU LOOKING FOR SOMEONE, HARPER?” Brenda said, striking a hard blow to Harper’s head with a vase.
A startled Harper collapsed on the floor and blacked out. Moments later, Brenda heard police sirens and hurried outside. She explained the situation to the cops and showed them the fake passports and flight tickets. Jake and Harper were hospitalized and later transferred to the police station for interrogation.
Jake refused to confess to his crimes, but Harper came clean when she learned her sentence could get cut off if she confessed the truth.
“We bribed a morgue worker and stole a homeless woman’s body. We put the body, wearing my gold chain, in the driver’s seat of my car and set it alight…Then we rammed the car from behind, causing it to fall off the cliff to make it appear like an accident.”
“And what about the money you stole?” The detective stared Harper in the eye.
“The five million has been transferred to our new bank accounts…we thought everything was covered…the new passports, the bank accounts, the flight…Jake and I thought we’d get away with it. But…” Harper paused and broke down, burying her head in her cuffed hands.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
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Entitled Couple Took My Premium Seat on the Plane – I Taught Them a Lesson and Turned It into a Profit
When I went out of my way to get one of the best seats on my flight, I didn’t expect to be swindled out of it by a manipulative couple. But what they didn’t know was that they messed with the wrong person, and in the end, I was the victor!
As soon as I settled into my aisle seat, feeling quite pleased with the extra legroom I had carefully selected for this long flight, I noticed a couple approaching. Little did I know that my interaction with them would lead to me teaching them an important lesson. Here’s my tale that can teach you how to stand up for yourself against bullies. Read on…
A woman at the airport | Source: Midjourney
The woman who approached me was in her late thirties, dressed in a designer outfit that screamed wealth. But her expression was anything but pleasant. Her husband, tall and broad-shouldered, walked slightly behind her with an air of arrogance that matched her demeanor.
They stopped right next to me, and the woman’s eyes zeroed in on my seat. Without so much as a polite greeting and while exuding entitlement, she rudely demanded, “You need to switch seats with me. I accidentally booked the wrong seat, and I refuse to sit away from my husband.”
A mean couple trying to swindle a premium airplane seat | Source: Midjourney
I blinked, taken aback by her tone. She spoke as if her mistake was somehow MY problem to fix! I glanced at her boarding pass, which confirmed my suspicion. It was a middle seat in row 12, not even close to the premium one I had chosen!
When I didn’t immediately comply, the woman rolled her eyes dramatically.
“Come on, it’s just a seat. YOU don’t need all that space,” she scoffed dismissively at my hesitation, her tone dripping with condescension.
A rude and arrogant woman on a plane | Source: Midjourney
Her husband, standing behind her with his arms crossed, smirked as he added, “Yeah, be reasonable. We need to sit together, and you don’t really need to be up here, do you?”
The audacity of their request left me momentarily speechless. They were clearly arrogant and hadn’t even bothered to ask nicely. They just assumed I would give in to their demands. I could feel the other passengers’ eyes on us, some curious, others sympathetic.
I took a deep breath, weighing my options. A confrontation wasn’t something I wanted to deal with, especially not at the start of a six-hour flight.
An upset woman sitting in her seat | Source: Midjourney
“Alright,” I said with as much calm as I could muster. Standing up, I handed over my boarding pass while trying hard to hide my irritation. “Enjoy the seat,” I told them without meaning it.
The woman snatched the ticket from my hand with a satisfied smirk. She muttered something under her breath about people in premium seats being “So selfish.” Her husband supported her by saying, “Someone like her doesn’t even need it.”
A happy couple sitting on a plane | Source: Midjourney
As I made my way toward the back of the plane, where her assigned seat was, I could feel my blood boiling. But I wasn’t one to make a scene. I had a better idea. Just as I approached row 12, a flight attendant, who had been watching the whole exchange, intercepted me.
She leaned in, her voice low as she whispered, “MA’AM, YOU DO REALIZE THIS WAS A SCAM, RIGHT? THEY TRICKED YOU OUT OF YOUR BETTER SEAT! THEY’RE BOTH MEANT TO BE IN ROW 12!”
I smiled at her, the anger simmering down to a cool resolve. “I know. But I’m about to turn the tables.”
A woman talking to a flight attendant | Source: Midjourney
“I actually have a little trick up MY sleeve. Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” I said as I winked.
The flight attendant raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t press further as she quickly put two and two together and tried stifling a laugh. She directed me to my new seat. So, as soon as I reached my middle seat and sat down, I started forming my plan.
The premium seat had been booked using my frequent flyer miles, and with that came certain privileges that most passengers wouldn’t be aware of. I knew exactly what to do to teach those two bullies a lesson they’d never forget…
A woman plotting while sitting in her seat | Source: Midjourney
My middle seat in row 12 wasn’t close to being as comfortable as the premium one I had given up, but I knew it would all be worth it. I allowed the mean couple to enjoy the seat and think they’d won.
About an hour into the flight, when the cabin had settled into a comfortable hum of quiet conversations and the occasional clink of glasses, I signaled for the flight attendant who had spoken to me earlier. She approached, and I asked to speak with the chief purser.
A flight attendant talking to a passenger | Source: Midjourney
She nodded with a knowing smile and disappeared, returning moments later with a woman who exuded authority.
“Good afternoon, ma’am. I understand there was an issue with your seating,” the chief purser said, her voice professional but warm.
I explained my situation calmly, emphasizing how I had been moved from my premium seat due to the couple’s deception. The purser listened carefully, her expression serious.
When I finished, she nodded and said, “I appreciate you bringing this to my attention. Please give me a moment.”
A chief purser talking to a passenger | Source: Midjourney
I noticed a few passengers paying close attention to what was happening. They must have figured that I was retaliating in some way and didn’t want to miss anything. They hilariously kept throwing glances in my direction and at the departing purser.
When the head stewardess walked away, she left me wondering what my next move should be. A few minutes later, she returned, but instead of an apology, she offered me a choice.
A chief purser talking to a passenger | Source: Midjourney
“Ma’am, you have two options. You can either return to your original seat, or we can compensate you for the inconvenience with a significant amount of airline miles, equal to upgrades on your next three flights.”
I pretended to consider it, but I already knew what I wanted. “I’ll take the miles,” I said, smiling inwardly at the thought of the extra benefits this would bring. I knew fully well that the miles were worth far more than the price difference between premium and economy on this flight.
A woman thinking | Source: Midjourney
The purser smiled and made a note on her tablet. “It’s done. And as a token of goodwill, we’ve upgraded your next flight to first class.”
“Thank you,” I replied, genuinely pleased. As she walked away, I settled back into my seat, a sense of satisfaction washing over me. I knew the couple up front had no idea what was coming.
The flight continued without incident until we began our descent. That’s when I noticed a flurry of activity around row 3, where the couple sat. The chief purser, accompanied by another flight attendant had made their way to them, their expressions serious.
A chief purser and a flight attendant walking together | Source: Midjourney
“Excuse me, Mr. Williams and MISS Broadbent,” the purser began, her tone no longer friendly. She pronounced the woman’s title with emphasis, making it clear to all aboard that the couple weren’t even married!
“We need to address an issue with your seats,” she continued looking quite stern.
Broadbent’s smile faltered, and Williams looked genuinely puzzled.
“What do you mean?” she asked, her voice tinged with irritation.
Shocked passengers | Source: Midjourney
The purser glanced at her tablet before continuing. “We’ve been informed that you manipulated another passenger into switching seats with you, which is a violation of our airline’s policy. This is a serious offense.”
The color drained from the woman’s face, and she stammered, “But… but we didn’t do anything wrong! We just asked to switch seats!”
“Unfortunately,” the purser interrupted, “we have clear reports of your behavior. Upon landing, you’ll need to go with security for further questioning.”
A serious chief purser talking to passengers | Source: Midjourney
All the passengers had wide eyes as they absorbed all the drama!
“Also, lying about being married when you are not to manipulate other passengers, is problematic in its own way. Additionally, due to this breach, you will be placed on our airline’s no-fly list pending an investigation,” the purser continued.
Williams opened his mouth to protest, but no words came out. The flight attendants, already poised to act, ushered them out of their seats and toward the back of the plane. As they were escorted, Broadbent felt the need to defend herself.
An angry passenger shouting on a plane | Source: Midjourney
“I might not be his wife now, but I will be in a few months! He is going to divorce his wife to be with me!” she yelled frantically.
A collective shock settled among all of us as we realized the two were having an affair!
The crew took them where they would be the first to be escorted off by airport security.
As I gathered my belongings after landing, I couldn’t resist glancing at the couple one last time. Their smug expressions were gone, replaced by a mix of anger and humiliation.
A happy woman gathering her luggage before disembarking from a plane | Source: Midjourney
They had lost more than just a seat as they were now facing consequences that would follow them long after this flight. Walking through the airport, I couldn’t help but smile to myself.
In my 33 years of life, I’ve realized that sometimes, getting even isn’t about making a big spectacle to get your way; it’s about patiently watching those who think they’ve won realize just how badly they’ve lost!
A pleased woman leaving the airport | Source: Midjourney
And that’s how it’s done, folks! If you enjoyed my story or even felt a little empowered by it, you’ll LOVE this next one! Julia thought she had a good friend in Janet until the latter showed her true colors after borrowing the former’s special item. Like me, Julia got revenge by teaching Janet a lesson she’ll never forget!
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
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