Then, the scream came.

Just as Pastor Williams drew a breath to ask for objections—a formality I thought we had long outgrown as a society—a figure stood up in the third row. The movement was sharp, violent against the stillness of the ceremony. It was Paige Sterling, known to everyone as Piper. She was wearing an emerald green dress that clashed aggressively with our soft, earth-toned color palette. She looked like a jewel, hard and cold.