The following version of this story was used to create this guide: Brinkley, Jamel. "Witness." Literary Hub Online: https://lithub.com/witness/.

Note that parenthetical citations within the guide refer to the page number from which the quotation is taken.

"Witness" begins with a conversation between the narrator, a man named Silas, and his older sister, Bernice. Silas is living in Bernice's apartment as he searches for work as a college professor. Bernice tells Silas that she has agreed to go on a date with a man who approached her on the street. He is a DJ, and his name is Dove. The narrator is skeptical of his sister's choices, but knows she will do as she pleases.

Two months later, Bernice and Dove get married at the Town Hall. Silas and Bernice's mother does not attend the wedding because she disapproves of their relationship. Silas serves as Bernice and Dove's witness. Shortly after their wedding, Bernice starts acting agitated and anxious. Each time she goes to the doctor, they tell her she just needs to relax. She and Silas are unsure if they can trust the doctors, however, because the doctors she sees are all white.

Bernice grows increasingly agitated. She uses up all of her sick days from her job as a high school guidance counselor, opting instead to stay home and read about various histories of African nations and slavery in the United States. One day, Dove arrives home from work at nearly 5 in the morning. Bernice tells him she is sick, and he offers to walk to a diner he knows to get her soup. The narrator goes with him, and they discover that the diner has been replaced by a building of condominiums.

A month later, the narrator comes home to find Bernice burning incense and consulting a set of quartz crystals. After a brief conversation, Bernice starts to convulse. The narrator gets her to the hospital, and Dove eventually arrives, too, along with Bernice and Silas's mother. The doctors discharge Bernice despite their mother's protestations. The same week, Bernice has a stroke and dies. Silas and his mother stay at Bernice's Crown Heights apartment in the wake of her death. Dove does not attend Bernice's funeral.

After their mother leaves New York, Silas reaches out to Dove to arrange a time for him to retrieve his vinyl records from the apartment. When Dove comes over, they share a beer, and Dove tells Silas he is seeing a new woman. Silas berates Dove and tells him that Bernice never loved him. Dove collects his crates of records and leaves.