Chapter two

First things first. A photoshoot of the wedding party where the upcoming ceremony at the professionally landscaped property of the hotel featured cobblestone walkways as well as an angelic adorned trellis. The sun shown down on a slightly breezy summer June early afternoon. Then a storm blew in. It became overcast, with no rain but severe clouds. After debating their options, they decided to go ahead.

Craig, a younger twenties young man who looked like Clark Kent with his horn-rimmed glasses, softly played the organ as the guests discreetly got a bulletin and sat in the pre-arranged with folding chairs. Jeremy comes from a fairly large family, so his side filled up the first four rows while Jessica’s side was her co-workers and a few of the nurses who were there when she was born.

Jeremy, dressed in a white tuxedo, with his three groomsmen, his three brothers, all in black, stood under the trellis next to Pastor Joy, plump fair skinned Caucasian with the smallest wire-rimmed glasses. Opposite of the four men stood Brenda, half smiling and crying.

Craig stopped for a moment, and the increased the volume and played “Here comes the bride.”

Jessica, holding a bouquet of roses and now wearing a white shear see-through veil, slowly made her way to the front. This was the moment she waited for her whole life. But something is amiss. She has had butterflies in her stomach before but not like this.

Brenda sensed she was starting to falter so she looked her way until they locked eyes and then gave her a reassuring nod as well as the slightest of fist pumps.

Jessica handed the flowers to Brenda, and then held Jeremy’s hand, and looked out to the congregation. Her uneasiness now grew to where it felt as if her skin was crawling.

She looked at her coworkers. They all smiled. One of them was recording it on a cell phone. One of the nurses, Gwendolyn, a grey-haired sixties woman dressed in purple, held a handkerchief to her mouth.

Behind them was two Caucasian women and one man. Three uninvited guests. A younger woman in Jeans and a cream-colored lace blouse that had blood stains from her elbows to her wrists. The other woman, older, was paler than the other with thin lips and the most yellow stained teeth. She had blood running from the top of her head down to her chest.

The man was clad in a black suit, with a wide rimmed black hat to match. He, like the older woman, had a pale complexion, but he had the thickest eyebrows. He pointed at Jessica with an intense glare, feigning for her.

The world started to spin, as her heartbeat pulsed like a bass drum in her ears.

“I think I’m falling away,” Jessica whispers with her eyes now half shut as she is starting to lose consciousness.

Jeremy tried to pull her close to him as he senses her body is about to go lax, but she crumpled to the ground before he could.