My Crimson Wedding

Chapter 1

Eleanor’s POV:

It was a brightest day of the year as I walked out in my wedding gown holding the bouquet of white roses and lilies as the train of my dress studded with stones dragged along. Ethan’s nieces, Martha, Amy, Juliet and Anna were the flower girls who were looking so adorable in their cute little dresses holding tiny little basket and throwing the flower petals along the way. Their attention was mostly fixed at the camera as they smiled while scattering the petals on the carpet.

At the end of the aisle stood Ethan who looked breathtakingly handsome in his tuxedo. The moment I stepped on the carpet to walk towards him, the whole crowd stood up to watch me and Ethan’s eyes were now meeting mine. The wedding was held in an open ground with only our close friends and family. It could have hardly made the guest list of fifty but, it seemed like the most beautiful wedding I’ve always fantasied.

Like a scene from my dream I took one step forward and then there was no going back. Ethan was the one, his eyes and his gentle smile says it all. Every moment with him felt like my life meant something and that no matter what, I could finally relay on someone. I wouldn’t be home alone anymore, my nightmares won’t be haunting me anymore.

The smile on his face spread widely as I saw a tear escape from the corner of his eye. His kind and gentle nature, his care and love meant the world to me. He was standing there with the priest as I passed him a smile. He extended his arm to help me stand along with him as my dress got stuck to the nail on the stage.

His kind eyes traced my skin as he bent down to free my dress from the nail and looked at me to check if I was okay. I gave him a reassuring smile and then, we both were standing before the priest on our big day, in the presence of our loved ones to exchange the sacred wedding vows which would unite us in a bond that would mark the beginning of the new world for us… “Our world”

This was too good to be a reality, often, I’d seen myself as this worthless woman who is going to end up alone and bickering for the rest of her life, Ethan was too good to be by my side. A part of me was anxious and a part of me couldn’t believe that this was actually my reality. When the priest asked me if I would take Ethan as my husband and stay loyal to him in sickness and in health for the rest of my life, I knew I had nothing to worry and that those kind and gentle eyes were the home I’d been searching for.

“I do”… these were the first words I’d said to him at the wedding altar and they were also the last…

In the flash of a moment there was a loud noise of the glasses shattering and the next moment when I turn to look at Ethan, I see him covered in blood and my world was ripped apart even before it had begun. There was turmoil, panic, anxiety and anguish in the air as the crowd began to evade the place to find a refuge from the terror that had been unleashed.

I was holding one to Ethan’s hand as his crimson blood stained my white wedding dress. His breathing was uneven and his heart rate was dropping. I had lost the sense of my surroundings as I watched him in pain. He’d been shot! The torn tuxedo and the oozing blood were the brutal evidences of it. I didn’t realize what had happened to me but, Ethan’s eyes held terror in them as he looked at me.

It seemed like he was trying to say something to me and I couldn’t sense what it was as I blacked out.

I don’t remember much as to what happened at the wedding after that but, I was hoping to see Ethan waiting for me at the altar. The most beautiful memory that was etched in my mind. I wished to open my eyes and be back at the altar to finish the vows and exchange the rings to seal the wedding with our first kiss as husband and wife. But, he wasn’t there. There was no altar and I wasn’t in my wedding gown.

There was no Ethan and I was not happy or excited about my life ahead anymore. There was only uncertainty and no foundation that could keep me grounded. My home was destroyed, my world was torn apart right before my eyes. The cold walls of the room that I’ve been seeking refuge in, were standing tall and mocking me. It was a nightmare, a nightmare that had now become my reality and there is nothing that I can do to undo it. I was a shamble like the house of cards that was scattered by the whispers of the wind.

The burning eyes and a hallow soul were the smoking guns of the excruciating pain that I carried with me. Alone, cold and agonized had become a new identity that made me realize that I was alive. The stabbing pain from the memories I cherished were now a constant reminder of my loss and was cursing myself of staying alive.

The door bell rang and I was pulled out of my train of thoughts. I walked towards it but was afraid to answer the door. The bell rang twice and then I heard a voice.

“Ma’am, it’s Detective Hans Wilbur. Please open up the door. We’re here for the daily rounds” he said.

I don’t remember how long has it been since that incident. I open the door to see two officers, one in late twenties and the other in his late thirties. There was moment of silence as the officers waited to be invited inside.

I had no intention of calling them inside. I wanted them to be gone and right when I was about to shut the door on their faces, there was a window shattering sound. The glass of the front window broke letting in a stone that was thrown by someone from the outside.

One of the officers ran out to catch the person responsible for it while the other intruded inside to check for any property damage caused.