- 2.
Death came swiftly.
I only felt a burst of agony before my body
was floating above.
<
I hovered in the church, looking down at my
own body lying in a pool of blood wearing my
wedding dress.
The sickness had wasted me away. The dress
Chris had helped me pick out just a few
months ago was too big now.
Just like our relationship, which had gone
from high school sweethearts to this.
Maybe I just wasn’t the person he thought I
was in his head.
I thought I would disappear, turn to dust.
Instead, a flash of white light, and I was
standing on Eagle Point.
<
“Chris, if I had come back sooner, would I be
the one marrying you now? I regret it. I really
- do. I won’t be dramatic again, all this is my
fault for being difficult.”
Ashley’s voice was clear and sharp.
I hovered in the air, with the rising sun behind
me and the couple embracing in front of me.
The man who had sworn to marry me was
now holding his darling Ashley in his arms.
He didn’t answer her question. He just silently
slipped the ring that was supposed to be
mine onto her ring finger.
The sun climbed higher, and the ring was
secured.
Г
I stood just inches away from them, bitter
disappointment exploding in my throat.
After they went down the mountain, he finally
remembered to call me back.
But I was dead.
No one would ever answer that call again.
He listened to the ringing over and over, until
it finally went to voicemail.
Ashley looked at him worried. “Are you
leaving?”
He wouldn’t.
I knew he wouldn’t, he wouldn’t leave his
く
dearest Ashley for me.
“No. I promised you I’d stay by your side for
as long as you needed, don’t worry.”
Before he tossed aside his phone, he sent me
a text message-
[You need to stop acting like this. I think we
need to cool off for a bit.]
His idea of cooling off was taking Ashley out
on the town and giving her everything she
wanted.
For the next few days, he didn’t seem to think
of me at all.
Just sometimes, he would glance at his phone
while he was with Ashley.
<
There were no nagging texts or calls from me.
The screen was clean, and no one was
pushing him to come home or telling him to
eat on time.
Was he happy? Happy I was behaving myself, happy I was being quiet?
Ashley was good at playing the victim.
When Chris looked down at his phone for the
sixth time that day, her smile faltered, even
though she tried to stay strong.
“Maybe you should go home for a bit? You’ve been with me for too long…”
“No.”
く
He put away his phone without looking up.
“She’s spoiled. And if she keeps fighting with
me over this, I’m going to have to think about if she’s really someone I can see myself with.”
