Sarah scrutinized herself in the mirror. She ran her hands down her immaculate white dress, smoothing out the non-existent creases. She leaned over so she was inches from her reflection and evaluated her make-up. She leaned back and looked over herself once more. She nodded; she was ready.
Sarah tore her eyes away from the mirror and looked over to the clock on the wall. They were running late. The music should have started at least ten minutes ago.
“What’s the hold up? Things should be well under way.” There were about ten other women in the room, all getting themselves ready for the wedding. At the sound of the bride’s voice, they all stopped and looked at her.
“I don’t know.” Sarah heard from her friend near the window.
“Then how about we get someone to find out.” Immediately one of Sarah’s bridesmaids was out the door. While she was waiting for her bridesmaid to return, Sarah went back to surveying herself for any imperfections.
A few minutes later, the bridesmaid returned. Sarah was about to snap at her and ask what had taken so long, but then she noticed that the bridesmaid was crying. She was also accompanied by two grim faced groomsmen.
“What?” Sarah asked. If her bridesmaid was crying, clearly something had gone very wrong. She watched as the groomsmen looked at each other, as if silently deciding who was going to speak. After several seconds of silence, Sarah grew impatient. “What is it?” She watched as the best man walked up to her, and rested his hand on her arm.
“Ollie was found dead in the bathroom.” Even though he only whispered the words, his voice still cracked on the word ‘dead’, but that didn’t mean that she believed him.
“Why would you lie about something like that?” Sarah pulled her arm away from him and started moving towards the door.
“I’m not lying. Where are you going?” She felt all eyes on her as she turned her back on him and walked more quickly towards the door.
“I’m going to see Ollie.” She felt numb, and Ollie always made her feel better. When she found her soon-to-be husband, she could complain that his friends were trying to trick her. He would probably also tell her why the wedding was running late.
Ollie’s room was all the way over the other side of the building, but still pretty easy to get to; it was just two corridors. She walked as fast as her heels would allow her down the first corridor. When she rounded the corner, her body went cold and dread shoot through her.
There were at least eight policemen in the corridor alone. Some of them gathered around the door to Ollie’s room, but the majority around the bathroom door. She flicked her shoes off her feet and ran to the closest room, the bathroom. The policemen heard her running, and stood in front of her with their arms spread to stop her progress.
“What are you doing? Get out of my way! I have to see my Ollie! He has to tell me his friends were lying to me!” She could feel the tears streaming down her face now. They felt heavy as they collected her makeup on their way down.
“Miss, miss. You have to stop. This is a crime scene; you can’t come through this way.” She heard the words, but they didn’t register. There was no time for thinking now, she had to see Ollie, he had to be okay.
Sarah found a small gap between two of the officers arms. She pushed herself through it and ran into the bathroom before they could stop her. Her eyes immediately found Ollie on the floor. She ran in and slid on her knees to his side.
His throat had been slit, but he had also been cut haphazardly in the chest several times. She looked at his closed eyes before she rested her head on his chest as it sunk in. She had just lost the one person she loved most in the world. He had been murdered. His chest was wet against her face, but she didn’t care. He was gone. Nothing else mattered.
Through her thick tears, she could see blurred images of the policemen standing at the door watching her. After about a minute, they seemed to decide enough was enough though, as one of them stepped forward and tried to pull her away.
“NO!” Sarah wrapped her arms around Ollie to anchor herself down. Soon the other officers were ripping her arms away from him and she was being carried out of the room. She was carried back down the hall to an empty room.
“You’re going to have to stay in here. We’ll be round in a while to ask you a few questions.” She was dropped onto a chair and the officer left her alone. She continued to sob as she looked down at her bloodstained wedding dress.
Through her teary eyes, she made out a table next to her that was covered in ribbons and boxed. Sarah realised that without Ollie, her life was pointless. She wouldn’t go on without him.
She picked up the pair of scissors that was next to some ribbon and ran her finger along the blade. She was satisfied with the cut it left; she closed them and held them out from her body.
“I love you Ollie.” She plunged the scissors into her chest. The pain she felt was nothing compared to the thought of losing Ollie, and she found the strength to pull them out and stab herself again.
Within seconds, her body felt weak. She started to slouch in her chair, and her eyes drifted closed. Now she could be with Ollie forever.
