Bliss

Chapter 1

The rays of the morning sun reflected on her room window and face; it was just any normal Friday morning in Washington, daily routines were being performed, children getting ready for school, wives preparing breakfast, men going for work and babies wailing. But not for her, it was a very special day filled with joy, happiness and  

Love. 

Heather Reeds; tall, intelligent, matured but still happy-go-lucky, kind, of brown eyed brunette, had been proposed by her high school sweet heart Matt Anderson just last night. She was only nineteen years old, and he twenty but they had both been irrevocably in love for quite sometime, and he had finally decided on expressing his feelings for her. It was a very simple ring, not the kind of ring you would offer to the love of your life, but it meant the world to Heather, because she knew how much Matt would have struggled just to get this. Being the son of the kind of parents who could not be in one room even for a minute without quarrelling, eventually all responsibilities came to him. His job was simple, he worked as an elementary teacher in a school and naturally the salary was not much; just enough.

She knew that if she wanted she could easily afford a much better looking and expensive ring, but she wouldn't think of it. She was not what you called a millionaire but was quite well off; she worked in a newspaper company as the editor in chief. It was really a dream come true. But even that was nothing compared to her new found happiness.

Both of them were so ecstatic that they agreed to get married right away without wasting anymore time. Just like any two lovers, Las Vegas was their first and final choice. They wanted it to be a small and private wedding with very few friends. Parents were definitely out of the question, as Matt's were too busy to know what was going on in there one and only child's life, and Heather's had abandoned her on the very day she claimed that she wanted to work in the field of journalism rather than medicine which was what they had wanted.

Now she was on her way to Matt's apartment, which was shared by his best friend Jared. She beeped the horn of her Volvo at his door, but got no answer, same with his cell. She got worried thinking Matt was in danger, but as she went to the door she found it bolted with a lock. 

She called Jared to know of Matt's whereabouts and found that he had packed his belongings early this morning and left via the first flight to Los Angeles, without any valid explanation or reason. 

Tears sprung to her eyes as she yanked her brain out wondering why Matt would do such a thing, She knew Matt long enough to know that he wouldn't do this for fun, there had to be a proper reason behind his sudden disappearance.

She had called out from work earlier, for the whole week as to prepare for her wedding. Her boss, Diana easily understood and gave her permission to take further leave if necessary. But now there seemed to be absolutely no reason for not going to work, she had been in bed all day yesterday from the time she came from Matt's apartment till now. She had received numerous calls, messages and voicemails but had ignored them all. Even saying 'Matt' hurt too much, but she knew she had a life out there, where she had to give an answer to her friends, co-workers, Diana and a few relations who knew about the marriage.

What could she tell anyone, when she herself did not know what was wrong!! All she knew that Matt had proposed to her, doubtlessly she had agreed, and they had decided to get married in Vegas two days later. She had gone to pick him up, as planned, but to see he had left to LA without informing her or anyone else for that matter as to why he went.

She thought back to all the conversations they had shared, trying to find any reason for his decision on leaving her heartbroken and going off to LA, and the only reason she could think of his sudden disappearance was 'commitment', having all those responsibilities, without a well paid job, he could have been scared of getting married and committing his life to her. But then again she thought, he shouldn't have proposed to her, if he was not sure of himself. And if that was the cause, he could have spoken to her about it. It's not like they had met just recently and fallen in love, not knowing each other properly. In fact they had known each other for years now.

Heather was surely in love with Matt, and was terribly hurt by what he did, but she was not the type of person who would sit around and do nothing. She knew she had to face the world someday, so she called her office, and informed the receptionist that she would be turning in for work the next day.