Til Death Do Us Part

prologue ~ the end

Have you ever come so close to death that you start to panic about making your last seconds count? What could you have said better? What should you have done?

Death is just a huge void waiting to swallow us all up, and sometimes it catches us early.
Sometimes, we manage to outrun it.
I did.

•••

"Faye!" I heard my mother's voice from the front door, her hands worriedly wringing, her face contorted, a sad smile settled on her face.

Any other kid my age would've rolled their eyes and told her to stop worrying.
Always worrying, always sticking her nose in where it wasn't needed. But I didn't roll my eyes - I ran right back up to the front door, and for the fifth or sixth time, took her into my arms and hugged her, kissing her cheek and telling her I love her.

Because today was a special day.

Today was the day I was going to go and help my sister pick out her wedding dress, and then next month she was going to get married.
Jess was only six years older than me, but she was growing up, maturing faster than anyone else I knew her age.

People often remarked that someone who was twenty-three would only get married that early for one reason.
But I knew deep down that Jess was marrying her fiancé (as of last year), Jason, because she was head over heels in love with him.
And he felt the same way.

And that's all you can want for your own sister.

My mom was distressed, as she couldn't be there to help pick out Jess's dress, but I convinced her that I'd do just as good a job. I was going to be Jess's maid of honour, after all.

So as I got into my mom's black SUV, and began to reverse off the driveway, she gave me a soft smile and wave, her arms crossed worriedly still.

As soon as I got onto the freeway, I wound down the windows and plugged my phone in with the aux, scrolling through the songs every time I glanced away from the road.
Once I'd picked one out, I put on my sunglasses and sang my heart out along with it, not caring who was looking or who could hear.

Jess's wedding was going to be a June wedding - every girl's dream. I could already imagine it, the greenery, the white wooden benches, the pink roses littering the floor, twisted into the vines and the canopies, and her.
Stood at the altar, in the most beautiful dress, with white netting, mesh, lace, ribbon - any elegant material I could imagine.

Her trail would be delicately lined on the steps behind her, as her small, soft, artist's hand was enveloped in Jason's, who stood beside her, in a white tux, a pink rose pinned to his lapel.

It was like a fairytale, and I didn't care if I wasn't the one living it. Jess was the princess, and she deserved an empire. She'd always been my role model, something I aspired to be.
As I pulled off the junction, turning the volume down slightly, I let the signs guide me to the centre of the city, where she would be waiting for me in the bridal boutique.

We lived in Texas, in the beautiful city of Houston, and our home was set a little away from the city, but not too far. It was only a fifteen-minute drive.

Jess had moved into an apartment in the heart of it with Jason six months ago, and I used any excuse I could to go visit her there.
Jason was studying in medicine, and had progressed so far he'd managed to land himself an apprenticeship in the Memorial Hermann Greater Heights Hospital.

Jess joked about how he wanted to be a brain surgeon so he could support a family of six.
He cringed every time, making me laugh.

From day one, Jason had already been like a bigger brother to me. He and Jess went to school together and started dating in their junior year. It was a love story that anyone would envy.