A New Beginning

Chapter 71: All Over Again

Chapter 71: All Over Again

"Rose?! ROSE, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Emma calls, walking up and down the street where the church is, in her own wedding dress and veil, trying to find her friend, also dressed as a bride. Several pedestrians stare at her in confusion, assuming that she's either a runaway bride or an escaped mental patient acting out some bizarre fantasy.

"Emma, come on," Peter says, grabbing her arm. "We have to bail Jack out of jail."

"I know, but where is Rose?" the girl cries, anxiously. She unbelievably confused and scared, not just for Jack, but for her best friend, who has seemingly vanished from the church parking lot.

"She might already be there," her still fiancé suggests. "She might've hailed a cab to follow the police."

"She wouldn't have taken out the heirloom and thrown it on the ground. She knows how much it means to me," she protests. The comb was now in Peter's pocket, having received more additional scratches from being dropped on the ground.

"She's pregnant and distraught, she probably wasn't thinking clearly. Now let's go and get her husband out of jail."

"Okay," the young girl sighs heavily. Something is definitely not right, she can feel it in her bones. Her stomach twists violently thinking about what happened last night in her dream.

Much like her nightmares on the Titanic, foretelling disaster, it seems her dreams had tried to warn her about something once again. She hadn't really thought about it until now, chalking up the nerves and stress of the wedding.

As she'd slept in a separate room from Peter the night before their wedding, per tradition, Emma has spent the late evening looking at family portraits, always coming back to her parents' own wedding photo. They looked very serious, as taking such pictures took much longer than it did now, but Emma couldn't pull herself away from how beautiful her mother looked, so elegant in such a simple dress, which she'd made herself. She stood poised like a real lady of class, a queen, even though she, herself, often looked down at such people and saw them as merely hollow statues. Her father was dressed in his best business suit, a hat cropped under one arm, his eyes staring into the distance, as he pondered their future together. Even though their own ceremony was quite simple, it was a union meant to last a lifetime, even though both their lives did not last as long as anticipated. Emma found herself crying just a little bit, she kept the framed photo next to her nightstand, hoping that they were looking down at their daughter with pride and a lot of love. Their little girl was finally marrying the man of her dreams and starting anew; keeping their memory alive, but moving forward. She kissed the photograph once and whispered, "I love you," to it before turning in for the night.

Her dreams, however, were anything but peaceful.

The dream began with her and Rose walking down the aisle, just like it had done before, their soon to be husbands, standing at the altar, waiting. Despite how happy she felt, Emma felt as if the two were walking, but the aisle just kept getting longer and longer, like they were never going to reach their true loves. The dreamer then decides to pick up speed, reaching out to grab her friend's hand, only to feel cold and rough skin. She turns to see a shadowy man, whom she was holding hands with. She could see Rose being held by several other shadows, their hands over her mouth so she couldn't scream and one of them had a knife to her neck.

"Let her go!" Emma screamed, trying to free her hand from the sinister figure's.

However, the dark hand clamped around her wrist, squeezing so hard it would block her circulation. The young bride began to fight, using what strength she had to escape her aggressor. She punches and kicks the man, and even tries biting, but nothing works. It does not phase this seemingly inhuman person. The man's face was hidden under a wide-brimmed cap and she could see his white teeth underneath them. She tries screaming out for help, but the pews are empty. She turns to see where their fiancés are, but they too are being grabbed by shadow people. Tears are now burning her eyes, the shadow man begins to pull her away from her happily ever after and towards the exit, which is now nothing but a dark void. Emma fights with every fibre of her being to escape, shouting for help that was not coming. The mysterious figure then grabs her around the chest to get her out the door faster, she continues to holler for help, but there's nothing but an empty, dark church, no one to save her. She lets out one final scream before everything goes black and she hears: