2

“He is gone” he said.

“What!”

“What do you… what do you mean he is gone” I stuttered.

“We can’t find him anywhere, we reached out to his parents and they can’t get in touch with him either and that only means”

“Don’t” I stopped my father before he could utter the next words. I didn’t want to believe what he was about to say. John would never do that to me, he would never abandon me on my wedding day, on our wedding day.

I took three steps backwards allowing everything to replay in my head, trying to see if I could put the old pieces together, maybe there was something that I missed. I tried so hard but I still couldn’t get anything. I was now a mess, I was looking like a mess and my whole wedding was a mess.

“My dear, maybe this is for the best” he added moving closer to me.

“Don’t say that Father, don’t you dare say that to me. I know that you may not like John but I love him”.

A thought struck into his head and I stared at him furiously.

“Did you do anything to him, please tell me now and I will forgive you?. Bring my Husband to me and I will let everything go” Peter, My father looked so shocked that he couldn’t utter a word.

I had gotten so delusional that I thought my father had something to do with the disappearance of my husband, a lot of things flashed through my head.

My head ached like crazy.

“What are you talking about, I would never do that to you. I may not like him I would not do anything to ruin the happiest day of your life” he replied.

“Then where is he?” I asked him gripping his hand tightly.

“Do you think something bad happened to him” just the thought of it made my heart ache more. Could my poor John be in danger, could that be the reason he couldn't make it to our wedding.

“Do you think he was kidnapped or laying in a ditch somewhere, do you think someone has hurt him” all sort of bad thoughts crept into my head and my father was already seeing me as a crazy bitch.

“Honey I think you need to calm down” he answered with no harm inflicted but there was no way I was going to calm down at a time like this.

My eyes widened as I stared at him, he realized he had made a mistake by what he said, his eyes turned into fear.

“Dont you dare tell me to calm down, I am a bride at a wedding with no groom. I have no idea where my groom is and I cannot come up with anything. There are several guests in that hall waiting for my wedding to start and I have got nothing. So don't you dare tell me to calm down Dad” I screamed at him causing the guests to look our way.

Christy, my mother had tried her best to keep the guests at bay but it was already four hours and nothing was happening. No one would be stupid enough to think that the wedding was going to happen. The looks of pity on their faces as they looked at me made me feel terrible. Each guest kept leaving one by one and I didn’t know if I should stop them or not.

“I am going to look for him”

I made a decision.

“What!, you don't even know where he might be” Peter tried to stop me.

“I don't care I will search the whole of Athens for him”

I pulled up my 2 pounds of white cotton dress and made my way to the entrance when I met John’s parents.They were dressed in casual clothes.

I reached out to grab Mrs Malachi but she pulled her hand away, I could boldly see a smirk on her face but I chosed to ignore it and be polite even though I wanted to scream at their faces demanding where their son was.

“Mr and Mrs Malachi, please where is John. It has been four hours and there is no sign of him” I asked, my hands shaking, I was about the hear the worst news of my life because nothing good could come from the family of a groom missing at his own wedding, who knew if John was in the hospital or probably dead.

“Well, John is gone. He has left the country” Mr Micheal reported.

I was as if I was struck by lightning as I stood in a daze, I couldn't comprehend what he had said.

“What?” I whispered.

“He left you” Mrs Malachi said.

My head felt light and I could see stars hovering around until I was met with this sudden darkness.

An hour later,

I open my eyes and was met with my mother’s face, my head was right on her lap while she sat on the bench.

“What happened?” I asked,

“You fainted”

“Where is John?” I asked hoping he would arrive.

The silence brought me back to reality, I sat back on the bench staring at my wedding dress, a dress that was once my dream, my bliss has now become my biggest nightmare.

Suddenly a taxi stopped right in front of me,

With no thoughts in my head than to get away from my wedding, I rushed towards it, pushing the passenger to the ground, I sat down hurriedly and slammed the door, half of my dress was still outside the car but I didn’t care.

“27 Broadway street and step on it” I ordered him.

He tried to argue with me but when he saw the mascara lines on my face indicating that I had been crying and the wedding dress, he sealed his mouth shut and stepped on it.

Looking at the mirror, I just realized that I was crying, I was too occupied with my thoughts that I didn’t know tears were streaming down my face.

“No, I can’t cry” I said to myself, it was my wedding day and i had made a promise not to cry.

The taxi arrived at the location and I ran towards the apartment by the left, Surprisingly it was locked, I began banging the door hoping that John would open the door.

Whatever reason he had, I was okay with it as long he was present and agreed to marry me.

“John open the door please, I know you are in there” I said.

“John Please, please tell me what I did wrong, you don’t need to hide from me like this.

After minutes of knocking, I gave up and sat down on the front porch, the wedding dress was now feeling heavy on my skin and my body was lighter. It was as if I had lost weight in a few hours.

Observing the tears at the ends of my dress, i knew I couldn’t sit down there for long so I began searching for ways to get in when I found an open window.

I squeezed my way into the house and ended up in the kitchen. It was sparkling clean like a new house should be. John had never been that clean.

“John” I called out climbing the stairs, I could hear echoes of my voice as I kept calling. The door to his room was open and I made my way in, everywhere was totally empty. His closet was empty, all his clothes were gone, the bed was missing. It was just a big Empty Room.

‘It was true’ I reasoned.

What Mr Malachi had said was true, JOHN WAS REALLY GONE.

I tried to stop the tears from flowing down my eyes but this was as far as I could do.

“How could he do this to me, how could he leave on our wedding day”

“What have I ever done to deserve this”

Not in my wildest dreams did I think that John would leave me on my wedding day, all I dreamed about was us living happily together but all that was shattered. I was broken, I could even pick up the pieces of myself on the floor because they were too heavy then my tears dropped and made them drown. I dropped to the ground crying.

IT WAS ALL OVER.

John had left me on our wedding day, I had thought that today was going to be my happy day, a day that would mark the beginning of my happiness, a day that I would always tell my kids about how I married the man of my dreams but rather it had turned into a NIGHTMARE, a nightmare that will haunt me forever.

The man I was madly in love with left me on my wedding day, it would have been okay if he had been dead or lying in a ditch somewhere but for him to leave me without any sign or reason whatsoever.

“It hurts”.