Somebody Else's Nightmare

By: Opal Lin

I tried my best to hide it. I really did. But the bags under my eyes showed my lack of sleep from the night before. I even took three pills of Valium and I still managed to toss and turn the whole night for eight hours straight. I shuddered; I couldn’t fall asleep now. I just couldn’t. But then again, I haven’t had much sleep the night before. Five minutes won’t kill me. It won’t.
“Isabella!” Rose Bendel snapped.
My eyes flew right open.
Rose sighed dramatically. “You know, I would’ve charged you thousands of dollars worth for doing your hair and make-up but since you’re my best friend and it is your wedding and I’m the maid of honor, I’ll let it slide,” she teased.
I smiled then frowned once I saw my reflection. “Rose? Could you put apply more concealer to mask my dark circles?”
Rose gave me a disapproving look and pouted, “You look beautiful.”
I wasn’t buying it so she quickly added, “And today’s going to be just perfect.”
“You think?” I asked, sounding hopeful.
“Of course,” Rose smiled back at me. “What could possibly go wrong?”
My parents’ mistakes, I mused. My parents’ mistakes. I rubbed my temples slowly as I allowed myself to flashback to the day of my parents’ wedding – second wedding. I remembered
the fire – all those flames. I gritted my teeth and stared outside the window to distract myself from the ongoing reminisce. Outside, I saw a passerby enjoying the late summer breeze. I looked at him longingly, wishing for a slight moment that I was him. But no, today was the day of my wedding. I couldn’t afford to lose half my guests in the flame like my parents did. I shook my head and gripped the chair tightly to stop me from digging my fingernails into my flesh again.
- - - - - - - - - -
Rose placed the heavy gown on the floor so that I could step inside. I felt a sudden shrill of excitement and shivered with joy. Rose carefully pulled up the gown and started to button the buttons on the back of my dress. While buttoning the third button from the bottom, Rose froze.
“Rose?” I tapped my heels impatiently, “we don’t have much time. Could you hurry up and button all my buttons, like, now?”
Seeing that Rose wasn’t going to make any further movements, I twirled around and I exhaled deeply. Ping!
“What in the world?” I wondered out loud.
Rose’s jaw dropped in horror. I turned around to see a small crack on the mirror and I looked down to see a white button – the exact button from my gown. At that moment, I felt sick. I then realized why Rose was turning even paler. My gown won’t fit me. It won’t –
“Bella darling,” a voice called out. “The bridesmaids are here to get you!”
- - - - - - - - - -
The church was decorated entirely with white and gold. Just like I have always dreamed of. I was busy admiring the transformation of the church to notice that one of my bridesmaids had shoved a bouquet into my hands. After a minute later of admiring, I looked down to examine the bouquet of white tulips. My lips started to tremble and before I knew it, I was barking at my bridesmaid in the middle of the church.
“I said I wanted white lilies not white tulips. Do you ever listen?” I demanded.
“I-I’m sorry, Isabella but the store ran out of–”
“Don’t,” I said, closing my eyes and lifting up my left hand. Right now, I was determined to walk down the aisle with my head held high, say my vow before any more mistakes were made. One was enough. I threw my tulip bouquet onto the floor and started to stomp on it. There was an uneasy silence and I saw that every guest had turned around to watch me with idle curiosity. I plastered on a smile to hide my boiling humiliation.
I quickly plucked the lily that was pinned to my hair and held it with both my hands to replace it with my ruined bouquet. I sighed. This was not good. I made up my mind to pace down the aisle but a cold hand gripped on my shoulder before I had a chance.
“Isabella!” Rose hissed, “Your gown is ruined. You can’t walk down the aisle with half of your back exposed!”
“What other choice do I have?” I hissed back and I hurried down the aisle with the consequence of tripping over my 5-inches heels. Landon and the priest quickly rushed to my side to help me get up.
“I’m fine, I’m fine!” I yelped, shrugging off their helping hands.
The priest stared at me in disgust but I didn’t feel ashamed, I only glared back.
“Just start the ceremony already,” I clenched through my teeth.
The priest then cleared his throat and began the ceremony, “Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this company, to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony…”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sweat started to form and I was getting impatient. In the corner of my eyes, instead of seeing Landon’s beautiful face giving me a disapproving look, I saw him looking directly at Rose. My eyes darted back and forth between them. I saw Rose smiling back. My nose flared. Is my perfect Landon cheating on me? Maybe he wasn’t so perfect after all. Nobody is. Except me.
“Isabella Stanzini, will you take Landon Chandler to be your husband, your partner in life and your one true love? Will you cherish his friendship and love him today, tomorrow and forever? Will you trust and honor him, laugh with him and cry with him? Will you be faithful through good times and bad, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?”
“I… won’t,” I said, emphasizing the word “won’t.”
“What?” Landon blurted, dropping my hands.
“Landon, Rose,” I addressed them sweetly, “is there anything you would like to tell me?”
“What are you talking about?” Landon’s eyebrow knitted in concern.
“I saw you and Rose giving each other secret smiles just now,” I accused him. “What was that all about then if you’re not cheating on me?”
Landon laughed at me but did not deny. Rose stepped forward and offered, “I can explain.”
She turned around and faced me, making sure that her back was to the guests. “Bella, Bella, Bella,” she shook her blond locks. “Always one step ahead of everyone else. You just have to always be the best in everything don’t you? You just had to have everything better than your best friend – me. But now, guess what? I’m one step ahead of you because now I have something that you don’t have.”
I stopped staring at my cuticles to look at her straight in the eye, “what?”
She smiled wickedly at Landon and whispered, “I’m already two months pregnant with Landon’s child.”
“What?” I screeched, alarming all the guests.
“How do you like that now, Isabella?” Rose challenged. “I’m finally a step in front of you. Seven months from now, I’m going to be a mother the child that’s growing inside of me. What about you? Seven months from now is a long time. By then, you could be a jail arrested for drunk driving. Or perhaps a mental rehab facility? Because that’s where you, and the rest of your family belongs. You can try to hide it Bella, but we all know your family has a history of psychos.”
“Just shut up already!” I was losing it and I could feel it. The temper was burning hotter and hotter each and every growing second, “now it’s personal.” I was about to lunge towards Rose when my bridesmaids grabbed both my arms and legs.
“Isabella!” Apparently, they too, were aware of my anger issues.
“You need to calm down,” one of the bridesmaids whispered. “You know that you’re making a scene, right?”
I stopped throwing my current tantrum to look at my guests. They fell silent with fear in their eyes. I then realized I had to make a decision: to calm down. I smoothed my gown and my now messy hair, and asked the bridesmaids politely to let me go. They hesitated but seeing now that I was perfectly calm, they agreed.
I kicked off my heels and walked barefoot towards Landon and Rose with an apologetic look wiped across my entire face.
“Landon, Rose,” I addressed them again. “I apologize for my reckless behavior. To express how deeply sorry I really am, I am going to call off this wedding.”
“I told you she’d come to her senses,” Rose muttered to a now pale looking Landon.
“I did come to my senses,” I agreed. “Have a pleasant day everyone.”
I made my way over to the backdoor and looked back to catch a glimpse of everyone. A last second decision was made and I made a sharp turn to head towards a table full with candles. With a flick of my wrist, I knocked down half a dozen of the candles, causing the table to catch fire. I stood mindlessly in the middle of the church, barely glancing at the fleeing of the guests. I smiled to myself, admiring the growing of the dancing flames alone in the dark.
I was no longer the girl who was afraid of imperfection; everything was perfect because now, it was not my nightmare – it was somebody else’s.