Through the Windshield Glass

by Kristen Day

  “Why then?” I asked, “Why can’t I just do it next time he comes up here to see me.”

  Scarlett smiled at me like I was some kind of sweet imbecile, “It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding,” Scarlett said.

  Scarlett had a point there, “How am I supposed to do it then? I got inside his head once today and he clammed up right away.”

  “That’s where this comes in,” Scarlett said. She held up a bit of grass for me to smell, “Smells bring back memories, like the one of you marrying him in the park.”

  I nodded my head, “But what if he doesn’t remember the smell?”

  “We have a few more tricks planned,” Scarlett said.

  “Why does it have to be so close to me becoming his wife?” I asked.

  “You ask a lot of questions,” Scarlett said before answering, “He’ll probably be most vulnerable then. He’ll be anticipating the power he’ll get and when you hesitate it will make him antsy. It’s the best time. We also want you to show him this before you attempt anything.”

  Scarlett reached into the pocket of her jeans and handed opened her palm to show me what she was holding. There sat the ring Daman had given me in the park, inscription and all.

  “Where did you get this?” I demanded of Scarlett.

  She handed me both pieces of jewelry, “We had it made after you told us what happened to you in the hallway. We thought it might come in handy to have something that would force him to think of a memory where he would be almost helpless. That’s why I’m sewing the grass into your dress as well. It was all Michael’s idea.”

  “And what happens if I can’t get Daman into a memory and I have to actually marry him? Or what if he ends up killing me before I can do anything to him?”

  “Then we’ll think of something else, but for right now, this is the plan. So unless you have something better, just do your best to remember it and not mess it up,” Scarlett said.

  Who would've known Scarlett could be so outspoken. She went over to the old, foot-action sewing machine and began sending the fabric through it at an insane speed.

  “You should sleep,” Scarlett said over the thumping of the machine, “And next time they bring food you should probably eat it.”

  There was no room for argument; it was starting to get dark again and I was near collapsing point from lack of food and sleep.

  Leigh brought over a few bolts of fabric for us to rest our heads on and we fell asleep to the lulling beat of Scarlett’s sewing.

  When I woke up Scarlett was gone, but in her place a wedding gown. It was exactly like the one I had worn in the park with Daman. Even the beading was extremely similar. I had no idea how Scarlett had done it so quickly. That kind of intricacy should have taken her months and yet there it was after hours. It was inexplicable, at least until I realized she’d probably started making the dress as soon as I’d finished telling my story when I first arrived.

  Sun blazed in through the uncovered windows. My stomach jolted with fear. I had slept longer than I had meant to.

  “The wedding’s tomorrow,” I whispered to myself. Leigh was still sleeping peacefully; she deserved the rest, so I left her there and began pacing around the room.

  An hour or so later the door opened to reveal another demon carrying a tray of food.

  “What time is it?” I asked.

  “About half past noon,” the demon replied. I thanked him and instructed him just to leave the whole tray on the floor. He looked at me strangely, but did as he was told and left with a slight bow.

  I began devouring the food as soon as I was alone again, only just remembering to save half for Leigh. I especially enjoyed the pomegranates and made sure to wipe my red stained fingers on the white carpet.

  Leigh woke up not much later and ate the food with as much vigor as I had. We finally both sat back holding our stomachs.

  “I’m going to throw up,” Leigh moaned.

  “Make sure you hit the carpet,” I said which caused both of us to laugh and almost heave.

  “Where did Scarlett go?” Leigh asked.

  I shrugged my shoulders and yawned, “I don’t know, but she may not be back since my dress is done.”

  “You should try it on,” Leigh urged.

  “I can’t right now!” I said, “I’m so full I doubt it would fit, besides, I don’t want to wear that thing until I have to.”

  Before Leigh could respond the door slammed open. It was Daman looking extremely agitated.

  “What are you smiling about?” Daman barked at Leigh.

  “You’ll never know,” Leigh replied folding her arms across her chest.

  Daman rolled his eyes and fixed them on me, they were normal, his pupils were dilated, and he almost looked afraid, “The wedding has been moved up to tonight. You don’t mind do you?”

  I gaped but couldn’t come up with anything to say.

  “Good,” Daman said. He turned and left, the door slammed shut behind him without help.

  “What was wrong with him?” Leigh asked.

  “I don’t know, but it’s a good thing Scarlett finished my dress or he’d be in an even worse mood,” I replied.

  “If the wedding is tonight how is everyone else going to have time to get here?” Leigh asked.

  I was fighting to keep myself from panicking, “I don’t know, but if they’re not there I’ll just have to do it myself and hope it works.”

  “I’ll be there,” Leigh said, “I’ll help you.”

  “That’s good,” I replied, “I’m going to need all the help I can get.”

  I stuffed my right hand into my pocket where I had put the ring. It was cold and familiar. Just touching it brought back memories I had never wanted to think about again, I hoped it would do the same for Daman.

  Chapter Forty-six

  Within an hour my bare little room was teeming with activity. Demons brought in furniture and old, vulture-like women circled around me. They scrutinized every aspect of me before instructing me to change into a pink satin robe behind a divider that had been set up.

  One of the old women helped Leigh change into a dress that was rose red. It didn’t seem to be a color that Leigh found appetizing. She looked at herself in a full-length mirror that had been brought in and shuddered, “I look like I’m covered in blood,” she complained. I shook my head to rid myself of the image and instead tried to bring the mood up.

  “You look beautiful,” I told her.

  “So do you,” Leigh responded.

  “They haven’t done anything to me yet.”

  “I know,” Leigh said. Leigh flounced to one of the windows and sat looking out at the expanse of the world below her while I was preyed upon by old women armed with instruments of torture.

  My hair was pulled, curled and painfully pinned and sprayed to perfection. My scalp felt like it was barely attached to my skull and my forehead was stretched painfully.

  “Is there any way you can just leave it loose and curly?” I asked breathlessly, “Maybe just pin up one side?”

  The old women who had worked my hair into its current knot rolled their eyes, pursed their lips and clicked their tongues angrily, but eventually they began ripping pins out of my hair and softening the curls until I was satisfied with how it looked.

  More women came at my face with all sorts of makeup products. I fought the women down on the false eyelashes they attempted to glue to my eyelids. We all finally reached a happy medium, I was still wearing more makeup than I was comfortable with and three or four of the younger women were still menacingly wielding eyeliner pencils, but we had run out of time to argue.

  Leigh helped bring my dress over and gave me a quick hug before she ran back to the window.

  I closed my eyes as I stepped in and allowed the dress to be laced up around me. It was heavy and smelled strongly of grass, but it fit perfectly and when I looked in the mirror I was surprised to find myself looking at a woman.

  I had died a seventeen-year-old girl who had
no thoughts except for how she was going to spend her summer, but now I was looking at a woman, albeit a very new and inexperienced one, who was getting ready to save her new world. I wondered if my need for maturity had caused me to age slightly without me noticing. I had made it a habit to pretty well avoid mirrors so it was a definite possibility.

  “Wow,” I heard Leigh say from behind me, “I didn’t know it was possible for you to get any prettier.”

  Leigh’s face appeared in the mirror next to me. Her hair had been loosely French-braided and tied in a ribbon to match her dress. She was holding a white basket filled with white rose petals, and something that could only be my bouquet.

  “Thank you,” I said as I took the flowers from Leigh. The bouquet was made up of white anemones and red roses. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. I subconsciously rubbed my neck and hoped that I would not have to run from guards trying to behead me.

  The door opened again, but instead of Daman or a disguised old woman, Maria walked in. She was dressed in the same color as Leigh, but her dress was sleeveless and Grecian in design. The dress gathered just below her bust and fell into a loose skirt down to her ankles.

  “Leigh! Alice!” Maria shouted when she saw us. Her pronunciation of words had greatly improved and I was almost pushed to tears when my name sounded the same coming out of her mouth as it used to when we were alive.

  Leigh and I both raced to embrace Maria. It sent the old ladies around us into a flutter, they were worried about the dresses being ruined and hair being tangled, but we didn't care.

  “Alice, bad—man,” Maria stuttered.

  Leigh nodded, “Don’t worry, we have a plan. Alice is going to make everything better.”

  “No pressure,” I muttered to myself

  My heart was beating in my throat as the oldest of the women informed us that it was time to go. The wedding was supposed to begin at five so we only had minutes to get to the courtyard before all of our lives were on the line.

  “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Leigh asked, “I could do it for you.”

  Under normal circumstances I would have laughed at Leigh’s presumption that she could take my place in a marriage, but instead her selfless offer made me tear up, “No, it has to be me. I can do it, just make sure to keep smiling for me, okay?”

  Leigh nodded and grabbed my right hand . Together, we followed the old women through granite-floored halls and out to the courtyard where I was left in a white tent. It had been raining recently, the grass was cold and damp and the interior of the tent was slightly humid. I shivered as a chill breeze snuck under the flaps of the tent and flicked my hair against my neck.

  I pulled one of the anemones out of my bouquet and began anxiously pulling off the petals. My fingers were ice cold despite how frantically my heart was currently working. I felt confident my heart would give out before I even had to walk down the aisle.

  Petals fall like long lost hope,

  As the innocent face the gallows rope.

  "Those petals look happier than you do," a voice said from behind me.

  My heart skipped, I dropped my bouquet and turned around to face the man who would soon be my brother-in-law," Michael!"

  "You look beautiful, Alice," Michael said. I couldn't say the same about Michael, he looked horrible. It was easy to tell his nose had been broken, and that the resulting blood had been shoddily and quickly removed from his face. There were still bits of dried blood clinging to the end of Michael's nose and his upper lip was stained red.

  "What happened to you?" I whispered.

  "Daman's friends. They ambushed our camp after we found out you were missing," Michael said with an attempt at a smile, "We took out a couple before that one with the purple eyes froze us all again. I'd really like to have a go with him alone."

  "You and me both," I replied, "But I don't think that's going to happen. I guess we changed the plan after all. I'm not sure I like it any better but I'll survive, most likely."

  Michael did not think my lightheartedness was funny, "I'm going to get you out of this."

  "It's a little late for that," I whispered. None of it had seemed real until that point, but as I looked at the tent flaps I could just make out Leigh's shape waiting to scatter flowers on the aisle.

  "There's no getting me out of this one," I replied. I straightened Michael's tie. Michael　grabbed my hand and I finally looked into his eyes. He looked tired and terrified, at least that's what I got before he bent to kiss me for a second time. I turned my face and caught his kiss on my cheek.

  "What's wrong?" Michael asked.

  "I'm about to get married," I said. I turned away from him and picked up my bouquet from the ground. The flowers were wilted　and wet now, I straightened them and finally looked back to Michael.

  He looked dumbfounded and like I'd just slapped him in the face, "You're choosing him?" Michael asked.

  "No! I'm not choosing anything" I said quickly, "But this is hard enough. Don't make this harder for me."

  Michael nodded, "You're right," he said, "I just wish you weren't."

  "So do I," I admitted, "You should　go find a seat if you're going to watch."

  "Daman didn't tell you?"　Michael asked.

  "Tell me what?"

  "I'm supposed to escort you down the aisle," Michael said,　"Daman wanted me to be a part of the wedding."

  "How kind of him," I muttered.

  "Wasn't it?" Michael offered me his arm as the bridal march began to play outside the tent. I saw　Leigh's shadow begin to move down the aisle　and watched　as nonchalantly as I could while the flaps of the tent opened and Michael and I began to walk towards my future husband.

  Chapter Forty-seven

  The sound of hundreds of the kingdom's most important people rising greeted me as I exited the tent and was blinded by the brilliant sun.

  Michael’s grip tightened on my arm as we looked down the aisle and saw Daman standing there. He was smirking, but he still looked agitated and anxious. I slowed my pace ever so slightly to see what the reaction would be. Daman’s head instantly raised higher, his eyes narrowed until they were nearly shut, and he looked ready to kill. I pulled Michael up to my original speed again and we pressed on.

  The ring I was supposed to show Daman was tied to a ribbon on my bouquet and I felt it beat against my right thumb with every step I took.

  Tick-tock, tick-tock.

  Leigh scattered rose petals in my path and periodically looked back to make sure I was still following her. The aisle seemed to be miles long, and yet it took an impossibly short time to traverse. Before I was ready, Michael was letting go of my arm, pulling my veil down over my eyes and kissing my forehead.

  "I don't know if I can do this," I whispered quickly.

  "I know you can," Michael whispered back. He handed me off to Daman and took his place standing next to his brother.　Both of them looked princely, but there was only one I would actually choose to marry.

  I took a deep breath, discreetly slid the ring off the bouquet ribbon and handed the flowers to Leigh who then ran to hide behind Maria's skirt. Maria looked more terrified than Leigh, but she also looked more like herself than I had seen her since arriving in Beyond. She was standing upright, her makeup and hair had been done, and she looked more like royalty than I was about to become.

  The hair on the back of my neck rose the minute Daman touched me; I looked quickly at Michael and held his gaze for a moment before turning back to Daman. There was a fine film of sweat on Daman’s upper lip. His hair was done neatly, but hairs were starting to stick up out of the careful coiffeur and his mouth was twitching around his smile as though he were unsure if what to do with his teeth.

  The officiator of the ceremony looked extremely familiar, but I didn’t have time to think about who it was because Daman yanked my face back towards him and the ceremony began.

  Daman had opted to say his vows first and the whole congregation sat in anxious anticipation for him to begin, �
��I love you,” Daman said mechanically, “I cannot wait for our life to start together.”

  He hadn’t said the words with any kind of conviction, but his speech was still met with warm applause and a few longing sighs from some definitely female mouths. The officiator ran through the standard vows quickly and finally asked the big question.

  “Do you, King Alecsander, take Alice Beth Patterson to be your wife?” the officiator asked. Through my anxiety I noticed the words ‘lawfully wedded’ were omitted from the inquiry.

  “I do,” Daman said. He looked at me meaningfully before twitching his black eyes towards where Maria and Leigh were standing. It was obviously a threat, I hadn’t missed it, and Daman knew it.

  The officiator turned to me and asked for my vows, “I believe Alecs has said it all,” I said. I imagined dipping my tongue in sugar before speaking the words and it seemed to have the desired effect. I was even able to look doe-eyed and completely in love as I said them. Daman wasn’t fooled for a minute of course, but as we had been forced to hold hands I could feel him beginning to perspire. He was fighting every attempt of mine to bring on the memory, but he weakened ever so slightly when I smiled radiantly up at him.

  “Do you, Alice Beth Patterson, take King Alecsander to be your husband?”

  I licked my lips and looked quickly back to Michael, then to Leigh and Maria before replying, "I do."

  I heard Leigh gasp in surprise and begin crying. I knew she hadn't been expecting me to actually go through with the marriage. She had been hoping I would suddenly spring into action and slay Daman in front of the whole wedding party, but that wasn't the plan and it was too late to go back on it now. Even Daman looked surprised, but even more relieved.

  "You may now exchange the rings," the officiator said.

  Stephano handed me the ring for Daman and I slid it onto the appropriate finger. No one came forward to give Daman my ring so I took the chance to slip him　the one I'd been hiding.