Finding Carrie

by C. E. Snyder

  “Okay,” she said.

  “Bye, my love,” he said.

  “Bye,” Carrie said. After pushing the end button on the phone, she closed the photo album she was looking at and put them both on the coffee table. She sighed to herself and looked around the room. She looked at every picture on the wall and settled on the wedding picture, the one in which Isaac was kissing her cheek, and the girls were pushing them closer. “I think I’ll watch the wedding video,” she said out loud. She got up off the couch and walked around the glass coffee table to the cupboard where they kept the movies. She glanced out the window and saw the rain pounding on the window. She walked over to it. She couldn’t hear the thunder, but she could see the lightning. Sighing, she turned away from the window and went back to the cupboard. While crouched down on the floor, she thumbed through the movies until she came to a video marked A match made in heaven: Isaac and Carrie’s wedding, December 24th. She pulled it out, and on the front it said: An Isaac Walsch Production. She smiled and shook her head. “He amazes me sometimes,” she said out loud. She took the DVD out of the case and shoved it in the player then went to sit on the couch. She sat and watched.

  It began with a shot of a door. It was a dark brown door with intricate carving. Suddenly, the door opened and snow blew in along with Carrie who had a suitcase rolling behind her. “Hi, Chuck,” she said, shivering. “Are you covering me tonight?”

  “Yes ma’am,” a voice said from behind the camera. Carrie rolled her suitcase over by the wall and slipped off her coat to lay it on top of the case.

  “Why are the doors closed?” she asked, walking back over to the camera and rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

  “He doesn’t want you to come in yet. He has been working all day,” Chuck said from behind the camera.

  “Does he know I’m here?” Carrie asked.

  “Yes, I told Jack, who is covering Isaac; he said he will be out in a minute.”

  “Do you know what he is doing? He wanted it to be a surprise,” Carrie said, looking at the man behind the camera and not at the camera. Before he could answer, the door to the auditorium opened slightly, and Isaac slipped out. Both Carrie and the camera turned to see. “Isaac,” Carrie said, throwing herself into his arms. They kissed each other for a while before the cameraman cleared his throat. They parted and wiped off their mouths as they looked at the camera.

  “How was Vegas?” Isaac asked, still holding Carrie in his arms.

  “Vegas,” she said, leaning her head into his neck. “You know—all lights and money. Oh, by the way, I got married while I was there,” she said, smiling. She lifted her head to look at his face.

  “Oh really? Anyone I know?” he asked, smiling down at her.

  “I think it was my agent this time,” she said, giggling.

  “Yes, I think I heard that one,” Isaac said. His smile widened.

  “So, can I see the room now?” Carrie asked biting her lower lip.

  “Are you sure you want to, being already married and all?” She smacked him in the chest and pushed him away. “All right, all right. I’ll show you, if you insist.”

  “Yes, I insist,” she said, nodding her head.

  “All right, close your eyes,” he said, reaching for the door handles. She put her hands up to her eyes to cover them, and Isaac pushed open the doors. He went around her and pushed her slightly into the room. “Now open them.” She opened her eyes and she grasped. The room had white cloths draped everywhere, wrapped around the columns and draped from column to column. The columns also had white Christmas lights wrapped around and draped on them. Up the aisle, he had flowers and candlesticks with white candles lit in them on every pew. The pews also had white cloth draped between them so the guests would have to go around to be seated. Carrie walked up to the front of the church. There it was filled with roses and candles were lit everywhere. She turned around in a circle with her hands clasped together and up next to her heart.

  “It looks just how I dreamt it, Isaac. It’s beautiful,” she said, then ran and jumped into his arms.

  “It is just how I dreamt of it too,” Isaac said. Then the video jumped to a time by the beach. You could hear Isaac talking to Carrie but couldn’t see them.

  “Come over here, sweetheart,” Isaac’s voice said. Then Carrie got into the line of the camera. She was wearing a long, white beach cover-up dress. It was night, and the light from the beach made her dress look transparent. You could see the silhouette of her legs, as the wind blew slightly it moved her dress. Her hair looked like she had been swimming and it was dried in the wind. Suddenly, Isaac came into the line of the camera, and he was playing a guitar. He had on a white beach shirt and he was wearing khaki shorts.

  “What are you doing?” Carrie asked as she smiled and watched Isaac. He walked up to her playing the guitar. He bent down on one knee and he started to sing. Carrie put her hand over her mouth. In the background of the video, you she could hear Amy and Dave talking.

  “I hope she says yes,” Dave said.

  “She will,” Amy said, sure of herself. Then you could hear what Isaac was singing. As she watched the video, Carrie recognized the song Isaac was singing. Tears started to burn behind her eyes.

  “You write the words to my song, and I’ll sing them. You write the words to my play, and I’ll say them. You write the words to my heart, and I’ll love them. You write the words to my soul, and I’ll keep them. You marry me, and I’ll be happy. Stay with me, always true. So tell now, if you will, and I’ll love you.” He stopped singing and pushed the guitar aside and pulled something out of his pocket. He lifted it up so Carrie could see it. “Will you marry me?” Carrie didn’t say a word. She just fell forward into Isaac’s arms. He held her there for a minute. Her knees were about a foot off the ground. In the background, you could hear Amy and Dave were talking again.

  “Did she answer him?” Dave asked.

  “I don’t know. I didn’t hear anything,” Amy said. Then Isaac said something.

  “So? Will you?” he asked.

  Carrie lifted her head up and screamed. “Yes!”

  “She said yes,” Amy said from the background.

  “Thank God,” Dave said. Just after he said that, the video jumped to Isaac standing in the front of the church, and he was greeting people who were walking in. He was dressed in a tux.

  “Are you nervous?” a voice behind the camera said.

  “Oh yeah,” Isaac said, smiling and nodding slowly. Then, a woman stopped in front of him and gave him a hug.

  “Congratulations, Isaac. I’m so happy for the two of you,” the woman said.

  “Thank you, Chrissie,” Isaac said to the woman.

  “Has she hurt herself yet today?” Chrissie asked, laughing softly.

  “Not that I know of,” Isaac said laughing. Then the video changed again. It was in a room full of women. Carrie came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her hand. As she watched the video, she looked down at her hand. That must have been when she cut her arm, she thought to herself.

  “What did you do?” a woman she recognized as her mother said.

  “Oh, I cut myself. I dropped something between the wall and the sink, and I scraped it on a nail,” Carrie said, holding her arm up so her mother could examine it. “I’ll call Chrissie and see if she is here yet.”

  “I am so glad you have a friend that is a doctor. I don’t know why you’re always getting hurt. You always have, even when you were a baby,” her mother said, sitting back down on the chair as Carrie dialed the phone. The scene switched back to Isaac and Chrissie in the front. Chrissie dug in her purse to find her ringing cell phone.

  “Oh, it’s Carrie.” She stepped away, but Isaac just went with her. “Hello, Carrie,” she answered the phone. The scene switched to Carrie.

  “Hi, Chrissie, are you here yet?” Carrie asked.

  “Yes, I’m just in the front. I was talking to Isaac.”

  “Oh, don’t say a word to him. I don’
t need him coming in here, but I cut my arm. I might need stitches,” Carrie said. She ducked her head and walked toward the door.

  “I’ll get my bag, and I’ll be right there.” She hung up the phone and walked out the door. It switched back to Carrie, who was now sitting on the chair that her mother had been in. She was wearing a silk blue bathrobe. Her hair was all pinned up, and she had her makeup on. There was a knock at the door. Amy was there to answer it.

  “If Isaac’s out there, he can’t come in,” a voice said that Carrie didn’t recognize from the video. Amy opened the door a crack and looked out.

  “It’s Chrissie.” She let her in and poked her head out to make sure no one was with her. Chrissie walked over to Carrie and Carrie lifted the towel off her arm so she could look at it.

  “Carrie, how do you always get hurt? I swear, if I charged you for all the times I’ve had to stitch you up, I would have a vacation home in Italy.” Carrie just giggled at her.

  “You should have been around when she was a baby,” her mother said. Chrissie looked up and laughed. There was another knock at the door, and it opened a little. Amy ran over to the door.

  “Isaac, you can’t come in here,” Amy said.

  “I have to make sure she is okay,” Isaac said. Carrie jumped up and ran over to the door.

  “I’m fine, Isaac. You shouldn’t be here,” she said.

  “I just want to make sure,” Isaac said. Sighing, Carrie stuck her arm with the cut out the door. Isaac grabbed it and pulled it farther out.

  “Honey,” Carrie said as she was yanked closer to the door. Carrie felt him kiss her hand. He let go when he was satisfied that it wasn’t serious.

  “All right, I’ll wait for you,” he said reluctantly.

  “I can’t wait,” she said; then she shut the door.

  Next, the scene changed, and it was Carrie walking down the aisle. She was on the arm of her father. She was wearing the off-white dress. It looked roman style with black ribbon wrapped around the front in an X. It fell from her waist to the floor. Her hair had a black ribbon wrapped around her head and around the curls that fell from the bun she had. She reached Isaac. Her father kissed her on the cheek and put her hand in Isaac’s, who then kissed it and slid it into the crook of his elbow. The scene changed and they were reciting things that they wanted to say to each other. Carrie went first.

  “Do you remember when we took a walk in the park? I think it was our third date.” Isaac nodded as he remembered, she continued. “It started to rain. I mean it poured.” Carrie and Isaac nodded and smiled at each other. “You picked me up and ran to the nearest gazebo. I realized that I was laughing. I hadn’t laughed for years up till then. I turned around to look at you, and you kissed me. That was our first kiss, Isaac.” He smiled again. “And that was also the moment I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life with you.” She took a deep breath and suppressed a sob. “If I had ten lifetimes with moments like that, it wouldn’t be enough time. Aishite imasu, Isaac, today, tomorrow and forever.” She lifted her hand and caught a tear that was falling from his eye. He whispered, “I love you,” under his breath as the priest told Isaac to go ahead with what he wanted to say. He exhaled, blowing his lips out as he began.

  “When we decided to write something to tell each other on our wedding day, I honestly thought you were going to write it for me.” The crowd laughed as Carrie lifted her chin and grinned. “But you said you couldn’t write how I felt about you. I was like ‘you’re the writer here not me’, and you told me to suck it up and write something.” The crowd laughed again. “So, I thought about it, and I came up with our first camping trip. I remembered something you told me that you were afraid of, and this is what I came up with.” He inhaled and exhaled slowly before he continued. “Carrie, you once told me that you were afraid of growing old. You told me that to grow old means to be alone, and it frightens you. But I want you to grow old, Carrie. I want you to grow old with me. I want to watch the wrinkles form on your face and every strand of your hair turn white, because, to me, you would be beautiful even when you are all wrinkled and gray. You do not have to fear being alone, my beloved Carrie, because I shall be with you. Grow old with me. I promise to love you faithfully, to care for you and to cherish you, to provide you with support and everything that you need, to respect and honor you! All my days left to me, I vow to spend them all loving you.” On camera and watching the video, Carrie was crying. Carrie, who couldn’t remember this moment, was touched more than anything. She couldn’t believe that this man was the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with. If she never got her memory back, she would make new ones with this one man. The scene switched to Isaac saying something to the girls. The girls walked forward and stood in front of Isaac as Carrie backed up them to give room. Isaac had something in his hand.

  “Sabrina, will you accept my being your father?” Isaac asked to Sabrina.

  “Hai, chi chi.” She said ‘yes, father’ in Japanese, which Carrie didn’t recognize. She thought to ask Isaac later what Sabrina had said. Isaac on the screen was dumbfounded that Sabrina spoke in Japanese. His mouth hung open for a moment, then he looked over to Carrie as tears streamed down his face. Carrie smiled and nodded once. He put a necklace around Sabrina’s neck, and he kissed her on the cheek. The camera zoomed in to show a guitar pendant. He turned to Sierra while Sabrina stepped back to where she was standing before.

  “Sierra, will you accept my being your father.”

  “Hai, chi chi,” she answered. More tears ran down his face as he put a necklace around her neck and kissed her on the cheek. The camera zoomed into show a smiling mask. She went back to where she was standing before, and Isaac returned to Carrie. He wiped at his face with the back of his hand then joined hands with Carrie, and the priest went on.

  “Do you, Carrie Ann, take Isaac Anthony Walsch to be your lawfully wedded husband?” he asked Carrie.

  She took a deep breath and said, “Kokoro Kara asishite imasu.” That meant ‘with all my heart’ in Japanese. Watching the video, Carrie didn’t know what she just said. On screen, tears streamed down her face and Isaac’s as well. The priest turned to Isaac.

  “Do you, Isaac Anthony, take Carrie Ann to be your lawfully wedded wife?” He asked. Now, Isaac didn’t plan to speak Japanese at his wedding, but since everyone else was speaking it he decided to speak it as well.

  “Kokoro Kara Aishite imasu,” he answered. You could tell that he was itching to kiss her. He was hoping up and down on his feet, and he was biting down on his lip.

  “I now have the great pleasure to pronounce you husband and wife.” Before he said it, Carrie jumped into Isaac arms and kissed him. “Well, I guess you can continue kissing your bride,” the priest said, and the crowd laughed.

  The video changed again, and it was at the reception. The DJ announced “and now, for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Walsch.” Carrie and Isaac walked through the door, hand in hand, as the music started to play. They walked out to the dance floor. Carrie recognized the song as the song they had danced to just the other day. As they went in close to dance, out of nowhere, the lights went out.

  Chapter 20

  Carrie sat for a minute in the dark. She slumped down in the couch and rested her head on the back. She had her eyes open when the lightning flashed. No one was in the room with her. It was silent. The only thing she could hear was the sound of her own breathing. The lightning flashed again. Still nothing. She swung around and put her head on the armrest. She was calm, and she decided that she would just sleep there until the lights came back on or until Isaac came home. She heard what she thought was the door opening and closing. She lifted her head and looked toward the door. The lightning flashed again. This time there was a man standing in front of the door.

  She stood straight up, and her heart started pounding in her chest. She raised her arms just in case she needed to protect herself. Her breathing changed, and she was gasping, almost hyperventilating. The lightning flas
hed again, and this time, he was standing right in front of her. She recognized him from that morning at the recital. He smelled awful, and he was breathing deep with hatred and a snarl on his face. She wanted to scream but all that came out was a whimper. She put her hands over her mouth. She didn’t hear anything; she couldn’t see anything. The lightning flashed again, and he was gone.

  “Isaac,” she said under her breath. It was all she could think of. She needed him, and he was gone. Why didn’t she go with him when he wanted her to? She looked around in the pitch black, trying to see where the man was.

  She felt the blow. It was hard on her back. It knocked her air out of her lungs. She fell forward, and she fell hard. She went right through the glass coffee table. She fell in at an angle so that her face went through glass and hit the leg of the table hard. She lifted her head and pressed her hand on her head.

  She struggled to her feet. She could feel the blood pouring out of her head. She had glass in her arm. When she reached her feet, her legs were wobbly and she was lightheaded. She had her eyes closed as she went forward; she ran into the wall. With her hands on the wall, she opened her left eye and looked around. The lightning flashed, and the man was walking toward her.

  She ran through the kitchen and into the doorway of the hall toward the bedrooms. She looked back again, and he was there when the lightning flashed. She went into the hallway and tripped. She fell over, and she felt hot blood pouring down her face. She got back up and tried to run forward, but she ran into the wall. Sliding across the wall, she felt her way toward her bedroom, knocking pictures off the wall as she went.

  She felt the doorway and turned around. Prying one eye open, she looked back, and the lightning flashed. He was standing at the end of the hall, staring at her. She watched as his shoulders heaved up and down. She froze and thought about Isaac and the girls. She was sure she was going to die at the hands of this man. She didn’t know who he was, but he wanted her dead.