The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

‘Til Death Do Us Part
by Rie Sheridan Rose

It was supposed to be my wedding day. We had hired a grand ballroom for the reception—floor-to-ceiling windows; a cut-glass chandelier; a view to die for—everything perfect.

The night before the wedding, Jimmy said he wasn’t feeling well, and went to bed early so that he could rest. I didn’t think much of it. He’s always been so sensitive. I thought he might just want to be alone one last time—before we were together for life.

I didn’t sleep much myself. Nerves, I guess. I don’t know.

I got up as soon as I could get away with and looked at my dress for an hour. It was so beautiful. Then I slipped into sweats and went to check on Jimmy—not to see him, of course, that would be bad luck—but to check if he felt better.

A squad of med-techs in hazmat gear were coming out of his room with a body bag.

I couldn’t breathe.

Then I turned and ran. Ran back to my room, with the divine dress spread out across a chair. My face was wet with tears as I struggled into it alone.

I couldn’t reach all the buttons up the back, but it didn’t matter. Life without Jimmy would be no life. It was my wedding day.

Running up the hotel stairs to the ballroom left me out of breath and shaking, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to let him get away on a technicality. I opened the window at the end of the ballroom and hurled myself out of it to the flagstones far below.

‘Til death do us part…can’t apply if we’re both dead, now can it?

Fiction © Copyright Rie Sheridan Rose
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Author Rie Sheridan Rose:

Skellyman

“I have always preferred the supernatural in tales of horror, the knot between life and death. Rie Sheridan Rose’s Skellyman is cool and creepy. Her first horror novel is a chilling read.” — Charlee Jacob – Stoker winner, Best novel, “Dread in the Beast”

Brenda Barnett is trying to cope with raising her four-year-old daughter all alone after an accident tore her family in half. As she and Daisy go for a much-needed treat, the little girl spots a Skellyman on the corner.

This pivotal encounter leads to a wave of mounting terror as Brenda’s life begins to come undone around her. Who is the Skellyman? Why does he keep appearing? Can the sympathetic policeman Brenda turns to stop the madness before it is too late?

And why does Daisy insist that her dead brother is trying to tell them something important?

Available on Amazon!