The Bearing

6. The Wedding

I stare at my garish wedding dress in its shiny, silver box. It showed up on my doorstep early this morning. My house set off its alarm, thinking an intruder was about to invade my house, but when I checked the cameras, I just saw Gray placing two boxes at my door.

I lift it from the box, astonished at how light it is. Laying it on my bed, it appears slightly less flashy, but it's still covered in white beads and diamonds. And it sure is long. Half of it spills down from the bed. Looking at it slowly from top to bottom was easier than looking at it all at once, which made me even more terrified of being a bride. If looked at slowly, it was just like a regular dress, albeit decorated, right?

I can't just keep staring at it. I take my clothes off and slowly slip the delicate dress over my head, allowing it to consume me, along with my worries about the future.

It's not as garish as I thought. For the first time in my life, I feel some semblance of beauty. Staring at myself in the mirror, I look like a picture of elegance.

The wedding dress has long draping sleeves, to cover shoulders and extremities, and its high rounded neckline adds to the representation of innocence. The entire upper half, up to the waistline, is decorated with soft lace and white beads. Past my waist, the dress stretches out in a classic fairytale princess-style creating a puff of glittering diamonds around my entire lower body. The puff extends farther back to create a train reaching a few feet behind me. The dress illuminates the room and reflects light at every angle as I turn to examine it in its entirety.

Now, for the shoes. I open the second box, revealing two radiant high heels that appear to be made of glass. I heard of a story with slippers like these once, but I can't remember it. The glass is decorated with paisley designs carved into it. I take them out slowly. The shoes are also lighter than expected, or maybe I'm just strong. I wish.

Stepping into the shoes is the final piece of the puzzle. They aren't super comfortable, but they aren't impossible to walk in. I lift my dress slightly and pretend to be walking down the aisle. Good practice. The dress was meant to be lifted to see the tops of the shoes, which also effortlessly glimmer in the light.

Hopefully, I'm graceful enough to walk in it, or this spectacle will be for nothing. I know the dress is just to bedazzle the viewers at home and make them forget about the trial yesterday.

My phone starts ringing from afar. I carefully step into the hallway and into the dining room. The dress thrives in the luminescent house, lighting up with each step. Within a small pit at the bottom of my stomach, excitement stirs. It comes up into my chest, and I force it back down, remembering the whole reason for this wedding. None of this flashiness is to make me a lovely bride for myself. It's to show the audience that I am atoning for my sins.

The ringing continues from somewhere in my dining room. The problem with having a clear phone is struggling to find it. I look at the white dining table with only a vase of fake white roses on it, but to no avail.

On the kitchen counter, I see something vibrating. I head towards it, almost tripping over my dress. It's Gray. Of course. I pick it up.
"God, what took you so long, Leah?" His voice sounds just as happy and deep over the phone.

"Sorry, it's awfully hard to walk in this thing." I roll my eyes.

"Don't worry, darling. My house has an automatic phone built into it. You can answer a call anywhere in the house at any time. Our house. You like the sound of that?"

I don't reply. Do I like the sound of it? I vowed to always take care of myself, and now I can't do that. But would it be so bad? He's already done so much for me in such a short span of time, and it's the most help I've ever received. Obviously, I can't keep doing things alone. That's what got me arrested in the first place.