Runaway Bride

Chapter 1: Beautiful day... Beautiful Bride

  Tom heard the sobbing before he saw her. He'd been leaning against a telephone pole with a smoke near the old church. He knew that being so close to his old home town was a dangerous risk but he had needed to take that chance. His sister had given birth to his first niece and nephew. He had just needed to come.

It was a day like no other, one that could have only been described as something from a fairy tale though this was certainly not one. The sky as clear a blue as any he'd ever seen and there was a very very thin layer of frost on the crisp brown and red leaves, the sun shining brilliantly over head. With the conditions as they were, it begged him to question when he first heard it... who could be sad on a day like this out of any other?

As he looked up and searched for the despairing being, he found himself looking beyond the road to the alley behind the old Mosses' church. He made his way slowly behind it to see a young woman crying softly as she sat on an old rocking chair. But she was not dressed for a funeral. Just the opposite, instead of being clad in black, she wore...white.

It appeared as though she'd been in the middle of dressing for she was not wearing her veil yet and her black hair was trailing down in her hand covered face as she shook with her sobs. Her shoes where knee high, killer length heels and lace up, her dress no doubt designer... and one he recognized which said a lot. Being partial to baggy jeans, he very rarely opened Vogue up... But he had known enough brides to recognize a Vera Wang design... and this one appeared custom made. Against his better judgement, Tom put a hand on her shoulder.

With a gasp, she looked up and despite the alarm and fear, her face left him reeling. Her lips were pale but full and her eyes were a gorgeous amber brown, her eyeshadow heavy and dark but running from her tears. Her thin nose was a little pointed and her angular jaw seemed a bit more masculine then it should have been, but these irregularities didn't make her look any less beautiful. On the contrary, they seemed to accent her strong features.

Shaking off the feeling of wanting to selfishly steal her away, Tom knelt down in front of her, taking her thin and delicate hands in his, looking at her in worry. "Are you alright?" he asked, only to be rewarded with a sad shake of her head.

"I... I'm suppose to be married today..." she murmured, her voice heavy with a thick German accent as she spoke and then laughed humorlessly. "Obviously huh? I'm such ein Hohlkopf..."

At the sound of his home language, Tom gladly switched to German, welcoming the familier feeling of rolled 'r's on his tongue as he spoke. 'Shh, shh... Hey, you are not an airhead you hear me? Something's just obviously upset you... What is it? What's wrong? Did something happen?"

Visually relieved by the German, the young lady nodded enthusiastically, tears still streaming black down her cheeks. "Yes! I don't... I don't love my fiancee... and I do not wish to marry him!" At this, Tom was taken aback. He supposed he should have expected that. If he had this young girl on his arm, he'd never let her go... although that may have just been an instinct imbedded into him from his... former career. Despite this, he was still a bit surprised that she didn't just say 'no'.

"Hey, it's gonna be ok... Why don't you just runaway? People run all the time from their wedding."She shook her head sadly, fear flickering in her beautiful brown eyes so alike his own and leaving the cornrowed man bit puzzled.

"You don't... you don't know him. He would come after me. He only loves my face and not me. He doesn't want a wife. He wants a pretty puppet to show off when the clients come for dinner. He wants a trophy... If I leave, I'll be worse off then I was before..."

At that, Tom hesitated, his tongue playing with his lip ring before he made a decision he'd find himself first regretting, then thanking god he made it.

"Then runaway with me..."