Dead by 24: An Autobiography

Wedding Day

The day had finally come. The day I was going to marry my best friend. I was an emotional wreck. I was so unbelievably nervous. I was ready, but I was nervous. I had my dress on, but something was off. Until the last person I saw walked through my door.

"Nathan? Is that you?" I ran over to him and hugged him as tight as I could. "How in the world did you find me?"

"Hey sis. And believe me, it wasn't easy. But I'm a cop now, so finding people is kind of my job. Then I saw in the paper you were getting married today, and I couldn't let my baby sister walk down the aisle on her own, now could I?"

Thankfully I hadn't done my makeup yet, because I started bawling like a baby in my brother's arms. The smell of diesel on his leather jacket. That's it. That's what I was missing.

"Hey. Can I borrow your jacket really quickly?" He took it off, with a very confused look on his face. I put it on, and turned to look in the mirror.

"Perfect. Do you think I could wear it for my wedding?" He had that shy smile on his face that I remembered from when we were kids.

"Of course. You look better in it than I do anyway." We both laughed, and walked out the door so I could go get married.

The music started, and my heart started racing. I was getting ready to sign my life over to my best friend. My brother walked to the left side of me, and I linked my arm in his. He looked nice all dressed up. Black shirt, black tie, and of course black jeans and black combat boots. I also had my combat boots, but my dress was so long, you couldn't see them. We started walking down our makeshift aisle, which was a pink carpet leading down to our preacher. My legs were shaking, and honestly I'm surprised I even made it. Nathan kissed my cheek and walked behind me to stand. Next, came Amara's two sisters, Sierra with her husband, and Kylie with her, I'm guessing, boyfriend. And then, the vision I will see for the rest of my life, popped into view. Amara. Her long, beautiful hair curled, half tied up with little sunflowers popped into it. Her long, pink dress, with a heart shaped neckline, bedazzled with pink rhinestones. The skirt and train were a light pastel pink and they flowed beautifully. Everything just fit her perfectly. I could feel the tears flowing down my cheeks. Bobby was walking her down the aisle in a pale yellow dress that went down to above her knees, with light pink rhinestones decorating the torso of the dress. We said our vows, had our first kiss as a married couple as the sun set, and we went back down the aisle as a freshly married couple. I was so unbelievably happy. I had no worries in the world. We were off to Japan for our honeymoon.

We were in Japan for a month, we saw the Studio Ghibli Museum in Tokyo, a Cat Café, and a Maid Café. We also went to a little ramen shop. It was absolutely beautiful. I enjoyed our stay there, and I know Amara did. She had wanted to go for years. In fact, she drug me everywhere we went. I had never been to Japan, never even had any care to go, but when she was talking about it on the plane ride there, it was like I had been waiting to go my entire life. I never wanted to leave.

We walked into our apartment and I forgot how beautiful it was. Though I didn't remember all the gifts sitting on and around the table.

"Where did these come from?" I turned to my new wife.

"I think those are all the gifts from the wedding."

Wow. I didn't realize we had so many friends, but I'm glad we did. We were looking for a house and we were going to need furniture for it. We weren't sure where we were gonna live, but we were going to go somewhere.
My brother had stayed and watched after the place and Fudge, but left the day we were coming home, he left back to New York. However he did leave a nice note:

"Dear Oren:

I'm sorry to leave before y'all got home. But I was out of vacation days. I was lucky I even got the month off to watch your apartment. I left my number by the phone. Make sure you put it in your phone and keep in touch. I'm glad Amara makes you happy, little sis. After the crap you went through (she told me while on the phone), you deserve to be happy. I'm sorry about the little one. I'm sure she would've looked just like you. Anyway, it was good to see you again.

Talk to you later, kiddo. I love you.

-Nathan

I loved my brother dearly, I did. But I never called him. I couldn't bring myself to. That would be the last time I talked to him.

"Who is that from?" Amara walked up next to me with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth.

"My brother. He was leaving his number." I handed her the note and let her read it. I kissed her forehead and walked to the bathroom to start getting ready for bed. I took a shower and washed the grossness from the plane off, brushed my teeth, and threw my hair up into a bun. I had changed into my pajamas when I got out, so I was all ready for bed. That night, it felt like nothing could go wrong, whatsoever.