Do You Part

You're only halfway done, but you know good and well that you look fabulous.

Traditionally, a woman in this situation would have her trusted coven of sisters join her in the preparations, but you have no one. Not a single person would consent to this after learning about the anticipated result. If you had kept all crucial information confidential, you might have had at least one sister by your side. Alas, you must curl your own hair and polish your own silver.

Certainly, you will not spend the evening alone. After all, your dear friend Jack, from the depths of the friend zone, has the muscles and balls to transport the most crucial detail. He doesn't even know what you're planning to do; you only told him that you had unfinished business. To be honest, he's awful at pep talk, and he's only good for carrying cargo. Sure, he could make sure that the important hair accessory is decorating your hair correctly, but he also needs to stand guard. After all, your disappointed family and friends forbid you from completing your task. You may be breathing at a much better pace than most women on a day like this, but you're dead to everyone else. "Clara, if Lionel means that much to you, then go to him rather than have him come to you," your grandmother said with the coldest look in her eyes. And thus ended that familiar bond.

The watch that once belonged to Lionel informs you that you have about thirty minutes until the ceremony should end. The beauty that you are takes another minute to flaunt in front of the mirror. You had worn the white dress in the play in which you met him for the first time, and they cover the burns on your back. Your curls are as timeless as your love for him. Those lips are the shade of poisoned wine, and those green eyes could kill with one glance. A diamond ring on your finger glistens in your reflection. Your navy blue shoes peek out from under your dress. And finally, you secure the veil made from an old tablecloth in your hair.

Surrounded by a dark sense of peacefulness, a silver candelabra lights your path from the bridal suite to the church. The bare branches of the trees seemed to wave at you, offering their best wishes. Not a single bird or cricket sings to fill the air. This is the kind of life that you've pictured with Lionel, and he was just in love with the idea. A quaint little house in the woods, without a care in the world.

You enjoy the silence, only for it to shatter as Jack bolts out of the church.

"Hurry up, Clara!" he bellows. "It's almost midnight!"

"Quiet!" you whisper loudly. "We might not be alone, and I have about thirty minutes!"

"Five," he whispered back. "You have five."

Your heart shatters as you look at Lionel's watch on your wrist. How could you forget all the times you had told him to reset his watch? Despite his charm, he was always dragging behind. Knowing this is your only chance, you gather up your skirt and sprint towards the church that no one had used in years.

Five minutes is hardly enough for this ceremony, but you breathe as Jack walks you down the aisle. He thinks that you don't notice him admiring you, but that corner of your eye is sharp. The two of you reach the casket that you had requested for him to deliver all the way to the church. As you set the candelabra on the altar, Jack cracks open the casket. You don't even warn him about its contents, letting him shutter in terror as he discovers exactly what he had brought all the way out here.

"Clara," he sputtered, "did you make me carry Lionel's corpse all the way to this abandoned church?"

Despite the burns on half of Lionel's body, you still find him handsome. For someone who last seen screaming and burning before you passed out, he seems so peaceful. How that is even possible is beyond you. What matters is that his suffering will come to an end.

"I appreciate you not screaming and giving away our location, Jack," you answer calmly.

"You didn't tell me that his dead body was inside."

"It's literally a casket. Lionel might have been awful at resetting his watch, but he is still more observant than you."

"What do you mean is?" the fool asked in disbelief. "He's dead, and he's never coming back."

"That's what you're hoping for. Isn't that why you set the fire in the first place?"

You can see everything replay in your head. Lionel is struggling to escape the burning building thanks to his broken leg. As you rush towards him with the back of your shirt on fire, something hits you on the head and knocks you out. Lionel calls out for you as everything cuts to black, and you can remember something else that he says.

"Jack! What did you do to her?"

As Jack tries and fails to come up with a reasonable explanation, you look down at Lionel as you face the coward. Despite the best efforts of the burns, you can still see the penetration in his chest from the knife. What knife? The one that the killer foolishly left in the victim's chest. The one that the victim hid in his jacket pocket, knowing good and well that his clever girl would figure it out. The one that the bride was carefully removing from the pocket as the total loser finally spoke up.

"I told you that loving him would only end in tears," Jack stated while failing completely to appear threatening. "He was too weak to support you. What future could you possibly have with him?"

Your fingers wrapped around the handle, you look the killer in the eye.

"I have no future without him."

With that, you raise the knife as if to finish yourself off right on the spot. Thinking that he can fix everything by being the hero, Jack rushes over to stop you. He might have the muscles, but he could never have the brains of Lionel. The pathetic choice makes him an easy target, giving you the opportunity to stab the small man in the chest. You leave him screaming in pain as you raise the dagger over Lionel, letting the blood drip onto his chest.

"I shall cherish your heart forever and ever," you chant gently. "I shall cherish your heart forever and ever. I shall cherish your heart-"

Before you can finish, Jack yanks you back by the veil and hair. Despite your pain, you don't give him the pleasure of hearing you scream. As his bloody fingers wrap themselves around your throat, the rest of your vows manage to escape your lips.

"Forever and ever!"

A gasp escapes from the casket and rings through the chapel. The groom sits up and finally looks you in the eye for the first time in weeks. Lionel has finally returned, and you know that you are in safe hands. His attention turns to Jack, and brown eyes turn to flames. He swiftly climbs out of the casket and rushes over, grabbing the coward by the face. You are free as you admire the love of your life.

"Keep your hands off my wife," he growled.

And with that, the groom bites into Jack's face and drains his blood before he can scream for the last time.

For the first time since the morning of that fire, Lionel flashes the sweetest smile at you. His burns are slowly fading as you throw yourself at him. You don't even wait for the burns to disappear before kissing his honey sweet lips. He holds you gently as he soaks in the fact that you are finally together again.

The reunion is cut short as your angry family members and friends burst through the door. Your father is ready to snap every bone in your body as your mother shows disappointment in you stealing her candelabra. A couple of your former bridesmaids try not to faint, and one of them even shows a hint of glee at the sight of you with your new husband. Even your grandmother shows some disbelief, before ultimately displaying her acceptance of the situation. She was wrong about everything, as you have succeeded in doing what other witchy brides had failed to do.

"Family and friends," you say beamingly as you clutch onto Lionel's arm, "meet my new husband!"