The Green Eyed Monster

She arrived late intentionally, making an entrance that ensured she was the centre of attention which was just the way she liked it.

Victoria was dressed in an elegant, figure hugging, red dress that was very flattering to her dark and exotic good looks. People could not help but be distracted from their conversations as she sashayed into the engagement party of her friend Miranda. They had known each other since university and shared lots of experiences, travelling together and sharing the ups and downs of relationships with men. In fact Miranda’s fiance had once been Victoria’s lover and they had met when Charles had ended his relationship with Victoria. They had stayed on good terms over the years and Miranda was Victoria’s best friend.

Miranda rushed over to embrace her and they laughed as they greeted each other. The two of them could not have been more different. Miranda was petite and short with lovely golden, blond hair that hung loosely to her shoulders and her deep, blue dress complimented her light coloured hair and skin. Victoria was willowy and thin with a thick mane of dark, wavy hair that reached below her shoulders.

The party was held at Miranda’s family home which was very large on a spacious estate on the outskirts of town. Her parents were successful in life so were able to give their children a wonderful upbringing with every opportunity. Victoria was from a very ordinary working-class background but she had done well at school and university and now worked at a fashion magazine. She was always in demand at social gatherings as she was personable and people were attracted to her beautiful looks.

The party was in full swing with everyone mingling and dancing. The food was superb with no expense spared when Victoria said to Miranda that she felt unwell and would have to leave as she felt disoriented and her eyes were blurry. Miranda was very concerned and offered Victoria a bed if she wanted to stay. Victoria decided to accept the offer and went upstairs to the bedroom. A short while after, other guests started to become unwell with similar symptoms. Many people left and before long the party had fizzled out. Miranda was devastated as she wanted the night to be unforgettable but not because everyone was sick. Her fiance Charles was very concerned. As they did not know if it was something that the guests ate, they decided to get the kitchen staff to remove all the food. The party was over early. Miranda was very upset and began to cry. Her parents were concerned that maybe the food caused the problem. Miranda went to check how Victoria was feeling and she said she felt nauseous and decided to stay in bed and see how she felt in the morning.

The next morning Victoria felt a lot better and she went home. Miranda’s parents rang the guests that had been unwell to see how they were going and most had recovered but still felt somewhat strange.

Over the next few months, Miranda and Victoria spent a lot of time together as Victoria was going to be bridesmaid in the wedding so she had to have visits to the dressmaker with Miranda who had final fittings for her stunning wedding dress. They had lots of social engagements as friends wanted to celebrate the forthcoming wedding.

Charles was very happy that Victoria had agreed to be bridesmaid considering they had been in love about two years earlier. He could not understand why Victoria had not found someone else as she had no shortage of suitors.

As the wedding date approached, Charles’s friends organized a bucks night out. They went off to a club and let their hair down in the traditional way, drinking quite a lot and generally having fun. During the evening, an attractive woman approached Charles and asked if he would like a dance. He accepted and went out on the dance floor with her. It was quite innocent in his mind as he would never think of doing the wrong thing by Miranda. After they had danced the young woman put her arms around him and kissed his lips. Charles pulled away but she had taken a selfie. She laughed and told him not to worry that she was just giving him his last kiss as a single man.

A few days later, Miranda was checking her Instagram and there was a photo of Charles kissing another woman. She was horrified and could not believe what she was seeing. She called Victoria and told her to come over as she was very upset. Victoria looked at the photo and told Miranda not to worry as there was no way that Charles would be interested in any other woman. Miranda confronted Charles and he was embarrassed and denied that he had been with another woman. Miranda was not sure if he was sincere so she told him that she would need a few days to think about things as she did not want to marry someone that she could not trust. Victoria told her she was being unreasonable as after all it happened on his bucks night and Charles pleaded for her to believe him. A week before the wedding, Miranda reluctantly agreed to give him the benefit of the doubt but she said if he ever was unfaithful to her in their marriage that it would only happen once. Charles told her that she was the most precious person in his life and he could not wait to be her husband.

The day drew close and Miranda was full of excitement and nerves. Her dress had been finished and she looked like a bride in a fairytale. Her dress was silk and fitted at the top, showing off her shoulders and flaring out from the waist showing off her small waist to perfection Victoria had a stunning dress in a deep, blue that was fitted and clung to her shapely, fine body.

Miranda could not wait to walk down the aisle so that she could see Charles’s face when he saw her in the beautiful gown. Miranda kept going into her room to look at her dress which she could not wait to wear. The night before the wedding, Victoria slept at Miranda’s house so they could have a special night together as best friends.

Next morning Miranda got up early and went to the wardrobe to look at her dress again. To her horror, when she opened the door she could see straight away that the dress had been taken out of its protective cover and it was hanging in shreds on its hanger. She screamed and Victoria came running along with Miranda’s mother. They gasped when they saw the remains of the beautiful dress.” How can this have happened?” sobbed Miranda. Someone hates me and is sabotaging my wedding.” “ Miranda, do you know anyone who would do this?” asked her mother as she shook her head slowly with a look of disbelief “ It has to be someone who works here,” commented Victoria. “What will I do Mum? I can’t marry Charles without a wedding dress and this is irreparable.” Victoria wrapped her arms around her friend to comfort her and said “ We will find out who did this but there is no time today. Let’s get you another dress. I know it is not the same but I have a dress at my house which was the one my sister wore and it would fit as she is petite like you. It is a beautiful dress too.” “Well I don’t have any choice. Thank you Victoria. I will take up the offer as all I want to do is marry Charles today!” “Let’s go Miranda,” said Victoria. Addressing Miranda’s mother she said “We will see you at the chapel.”

They drove to the house that Victoria had bought just outside the town. It was a lovely cottage on a reasonably large block of land with a colourful, cottage garden. They went inside to find the dress.

All the guests were arriving at the chapel for the wedding ceremony. There was an air of anticipation as they entered the chapel and settled down to wait for the bride. Charles arrived with his best man and went to stand at the altar. The time ticked by and Miranda had not arrived but of course she was going to be traditionally late. Charles started to get edgy when she had not arrived after fifteen minutes and then thirty minutes. The guests were moving in their seats looking restless. Miranda’s mother looked worried so eventually she left the chapel and called her husband. He said Miranda had gone missing. Victoria did not want Miranda to go back home where she might get upset again if she saw her ruined dress, so Victoria suggested that she go back to Miranda’s house and collect her bridesmaid dress and return to get dressed at her home. She said that she would organize for Miranda’s father to come over and have the hire car collect them there. She made the arrangement.with Miranda’s father and then went back to her house. She immediately called him when she got back to report that his daughter was not there and Victoria could not find her. Miranda’s father came over and they searched the surrounding area of the house and had another look in the house as well as in the little sleep out which was in the backyard but she was not there. Victoria told Miranda’s father that she was extremely upset about the dress and also about the photo on instagram and wondered if she had decided not to go through with the wedding after all. Victoria said that maybe she did not know how to face everyone so had just disappeared.

Miranda’s father went to the chapel with Victoria and broke the news that his daughter was missing and that the wedding would not be going ahead. Charles was devastated and felt responsible as he had been aware that Miranda was doubting his commitment after the photo that appeared on Instagram. Everyone was talking to each other in hushed voices. They were concerned for Miranda and hoped that nothing had happened to her.

Everyone went home and it was decided that they would all go in different directions to search for her. Miranda was not answering her phone and when they found it in her room they knew that she could not be tracked.

Charles was frantic with worry and set off to search for her. The police were notified but they said they could not treat it as a missing person case as not enough time had passed. All night, Miranda’s family and close friends searched everywhere that she was likely to go but they had no luck. Victoria was searching around the town and checking with friends but she had to return with no news. Two days went by and she still had not come home or been found. The police were contacted again and this time they were treating it as a missing person case. Miranda’s parents were inconsolable and Victoria stayed with them. She was equally distraught as this was her closest friend.

Then, the police decided to check every place where they knew Miranda had been. They looked around the lake where she walked and exercised. They went to shops and other places in the town to see if anyone had sighted her but to no avail. Charles of course had to go in for questioning as he immediately became a suspect.

They questioned him about the photo on Instagram and he explained that it was taken at his bucks night and he did not even know the girl. He could not understand how it came to be on Instagram. He was questioned about all Miranda’s friends including Victoria. He explained that Victoria was very close to Miranda and that he and Victoria had been an item at one point. The police asked who broke up the relationship and he admitted that he had but was still fond of Victoria and the feeling was mutual. Victoria was questioned as well as other friends of Miranda.

The police were told that the last time Miranda was seen was when she left to try on another dress. They asked Victoria what happened when she tried on the dress. Victoria told them that she left Miranda there and went back to Miranda’s house to get her bridesmaid dress and when she came back Miranda was gone.

The police told Victoria that they needed to check her house, so they drove there and looked around the cottage. Everything was normal there, but one of the young policemen walked over to the little stone sleepout and let himself in to have a look around and that is when he saw a roll of tape and scissors on the bench. This raised his suspicion and he called the other officers and they moved a tall sideboard away from the wall, discovering a door that was hidden behind it. The door was padlocked but the police cut through it and when they opened the door a staircase was revealed that went down under the sleep out. When they went down the stairs they discovered Miranda on a chair with her hands and feet bound. She was hysterical and crying in despair. When she saw the police she started sobbing with relief and informed them that Victoria had imprisoned her so that she could not get to her wedding. She lured her down into the cellar on the pretext that the dress was stored in a closet down there. She suggested that Victoria have a look at the dress to see if she liked it and then she could try it on in the main house. She had drugged her tea earlier so that she would not be able to make a noise and she would not resist when Victoria tied her to the chair.

This was the exposure of Victoria as a calculating, dangerous woman who with her sweet smile and beautiful face was able to deceive everyone around her. It almost seemed impossible for anyone to believe she could be so deceitful and cruel.

According to Victoria, she still loved Charles and did not think Miranda was worthy of him. She had decided to humiliate Miranda’s family on the night of the engagement party by spiking the punch which caused the people who drank it to feel unwell and disoriented as if they had too much to drink. She had been able to visit the kitchen earlier in the afternoon without causing any suspicion as she was a regular guest at Miranda’s home. She had replaced some of the prawns and oysters with ones that she had purchased and left unrefrigerated long enough to cause illness but not to have an odour. She did not eat any of the seafood but she pretended to be sick so that no one would be suspicious of her. The night of the bucks party, Victoria paid a young woman that she knew to make sure she was able to photograph herself kissing Charles and to post it on Instagram. She had shredded the dress to make Miranda feel that someone really disliked her. Victoria was charged with malicious damage, endangering the health of the guests, as well as kidnapping and imprisonment. Until her trial she was sent to a psychiatric facility to be assessed.

A month later, Miranda arrived at the same chapel in a replica of her original wedding dress arriving just a little late of course to marry the love of her life Charles.