Curses...

The guests, few of them, though there were, stared in amazement at the scene before them. Beautiful and terrifying, the tropical cliff face was rocky and rough. Even if they had been able to bring chairs up here, they wouldn’t have been able to sit comfortably, but that didn’t matter. Mesmerizing was the view of a thousand miles of dense forest, complemented by the crystal lake several hundred feet below. Who would think to get married here? The edge of a cliff... One step in the wrong direction and you could easily plummet to your death.

“Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, through sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do!”

“And do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, through sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

“I-“

She paused. It wasn’t on purpose. She didn’t even feel the sneeze coming on, but there it was. It just happened... right into the groom’s mouth. Even if he wasn’t mildly germaphobic, his response, one of horror and shock, was one to be expected of anyone, and it was followed immediately by the groom slapping at his own face, wiping at the invisible bacterial assailants and taking a cautionary step back. His foot reached for something that was not there, but before he could fall, she thrust her hand out to catch her almost husband. Her fingers clasped tightly upon the first hold they could find, his bowtie. Usually, bowties aren’t actually tied. It’s sort of a lost art, but Jeffery wanted to do it right for their wedding, so he learned the knot. At first, she had a decent hold on the bowtie. He released a sigh of relief and gave the briefest of smiles before the knot came undone, the bowtie slipped from his neck, and he slipped from the cliff. That was Jeffery.

Curses are real. What many people don’t realize, though, is that a curse is not something that can be placed or removed. It is simply a neon sign on your life flashing “baggage” from the day you’re born to the day you die.

Marie, for example, was cursed to a very grim fate. Every romantic relationship she entered would end in her killing her partner. Granted, it was never on purpose that she did so, but still... it was kind of inconvenient for someone so lonely, and it was kind of unfortunate for the men in the life of someone so surprisingly hopeful. You know about Jeffery. We’ll skip Cliff - no, the irony of that name did not escape Marie - and we’ll also skip Alex, Drew and Eric. We will, however, pick up with Anthony. Anthony’s curse was a little different than Marie’s. Oh, sorry... You didn’t know? Yes, everyone is cursed. Even you. Anyway, back to the story. Anthony was cursed with a long life. A very long life. A very... very long life. You see, Anthony was not allowed to die. Sure, one day his life would end, and he knew exactly when that would be, but it wasn’t any time soon. It was deemed by powers unknown to man that Anthony would be allowed to die when he learned to love something more than himself, and anyone who ever knew Anthony knew that was not something likely to happen in this lifetime.

Many people share the same curse. Cursed to fall in love with the wrong person. Cursed to pursue, but never achieve a lifetime goal. Cursed to be alone. Marie’s curse, however, was a rare one that proved to be fatal one hundred percent of the time, and not to her. The time it took for each of Marie’s romantic partners to die, however, wasn’t set in stone. It was more fluid. Her first relationship, for example, was in high school. Puppy love, though it was, it was still just as real as a puppy. New, cute, loyal and, regretfully, real. She was driving when it happened. She had just gotten her license, and picked him up so they could go to a movie and celebrate. She looked over at her date for the briefest of moments while cruising down the road and didn’t see the oncoming truck, driver asleep at the wheel. Her boyfriend was killed on impact, and she escaped with a few cracked ribs, a broken leg and some scrapes.

It was several years and a change of scenery before she decided to try dating again. Small towns will do that when catastrophic accidents occur. At home, eyes linger in petrified nostalgia, but away at college she could exchange knowing eyes for admiring ones. It was in her sophomore year that her second victim fell pray to love at first sight.

Marie had been in the center of the street when she caught a glimpse of a beautiful boy about to enter the crosswalk. Their eyes met and fire danced with lightning while an icy wind pierced the silence of their hearts. Their love truly was at first sight, but sadly, it was to go no further. For all the times Marie had complained about the bus drivers on campus, she had never believed one would be careless enough to run her down, and she was technically right. The beauty of the boy lived on in his final heroic action, for as the bus approached Marie, he dove toward her, pushing her from the path of the bus and taking her place as the asphalt's new coat of paint.

To be continued...