As the Hymns ended, a moment of silence followed, then whispers from the four corners of the auditorium. Jade stood frozen at the altar, bouquet hanging limp in her hands. She didn’t even realise her grip had loosened until one of the flowers slid out. Her hands lowered slowly while still holding on to the bouquet. She looked across at the main entrance expecting to see a man with the stature she recognises, dressed in suits. The longer she looked the clearer she saw, nothing. As the murmurs increased volume, she looked at the faces of the guests, and all she could read from there were questions. Question that even the bride herself had no answers to.
After seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours, after several attempts to put a call through without a single success, everyone could see that her tears had already started to wash lines through her makeup. She literally couldn't hear every single murmur as if she had been beaten by a werewolf and made to stand there and listen.
An hour had passed, and yet no Johnny. The air was thick with shame, the pastor avoided her, and the best man's phone calls remained unanswered. Guests had started to leave one after the other. Jade's parents, signaled her bridesmaid and friends to take her to the car where they joined, and from there, home.
While the car moved, tears rolled, her friends tried as much to pet her, no one could blame this time around. She kept playing and replaying the whole story. From the faded memories of how they met years back at elementary school and became close friends, even when their parents would still hold their hands to school, to the times where they were at the ijebu ode's community secondary school, when they started to notice that they had something more for each other than just mere friendship.
It all came back, like flashes. That morning at the University of Ilorin, finding their names on the same admission list. How they celebrated it and then, just like that, how he asked her out that same day. She remembered how Johnny had been the only one she had loved even though times came when he was nowhere to be found. He would suddenly disappear over a small argument without leaving a note, a response on the phone or text.
How he would show up months later to apologise, and how she would always let him back despite her friends and sisters warning. Even though this had happened at several times, Jade never gave open ears to any other guy, let alone get close enough to catch feelings. It was as if she had been held hostage by his love.
She remembered the last time he came begging, and given assurance that he was a change man, ready to settle for a family. Her friends were with her when he came knocking. How her family raised their voices and pushed him in the direction of the gate in an attempt to send him parking. How she was urged not to give him another chance but as always, how she could resist his being treated that way.
With her washed makeup, and a river of endless tears rushing down her face, she remembered how her friends stopped talking to her for months after that senerio, but it seems like he kept his words. She could sense intentionally in him afterwards. For more than a year, he never disappeared, he had been the man she dreams of through the proposal, wedding plans and all.
After they arrived home, she was persuaded to take a warm shower. Jade's mother sat next to her on the bed in her room, pulled her head against her chest and she patted her back, whispering, "It's enough, my daughter. Stop crying, you'll be fine." Even though her voice was quiet, Jade could feel its weight.
Days later, Jade's mother made preparations for her travel out of the country to start a new life, away from Johnny's manipulation, nor the shame of meeting someone who knows her and what happened on the supposed wedding day. Her new location was kept private so has to keep Johnny off whenever he feels like coming back.
After eighteen months in the new environment, the Johnny and wedding day memories slowly faded into thin air. She met Dan, also from Nigerian parents but was given birth abroad and stayed all his life there. Slowly, she had the chance to fall in love, so she gave love a chance again. The process was fast, within six months a white wedding had been done, and all that was left was to travel down to Nigeria for a minor traditional wedding.
A week after the white wedding, a mail dropped on Jade's inbox. It was From Johnny. Immediately she saw it, she tried to delete it but couldn't. The subject line reads, "Jade, I didn’t leave you at the altar" after staring at it for a while, she clicked through.
Three harmed men came to my house the evening before our wedding. At first I thought they were thieves, but they didn't take anything. They tied my hands to the back, pulled something over my head, and shoved me into a car. I didn’t know where we were going, only that it was far, and I wasn’t getting out. They held me hostage for three months and made sure that no one gained access to me.
By the time they let go of me, I tried to reach out, but there was no possible way, until I got the news about your wedding in California.
After the release, I found out that your mother was behind my kidnapping. She never believed that I was truly a changed person, and that I was right for you. Maybe she was right, but I needed you to know that I didn’t choose to leave.
Generated using meta AI
"Oh God, How could she", jade opened her mouth to say, but words barely came out of it. It was too much to take in, tears rolled from her eyes. She had hated him all these while only to find out that he was somewhere, fighting for his life. The phone slipped from her hand. This time the pain wasn’t because of Johnny, it was her mother. Her own mother. She never thought she was capable of something so cruel.
..........................................................
Here is my entry fir the inkwell fictional prompt #234. Thanks for reading through, i hope you found it interesting and worth the time.