Marriage was something I never thought I would do again. Well actually no, I knew there was a possibility that some day I would once again walk down the aisle to become Mrs. Neela…something or other but I never thought it would happen so soon, like this, or even to whom it was happening with. Sure maybe there had been some minor fantasizing on what it would be like but after everything that had happened, I never thought it would be so.
It all happened so fast, he showed up at the hospital, we talked, we laughed and somehow, we came to this conclusion. I wasn't drunk or stoned or in any way intoxicated with anything other than my own emotions. Before I knew it, I had been carried off into a whirlwind and with him in tow, had arrived at a small twenty-four hour chapel.
We had forgotten that we needed a wedding license, even to elope as we had, but fate had been working its magic charm that night and the little chapel happened to have a spare one on hand, someone else had changed their minds that day but after this display my convictions were still unwavering.
We stood before only the pastor who ran the chapel and his wife and daughter who served as our witnesses. I had felt marginally guilty for keeping this from my friends more so than my family, this would not be the first time I ran off and got married without so much a word to them, but I knew it would be my last.
After the small quiet ceremony, we headed back to my apartment and celebrated the rest of the night as husband and wife, letting the worries of the world remain outside my bedroom…our bedroom as we became the only two people left in the world.
As the sun came up, the world had slowly creped its way upon us, my alarm rang and I knew I was due at work in mere hours. It broke my heart to do so but, I managed to get out of bed and get ready for work, all the while with his reassuring smile shooting up at me, telling me that it was ok, he wasn't going anywhere, he would be here when I returned. He offered to rise himself, to go with me on my journey to County to keep me company but I refused, giving him a small kiss and asking that he keep the bed warm for me before heading out into the cold streets, alone yet unafraid of anything that may have been laying in wait.
The workday itself had been fairly uneventful, the same drunks, drug seekers and minor traumas, nothing big, nothing that could top the previous night. Though I suspected that the pope himself could be wheeled in on a gurney with a gunshot wound high on methamphetamines and it still would not top the previous night, not for me anyway.
At the end of my shift, I said my goodbyes to Lucien and the other's and made my way excitedly down to the ground floor by elevator, the ride never seeming so agonizingly long and slow as it had that night. Once it was finally over, once the doors swung open to an oddly quiet ER I found myself thanking god that it was finally over, that I was one step closer to my apartment, to my new husband. I nodded and smiled at a few ER employees as I tried not to seem like I was rushing out of there, but found myself grateful that as quiet as they were, the ER employees still had enough on their plate to keep them from holding me up.
As I headed through the ambulance bay, I heard my name being shouted from across the street. I looked up and there he stood, that sweet smile plastered on his face, love in his eyes and a beautiful bouquet of flowers in his hands. I smiled back, but stood there dumbfounded at his mere presence. He smiled wider and looked both ways before jogging across the street to me, I stepped off the curb to meet him but unfortunately, I never got the chance.
He had been mere inches from me when the truck ran the red light, going too fast to stop. Everything began to move in slow motion, I heard the crunch of the impact, I felt his warm blood splatter my face, heard the truck come to a screeching halt. I ran into the street, ran to my husband's arms but he was already gone.
A crowd had formed quickly, the sirens rang out into the cold night but I saw nothing, heard nothing, nothing but my own heart as it beat wildly in my chest. At some point, someone had pulled me up from the street, wrapped a blanket, and their arms around me but I have no recollection of that event. One minute I had been on the ground, holding him in my arms and the next…I was sitting on the curb and a police officer was approaching. He asked me all sorts of questions I only really half heard but did my best to answer anyway, repeating the event over and over through sobs. Finally, he asked me the name of my beloved and somehow through miracles I don't even understand I was able to choke out his beautiful name, a name that will forever be etched in my memory, in my heart and in my soul.
Ray Barnett.