'Don't forget to call my sister, honey.' Rachel scrambled the car keys out of their drawer. 'And tell her to order those Airline tickets as soon as possible. The sooner she gets here, the better.' She threw her bag over her shoulder.
'I will.' I smiled. She was such an impatient, sweet and beautiful girl. Absolutely perfect. Long black hair, big brown eyes and the sweetest smile. I still couldn't believe that she would be mine within a month.
'See you later, honey. Love ya.' And with a light peck on my lips she was gone.
'I love you too. Drive safe!' I shouted before the door closed after her.
I poored myself a cup coffee and searched for Rebecca's phone number. Rebecca was Rachel's sister who helped us plan our wedding. It was only a month from now and lately, Rachel spent every free minute completely engrossed - like a child in Disney World - in choosing flowers, composing the guest list and things like that. Like yesterday we went shopping for rings. Now before this whole wedding thing came up I would have hated the idea of three hours of comparing almost identical rings to each other, but Rachel loved that kind of stuff. And when she was happy, I was happy.
After Rebecca had ensured me that the tickets were booked I started to fill the dishwasher so that Rachel didn't have to when she came back from work. After that I still had more than enough time to watch the game.
The bell rang when the Red Sox were ahead by four points. A quick glance on my watch told me that is was a quarter past eleven. I figured it was probably Rachel, who forgot something. She was chaotic like that. I muted the TV and went to answer the door.
I was surprised to see it was Charlie, the chief of police. What whas he doing here? I knew he was Billy's best friend, so maybe Rachel wanted him to come to the wedding, too? Women could be rather impulsive after all. But when I took in the expression on his face, I knew it wasn't good. He took his cap off and I realization hit me; he was here because of his work.
'Paul, I'm afraid I have some really bad news. Can I come in?' Without saying a word I just took a step backwards to let him through.
I felt empty, numb. I didn't feel anything. Not the heat of the cup of coffee Charlie had shoved in my hands, not the wind blowing through the open window. As if the reason for my existence was gone. Which was quite literally the case.
Rachel was dead.
Charlie put a hand on my shoulders, but it didn't help me at all. I barely even registered it. I couldn't think straight anymore, nor speak. Nothing.
'I'm sorry, Paul,' Charlie whispered, his voice thick with grief.
I just kept staring blankly ahead. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't think. My mind was blank, as black as the coffee in my hands. Nobody could change that now. Nobody could change anything now. At nineteen years old, I felt like my life was over.