Coming Soon - October 2018:

"I Promise to Love You Forever" - They promised...then it all changed with an event so devastating it tore them apart as even death never could. Now a terrible secret is being kept. Will they survive? An OOC Short Story.

Teaser Chapter

For

"I Promise to Love You Forever"

He had been pounding on the door for almost ten minutes, but he wasn't going to give up. He knew Elliot was there.

"Elliot! Come on…Elliot Walker…I know you're in there….open up!" Another round of pounding and then at last the sound of footsteps and a sudden crash. The door opened to reveal a sleepy Elliot, standing confused in his underwear and rubbing his knee. "What the hell Elliot, it's only eleven o'clock. What are you doing asleep?" But the grin on Elliot's face told him. "Jesus. You're smashed."

"To the very tips of my toes." Elliot looked down at his feet with a goofy smile and an unsteady wobbling of his legs.

"Well, you're going to sober up real quick, buddy. I need you."

"The hell you do. After consuming four After Shocks and six Tequila shots, you think I'm gonna waste that? Bullshit!"

"Never mind that. Get dressed."

"I am dressed." He squinted unhappily as Christian turned on the lights. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?" But Christian only smiled as he headed toward the tiny, disheveled kitchen.

"What'd you do in here? Detonate a hand grenade?"

"Yeah…and I'm going to shove one up your ass."

"Now, now, this is a special occasion." Christian turned to smile at him from the kitchen doorway, and for a moment there was hope in Elliot's eyes.

"Can we drink to it?"

"All you want, but later."

"Damn." He let himself fall into a chair and let his head fall back against the soft cushions.

"Don't you want to know what the occasion is?"

"Not if I can't drink to it. I'm graduating from graduate school. That I can drink to."

"I'm getting married."

"That's nice." Then it dawned on him what Christian just said…he sat up straight and his eyes came wide open. "You're what?"

"You heard me. Ana and I are getting married." Christian said it with the quiet pride of a man who knows his mind.

"This is an engagement party?" Elliot sat up with a look of delight. Hell that was worth at least another five Tequila shots. Maybe even six or eight.

"Not an engagement party, Elliot. I told you. It's a wedding."

"Now?" Confusion again. Grey was a real pain in the ass. "Why now?"

"Because we want to. Besides, you're too loaded to understand anyway. Can you get it together enough to be our best man?"

"Sure. Son of a bitch, you're actually going to…" He leapt out of his chair and stubbed his toe on the table. "Fuck…"

"Go put some clothes on without killing yourself. I'll make you some coffee."

"Yeah…" He was still muttering to himself when he disappeared into the bedroom, but he looked slightly more composed when he returned. He was even wearing a tie with a red and black checkered t-shirt.

Christian looked at him and shook his head with a grin. "You could've at least picked a tie that went with the shirt." The tie had bright yellow and green stripes.

"Do I need a tie?" He suddenly looked worried. "I couldn't find one that matched."

"Just zip up your fly and we're all set. While you're at it, you might want to find your other shoe." Elliot looked down to see only one tennis shoe, and then he started to laugh.

"Okay, so I'm wasted. But did I know you'd need me tonight? You could've at least told me this morning."

"I didn't know this morning."

That brought a look of sudden seriousness to Elliot's eyes. "You didn't?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Very much so. Look, don't lecture me about this. I've had enough of that tonight. Just get yourself decent so we can pick up Ana." He handed his friend a mug of steaming coffee, Elliot took a long hard swallow, and then grimaced.

"What a waste of good booze."

"We'll buy you another round after the wedding."

"By the way, where are we doing this?"

"You'll see. It's a beautiful little town I've been in love with for years. I spent a summer there once as a kid. It's only about an hour from here. It's the perfect place."

"You've got a license?"

"Don't need one. It's one of those crazy towns where you do it all in one shot. You ready?"

Elliot downed the last of the coffee and nodded. "I think so. Man, I'm getting nervous. Aren't you scared?" He looked at Christian more soberly now, but Christian looked strangely calm.

"Not a bit."

"Maybe you know what you're doing. I don't know…it's just that…marriage…" He shook his head again and stared at his feet. It reminded him that he had another shoe to find. "Ana's a hell of a nice girl though."

"Better than that." Christian spotted the other shoe under the couch and handed it to him. "She's everything I've always wanted."

"Then I hope the marriage brings you both everything you want, Christian. Always." There was a bright glaze of tenderness in his eyes, and for a moment Christian held him by both arms.

"Thanks." Then they both looked away, anxious to get going, to laugh again, to taste the moment with glee instead of solemnity.

"Do I look all right?" Elliot checked his pants for his wallet, and then searched for his keys.

"You look gorgeous."

"Oh shove it you shithead…damn…where're my keys?" He looked around helplessly as Christian laughed at him. The keys were attached to one of the belt loops on his pants.

"Come on, Walker. Let's get you out of here." The two left, arm in arm and singing the beer hall songs of summers before. The entire building could hear them, but no one really cared. The whole place was populated by students living off campus, and two weeks before the end of school everyone was raising hell.

They pulled up outside Ana's place ten minutes later, and she waved nervously from the window as Christian honked. She felt as though she'd been ready for hours. A moment later she was standing beside the car and for a few seconds both young men fell silent. It was Christian who spoke first.

"My God, Ana…you look beautiful. Where did you get that?

"I had it." They exchanged a long smile, and none of them moved. She suddenly felt every bit a bride, despite the late hour and the unorthodox circumstances. She was wearing a long blush pink chiffon dress with white lace. She had worn the dress as a bridesmaid at a friend's wedding a few years ago, but Christian had never seen it. She was wearing her new white sandals and carrying a very old, very beautiful blue and white lace handkerchief. "See, something old, something new…the handkerchief was my grandmother's." She looked so beautiful that for a moment Christian didn't know what to say. Even Elliot seemed totally sober as he looked at her.

"You look like a princess, Ana."

"Thanks, Elliot."

"Hey, listen, you got something borrowed?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know…something old, something new…something borrowed…" She laughed and shook her head no. "Okay, here." He bent his head forward and began to fumble with something at his neck. A moment later he held out a handsome gold chain. "Now, this is just a loan. My sister gave it to me for graduation, but I opened it early. You can borrow it for the wedding." He leaned out of the car to fasten it around her neck and it fell just above the delicate neckline of the dress.

"It's perfect."

"So are you." Christian said it as he got out of the car and held the door for her. He had been so stunned by the way she looked that he hadn't been able to move. "Get in the back, Elliot. Darling, you sit in front with me."

"Can't she sit on my lap?" Elliot made a feeble protest as he scrambled toward the back seat, and Christian gave him the finger. "Okay, man, okay, don't get your panties in a twist. I just thought maybe since I was the best man and…"

"You'll be a dead man if you don't watch it." But the mood was strictly a teasing one as Ana settled herself in the front passenger seat and beamed at the man she was about to marry. She felt a moment's queasiness about his mother, Grace, but she pushed it from her mind. This was the time to think only of herself and Christian.

"What a crazy night…but I love it."

They alternately joked and fell silent on the road to the tiny town Christian had in mind, and at last none of them spoke. They had a lot on their minds. Christian was thinking back to his conversation with his mother, and Ana was thinking of all that this day meant to her.

"Is it much farther, love?" Ana was getting fidgety and her grandmother's handkerchief was beginning to look crumpled as it passed through her hands.

"Only about five more miles. We're almost there." Christian reached briefly for Ana's hand. "Just a few more minutes, babe, and we'll be married."

Then speed it up, mister, before I get cold feet," Elliot sang out from the back seat, and all three of them laughed. Christian put his foot on the gas and swerved around the next curve, but the laughter rapidly turned to a gasp as Christian veered helplessly to avoid an 18 wheeler truck occupying both lanes as it plowed mercilessly toward them, going too fast and almost out of control. The driver must have been half asleep, and the only sounds Ana remembered hearing were Elliot's anguished "Oh no!" and her own voice screaming in her ears.

Then….

there was endless shattering of glass…

shattering…breaking…metal grinding…crunching…

roaring…engines meeting and locking…arms flying…

leather tearing and plastic cracking as everything

was covered with a blanket of glass…

then at last…everything stopped,

and the world was

black….

AN: Hope everyone enjoyed this teaser chapter. I should have the story completely finished by October 2018. So if you would like to be notified, please follow the story and thank you for reading.