Nobody's Bride

Photo of a beautiful bride, walking alone.

It was December when he never came back. It was heard that the desert and loneliness were the elements that had dug him.

They chose the last month of the year to crystallise the union of their lives. That life between Rosaura and Leo that suddenly happened to be born, and which turned, in little time, in one of the most intense and passionate loves that could be heard around.

She liked to wake up almost as when the sun appeared through the glass of her window, liking to wear a couple of clothes to leave home. It was sublime to see her walking by without a drop of make-up, held by Leo's hand.

Her kisses tasted like sea roses, and her beautiful smile seemed to be brought into life from a fairy tale. It was a splendid to see her fine rostrum from kilometres away. It always left you satisfied.

They lived fast, that's clear, but they lived always against the grain, opposed to all the beautiful things that life wanted them to come across on their way.

In five months only, they became the happiest groom and bride in the place. But, painfully, they could only get to that point. Now, she wanders around his house like if she wanted to protect the people she always loved and will continue loving. Love is like that, it transcends this life.

Despite the short time they were together, they both got to build dreams and merries, and then, she could only reinvent destiny her own way. There were no more paths to walk by, the stars turned off from his life forever. It was not worth thinking about yesterday. Just the life she was protecting in her womb became the last consolation and adoration for the rest of her existence.

After learning they were both going to become parents for the first time, both families decided that the fruit that was to be born had to come in a suitable family. Demanding and forcing a wedding for their still green lives killed them inside, but they had no option other than to proclaim to the four cardinals that the idea of getting married was hovering in their young minds. This way they could save themselves from the unjust pressure that was killing them day after day.

The bill they had to pay was unfair for anyone. Fate was holding for them an ungrateful and fatal surprise a Thursday evening. Leo never came back. He crossed the red line and this became his mortal sin.

It was heard that showing a photograph of his future wife to the "Dog" made this miserable plan his cold-blooded murder in a few hours. Just an altered heart could bear that envy, evil and anger to grow such an aberrant and terrible deed.

They found Leo face up on a pond of blood, with a lost sight and his old trousers, in which his wallet a heart could be found reading: You and I. The accursed one burst in him three bullets in the chest to abandon him twisting in pain in the middle of a lonely street of Magdalena.

Borrowing few bills to show his new family he was not a rogue and that he could afford the best reception for his beloved Rosaura was that costly for him.

I remember that Leo had to walk around a thousand times whenever he appeared near his love's house before knocking that bloody door. He always had to tell that ragged family he had more than a cent in the pockets to offer the beautiful Rosaura. How unfair they were with the poor Leo. Now it's too late for mournings.

No one has even seen the miserable of the "Dog" ever since. Earth swallowed him, he erased himself from the map. What happened still bring sadness and just the brave ones can remember these unfortunate moments.

It was during the last meeting between Leo and the "Dog" when the bloody event took place. The wedding had to be suddenly cancelled, and almost no one got to know the real cause of the abrupt suspension. I heard gossips and stories that were created about it and they happened to be more cruel than the real fact. How dauntless and smart we are when reinventing in our cunning minds a tragic ending.

Many stated that this wedding was going to be the event of the year. I don't know why Santiago could never accept this greatness could be real during a wedding night.

Now I understand why his friend had those gloomy visions of the bride, of the nobody's bride, of whom didn't let him sleep every night in spring.

"Nobody's bride" is part of one of the chapters of the book "Soñar Despierto", by Carlos Ramírez Magán.

Carlos Ramírez Magán (Lima, 1977), Social Communicator, Writer, Teacher, Advertising Graphic Designer, with studies in Business Management. His contributions have been published in literary magazines in Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Peru. He has worked as writer in newspapers and magazines and also as public relations specialist and image counsellor in various organizations.