“You really know?”
“Yes.” She whispered. “Yes. I do.” I let out another sigh, this one relieved, and turned to Caleb. He grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight.
“Thank god…” He murmured.
“Okay,” I said back into the phone. “we’ll stall as long as we can, just hurry, okay? This is your wedding day after all.”
There was a small silence on the phone.
“I know, I’m trying…Just tell Fox-“ I flinched away from the phone when the sound of one car crashing into another came through. It was obvious, I knew it instantly. The phone must have flown from her hand, because I could hear the screech of tired, the grinding of metal, and the groan of an engine.
“Laura!” I shouted. “Laura!”
Caleb grabbed the phone from me.
“Yo shortie, you there?” He asked, panicking. “Little Laura, come in. Laura!” We both hovered over the phone. There was a grinding sound, as if someone was trying to open one of the car doors.
Shouts.
Crying,
And then the unmistakable sound of gun shots.

I didn’t even look at Caleb, we were out of there so fast. We ran back through the chapel and out the door, I didn’t know if Jack had seen us or not, it didn’t matter, we had to get there. There was no doubt about it, Laura was in trouble. I hadn’t even seen the church yard go by, we were running so fast everything became a blur. Down the road, turning, running. I held the edge of my dress, and booked it out in front of Caleb, not even remembering to breath. Laura was my best friend, the only girl, besides my sister Danielle, that I even knew.
I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
And neither would Fox.
S***.
I didn’t know what Fox would even do if she got hurt. I didn’t even want to think about it.
And then I saw her car, turned over on the side of the road.
“Cale!” I screamed, and pointed at it. Caleb burst out in front of me, crawling on top of the car.
“Laura!” He shouted, and ripped a door off it’s hinges. “Laura, you in here?” I stopped at the car, wishing for once, she had a scent, that I could find her, bring her back to Fox, or to a hospital, whatever she needed, just as long as she was okay. I had to know that she was okay. Caleb jumped off the car, and moved forward a few steps.
“She’s not…” He stopped, and his face fell. “Oh god no.” I turned, following the direction he was pointed at.
No.
We started running towards the body in the field, my heart beating in my mouth.
NO.
I skidded to a hault, and let out a scream.
“Sweet mother Mary…”Caleb moaned.
Laura lay in the yellow grass, two bullets in her chest, one right between the eyes.

I screamed again, and Caleb grabbed my arm, pulling me away from her. I let out a sob. She had managed to pull her coat around herself when she had left, only half dressed, short of pulling on her wedding dress. I guess she must have taken it off before she left, because now she was only in the slip, the pretty white corset, barefoot, covered by the black and white collared jacket. There was blood everywhere on the ground, a line emitting from her mouth, one from the bullet in her head. I choked back bile. Her head turned sideways, a strand of hair across her forehead.
“Laura…” I cried, and Caleb wrapped an arm around my shoulder, holding me so tight to his chest that it hurt.
“No…Oh no…”He stammered, and I knew he was crying. “Not her…” His chest shook as he cried.
Then we heard their approach, and I shut my mouth to stifle the sobs, and Caleb grew silent. We didn’t move. Footsteps got closer, and I could hear them breathing.
It felt like I could actually hear his heart breaking, ripping apart, when he finally stopped besides us. Caleb turned his head slightly, to look at him, as I did too, but instantly wished I hadn’t. At first there was nothing, but then he noticed the body on the ground, saw the blood, the bullet holes, and he let out a sound I didn’t know a man could make.
It was terrifying.
His face fell so far, his body going slack.
Everyone else was only a few feet away, standing behind him, horror-struck.
Fox took a step forward that seemed more like a stumble, and fell to his knees. I winced, but no one moved forward.
We were afraid to touch him, just as he was afraid, as he reached out a hand to brush the hair from her face, to touch her. His hand shook, and then, slowly, he just withdrew it, and buried his head in his hands, letting out a terrified, broken sob. He wept into his hands, this unreserved, sad crying that made my heart stop and hold it’s breath.
He cried, and cried, and then, slowly, lifted his head again.
His eyes fell on the gaping wound in her stomach. It wasn’t executioner style, as the bullet to her head was. Two bullets in the stomach, while lethal to a human, would be excruciatingly painful, a terrible way to die. Fox, who spent his whole life dodging bullets, would know that, as well as the bullet between her eyes, would be the pity shot, to put her out of her misery.
He reached forward again, and lifted her hand from the blood stained grass, holding it in his. I turned away, and buried my face in Caleb’s chest.
“The absence of her heart beat,” He cried, through remorseful, chest-ripping sobs. “Is a pain I have not felt before…” His voice grew rough. “And I here I thought that after tonight it would beat besides me for eternity…” Fox turned her hand over in his, and started to cry again, holding it to his lips, rocking back and forth. “I have not been the man I am supposed to be for truly, my love is dead.”
The wedding, a funeral.

Covered in blood, he refused to let anyone else touch the body, and carried her back. When it was time, Shawn carried Fox back home. At home, Fox cries and cries. There is no end to his broken, pitiful sobs; Laura is dead, and he too, must be inside.