Darcy

It was the first day of the rest of my life, the first whole day with my new wife.
Yesterday, we married in a quaint village church with ivy on the stone walls and a graveyard with ancient gravestones, mostly sunken and tilted and with lichen covering the symbols and inscriptions.
Red roses adorned the gardens of the village, and the people, mainly in the Autumn to Winter of their lives, had looked on from over the gates and hedges
The only guests were from my side of the family, as Darcy had lost her parents in a car crash some years before, and there were no siblings.
It had been a beautiful day; at one point, dark clouds had blotted out the sun, but the threat of rain had come to nothing.
The priest was an elderly and cheerful man who ushered me into the church at just the right moment, and I stood in front of the altar and waited for my beautiful bride to arrive.
The organist must have gotten the nod as the first bars of the wedding March echoed through the church, and I turned to see Darcy, all in white, stroll confidently down the aisle with Jake, a dear friend, as a chaperone.
It was breathtaking, and my heart rate soared as she approached me.
Letting Darcy go, Jake seated himself on a vacant pew, and I raised the veil that covered Darcy’s face. She glowed with a certain beauty reserved only for the best.
We turned to the priest, who stumbled. A shadow crossed his face, and he clutched tightly to the missal stand to stop himself from falling. The poor man was deathly pale and not well, but he straightened himself, made the cross sign, and started the ceremony.
The old priest looked frail, somehow beaten and out of energy. His hands shook, and his lips looked grey, but he carried on, and not a moment too soon, he pronounced us man and wife.

After the ceremony, with the obligatory throwing of the confetti and flowers, we headed deeper into the village, where the occupants of an old manor house awaited us, and all enjoyed dinner and wine followed by speeches and the traditional first dance.
The guests partied through the night, but holding Darcy’s hand tightly and clutching a bottle of champagne, we stumbled to our room and locked the door.

We awoke early to a bright, sunny day and headed downstairs to search for breakfast and coffee, anything to lessen the effects of too much alcohol. Darcy was glowing more than I had ever seen before, and the glow didn’t fade when we got the news that the priest from our ceremony had passed away just hours after our marriage.
I was shocked and saddened, but Darcy smiled and sipped some coffee.
It was as if she had already known of the passing; either that or she did not care.
After breakfast, we walked through the village, a charming place, peaceful and serine, but a dark cloud had appeared, and it crossed the sun, casting darkness over the land.
The locals hurried indoors and slammed the shutters tight as we passed or peaked secretively from behind closed curtains. Onward we walked, even after the first rumble of thunder echoed across the fields and the flash of lightning crackled up above.
“We have to turn back.”
I said,
“Before the rain starts.”
But Darcy just smiled, gripped my hand tighter, and we left the village behind us. Onwards, we walked up into the forested hills, past streams and the ruins of an old cottage. Up and up, we climbed as the first raindrops started to fall.
Eventually, out of breath, we stopped at the edge of a cliff with a fantastic view over the county. Despite the weather, we could see for what seemed like miles; we were sitting on a wet boulder and looking awestruck at the view.
But there seemed to be more as my new wife stood up, took my hand and led me again into the hills. Darcy led me to a rocky cliff face with an opening, a cave, and from within came light, bright and flickering.
“What is this?”
I thought as I hurried inside to shelter from the heavy rain. And Darcy led me deeper into the cavern, to a cave lit by a hundred candles, a man and woman at the edge, cloaked in hessian robes and an altar to the side.
From behind, unseen hands grabbed me and pulled me to the floor, and someone stabbed my neck with a needle. My vision began to blur; then darkness took me.
When I recovered, I found myself lying in the centre of the circle of candles and dressed in a hessian robe. Beside me lay Darcy, smiling. She reached over and took my hand.
“Don’t fear, my love, for this is my family and our wedding day. And now, we shall be together for all eternity. We shall burn in the fires of Satan; together, we shall offer up our souls to the one true lord, and people will fear us. Together, we will be strong, the walls of Jericho will fall beneath our wrath, and we shall sit at the table with Satan himself and drink the blood of Christians as we eat their flesh.”
I struggled under the binds holding me to the floor but could not move. I screamed out, but no one could hear me.
The man and woman started chanting in a language unknown to me, and I could hear my wife, my Darcy, chanting the same lament. I struggled harder, but it was to no avail. Then, the chanting stopped in a heartbeat, and an eerie silence enshrouded the cave. All I could hear was the crackling and spitting of the candles and the sound of the rain outside.
The man stepped forward, the light of the candles casting his face into shadow, and he held a dagger in his hand. Kneeling above us, he murmured a satanic prayer, then thrust the blade deep into my wife’s chest. She screamed in pain, and I felt her hand tighten on mine as blood poured from her mouth. Her eyes flashed brightly, but the light faded, and she fell silent.
I struggled again, but it was impossible to break free, and now, the man had started his prayer to Satan again. He raised his dagger as he raised his voice, and all I remember is the light shining from a pendant before the blade flashed again and a steering pain took hold of my body, and I spasmed before the light in my eyes faded as well.

Over 1100 words, this piece is my longest to date. Once I got started, the words just flowed, up until the end. I had to think of an ending, but I got there in the end.