Caroline put on her wedding dress and began to cry.

The wedding dress fit her perfectly. She stood in her bathroom, and put on her best makeup. Foundation, lipstick, anything she had with her. While she was no professional, Caroline had the experience to make herself look beautiful. She carefully applied the vibrant red lipstick onto her lips. She applied all sorts of other creams and powders to her face. She took a step back. Her dress was perfect. Her face was beautiful. The only problem was that she was still crying, and the makeup had two tear lines running down like trenches. She took one last look, then left the mirror. 

James put on his suit. His red and puffy eyes reflected back at him as he watched his fiancee leave the bathroom through the mirror’s reflection. He grabbed his tie and tied a perfect Windsor knot. He grabbed his favorite comb and slicked his messy, black hair back one last time for good measure. He took one look at himself, straightened out his coat, then left the bathroom. 

James walked down the stairs and stood in front of the fireplace, waiting for his future bride. He looked down at the coffee table. A few books, magazines, and newspapers had been haphazardly spread out across it. James grabbed the copy of the newspaper that had been thrown onto his doorstep that windy Sunday morning. He glanced at it, then threw it deep into the embers of the fire. James didn’t want to look at it anymore.

Caroline steadily descended down their staircase, her heels clattering off each hardwood step and echoed out into the living room. She walked with the elegance of a lady and with the looks of a goddess. James extended his firm hand to latch onto hers, and they made their way onto the porch.

On the front steps, they turned to one another. The wind picked up and blew Caroline’s hair all around. They could see passerbys running around in the corner of their eyes, but James and Caroline disappeared into their own perfect world on that porch, the world around them drifting away until it was just them. They each separately pulled out a piece of paper. 

“I’ll go first,” Caroline said, slowly calming down,”James, I can remember the day I first met you. I was at a bus stop, and had had one of the worst days of my life. I’d just been fired from my job and was, was crying on this bench when it started to rain. Absolutely pouring down. Then, you walked up to the bus stop, saw me crying in the rain and you took off your jacket, no hesitation and gave it to me. I asked you why you’d give some stranger your jacket and you, you just shrugged and said that I looked like I needed it, and we talked. I talked about how my day was going and by that point, it wasn’t so bad anymore. Now, I didn’t realize it at the time, but that day was probably the luckiest moment of my life, because if I hadn’t been fired that day, I would still be working a job that I didn’t like and I would have never met the love of my life. From day one, you were there to support me. No matter how uncertain our lives got, you were always there for me. Now, as you give me your hand in marriage, all I can think of is when you gave me your coat, to protect me and care for me. I hope to be there for you as you have always been for me.”

James looked at his paper, with his eyes tearing up,”Caroline, I remember the day I realized you were the one for me. We were in the art museum downtown and we were walking all throughout. I remember you stopping in front of this, this large selection of paintings. They were some of the best paintings I had ever seen, but I couldn’t look at them, because,” James stuttered,”… because I was too busy looking at you. I could just see the happiness and joy in your face and then I realized that I wanted to make you feel that way, every day that I could. I felt so happy, seeing you standing there. Nobody else has ever made me feel that way before. I couldn’t imagine waking up and being with anyone else besides you.”

They folded up their pieces of paper. James pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped away Caroline’s final tear. She smiled at him, and he grinned at her, and they shared their first kiss as husband and wife.

And as the husband and bride embraced, the bombs finally dropped. A fiery mushroom cloud broke apart the horizon of their suburban paradise, cutting down anything in its path. 

As their flesh and skin melted off their bones, and their world turned to dust, their hearts died happy and in love.