Vaporised Dreams by Leonie Jarrett, chilled glass of champagne

 

Vaporised Dreams

The chamber quartet starts playing Pachelbel's "Canon in D" and everyone rises from their seats. 

The ceremony is on a CBD rooftop terrace. There’s views for days over Melbourne – Port Phillip Bay on one side and the Dandenong Ranges on the other. When night falls and the overhead fairy lights illuminate, it will be magical. 

For now, no one is looking at the views. All heads are turned toward the cute-as-a-button flower girls dropping rose petals as they almost skip down the aisle. The bride’s nieces, the girls look like little dolls in their white satin dresses with a puff of tulle skirt, their stockinged feet encased in teeny tiny ballet flats. 

No one notices the slight hiss in the background. 

Guests Tom and Anne are stuck in traffic in an Uber. They have run out of time to make the ceremony. Anne is furious as Tom gave the wrong address to the Uber driver, making them later than they already were after Tom decided to swap his shoes at the last minute. 

“Do you think the brown shoes or the black?,” he had asked Anne. 

“I don’t care Tom. We’re going to be late.” 

And they were. 

The bridesmaids dressed in long, sage dresses walk slowly next. One by one with beaming smiles, their hair sprinkled with white baby’s breath. 

The musicians keep playing and no one notices the slight hiss in the background. 

Tom and Anne are sitting in stony silence in the Uber but they are nearly at the wedding. 

The bride appears at the end of the aisle, flanked by her proud parents. She looks beautiful. Her groom waits for her at the other end of the aisle. They lock eyes and both smile at each other as if no one else is there. 

No one notices the slight hiss in the background. 

Tom and Anne’s Uber pulls up at the wedding venue. They open the doors almost before the car stops. 

As they open the car doors, the slight hiss ignites and causes a huge blast. 

The building is a fireball.

 about the author

 Leonie Jarrett lives in Melbourne, Australia with her Husband of more than three  decades, two of her four adult children and her two Golden Retrievers. Leonie loves to tell stories.