The Wedding

[tenenbaum]

Been lurking since 2004.

"The Wedding"

Shelby looked beautiful for her wedding day. She wore a simple white dress, a strap over one shoulder, flowing to her feet. Her blond hair in curls, her lips red and glossy.

Shelby stood on the quiet California beach on a Saturday morning, her wedding about to begin. It was to be a small ceremony, with just a few friends gathered as witnesses. The groom and two groomsmen stood with the officiant, looking down the “aisle.”

Shelby and her two bridesmaids stood waiting to walk down the aisle. Both wore blue dresses in a similar style. Amanda a shorter blonde woman and Kate a stunning brunette, both beaming as the sun rose on the horizon behind them.

The three chatted as they waited for the ceremony to start. They held flowers and stood barefoot on the beach, the warm sand pressing up between their painted toes.

“Thank you both so much for being here for me,” Shelby said, a gentle breeze blowing her hair.

“Yeah, coming to this beach wedding was a really difficult decision,” Amanda said, smiling.

“Almost time!” Kate said.

The three have known each other from graduate school and flew hours to be together for the wedding. They’d prepped all morning after a long night of drinking and reminiscing the night before. Now, all three looked perfect. Not a hair out of place. Not a moment when they weren’t smiling or laughing.

Shelby leaned in to give Kate a lingering, warm hug. Her hands touching the thin fabric of Kate’s dress.

Then, she backed up suddenly, looking puzzled. The quiet beach was interrupted by a small shaking of the ground that lasted about a minute.

“What was that?” Shelby asked, her eyebrows raised. The guests looked at each other, confused, but not alarmed.

The officiant cracked a corny joke about the minor earthquake, and the handful of onlookers laughed politely.

Shelby took a deep breath, her hand still on Kate’s waist, and a smile returned to her lips.

“I’m glad it wasn’t something bigger,” Shelby said.

Kate nods. “Let’s get ready,” she said.

Then, the beach started to shake below them again - more violently this time. Amanda puts a hand to Kate’s shoulder for a moment, trying to keep balance.

That’s when Shelby looked down the aisle and saw the guests.

“Oh. My. God!” she said.

The ground started to liquefy as the beach continued to shake. The sand starting to claim guests. Some sunk to their knees. Some just their feet. Some all the way to their waists already. Screaming. Clawing at each other. Trying to help each other out, but everyone continuing to slowly sink into the liquid sand.

She could feel the sand squeeze between her own toes.

Her heart started to race, chest heaving, as she started to panic. She looked to the groom, who was starting to sink, too. His groomsmen, sinking, too, trying to help each other.

“No!” she cried, tossing her flowers aside and starting to dart down the aisle toward them.

But she was stopped in her tracks.

Shelby turned around and saw Kate grabbing onto the bottom of her flowing dress desperately, looking up to her, having already sunk waist deep into the sand.

“Let go of me!” Shelby yelled, trying to pull her dress away. But Kate’s desperate grasp was unbreakable, and Kate struggled to pull her back slowly.

“Shelby, help us!” Kate screamed.

“Us?” Shelby looked, puzzled.

Kate’s left hand clutched Shelby’s dress, but her right hand was extended the other direction, holding onto Amanda’s hand. Amanda up to her ribs.

“Amanda!” she yelled.

Shelby turned to look at the groom and the guests, who continued to sink, scrambling desperately. Some spots of the beach solid, and others a liquid quicksand. Completely random and unpredictable. Her eyes widened as she watched one of her longtime friends sink up to her neck.

“Jenny, no!”

The redhead tilted her head back, screaming wildly, just as her boyfriend was able to grab her hand. Shelby looked into her terrified eyes just as she slipped under, her cries muffled by the sand, her iron grip on her boyfriend pulling him in headfirst.

Only then did Shelby feel the warm sand creeping up her calves, turning back toward her bridesmaids and seeing their situation more desperate. The sun shined on their hair, lips and eyes, their bodies glistening with sweat from the struggle to get out.

Amanda’s breasts were resting on the surface of the sand, and Kate was in to her ribs, both looking to Shelby as their only possible salvation from death.

Shelby grunted as she tried to pull away from Kate, her struggles only pulling her closer to her brunette friend.

“Let go of Amanda!” Shelby yelled. “I can’t pull both of you out!”

“What!” the two responded in unison.

“Amanda’s too far gone! Let her go!”

“No way,” Kate said.

Amanda’s breasts slowly started to disappear, and she struggled to keep her grip on Kate’s hand. Shelby was pulled right up against Kate, now in to just above her knees. Kate wrapped her arm around Shelby’s smooth leg, and Shelby gripped at Kate’s body, trying to find some leverage to pull her out.

But there was none. Each of Shelby’s tugs pulled her deeper into the sand. Into her waist. Into her ribs. Now at the same level as Kate in the thick wet sand, their bodies pressed together, grinding against each other as the struggled. The effort tore the one strap of Shelby’s dress, and it fell down to the surface of the sand, exposing her white, elegant wedding-day lingerie.

“No!” Kate yelled.

“What?” Shelby grunted.

Amanda’s hand had slipped out of hers as the sand crept up her slender neck, her faced stained with the running makeup from her tears. Shelby stopped moving.

“Grab her!”

“I can’t!”

The quicksand had pulled Amanda farther away, and her fingertips now desperately stretched for Kate’s brushing them, but unable to grasp on. Shelby had never seen fear like the fear in Amanda’s eyes as the sand touched her chin, her tiny hand still grasping for Kate, pleading for her to save her life.

“Oh God, no! Please!” she cried. “Please.” Her red lips struggled to get each word out with her head back, hair splayed across the sand.

Kate and Shelby had somehow turned around in their struggle, both facing Amanda. Shelby was behind Kate, trying to push her to Amanda. But they both watched in horror as their friend’s face disappeared, her hand clamoring above the sand, never finding anything to grab onto, until it went limp.

Both of their hearts sunk, Shelby’s arms wrapped around Kate’s waist under the sand, her tear-covered face buried in Kate’s hair.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, as they began to feel their breasts seep into the sand. Shelby turned her head to look back and saw no guests. They’d either scurried off or been themselves buried. A purse, a tie, a pair of shoes, strewn about the surface of the sand.

“I’m so sorry,” Shelby whispered again. They knew they hadn’t much time to mourn their friend, as they were certain to go under soon, too. Still, Kate kept her arms above the sand, looking out onto the lonely beach.

Shelby couldn’t see Kate’s face, but she could hear her whimper, and pulled her friend close, trying to comfort her in their last moments. The sand reached their shoulders, leaving only their wedding-perfect faces above the surface.

“Kate!” a voice called.

Shelby perked up. That was her groom’s voice.

“Over here!”

The groom ran toward the two women, dropping to his stomach in front of Kate and reaching out to her.

“Thank God!” Shelby yelled. “Oh, thank God.”

Kate took the groom’s hands, and he started to pull. Shelby hung on to Kate’s waist tightly. They barely budged.

“I can’t get you both at once!” he said.

“Then come get me!” the bride cried.

He shook his head and kept pulling on one of Kate’s hands. And she started to wrench Shelby’s hands off of her with the other.

“Come on, Kate,” he said. “You can do this.”

“Get off me!” she yelled.

“I’m your bride!” Shelby screamed. “Get me out of here!”

Kate’s body started to come loose of the sand, and her struggles managed to get her free of Shelby’s grasp. Her figure started to emerge as the groom pulled, creeping back, rescuing her from certain death. She collapsed on top of him, and he helped her to her feet.

“OK, now grab me!” Shelby said, the sand at her chin. “Hurry!”

Her perfect lips quivered in fear, looking up at her friend and to-be husband. She could smell the gritty sand under her nose and knew she had only seconds left.

“Pull me out!” she demanded.

Instead, the groom put his hands on Kate’s waist, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, her sand-covered dress in tatters, barely hanging on.

“Thank you so much,” she whispered, overcome with relief. Then she stood on her toes, and pressed her red lips against his. He pulled her body in tight, kissing the bridesmaid deeply as her bride watched in terror.

Shelby couldn’t even speak as the sand approached her bottom lip, watching his lips kiss Kate’s lovingly. She could tell it wasn’t the first time.

“No,” Shelby whispered, her breath taken away. “Please just help me.”

But she knew they wouldn’t. Kate’s hands reached up into the groom’s hair as the kiss reached another level, the two lovers thinking just minutes ago they’d never see each other again.

And at the same time, the wet, warm sand covered Shelby’s shining lips, her eyes widening as her breath was taken away more literally. As her face disappeared, she reached out of the sand with one hand, her fingers touching the groom’s foot.

He broke their kiss for just a moment to look down. Kate kissing his cheek when he did, not wanting to stop. His eyes caught a glimpse of his brides fingertips clutching, then sliding off his slick black shoe, into the sand, disappearing for good.

He turned back to Kate and kissed her, closing his eyes and pulling her soft body into his, as the beach finally grew still around them.

[PM2K]

Great story! Thanks for posting it.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I liked it! Thanks for sharing!

Rusty

[Lomax]

Bit puzzled as to why the groom doesn't have a name - but a nice little story. Congratulations on finally having the nerve to post.

[klib21]

Nice detailed sinking.

[pipperdickens]

Really loved this story - thanks for posting it.

[GTorborg77]

Perusing some old stories, and found this gem. Excellent story, well written!