The church was as she remembered it the first time. Cold. Echoey. She could hear the choir, in her mind's eye, and if she looked through this eye she could see them standing below the large colourful window. When she looked at this through her normal vision, she saw the ruins, the crumbling remains of the church. In her mind's eye, many candles provided extra light, and as the scene was her imagination they provided just enough heat to make things comfortable. The wind howling through the open window had no effect on the candles. One by one, each candle would flicker on its own accord, change its flame colour, and then grow brighter. Pretty soon, every candle was doing this, and the church pulsated with light. In the real world, the blue lights and ear-piercing siren of a passing emergency vehicle reverberated around the room. The bride looked on across both worlds. A shimmer. A third realm opened. The bride wore black. She realised this reality was how she remembered the church. The window, tiny frames holding multicoloured panes of glass. Deep purple orchids filled each pew. She stared back in disbelief as the large double doors opened, flooding the church with the shattered real reality. She stood in the centre of the aisle, dress moth eaten and frayed. There you are the voice called out. She looked back to see the voice's owner taking out a small beige dog. They didn't close the doors. The bride walked towards the doors, after the voice and the dog, stopping for a moment to bend to pick up a fresh purple petal that caught her eye. As she stepped through the doors, she faded into the ether, a choral rendition of ave maria blended as she dissolved into millions of tiny, multicoloured light shards. The purple petal once again glided slowly to the ground, landing in a stilettoed footprint that faded seconds after it's creator. Her thought, however, remained; maybe next time.
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