Amurehna

I'm in a church. I rush into the bathroom, thinking I have time to freshen up before it begins. The bathroom is narrow and dim with red and gold carpet. There are accent plants on either side of the wide vanity that takes up one wall. I stare into the mirror, thankful in one breath that I have recently trimmed my hair, and then annoyed that one layer of it refuses to stop cow-licking up no matter what I do to it. I lean close to the mirror, examining my face. It looks a little different but the differences please me. I start to worry about my clothes. I'm wearing a long black strapless dress, and I'm afraid that it won't fit the occasion. I'm attending my own wedding, after all.

I feel like someone has surprised me with the event, or that it slipped my mind, or that I thought I was at the church for another reason. I worry that I don't have any dress shoes, then remember some ugly black ones that I have in my car that will have to do.
(http://ak1.ostkcdn.com/images/produc.../P14797327.jpg kind of like those, except the elastic band is twice that width.)

Someone knocks on the door to tell me everything is ready, by the time I open the door they've gone ahead of me. I trail after them into the sanctuary. All the preparations for my wedding were done without me, none of it feels real. The sanctuary reminds me of one of the churches I went to when I was a kid, except more compact. They have hung crystals from the light fixtures and run white and black ribbon across the pews. It's pretty, I guess. I worry again that my dress is too plain. The left side of the room is just a wide walkway, so that there's only one length of pews. There are twelve bridesmaids, and they are all my boyfriend's female cousins/spouses of cousins. It bothers me that none of my family is there. They are all dressed more extravagantly than myself, in ankle length white tulle dresses with a black sash around the waist. The black sashes make me think maybe my dress isn't so out of place.

There's a guy named Rio talking, I don't know why he's here and I hate him. He's talking loudly to my boyfriend's family, alluding that since we have been together so long (seven years in real life), the marriage will begin without purity, and is ill-fated. It annoys me, because it isn't any of his business. I don't tell him that though, I just walk from the front of the aisle to the back, between the bridesmaids. I notice a woman laying in one of the pews, she's the only one not dressed for a wedding. At first it looks like one of my boyfriend's family, but the closer I get the more she looks like my friend Laura. She's very pregnant, and she says she just wanted to see me once before the baby is born. I lean down and hug her, then leave the sanctuary.

I'm suddenly back in the bathroom. I've willed myself there. I'm still worried about my shoes, and think I might have time to go get more suitable ones from home. I close my eyes and concentrate on home, then clap my hands once sharply. I open my eyes and find myself standing in a parking garage (definitely nowhere near home). A faded dark blue car pulls up next to me, and the driver orders me to get in. I'm being kidnapped by strangers.
When I get into the back seat there's a man there, I don't know him either. I close my eyes and concentrate and clap my hands, but nothing happens.
"What's wrong with you?" he asks rudely.
"The clap-teleport isn't working."
"The what?" He looks at me like I'm nuts.
"You know, where you concentrate on your destination and clap to teleport there."
"Sure, whatever sweetheart."

Then I woke up.