“I now pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss the bride,” Alice said, standing in front of her bedroom mirror. She had gone through the entire ceremony so many times by now; she could probably do it in her sleep.

Tomorrow’s the day; tomorrow I become Mrs. Dylan Michaels! The thought of it always put a big smile on her face, and tonight was no exception. She was so excited that her face turned redder than the shirt she had on.

“Tomorrow,” she said, “everything will be perfect tomorrow.”

A lot of people were looking forward to the wedding. All of her friends were going to show up to support her on this special day.

parts of America, is not such an easy thing to do, but she was determined to make it happen, no matter what.

One particular afternoon she remembers better than others. She was feeling extra happy that day as she had finally gotten an A on her math test, her weakest school subject. She was running back home, eager about showing her scores to her parents, hoping it would make them proud. Instead, as she approached the door, the familiar sounds of her father shouting greeted her from inside the house. Her smile faded away, and upon entering the house, instead of being welcomed home with a hug and signs of love like in a normal family, she felt the back of her father’s hand as it struck her cheek. On the floor, she noticed that her mother was crying, holding a bloody tissue against her nose. Alice quickly ran out the door and promised never to return to this hell of a home.

She never did see or hear from her parents since that faithful day; a little over ten years had passed since then. Alice lived on the streets for a while and took whatever job came available to her in order to save up some extra money.

She was 25 when she met Dylan, the best day of her life. Although she was only attending the Community College, Alice loved going to the library of the finer, higher rated colleges and imagine that she was a student there. One day she stumbled into Dylan’s college. They were both at the library at the time, and happened to reach for the same book. As their hands touched, sparks ignited between the two, and she knew it was meant to be. They were inseparable from that point on, and on her 28th birthday, Dylan got on his knees and proposed.

********

The sound of phone ringing brought Alice back to reality.11

“Hello,” she said.

“Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?” her friend Sarah said cheerfully.

“I’m feeling so nervous, but excited at the same time. I can’t wait for tomorrow,” Alice said.

“Don’t stay up too late girl,” Sarah said, “we’ve got such a busy day ahead of us.”

The following day it felt like a tornado was blowing inside the apartment, as a group of Alice’s close friends were gathered around making sure everything would be perfect for the ceremony. Her hair needed to attention, they had to do her makeup, the bridesmaids needed to look good, but not too good though, after all, the attention was supposed to be on the bride.

It was time for the ceremony to start. Dylan was already standing at the altar, everyone’s heads turned as the doors opened, and Alice started her walk down the aisle. Dylan couldn’t stop thinking what a lucky guy he was. He had a great family, many close friends, and was about to marry the most beautiful woman in the world.

Dylan’s passage through life had been a whole lot easier than Alice’s. He was the only child of wealthy business owners who knew of nothing better than to shower their offspring with love, but they loved buying him gifts more. Because of his family’s wealth and connections, Dylan had no trouble getting a good education, and ever since he was born, he only got the best things in life, food, toys, cars, and now he was about to get the best woman too, adding yet another feather to his already crowded cap.

As Alice made her way to her fiancé, the music stopped playing. The couple looked deep into each other’s eyes, and the ceremony began. As the priest talked about the love between the two, and the life they were about to share together, only a few people in the church were able to hold back their tears.

Being the eccentric that he was, Dylan wanted to do something different for the ceremony. Instead of the traditional exchanging of the vows, he had planned a video montage which was to show his love for Alice. Everyone’s eyes were locked on the screen, as the priest gave the signal for the montage to start. Alice gazed lovingly on Dylan, and then turned to the screen as the video was starting.

As the video started playing, Dylan looked rather confused with what he was seeing.

“I don’t think this is the right tape,” he whispered to his best man.

People in the church were shocked when the man and a woman in the video engaged in sexual intercourse; however, no one was more shocked than Alice. As soon as the video started playing, she started running toward the video projector.

“Turn it off!” she shouted, “turn it off!”

“Wait!” Dylan shouted, looking hard at screen. “Is that you in the video?”

Alice turned around slowly.

“Answer me!”

“Ye..yes,” Alice said, bursting into tears.

Dylan never felt more ashamed of anything. Without uttering a word, he stormed out of the church, got into his car and drove off. Alice was left crying on the floor, feeling the judging eyes of everyone in the church burning a hole in the back of her neck.

********

When she ran away from home, Alice had nothing more with her than the clothes she was wearing and a few measly dollars in her pocket. Getting work proved more difficult than she anticipated, because not many employers were interested in hiring a homeless runaway teenager. She managed to score a few waitressing jobs at sleazy diners, and it was in one of them were she met Roger.

Roger used all of his charms to seduce Alice, promising her wealth and stardom. He introduced himself as a film maker, telling her she had the perfect look for his next movie. Alice quickly found out that his offer was too good to be true. Roger was indeed a film maker, but he only made one certain type of films, namely erotic films. She didn’t feel happy about the idea of having sex on camera, but as she was determined to do whatever it took to get money for education, she went along with it.

Alice stayed with Roger for three years, making a few low stream movies in order to pay her tuition. But the movies weren’t the only thing Roger made her do. Soon after they met, he forced her into prostitution, selling her services to his friends.

********

Seven years had passed since she cut off her connection to Roger, how did the video end up here? And why did it have to come out today of all days? Alice got up off the church floor and started running after Dylan, but it was of no use as he was long gone. Feeling ashamed and angry, she went back to her apartment.

As she walked through the door, she noticed a note had been left for her on the kitchen table:

RUN ALL YOU WANT,

YOUR SECRETS ALWAYS CATCH UP WITH YOU,

ROGER.

Alice’s hands shivered as she read the note. She had always feared that this day would come. She read the note again. Roger is back? What does he want?40

********

It had reached the point that Alice couldn’t bear to look herself in the mirror anymore. All that her life seemed to be focused around were the movies, and the various sleazebags Roger brought over. Every day she asked herself, why am I doing this? Does Roger even love me?

They had been having an affair ever since that first night they met. Sure Roger said he would leave his wife, but as he kept making lame excuses when she asked him about it, she didn’t know whether his words should be trusted or not. Alice kept telling herself that Roger really did love her, even though he made her do all those things. He really did love her, she was sure of it.

The last night they saw each other, she finally realized what kind of a man Roger really was. He had been up in her hotel room so many times; his routine had become rather redundant. He would come up, tell her she was beautiful and they would make love. Afterwards he would go back home to his wife, leaving Alice feeling ashamed and lonely.

This particular night, however, Roger went too far. As he was walking out the door, he stopped, turned around to face her.

“I’ve got some “friends” coming over to see you in a few minutes,” he said, “so make sure you look presentable.”

Alice couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He wants me to sleep with his “friends?” Of all times, why now?

“No,” Alice said as Roger was walking out of the room.

“No?” Roger asked, walking back inside.

“I won’t do it,” she said, “not anymore. I’m done with all of this.”

“You don’t get to say when you’re done, I do!” he said.

Alice had never seen him this angry before. In fact, the only time she had ever seen a person this angry, was the day she ran away from home.

“You are doing this, and that’s final!” Roger said as he struck her cheek, “Now, clean yourself up before he gets here.”

Roger quickly vacated the room, leaving Alice crying, naked on the floor. What am I doing? What has become of me? Is this the life I’m destined for?

No! Not anymore!

Alice got up off the floor. She wasn’t going to be a part of this lifestyle anymore. She was done. She got dressed, and ran out the door, but not before making a little call to Mrs. Roger.56

********

Alice sat motionless by the table of her apartment. Why did he have to do this now? She got up and ran to the phone. She had to talk to Dylan, try to explain everything.

“What do you want?” Dylan asked as he picked up the phone.

Alice pleaded and pleaded with Dylan, but he wasn’t interested in her explanations. As far as he was concerned, the damage was done, his reputation had suffered severely. How could he possibly face his family and friends again? How could he face his employers?

“We’re through, “Dylan said, “I never want to see you again!” he shouted as he hung up the phone.

Alice was devastated. Her life was ruined, Dylan wanted nothing to do with her, her friends now knew of her past. She had tried so hard to keep her past a secret from everyone she knew, thought she had finally left her past behind.

It was going to be perfect! I was going to be like everybody else! For seven years she had been working to turn her life around, and in the space of a few minutes, everything she worked for was snatched away from her.

There’s nothing left, he took it all away, everything good in my life. I’ve got nothing. Alice sat back down. She wiped her tears away and took a look around the apartment.

“There’s nothing left,” she said. Slowly she rose up from her chair, and walked toward her 8th floor window.