The Widowed Bride

© Michael L. Emery

A woman named Lisa had accepted a marriage proposal, even though she was not sure she really loved the guy enough to be his wife.
She did it because she thought if she declined, she would never find someone else who would want to marry her. It wasn't that she thought she was ugly, she was actually very pretty; she was just insecure.

The night before the wedding, Lisa paced in her room. Part of her felt it was wrong to enter into marriage with someone she was not fully in love with, and part of her felt desperate to cling to the security of being someone'e wife. She worried that God would punish her for tainting the purity of matrimony, yet worried that being alone would be far more painful.

Despite being very unsure if she were doing the right thing, Lisa decided to go ahead with the wedding.

The next day, though Lisa was still visibly worried about what she was about to do, everyone just assumed it was nervous jitters and the ceremony took place without a problem. The reception went fine, and with each passing moment Lisa accepted that she had to honor having gone through with the wedding.

The time came for Lisa and her new Husband to leave for the airport to begin the Honeymoon. As she said her "thank you's" to everyone and headed toward the car, she approached one of her Bridesmaids and said in an ominous voice, "I have accepted what must be done." And then left, before the Bridesmaid could respond.

About ten miles on route to the airport, a vehicle coming from the opposite direction blew a tire, swerved into oncoming traffic, and it hit Lisa's and her Huband's car head-on. He died instantly. Lisa, in her wedding dress now covered in blood, lingered just long enough for Paramedics to arrive.
As they fought to stabalize her, Lisa uttered, "I have accepted what must be done" and then died.

Ever since then...in places all around the country...women have reported being visited by a spirit in a bloodied wedding dress.

Some have said they were trying on their wedding dress and saw the spirit in the mirror.

Some claim the spirit stood at the foot of their bed, waking them from sleep.

Some claim she appears in the shower, as they get ready for the ceremony.

And some have sworn they saw the spirit in her bloddied wedding dress standing in the back, behind all the guests during the ceremony. Strangely, this one has always been followed by a far more graphic death than the other alleged sightings.

Sadly, the reports have come from Bridesmaids of the women...you see, the women themselves have all died...in various ways...just hours after getting married. First the Husband perishes, then the woman not long after. And according to the Bridemaids, the spirit in the bloodied wedding dress tells all the Brides the exact same thing:

"Accept what I must do."

All of the Brides that have seen her have been of various nationalities, various ages, and various religions. The one thing they all seem to share in common is, they all went through with a wedding to a man they were not fully in love with.

Makes you wonder...who will she visit next?