The Defect

The Defect(Leah S) The Defect


It was the day she’s dreamed about since she was a little girl, the most important day of her life. It was Marie’s wedding day. She was marrying her best friend and fiance, Bennett. They had been together for nine years and were high school sweethearts. They were having a small wedding because they both wanted to get married in Montana on top of a mountain.

Marie was so nervous that her palms were sweating. Her mom helped her put her dress on. One of her best friends, that was also her bridesmaid, was right beside her, wearing a burnt orange dress that Marie picked out for her wedding. Marie’s mom put the wedding dress over her head and it fell to the floor. It was a sweetheart neckline with lace down the arms and sequins scattered all over. Marie stepped in front of the mirror to see herself covered in pure white. Her mom came from behind her and helped her put on her veil.

Bennett couldn’t wait to see Marie or how beautiful she looked in her dress. He was all suited up and ready to go. “Mom, everything is fine!” Bennett tried to explain to his mom while she was running around frantically. She was fixing his tie and seeing if the best man was almost done getting ready. Once everything was perfect, Bennett walked outside and saw the mountain he was going on. He waited for Marie’s mom and his parents and got in the plane that was waiting for them. The plane flew him to the top of the snowy mountain where he waited for his bride to be. It was so cold Bennett was able to see his breath. But Bennett’s nerves got the best of him and he wasn’t even thinking about the weather, only Marie.

When Marie was ready she got in another plane and flew up to the mountain with her dad. When the plane arrived, Marie and her dad walked out with their arms locked. He walked her over to Bennett and started crying as he was letting her go. “it’s okay, i’ll always be your little girl.” Marie whispered to her dad. When the preacher was saying his final words, Marie and Bennett both got to say their I do’s and got in the hot air balloon that was behind them on the mountain to take off to Australia for their honeymoon.

When they made it 15 feet up, they looked down and saw their parents waving goodbye to them. Marie looked at Bennett and told him how happy she was and gave him a kiss and a hug. As they were hugging, they felt the basket on the balloon shake, making Marie almost fall over. Bennett went to see what was going on with the balloon. He gasped, “Uh, Marie.. were probably going to be here for a while.” Marie looked shocked. Before she could say anything, Bennett had more news. “We’re hooked on a power line and I don’t want to risk fixing it and falling out.”

As time passed, a few hours went by with no signal and the wind started picking up. Bennett didn’t know how to use the controls in the hot air balloon either. Maire started yelling, “Help! Help! Can anyone hear me?!” When she figured out that yelling wasn’t the solution, she tried using the jewels on her dress to reflect down to see if anyone would get the signal. She felt hopeless and nothing was working. Their only choice is to jump out of the balloon, or pop the balloon and hang on tight. Marie wasn’t comfortable with either of those ideas.

Bennett wasn’t going to argue, “We don’t have another choice Marie I need to pop it before we starve or a storm comes.” Marie started crying not wanting to agree with Bennett but knew it was her only choice. Bennett pulled out his traveling knife he had in his pocket and looked at Marie with a worried “I love you” look and shoved the knife in the side of the balloon. They felt like the world was in slow motion as the balloon was dropping through the sky. Within seconds they had already dropped 50 of the 75 feet down.

Right as they were about to hit the ground, Marie woke up, her arms flailing to break the fall that never came. She was crying in her room and breathing heavily. Bennett woke up next to her, “What’s wrong?” Marie looked at him, “It’s nothing, just had a nightmare about our wedding defects. We need to call the hot air balloon people and cancel.” Bennett didn’t quite understand but also didn’t want to at 3 am. He cuddled Marie up with him and put her back to sleep so they could enjoy their wedding day the next morning.