SECRET WEDDING

The horror story No 2 by Cristi Lavin

After a short marriage, my mother divorced and never remarried. I was content with
this situation because I didn't want to have a stepfather in my life, excuse my selfishness.
Early on, I lost contact with my real dad, so I got used to be just me and my mom. Besides,
I'm still single and have no desire to start a family of my own. So I am not in the situation to
blame myself for having something which she doesn't have anymore. We are in the same shit,
sort of speak.
Anyway, as you can imagine, my mom is not the most cheerful person you've ever
met. Being a single mother for most of her life isn't exactly a dream come true. She has lived
a sober life and acts accordingly. Most kids bring their moms flowers, I bring her the Prozac
bottle from the medicine cabinet when she's too exhausted to get out of bed.
The last time I visited her, I saw that she was in an exceptionally good mood, which
surprised me a lot. Maybe she won the lottery, I thought. Or maybe she's on something
stronger than Prozac. If her doctor changed her prescription, I wonder what he's giving her
instead! Ecstasy?!
I didn't want to ask her right away what it was. I pretended that seeing her smile all the
time was something normal. Maybe it is, but in another life. Then after a while she told me
the big news:
- You know, since I go to the new hospital for checkups, I met a nurse who works
there. She's a very special girl! I want you to meet her! Maybe you can drive me to the
hospital today and it would be the perfect opportunity for you two to get to know each other!
- Mom, I don't date nurses!... Unless they're porn stars wearing fake medical outfits!
I was rude to her, but I wanted to put an early end to the discussion. I mean, she didn't
try to hook me up when I was 18, and now I'm 40 and her first concern is about my sex life?!
- But she's so nice to me, she makes me feel good, I'm sure you'll like her a lot!
- Mom, stop it! I don't need to meet her, and please don't show me a picture of her
either, I'm not interested, you know I've a phobia of germs, so that's the worst idea you can
have!
- But...
- No buts, please!
- Son, listen to me! You must know her!
- No!
I swore to myself that if she brought up this subject again, I'd tell her I was gay, even
though I never sleep with men. Just to get out of this sordid situation where she forces me to
give her some grandchildren. I didn't want to upset her too much, so I tried to compromise:
- Even so, I can drive you to the hospital; are you ready?...
- And maybe you'll change your mind by the time we get there!
- Maybe!
Throughout the ride, I turned the radio up full blast so she wouldn't say a word to me.
Her brain was like a ticking bomb, obsessed all the time with bringing this new woman into
my life. And in this scenario, I couldn't imagine telling her that this nurse is like a fifth wheel
and I already have a dozen women in my bed. I mean she is discreet with her love affairs, she
always has been, she requires me to call her every time before I visit her so I don't catch her
with someone in the house, so why should I be more open!!!
When we arrived, she asked me again, but more indirectly:
- Do you want to come inside with me?
- Mom, I might catch a disease, please go alone. I'll wait for you here, OK?
- But if I faint, I may need your help at some point!
 - Ms Stevenson !!!, I called her by her last name to give emphasis to my message.
Don't play these cheap tricks on me! If you faint, you have hundreds of doctors around you
who can help you! Why do you need me to call 911 for you?! Come on! Please come back
soon because the parking fees here are astronomical!
I waited for half an hour. Then an hour. I was increasingly worried. Partly because of
the money I was losing for parking, but also because she had stayed too long. I called her.
When she answered the phone, I heard her crying.
- Mom, what's wrong!!!
She didn't say anything, she just sobbed loudly, like a crazy person. I was in a real
panic.
- Where are you, what's going on?!
I was starting to think that maybe she just found out she was terminal. Or something
worse. But I hadn't asked her before what doctor or hospital unit she was going to. So I didn't
know where she might be or where to start looking for her.
All I heard on the other end of the line was her hysterical crying. And I had never
heard that before. Something is definitely wrong here!
I jumped out of the car and ran to the entrance of the hospital. When I got to the lobby,
I didn't wait in line and asked the lady at the front desk where Ms Stevenson is, if somebody
can search for her, it's an emergency!
- Are you a relative?, she asked me with an ominous voice.
- Yes, yes, please hurry up! Where is she?
- Wait here, a doctor will come to talk to you right away!
After two minutes I saw a doctor coming towards me. He was very pale. And he
looked even more frightened than I was.
- I'm sorry to inform you that Ms Stevenson has passed away!
- I'm sorry, what!!!
I thought it was a joke. It couldn't be possible! Five minutes ago I heard her crying on
the phone, so five minutes ago she was alive!
- She passed away! We couldn't help her! She was too late!
- What do you mean she was too late?! You're lying to me! She's not dead!
I was so angry that I started screaming. He is trying to convince me that my mother is
dead. But I know she's not!
Because I was so upset, the doctor signaled to some male nurses to come and probably
give me a shot to calm me down. But I didn't want to wait to be forcibly sedated, so I put my
hand on the doctor's neck and started squeezing:
- If you want to live, tell me right now where my mother is!
- She's downstairs, in the morgue!
I let him go and ran away, escaping from two male nurses who were chasing me. In
the meantime, I searched all the doors to see where the morgue was. When I got there, I
started taking all the bodies out of the freezers. They fell like fleas on the floor. I examined
every single corpse, male or female, in a chaotic motion, just to see if one of those people was
my mother or not. When there was no body left in the freezer, I breathed a sigh of relief. She
wasn't there! The doctor lied to me!
But wait a minute, where else is my mother? Maybe she's being held captive here
somewhere by those crazy doctors! I have to find her, as soon as possible. Or should I call the
police? But no one will believe me! They'll put me in a straitjacket. What am I going to do?!
My phobia of germs is starting to kick in. So many dead bodies touching me, so many germs!
My greatest fear shook me so much that I fell over in the middle of the pile of corpses. I
started shivering because they were very cold. I was sitting on the body of a naked woman
who was very beautiful and very fresh. Then I heard a voice:
 - So in the end you met her!
It was my mother. She was standing in the doorway, looking at me sitting in the
middle of the room, surrounded by all the mischief, like in a horror movie.
- Mom!... Who are you talking about?!
- This girl, you stay on her... The second Ms. Stevenson. She's my wife. I mean, she
was until... The hospital staff just told me about her stupid car accident. Now I'm single again!
I'm here to say goodbye to her.
I was surprised when I saw that my mother was still alive. But I was even more
surprised when I found out that she had become a lesbian!