It was the first wedding Susie had ever photographed at St. Joseph's, and it had all been going so well. She'd got some beautiful shots of the bridal party getting ready and then arriving at the church; it was a stunning autumn day, falling leaves gently drifting through the still air as the bride stepped through the lych gate, framed by a bright blue sky: perfect. The ceremony had been going off without a hitch.
And then the vicar had said "Speak now, or forever hold your peace," and Susie had shrieked.
She couldn't help it. She'd raised her camera to her face again to capture the way the bride and groom were looking at each other, and she'd seen something - horrible.
Fortunately, this was a wedding with a sense of humour. Susie had clapped her hand to her mouth in a cartoonish manner, and the horrified looks from everyone in the room swiftly turned to laughter.
"Shall I continue?" said the vicar, a little drily, and Susie had nodded fervently - there had been another laugh at this - and the ceremony had indeed continued with no further interruptions, and with no more horrors appearing in Susie's viewfinder.
At the reception the vicar - Harry, young for a vicar, and quite cute actually - had checked with Susie that she was all right, which she found quite touching; and the mother of the bride had laughed again, heartily, and told Susie she'd livened up the wedding no end, and then the next day she'd added Susie on Facebook and Susie had thought, hey, why not, might lead to some more business; and all the while Susie had been trying not to think about the figures that had appeared behind the bride and groom - the shifting, vaguely humanoid shadows that had seemed about to envelop the couple in darkness -
And now it was two weeks later and the couple were missing.
Janice, the mother of the bride, had posted it on Facebook. 'My beautiful daughter Jo and her new husband Noah have disappeared while on their honeymoon in Bali. They arrived safely and we heard from them several times during the week, but we've had no contact from them since Tuesday. They were due to arrive back in the UK three days ago but they haven't turned up and we're very worried. Please keep us in your thoughts...'
And Jo and Noah were very much in Susie's thoughts the next day, as she arrived back at St. Joseph's for another wedding. The weather was gloomier and Harry the vicar seemed a little subdued; but the brides were both beautiful, and as the second of them glided down the aisle on her grandfather's arm, Susie raised her camera and -
- there it was. One of the same apparitions she'd seen last time, floating down the aisle behind the bride as though mocking her, all darkness and hunger and rage -
This time she managed not to cry out, but she drew in a sharp intake of breath, and Harry turned to look at her. They made eye contact for a moment; Susie did her best to smile; and the wedding went on.
Out in the churchyard, once she'd captured the two gorgeous brides, beaming with love, emerging from the church with their bouquets in the air, cheered on by their family and friends, she turned to find Harry standing next to her.
In a low voice he said "What did you see?"
Her instinct was to brush it off - 'what are you talking about?' - but there was something in his face that made her want to be honest.
"It was awful," she said, and did her best to explain, expecting him to laugh at her. But he only nodded.
"There's something not right here," he said. "I've only been at St. Joseph's a few months. There'd been no weddings here for years. But..."
Just then she was called away for more pictures, but at the reception Harry explained. The first couple whose wedding he'd officiated at St. Joseph's had drowned on their honeymoon. Another couple had gone missing in Mexico - there were rumours of kidnapping. And now Noah and Jo.
"And - " said Susie, looking out at the dancefloor, where the newlyweds were twirling in each other's arms.
Harry nodded. "I know."
The following afternoon she was editing the photos at her desk at home - looking again at the brides, their arms at each other's waists as they swayed to Adele - when she was interrupted by a phone call from a number she didn't recognise.
"Hi, it's Harry. I hope you didn't mind - I got your number from one of the brides."
Susie found herself smiling at the sound of his voice. "Not at all."
"Listen, I'm calling with good news and - well, with weird news. Do you have time to talk?"
"Sure. Are you at St. Joseph's?"
"Of course."
"I'll pop round, shall I? I'm only on Foster Avenue and I could do with the fresh air." Which was true, she told herself as she left the house, slinging her camera around her neck out of habit; but if she was honest with herself, she could also do with seeing Harry's face again.
The good news, it turned out, was that a Eurostar strike had prevented yesterday's brides from getting away for their honeymoon. "They certainly don't think it's good news, of course, but I couldn't help thinking something awful was going to happen," said Harry.
Susie nodded. "And the weird news?"
They were sitting at a little desk in the vestry, and when Harry pulled a yellowing, stapled document towards him, their heads almost touched as they bent over it.
It was a history of St. Joseph’s, put together in the 80s by an unknown author. Harry leafed through it to the page he was looking for. “Here.”
The page was entitled ‘Local Myths & Legends’, and among all the usual legends every town thinks it owns - ghosts and black cats and Gypsy curses - Susie read:
‘The Drowned Lovers: in the 19th century, a young unmarried couple from the area were found drowned in the canal, reportedly having jumped in because their families wouldn’t allow them to marry. As suicides, St. Joseph’s refused to allow their bodies to be buried in consecrated ground; and local legend has it that their spirits haunt the churchyard, preying on young lovers and newlyweds. This is reputed to be the reason why - unusually for such a beautiful church - St. Joseph’s is never used for weddings.’
Susie and Harry looked up, and their eyes met.
“No more weddings?” said Susie, and Harry nodded grimly.
“No more weddings. Shame. It’s by far my favourite part of the job.”
Harry saw her out of the church, and as Susie made her way down the steps where the brides had posed just yesterday, he said “Could I take you out for dinner sometime?”
She turned, smiling; and he was framed so beautifully in the doorway of the church that she reached instinctively for her camera. But as she looked through it, her face turned from a shy grin to a mask of horror - and so did his, as he realised what she could see.