Page 94 of Whispers of Fire

I will look like the perfect obedient bride they expect me to be. But inside, I will roar like a lion, ready to fight anyone on my way to freedom.

Wild like my man taught me.

She leaves the room, finally letting me get up. I turn toward the door, making sure she’s far enough to not see me, and grab Vox's phone under my pillowcase.

Still no text.

I bite my lower lip.

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry .

Ignoring my broken heart, I swallow and close my eyes. I need to focus. Vox must have a good reason to stay silent, he must. No matter what, I will save myself. I will take the reins of my life today. Unlocking the screen, I open our conversation and start texting him.

One last time before everything changes.

I wish I could have written a handwritten letter to him, but this is all I have. My eyes get watery from the nickname he's put in my profile. There's so many things I want to say but I don't know where to start.

“Rose, hurry up!” my mom yells from the kitchen.

Angel : I’m getting married today, but I’m still hoping to hear your bike in the driveway. You showed me what being alive felt like and for this I’m forever grateful. I’m sorry we ran out of time. I’m sorry our worlds couldn't exist together. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you these words out loud.

I'll always be yours, no matter what.

Your Angel.

-

“Remember, wide smiles and look down at your feet, even when you walk toward him,” my mother keeps telling me since I got into the car, the large white dress drowning me under all the fabric. I feel naked without my bra on, but this is tradition. The rough edges of the dollar bills are the only thing reminding me that this will be done in a few hours. I slid them under my dress quickly when my mother went out of the room to get her purse.

“Also, don’t sign to him like a strange girl, Rose, he doesn’t care about that. Just nod at everything he says, It’ll be easier.” She's wearing the same black long dress as always, her hair braided like any other day. Just like my father in his black suits and his black top hat.

The only change is the large smug grins on their faces. They think they're getting connected with royalty.

So foolish of them.

I know it's wrong but I'm not even sorry for them. My father hid the murders of six girls and my mother is enthusiastically pushing me in the arms of a man who plans on raping me at the end of the day.

I love them but I’m done with this.

“Rose,” my father says, taking his usual threatening tone with me, like each time he talks to me. I could honestly count them on my fingers since last month.

“Don't mess this up,” he says. I can almost feel his hand on my neck at the memories of his bathtub punishment each time he was disappointed in me.

I look at him in the rearview, nodding slowly like the good girl that I am.

If only he knew.

-

This is it.

The walk. The steps I must take towards a life that will never be mine.

Keep smiling, head down, don't let them know .

It's painful but I manage to placate a fake grin on my face, looking down, my father holding my arm on my right, carrying his daughter to the aisle like a good dad.

God, if only those people knew what he did to me.

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