Fading.

Chapter 1

My mouth dropped open; how could she think this was good news?

Wasn't our family doing well?

Why did she see the need to marry me off to my best friend? I have told her time and time again that I didn't see him like that. He was just my friend, and I wasn't ready for that.

Didn't she care how I felt?

All these feelings were shaking my body from the inside tell it trembled, thoughts were jumping around my mind so fast that I couldn't articulate them, so, all I could ask was why?

Mum looked at me with pressed eyebrows.  "I thought I was giving you great news." She told me.  "I thought that since you two are always together that this would be the next step."

The next step?  Was that what this was?  It felt more like I was getting handed off. I looked over to William - my elder brother -, who had been watching the whole ordeal unfold. Why wasn't she playing matchmaker with him?  He had been past due for a wife for years.  Did he know mother planned to do this?

Judging from the discomfort on his face, if he did know then it was not sitting well with him.

I looked back to mum who looked back at me expectantly. "May I be excused?" I asked her. She nodded, and I quickly left the table and ran to my room. It was at times like this that I was glad to be the only daughter.  I didn't want to see anyone else right now.

I stormed into my room like a cloud on the brink of tears.  I threw myself onto my bed and buried my face into the pillow. Why was this happening?  Didn't I get a say in the matter.  I was the one who had to live with him for the rest of my life.  I was the one who was going to be trapped inside of four walls, having to take care of a bundle of children.  I wasn't ready for that.  I wanted to cry and then I was ready to yell, my heart went with the former.

Why didn't she ask me first? I wouldn't have been as upset if I had gotten the chance to say no. If I had gotten the chance to explain.

I rolled over and I could feel the hot tears stream down my cheeks.

My thoughts slowly started to drift away, and my eyelids grew heavier. What did he think about this? Did he want this? Did his father?  Why was this happening so fast?

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I woke up to the sound of someone yelling for help. My eyes wearily tried to break through the crust that had cemented my eyes shut. "Help me." The voice cried again as I rubbed the eye gunk away with the tips of my fingers. When my eyes finally pried open, I looked around the room and wondered why I didn't hear the thundering of any of my brother's feet. Couldn't they hear that someone needed help?

I stumbled out of bed and rushed to the window, my feet gliding against the ground like a newborn doe. I gripped the edge of the sill and squinted my eyes to try and see more clearly, but I couldn't see anything. However, I knew that it was coming from the woods. I instantly felt bad, didn't they know the stories? Didn't they know it was haunted by creatures that wanted us dead? Why were they in there? There was no good reason to be in there.

I waited around to see if I had heard correctly, and I hoped that I didn't. After seconds of silence, I doubted that I heard anything at all. Maybe I didn't hear anything. I turned around hesitantly, waiting to hear them call again. But it didn't come. I wandered back to my bed, my heart thumping from the adrenaline that was pushing through it. I took deep breaths to try and calm myself. I wasn't going to get back to sleep like this.

I clambered back onto my stiff bed and tried to find a spot where the straw wasn't poking up. As soon as I had made my way under the covers they called again, "Help." It was louder this time.