Written in Life

(Chapter 3)

I got my uncle to calm down, but couldn't get myself to. I took deep, long breaths and hoped that my heart wouldn't burst in panic. I was only seventeen! I wasn't ready to get married! Especially to someone who had the history of being in jail for constant rapes and beatings of past women. And the worst part is that I knew I couldn't do anything about it unless my story had some sort of unexpected twist or some other guy comes along. That's normally what allows a damsel in distress to get out of one problem and into the next. Normally the so called 'princesses' in books don't actually fall in love or live happily ever after. It's just for the likeliness of the reader. Like beauty and the beast for instance. Belle was expected to marry a ladies man that she hated until she met the beast. And the thing is, she didn't really love the beast. She just let the story carry on as it was supposed to and appear that she was the luckiest person alive for kissing a lion/bear thing and having him turn into the prince he once was. Well, let me tell you, I intend on spending my life with someone I actually know outside of a boot camp.

"You gonna be alright fawn?" my uncle asked. Fawn was a nickname he gave me when I was younger. He and I were painting the garage and I ended up getting white spots all over me... it just sorta stuck. I looked up and grabbed my hair, feeling like yanking out each strand one by one. I sighed." I don't know," I said and fell back on the couch. My uncle stood up and sat on the couch by me feet.

"Look, I can only imagine what your feeling right now. I've never been pressed against anythin' except a gun on my shoulder and your dealin' with marriage," he said. I lifted my head up and gave him a cold stare, letting him know this lecture of his wasn't working. He sighed." What I'm trying to say is, just because your story says your forced into this, doesn't mean that it'll follow through." That didn't entirly make any sense to me, but I knew he was trying. I sat up and he held me against his chest as I sobbed, my black ink tears staining his shirt. Suddenly, a new surge of panic raced through me as I heard the sound of rubbing gravel. I leaned back and looked at my uncle, who had the same expression on his face." I'll clean up the broken glass," he said quickly and stood up, racing for the kitchen.

"Change your shirt too!" I called and he nodded with his face to the opposite wall. I ran to the bathroom and looked at myself. Black streaks covered my face and was smudged all around my eyes. I turned on the sink and scrubbed my face as hard as I could. I rinsed and looked back up at myself and an ugly gray smudge was spread across my face. DANG IT! I ran to the kitchen and grabbed the flour and could now hear footsteps coming up to the door. I threw the flour around the kitchen and rubbed some on my face to hide the ink stained there until I had the time to clean it off properly. I threw some on my shirt and in my hair and lit a candle. I covered the phone in the white substance and covered the black ink now stained on the kitchen tile. My uncle walked out of my parent's bedroom with a black t-shirt on and I threw a burst of flour in his face. He coughed in surprise and I stored the flour back in the cabinet.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"I have an idea," I said and he smiled I grabbed a deck of cards, a beer and fanned the candle I lit we ran out to the couch just as we heard the door open and I grabbed a bunch of random card and split them between my uncle and me While he opened his beer. My dad walked in and we pretended to be playing go fish." Do you have any aces?" I asked. My uncle looked at me, knowing I had seen his cards and threw over two aces I smiled and looked back at my father." Hey dad," I said. He waved and looked around as my uncle took a huge gulp of his drink. Keep your mind clear. It was easy for my uncle cause he had his whole life to practice. My dad was a mind reader and I didn't need him knowing I was bound to a maniac in my story. He took a deep breath through the nose.

"Are you baking?" he asked. I nodded, lying. He nodded and walked into the kitchen, looking around suspiciously. He looked down and scratched his head." Did you use vanilla?"

"No, we baked peanut butter cookies," my uncle said, indicating to the fragrance of the candle. I then notice my dad was looking at the spot where I cried." Actually, I added vanilla," I said. My uncle nodded, seeing what I was doing. My dad nodded again and walked into the living room with us, setting down his paper work. Almost everybody had a dad older than them outside of their story... not me. My dad was eleven. My mom was seven. Luckily, they were too young to have a marriage arrangement in their stories, so they found each other outside of their stories and had me.

"You made quite a mess out there young lady," my dad said to me seriously. You probably think it was weird for me to be scolded by someone six years younger than me... nope. I was used to it.

"I know. I'll clean it up after this game," I said, gesturing to the fake game we had set up. He nodded slowly, and I could tell he was still suspicious. He turned and walked upstairs and stopped at the window, looking out." What the hell?!" he raced out the door and I looked at my uncle to see if he knew what was going on. He shrugged and we both ran after him. We saw my dad with a hand over his mouth and looking straight at the fence I painted earlier. I saw that it cracked as it dried, now showing shades of red from underneath. My uncle and I burst out laughing and my dad just smiled. My uncle walked up to his brother and pat him on the back.

"Well, now it really does look like a seven year old lives here," he joked. My father laughed and turned around and I shrugged." She told me to paint it as soon as I got home," I confessed. He smiled and walked back towards the house. Halfway there he turned his head and ventured down the driveway. I looked at him walking confused and took a step forward, something gleaming on the dirt path. Realization shot through me and I ran to the object, but was too late... my dad already reached it. He picked up the ring off the gravel and looked back at me. Images flashed by before I could stop them and a look of loss appeared on my father's face. I turned and ran to the stables, locking the barn door behind me, black tears flowing freely from my eyes and in to the hay covered ground. There was a banging from the other side of the door and I sat there, hugging my knees to my chest, watching as the wood creaked at the force. I ran to the corner of the barn and moved the hay to reveal a small hole that I used to get away from everything when I was younger. I crawled into the small space and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to make the sound of my father's forceful hand disappear.

I looked around me and tried to figure out where I was. All around me was pitch black. Was this some bazaar part of my story, or was I dreaming? Suddenly, a faint white light appeared off to my right and I squinted at it, shielding my eyes from it's brilliance. I walked towards it slowly and two figures appeared in shadow. I walked closer, but off to the side so they wouldn't see me. I quickly noticed that one of the figures was me in my army uniform and the other was a tall man with dark hair and luscious green eyes that almost seemed to be glowing. I remember one time when I was young, this same thing happened to me, but it was with a teacher in my old class. He suspected I was hiding something about me from everyone... in that case I was hiding that I was Inked. Suddenly, I froze where I was and I knew why I had. This was a part of my story. For some reason I could still see what was going on in my surroundings."Look, it's my duty to keep you alive," said me who was looking straight into the eyes of the man. I began to panic. I wasn't supposed to know what happened in the future of my story! No body was! I closed my eyes but it didn't work. It was as though my eyelids were see-through. No matter what I did, I knew that the part of me that knew what was going to happen wasn't going to let me stop it from letting the rest of me know." Well, Bernice, looks like we both have the same problem," the man said. I started walking and he followed right behind me."Well, if you weren't our kind, I wouldn't have to deal with you!" I snapped angrily.

"What is that supposed to mean?" the man asked. Wow... I didn't even know what was happening and I still knew what I meant. This guy needs to keep up. I spun around and looked him in the eye, our faces almost touching." What it means is that my problem isn't keeping you alive, it's that you're slowing me down! If you were never drawn my life would be easier than you can imagine," I growled. I turned and walked on and this time the man just stood there as I walked away." Would you rather me be your ' arrangenged' husband? Or should I say deranged?" he yelled from the distance we were separated. I spun on my heel and glared at him from the fifty feet we were apart. I walked up to him and smacked him across the face with a loud crack." Damn you," I said. I pulled him in by his shirt and...