𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐘𝐍𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐘, 𝙠𝙞𝙖𝙧𝙖 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙧𝙖

𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗟𝗢𝗚𝗨𝗘

the sound of church bells tormented every crevice of rebekah arden's brain. the local church wasn't far from her home so she heard them frequently throughout the day and almost all the time during her dreams.

it wasn't ever supposed to be like this. when she saw her sister go through all of it, she made an oath to herself that all of her relationships with boys, platonic or not, would be kept a secret from her dad.

clearly, that plan fell through.

all because he had to come round to do a stupid school project when they were fifteen and then he started hanging with the group so her dad thought he'd caught onto something that was never actually there. dylan and rebekah's relationship was solely platonic. nothing more, nothing less.

on countless occasions, she'd tried to voice this to her mother and father but they weren't taking in any of it, so she just gave up in the end. they were only going to do to her exactly what they did with her sister. marry her off, recruit business men from dylans family, send them far away and only ever send post cards. rebekah was merely an object for them to profit from.

even though this was the opposite of the life she wanted, she tried to put on her best face as her father messed around with her hair before the big entrance. the man kept repeating "i know this isn't ideal for you, but please try to be open to it" to which rebekah replied "yes father" each time. her and her dad used to have the best relationship and it was a shame it had to be burnt out.

then, there it was, the dreaded music that was her queue to accept the impending fate. all at once, the calmness she'd been building up the past week drained from her body and was replaced with the pounding of her heart. it was begging her to make a break for it and not settle for less than what she'd dreamed of, to stop telling herself 'its not all that bad' when it's actually scaring her to death.

the door cracked open, stopping for a second to let the victim get ready for the reality she's about to step into, before fully opening with a creak that sliced through the chatter and revealed rows of eyes staring her down.

she knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help the resentment that grew in her heart for the people attending. they didn't know the truth, she was aware of that, but just the fact they were encouraging this was enough to hurt her.

lastly, her eyes trailed over to dylan whose face remained blank, it was clear as day neither of them were happy and it left her wondering why nobody else could pick up on it. maybe somebody had, but everyone's smiles went against that fleeting thought.

she finally unhooked herself from her fathers arm and stepped in front of the groom. seeing her shaky hands, he pulled them into his own, attempting to calm her. that's when the priest started to mumble all of the unneeded nonsense, up until he got to the really important part. "dylan james rhodes, do you take rebekah may arden to be your lawfully wedded wife". he muttered an "i do" before placing it onto her finger.

when the same words were repeated to rebekah, she felt as if the room was spinning and couldn't even remember letting out the words "i do" and the touch of a hand to her arm riddled with goosebumps brought her back down to earth. dylan, unlike before, had a cheeky grin plastered onto his features.

"get ready to run" he whispered to her "you may now kiss the bride" the priest announced and the echo from the church caught the movement of everyone leaning forward in anticipation "uhm, no thanks...now!" dylan yelled, latching his hand onto hers to pull her in the right direction.

the sunlight beamed down amongst the blue sky and rebekah looked up for a moment, thanking whoever was up there. "hurry up loser!" a familiar voice came from inside the car dylan was stood next to "emily? oh my god!" rebekah immediately picked up her pace and jumped inside the passenger seat, giving her sister, that she hadn't seen in around five years, a heartfelt hug.

looking in the rear view, it revealed their hot-headed father surging towards the car "step on it!" dylan yelled, afraid of the confrontation they'd have to face if madman stopped this surprise getaway. due to the lack of traffic, they made it through streets and round corners in a matter of minutes, faster than any of the old bats in that church could ever run.

when the car stopped by the dock, emily revealed that she'd packed all she could from rebekah's room. by the time they unloaded baggage, a guy was already getting ready to unwrap the rope that held the boat still "wait!" emily's voice screeched, successfully making him straighten himself back up "quick, passports guys" the older girl pulled them out her back pocket and threw them to the pair.

as soon as they made it to the man and flashed their passports, a car pulled up next to emily's rental car and they all immediately recognised who that car belonged to "stop them!" he yelled to the backup he'd brought along "a marriage runaway, huh?" the boat man gestured to the outfits "sounds like a fun adventure, hop on" luckily, the boardwalk was pretty long, so the mass of unfit men were too late.

the boat already started sailing away.

rebekah arden was free.

..