Unwanted Bride Of Atticus Fawn

Clarissa's POV

There were so many things happening around me. Last-minute decorations were being hung on the walls, and caterers were walking up and down the hallways.

We had only one hour left before guests started to arrive. Just one hour.

Pictures of Damon and Anya were added to our home. Pictures that would haunt me every time I had to look at them. Anya was the one who requested it. She wanted things done very similarly to Autumn’s marriage to Atticus.

It’s like she was trying to relive their marriage through Damon. If they did anything differently, she complained that they treated Autumn better than they did her.

Damon didn’t try to speak to me again after what happened in my room, but I wasn’t exactly giving him a chance either.

This time, I was the one avoiding him. I knew that avoiding him would affect him even more than if I were by his side, just like he’d done to me the past few days. However, this time, I wasn’t doing it intentionally.

This time, I was avoiding him for my own good. My heart needed distance from him if I wanted to survive seeing him with her. This was for me. I was being selfish. To protect myself from any more heartache.

I was giving him what he asked of me. He couldn’t have it both ways. He wanted things to go back to normal between us, but I knew there was no chance of that.

My heart was broken; it could never be the same again. Every time I looked at him, I would feel pain from his rejection.

He may not have openly said the words to me, but it was a clear rejection. He chose Anya. He always chose her. I just refused to accept it in the past. It was my fault for not seeing what was right in front of me. I denied it until Damon came out and told me himself.

He didn’t think he had to in the past, but after many failed attempts to get closer to him, he realized that it had to be done.

I stared at the dress in the mirror. I was dressed, not in the white I once wanted to wear, but in black. This was supposed to be my engagement party, but sadly, I was never lucky enough to get anything I wanted in this life.

The one person that fought to give me everything I wanted would soon belong to someone else.

I knew it was only a matter of time before Autumn barged into my room to check on me. I didn’t want to wait for that to happen. I needed space. I needed time to clear my mind.

I didn’t want to be here when the engagement was happening. I didn’t want to see Damon next to Anya, nor did I want to listen to the announcement that would completely shatter my heart.

I opened my room door and cautiously looked to both sides, checking if anyone was there. When I didn’t see anyone, I quickly ran for the stairs. I was aware that I would have to pass early guests and possibly family members to get to the exit, but it was a risk I had to take. Hopefully, everyone would be too busy with the party to pay attention to me.

When no one was looking, I ran out of the house and headed straight for the woods. I knew it should be the last place to go after what happened the last time I went there looking for Damon, but I needed to be alone. Staying in the house was not an option for me. Taking a vehicle was also not an option. I had to be close to home.

If I tried to explain to anyone, they wouldn’t understand; they would only force me to stay and watch the one thing that would destroy me.

The moment I entered the forest, my feet started to move on their own. I could feel the wind gushing in my ears with how fast I moved; the night drew closer. I had less than an hour left before my worst nightmare came true.

I don’t know how long I kept running; all I knew was that I kept going further and further away from my home.

A whisper against my ear totally surprised me and forced me to stop. I grabbed onto a tree and held on as I tried to find my breath. What was that? I wasn’t sure what I’d heard, but it was enough to make me worry. Was I not alone like I initially thought?

My heart was racing, and I hoped I wasn’t in danger like the last time. No one was around to help me this time. They wouldn’t even know that I was in danger since they would still think I was somewhere inside our home.

I slowly took in my surroundings; I could see the leaves falling to the ground and hear the sounds of nature. But there was no other sound or sight of anything that I had to worry about. Maybe I’d misheard the whispers.

My frustration over the party had me imagining things that weren’t even there. It was messing with my mind. I knew it was only a matter of time before I completely lost all sanity.

Get a grip on yourself, Clarissa.

I had to find a way to cool down before I did something stupid. The time for that had already passed now that I thought about it. This was something stupid. Leaving home while everyone was busy preparing for a big engagement party.

Whenever it concerned Damon, I always did things without thinking correctly. I knew that he would freak out if he realized that I wasn’t home. But I wasn’t going back there. Not now; I would deal with the consequences later. For now, I would stay here and enjoy the sound of nature.

I had to hope that no one noticed I was missing and started a search party to look for me. That would be embarrassing. I should have said something to Autumn, at least. If she’d known, she would have covered for me.

I closed my eyes. I couldn’t think about that right now. I had to think about myself and my future. To me, Damon has always been my future. Without him, I wasn’t sure what to do with my life.

All of my memories of him kept repeating in my mind. I couldn’t get him out of my head. I was hurting. It felt like someone was purposefully trying to rip my heart out of my chest.

I knew that he felt our connection; I knew that he at least understood that my feelings for him were nothing like my feelings for anyone else. He knew that I didn’t see him as my brother. It’s why he asked me not to say anything. It’s why he asked me not to complicate things.

I never thought there would come a day when I would willingly let Damon get engaged to that woman.

I’ve never been one to back down. I’ve always fought for what I wanted. But this time was different; this time, Damon was the one to ask me to behave; he was the one to ask me to let things happen without causing any trouble.

I usually did the opposite of what he asked me to do, depending on his request.

I never got to see how he looked for the party. I was sure he looked the kind of good that left a girl completely speechless and unable to look at anything else but him.

If it were our engagement party, I wouldn’t be able to look away. People would have to drag me away from him since I’d want to spend every second by his side.

I covered my face with my hands and let out a stifled scream of frustration. It wasn’t my engagement party. It was Anya’s.

I felt trapped and confused. And stuck.

Why was this happening to me? Why? Why couldn’t Damon willingly be mine? Why did everything around us constantly push us away from each other?

A sudden crackling caught my attention, and I slowly lifted my face from my hands. It took me a few seconds to determine what caused the sound. My eyes widened in shock as the reddish flames roared before me.

Fire.

First, it started as barely anything, but now it was a growing monster ready to pounce on me.

I couldn’t believe this.

The forest was on fire. It was actually on fire.

Where did it come from? As far as I knew, I was the only one here. I would have heard if anyone was trying to start a fire.

It surrounded me. I picked myself off the ground and searched for a path to escape the hungry flames.

How did this even happen? And why was the fire a perfect circle around me?