Take Me Away

Chapter 1

Trying not to let my looming future take control of me, I slipped my sleep cloth over my head, taking it off and leaving my body bare, save for a pair of underwear. I glanced down at myself, taking in the features of my body. I didn't have a body like some of the other girls in my village, but my muscles were defined from years of dancing.

My feet were blistered, but healing from the long hours of work I put in each day in the fields and during training. My legs were well defined and my thighs were plump, but they didn't touch at the top of my thighs. My belly was flat, save for a little bit of fat located just beneath my navel. My breasts weren't as large as some girls, even though girls under the age of eighteen were supposed to keep their chests under wraps.

When you reached the age of eighteen, it was believed that you could allow your curves to show a bit more, since everyone was to be married by the age of twenty. My breasts were smaller than average, but they still had substance to them. I think the way my body is built came from my mother. Terrin once said, when my body was going through the Change, that I was a spitting image of my mother, in every way, shape, and form.

I asked her to tell me more, since I had never met my real mother, but Terrin quickly shut down and told me that my bangs weren't long enough. Nothing about me was ever good enough for Terrin, but I stopped fighting her a long time ago.

Since I was only going out to the fields to rehearse my dance one last time, I simply slipped on an old pair of brown pants and a raggedy old tunic that cinched at the waist. Thinking ahead and smirking to myself, I slipped on an undershirt before putting the tunic over my head, defying Terrin's rules because I always became hot from dancing.

Reaching down to grab a pair of slippers, I tiptoed out of my room as quietly as possible, wanting to avoid Terrin much as possible.

I had almost made it to the front door when a loud, barking voice erupted from behind me. "Just where do you think you're going, young lady?" I twisted around to see Terrin glaring at me, her hair pulled back into a sloppy bun and her hands on her hips. I tried not to look at her angry face that glared at me.

"To the fields," I answered softly, looking down so she wouldn't see my eyes.

"The fields? Again, Melisande?" she asked in a softer tone, but I still winced when she used my full name. "You've practiced enough. with your luck, you'll end up twisting your ankle and ruining everything," she bit out.

"Please, Terrin? One last time?" I didn't look up into her eyes. She would only be more disgusted.

Terrin paused. "What makes you think this will be the last time?" If I didn't know any better, I would have said her voice was trembling out of fear that I knew what was planned for my grim future.

"I don't know. Something feels... off, today, I suppose." Nothing about today felt right. I knew I was going to be sacrificed, and the woman who unwillingly raised me was going to hand me over for my execution. "I just need some time alone."

"Don't even think about running away, Melisande," Terrin warned me as I moved toward the door and unlatched the lock. "Today is not the day for one of your games."

I never played games. Ever. None of the kids had wanted to played with the freak of the village. And I wasn't planning on running away. "I'm not running away from anything, Terrin. When have I ever run away from anything?"

"Wouldn't surprise me if you did. Your mother and father did. What makes you think you're any different from them?" she mumbled underneath her breath.

"I never knew them. You never told me about them. So, you see, I have no idea if I'm like them or not. But I guess we'll find out today, eh?" I answered in a dark tone, pausing in the entryway of the house before shutting the door behind me. When I stepped into the grass and felt the prickles of green blades against my ankles, I smiled. I considered it a small victory to talk to Terrin like that. Knowing that she was only seconds behind me, I took off running for the hills, not wanting to feel her wrath.