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I stood glued to the spot, terror filling me with her words; I couldn't marry this man I didn't know.
How had this happened? I felt for a strange moment as though I was living through a terrible nightmare.
"How could you do this to me?" I yelled, my hands clenching to quell the rage inside me.
"How could Daddy do this to me?"
"Your father was doing what he needed to do to keep the family name alive." My mother as cold as ever; as long as she had the luxury, what did it matter if she was selling her eldest daughter?
"If he hadn't done that, we wouldn't have a roof over our heads now."
"I can't believe this is happening." Burying my head in my hands, hoping I could hide from this nightmare.
"We're all stuck in this, Melissa selfishness is not the answer." She spat, and a strand of hair fell in her face. "Your sister's education is at risk."
" How can this even be legal? This isn't 1812, Mom. " This didn't happen anymore, right?
"It is not against the law, Melissa, especially as you have consented."
" Like hell, I have. "
There was one thing my mother did not tolerate, and that was swearing, even the light ones.
"Enough of the language."
My sister would still have her freedom while I would be shackled in hell for the rest of my life, My heart roared with outrage like a captured Lion, yet I said.
"Okay, Mom."
She threw me a self-satisfied smile, "Good, good. We meet with Mr. Lotz tomorrow."
How does she look so happy?
"Make sure you look good, Mel; we don't want him changing his mind."
I guess this meant I was engaged.
" Go and get some rest. We don't want him to take one look at you and change his mind. "
I threw myself on top of my bed in dramatic fashion; at that moment, feeling every bit like Scarlet O'Hara, I was pretty sure I wouldn't get a happy ending either.
Why me, though, Dad?
"Why me. " The pillow swallowed my question.
It was no good I knew no answer would come, for months since the untimely death I had been calling to him, talking into thin air in the vain hope he would hear me.
No answer ever came, only the faint thin gust of wind that fanned my face and chilled me.
Climbing under the covers, I huddled under, seeking warmth.
I could feel the familiar build of anxious energy flowing inside me,
That ever-present angst that followed me every day, mostly silently hibernating but waiting to wake and assault me with fears I couldn't express.
