CHAPTER 5
The service starts and I am sat at my usual place along with the girls my age. I refuse to let myself bend towards everyone's expectations and I stubbornly sit where they least expect me to sit. For months, all I have done is argue with myself to either stay or be a run away bride. Three couples are to get married today and I fume at the idea of sharing what is supposed to a special day for me with someone else, although it comforts me that I won't be the center of attention the whole day. I am dressed in a gold dress embroidered with gold beads in the shape of flowers and a gold head wrap that matches my dress. One of the others girls is dressed in a purple dress with colorful flowers and then the other in a red dress with rose flowers on her neckline.
The service begins and thoughts of running away fill my mind. How amusing that would be to watch if I wasn't the run away bride. I try to convince myself that this is the right path for me and the sooner I accept the plans the Lord has for me, the better. How bad could it.
I fight the urge to cry and scream when I realize that I had and have no choice and spending the past few weeks in Zelda's house did not help at all. I left home a few backs to get my dress fitted and designed by Zelda, although I had wanted to buy my own, but again, I didn't have a choice but to let her design it. The day I left home still lingers at the back of my mind as if it were a dream. A desperate part of me still hopes that I am taken back home and everything is forgotten of. My heart refuses to let go of the friends and family I left behind, the life that was suddenly cut short and the home I had grown up in, hoping to leave it when I went to university. All that time I carved my perfect future of travelling the world, independence and success, only to end up sitting on a old green chair and contemplating running away from a man I do not know on my wedding day. What a waste of dreams.
The wedding goes by in a blur and before I know it, I have a ring on my finger and have said my vows to the church and my husband. The last hymn is sang and everyone remains sited gluing their eyes on the newly wed couples. My stomach turns and I swear I am about to vomit my intestines out. I pick up my Bible from the floor and place it on my lap to calm my nerves but nothing seems to be working.
"1, 2, 3 , 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10."
I turn my face to look at the man sat besides me who does not even offer a greeting. Wasn't it him who dragged me into this marriage only to have me greet him first. I narrow my eyes at his incompetence.
"Hey" I say after counting up to ten again to cool myself down.
"Hey. How are you?" he says raising his eyes to look at me for the first time.
"Good and you?"
"Good too."
The silence stretches and I am almost tempted to go and look for my sisters, just to have the comfort of a familiar face.
"I would like to get rid of this Bible and shoes. Do you want to come" I ask trying to offer a smile, but my face remains with the seemingly stuck emotionless look on my face.
"Sure. We can place them in the car."
We make small talk as we walk to the car and I keep stealing glances at him when he is not looking. His is tall as I had expected him to be, with a face that matches his age of twenty four years. He keeps on fidgeting from nerves and barely looks at me. Only stealing glances when he thinks I am not looking. his body remains hidden under the suit that looks a bit over-sized for him. Why thanks to my sister in law Zelda. I drop the Bible's on the passenger seat and before we know it, we are surrounded by people coming to congratulate us.
I rush to pull Dalia on my side as everyone grabs their phones to take pictures and I cling on to the one person I am the closest with. I look at James and find him laughing and taking pictures with the other guys. A part of me wishes that he is exactly the same guy everyone describes him to be. Fun, loving and caring. It's one thing getting married to a stranger when you did not want to get married at all, and it's another thing being trapped in an unhappy marriage.
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Non-Fiction"You trust me, don't you?" he says with a smile, that smile. It had fooled everyone, even me at some point, and for the first time I want to scream with rage and shake the earth to the core. "Give me a hug," he says pulling me out of the chair that...
