"I still can't believe you're going ahead with this marriage Allie," the voice whisper yelled, doing little to hide their frustration. Alanna slowly raised her eyes from her own reflection in the mirror to look at the person behind her. Her piercing gaze met the girl's eyes in the mirror making her skin crawl as she gulped down the fear that was starting to creep into her soul. She smiled at her, her eyes crinkling slightly in a reassuring way. "I know you are worried about me Sienna but you don't have to be. I know what I'm doing," her voice, sweet and inviting sounded in the vast room, echoing around them and creating a soft lingering effect. "Do you? Because I know you Allie and this doesn't seem like something you'll do. Are you being threatened? Is there something you're hid...
Can you just stop!" The outburst, loud and booming startled both of the girls. One's eyes widening in disbelief and the other's in realization. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lash out like that," Alanna got up from her seat and turned to face Sienna, an apologetic look marring her face. With a sigh, she walked over to her and interlocked their hands. "You're a good friend and I'm glad you're here with me today. I know how crazy this seems but trust me okay," she looked up from their joined hands and stared at Sienna, her eyes conveying the vulnerability she wanted her friend to see and understand. Sienna softened, pulling her in for a hug and both the girls stayed in that same position, embracing each other and thinking about this life changing marriage in their own ways." You look beautiful," Sienna said after they broke the hug and they smiled at each other, an understanding passing between them. "I'm going to be fine," Alanna assured once again for her friend's peace of mind. She just nodded, a small smile forming on her lips.
"Is the bride ready?" A woman in her mid 50's burst into the room and she stopped in her tracks to admire the girl in front of her. "Oh good heavens. You are the most beautiful bride I've ever seen," she had a bit of an accent, walking towards the girls as she spoke. Alanna grinned brightly, allowing the woman to hug her briefly when she finally came near them. "Thank you auntie".
"That man is definitely going to lose his shit when he sees you," the statement brought an awkward silence almost as if it was a sacred thing to say. Alanna still has the smile on her face but Sienna didn't find it funny in the slightest. "Language Beatrice," Uncle Mark reprimanded, although he didn't really look like he was scolding his wife for the word she said. With a smile on his face he walked over to the girls and with a proud fatherly smile and patted Alanna on her head. "You did good Alanna. He's going to provide you with security and at this point that's what matters most," her uncle's tone was dead serious, the pride in his eyes shifting, as if telling her to not be a disappointment like she had always been to him.
She clenched her dress and with a tight-lipped smile nodded at her uncle in appreciation. Sienna felt something wasn't right but she decided to trust her friend since Alanna herself was going through with the marriage and didn't seem to want to ran away from it.
"It is time." These words replayed over and over again in Alanna ears like a praying mantra. It was as if her brain was trying to really grasp the meaning of the words that had just been uttered. She had spent weeks preparing for this day and now that it was finally here, she didn't know if it was pre wedding jitters but her nerves weren't calming down. She took in a deep breath to steady the pounding of her heart and with the smile finally returning she let her uncle take her arm.
She turned to look at Sienna whose face looked even more worried than before. She smiled at her and then looked ahead to her impending destiny, the one that lay just outside of the double doors of the dressing room. They made their way outside the room, every step they took a step closer to what was about to happen.
The person she was marrying was filthy rich and famous but despite that the wedding was just a small gathering where only close friends and family had been invited. The media had been trying to get inside information with regards to the marriage for months but the man had used his influence to stop them from gaining any access to it and Alanna was glad for that one thing at least. She didn't want the media in her face anymore than she wanted this marriage.
They were now walking down the aisle and Alanna made sure to not look at the people who were staring at her as if they hadn't seen anything of her kind before. It was exasperating. She tried to not focus on them but at the altar where her future husband stood. She tightened her grip the closer she got to the altar, the nervousness she had tamed rushing back in tenfolds.
They finally reached the person at the altar and the priest officiating acknowledged her presence. Her eyes settled on the man standing in front of her and even though she had seen him a few times before the marriage, she couldn't help the color draining from her face when they came face to face with each other. She was glad the veil covered the entirety of her face disallowing one from seeing her expressions or else her family would have screamed bloody murder for having any other reactions apart from a bright, lovely smile.
"Dearly beloved, we're gathered here today to witness the union between...
Alanna drowned out the voice of the priest, her gaze shifting to the people who sat at the front seats. She saw the disdain and hatred they didn't even try to hide openly displayed for her to see and she smirked under the veil. She was glad there was something she and the man's side of the family saw eye to eye on. Her gaze shifted and she saw his children drilling literal holes in her whole being and at the moment if looks could kill, she'd already be buried six feet underneath the ground.
Poor little things couldn't accept that their daddy was getting them a new, younger step mother to babysit their spoiled asses. How pitiful. His daughter, Astrid whom she believed was her age couldn't stop the imaginary knifes she kept plunging into her heart with the way she just kept staring. Did you think she was marrying a young, handsome rich man whom she was unredeemably in love with? The irony. The man she was marrying was in his sixties, triple x triple her age and no family member of hers found anything wrong with it. Why would they? She had become the golden goose after all so why would they care if she was sold, tortured or even worse killed. They lived for their own selfish reasons and this marriage was a clear example of that. She had no right to walk away because they were the people who looked after her when her parents died. Believe it or not she was grateful to the people who had fattened her up only to be sold to the highest bidder. Where else would she have gone if they hadn't taken her in?
You could say she was repaying them; no matter how crude and demeaning it was. The self monologue she had indulged herself in made it easier to to not stare at the man whose whole youth seemed to have been taken away from him, the moment he was born. She could look at him if his representation was her grandfather but as a marriage prospect? She had standards, please.
...as your lawfully wedded wife. To love and to hold. In sickness and in health, For rich or for poor, till death do you part?" The priest's words brought her out of her reverie and she realized the marriage was still ongoing. "I do," his voice, old, damaged and wrinkled made the hairs on her hands stand in awareness of how internally insufferable it was. Is this the voice she was going to hear till this man died? She saw him give her a lustful gaze and she tried not to shudder, reigning it in as much as she could.
Once again she drowned out her surroundings, getting lost in her own thoughts again. There wasn't any prince charming in her story. She could be her own prince charming but she knew how futile even that was going to be. Her fate had never been hers since the day her parents died and over the years things her family members had thrusted her in didn't bother her that much. Even when they had forced this marriage down her throat, she didn't dare throw it up.
...miss Ingram?" The priest nudged. Shit, she had zoned out again. "Do you take him as your lawfully wedded husband? He asked again. She guessed he had already repeated the vows a few times. Call her a sadist but the only resolve driving her to say yes was the growing hatred that was being fueled the closer she got to saying I do. But before the gratifying word could come out of her mouth to satisfy the people it was meant to please, her groom suddenly clutched his heart and groaned in pain, slamming to the ground like a sack of useless potatoes that had been discarded.
The reactions were deafening. His kids ran towards him in alarm. The others screamed and gasped in shock, not knowing what to do. People, a lot of people had surrounded the alter shoving her out of the way to get to the dying man on the floor who was wheezing for his very breath. It seemed it wasn't the man only who was finding it difficult to breath because Alanna couldn't get her breaths to stable. She didn't know what was going on. Sure, she didn't want to get married to the old man but she hadn't anticipated for this to happen. She removed the veil, her widened eyes looking on to the many hands grabbing at different parts of the old man and assuring him to hold on.
"What are you standing there for...call an ambulance," his daughter shouted at her in frustration, tears streaming down her face. Alanna would have if she didn't feel numb all over. She was panicking. No, no, this couldn't be happening again. She tried to shut the memories that tried to resurface, her eyes clamming shut in an attempt to stop the mental images. She couldn't, wouldn't go back to that moment. Taking in desperate, calming gulps of air, she tried distancing herself from the scene in front of her.
"Someone call a damn ambulance," another voice shouted amidst the crowd but Alanna was not focused on her surroundings anywhere. The place felt suffocating and she just had to find a way to get out of there to just breath, even if it was just for a few seconds. She just needed to breath. "And where do you think you're going young lady," her uncle caught her arm, gripping it tightly as he angrily looked into her eyes. She tried tugging out of his hold but the man wouldn't budge. "You're hurting me," she whined, pain coloring her voice at the nails digging into her flesh. "If you don't want people pointing hands at you for killing the old man to get out of this marriage, you better start crying and going over to actually show them that you care," the venom in his words and eyes seeped through her pores, ingraining in her very soul and she realized just how true her uncle's words were.
They were surely going to blame someone and how convenient it was going to be that he hadn't found any other day to die than on his own wedding day when he was marrying the girl who could even be his granddaughter. She turned to look at the people still surrounding the man and her uncle literally pushed her to them. She stumbled, almost falling on her face if she hadn't steadied herself.
She felt somebody by her side. Sienna. "Are you okay," she asked with her eyes and Alanna nodded slightly. The ambulance had finally arrived and the paramedics wasted no time as they entered the place with a stretcher. All this seemed so familiar to Alanna and she tried really really hard to not think about it. They tried reviving him because he looked too weak to be transported to the hospital first. They were doing everything they could but the man just wasn't responding and after a few failed attempts the paramedics heaved a long tired sigh. They had disappointments written all over their faces and you didn't need anyone to tell you what that meant.
"I'm sorry but he's gone."