Arranged Marriages and Crashed Carriages

We were almost to the place where my soul would die along with my father. My clueless mother had arranged for me to marry that…that thing. He was a very unattractive man who had a large belly and fire red hair. His mother coddled him like he was a toddler! It was a hideous lifestyle that no one would want to endure.

"Alice! You are not properly dressed!"

My mother scolded me and yanked at my dress nervously.

"Stockings are ridiculous."

I repeated for the billionth time.

"Why bother looking nice for a man who looks horrible?"

I said sarcastically. Mother scowled making horrible frown lines at the corners of her thin line of a mouth.

"You want to make a good impression for Lord Ascot don't you? Or do you want to end up like your Aunt Imogene?"

She said coldly. My aunt was basically the family outcast. She was delusional, she was always convinced that a prince was going to marry her because you see, she had never married. So she often thought that royalty would soon find her and ask for her hand in marriage.

"Don't be rude mother. She is a very polite woman."

I spat back at her.

She ignored me and we rode along a rickety bridge to the place where everyone knew that that horrifying man would propose to me.

They thought I didn't know.

But how can one not know when everyone in our town has been talking about it for the past two weeks? The bridge we were riding across made a cracking sound which provoked the horses. Making them rear up in complete fear.

Mother screamed.

The bridge snapped and the horses along with the carriage fell into the cold rocky stream below. I could feel a hot liquid cover my body.

I opened my eyes and blinked away the blackness to find that I was covered in blood.

The crimson was a stark contrast to my white and light blue dress which was now torn and stained red from my bleeding body.

I tried to move but was unsuccessful, finding that my arm was broken, as was my leg. My face stung with the lacerations the rocks had caused. I could feel my arm burning horribly. I got the courage to look down to find that my arm was cut very deeply and that parts of the bone were splintered. I rolled over and vomited blood.

I heard a scream coming from above us. Someone had probably found us and was, hopefully, getting help. My blond hair was soaked with water and blood.

That was the last thing I saw before everything went black.