There is no reason, there's no rhyme, it's crystal clear.
I hear your voice and all the darkness disappears.
Every time I look into your eyes you make me love you
I do truly love you
How you make me love you and I do truly love you
xXx
It's my birthday.
That was my first thought I have when I wake up, now I bet that sounds perfectly normal to you but the thing is that this isn't just any birthday where my family will sing happy birthday and I'll go to school as usual. No, this birthday is different. I won't be going back to school and by the end of the week I won't live in this house because I'm sixteen and that means my parents are to choose me a suitor and I will be married sometime next week.
It isn't a choice, it was law and no matter how much I hate the very thought I have absolutely no say in the matter. I can only give three
requirements that my parents can choose to consider or totally ignore. Thankfully though I know my parents care for me and will try as hard as they can to take my options into consideration. I sit up, my eyes scanning my room for the little pad which has the three requirements I have chosen. I've spent the better part of two years perfecting this list, writing something that I thought was important only to scratch it out for another option. Now I have three scattered across the page, making it look like an animal had attacked it with all the scratching out I had done.
I snatch the pad from the bedside table and quickly read them over one more time before I give it to my parents. They have been considering suitors for a while now so I know it won't take long for them to make a decision and I feel nervous butterflies build up in my stomach for probably the first time in my life. This will change my life forever and it scares the shit out of me. Husbands control everything and it depends on who my parents chose how my life will turn out. If he is a kind gentle person then I would have plenty of freedom, something I craved desperately but if he was controlling and jealous I would spend my life in the kitchen, cleaning the house and feeding babies. I check my list once more to make sure that I have chosen right and write them on a new clean page:
Smart
Gentle
Considerate
Biting my lip I take a deep breath and leave my room after I've changed and made sure my hair is neat. "Mother?" I call as I enter the kitchen. She was usually busy with breakfast when I came in but today the kitchen was empty with no sign of my mother having been in it at all. I frown and look out the window but she isn't in the garden. Where on earth could she be? I turn around only to walk straight into my father. I gasp and jump back, my eyes as wide as saucers. "Sorry, Papa!"
He grins and laughs, patting my head to calm me down. "Good morning, my little duck." He greets me cheerfully.
I smile in return, "Morning, Papa. Have you seen mother?" I ask, holding up my list. "I've decided."
His eyes brighten at the sight of my list, his grin growing impossibly larger. "She will be here in a few minutes. Is your sister still asleep?"
I shrug, "I don't think so; she's always up early."
He nods and sits down at the table, whipping out a paper I hadn't noticed he was holding.
I've just started making some eggs when my mother comes running in, her eyes sparkling with excitement, "Max, what are you doing? There's no time for breakfast, come child!" She takes hold of my hand and yanks me out of the kitchen before I can get a word in sideways. I don't bother protesting and let her pull me into my room where on my bed a black dress is laid out and ready for me.
My mother is bouncing up and down with excitement and picks it up, "What do you think? I spent hours trying to find the right design. It's not too much is it? I knew you wouldn't want a full length and I know you hate them when they're over the top so I only put a little bit-"
"Mom!" I laugh, cutting her off from her very long and worried rant. She'd spent the better part of a month making this dress for me and I absolutely loved it. She was right, I hated the big puffy dresses that most girls wore on their sixteenth birthdays but this was perfect. It ended just below the knee with black velvet flowers sewn on each side as well as flowers following the V neckline, the sleeves were small and would just cup my shoulders. All in all it was something I could live with wearing for the day. "It's perfect." I assure her and take the black heels and dress from her.
I slip into the dress and pull on the awful shoes careful not to lose my balance while doing the latter. Once that's done my mother twists my dirty-blond hair into a tight elegant bun and I'm ready for the day.
"You look beautiful." Mother whispers on the verge of tears.
I smiled reassuringly at her, "Thank you." I kiss her cheek and inhale the familiar smell of lavender that always surrounded her.
"Alright you two, enough is enough. We need groceries." Papa announces as he walks into my room as my mother and I embrace.
I take that as my cue to leave and after giving my father a quick hug I head to the door, "I'll see you in a few hours." I call behind me.
I know that we don't need any groceries; it's just an excuse to get me into the city to show everyone that I'm sixteen. Everyone that is interested in marrying me had to see my parents today so that they could decide who would be my husband so it was important for everyone to know. I don't want to be there while the interviews take place so I grab a basket on my way out, ready for a full days shopping if need be. Usually I avoided the city and anything related to shopping, I wasn't one of those girls who spent their lives gawking at the jewellery stores or squealing over the newest pair of shoes but thinking of the men that would line up to be interviewed made me sick to the stomach. The fact that a husband was chosen for me without my consent was really more than I could cope with, I hated my choices being taken away from me, I was raised to be an independent person and this went against everything I'd been taught. As much as I trusted my parents if I had my way they wouldn't go anywhere near my marriage but that just wasn't how things worked anymore.
When we were little mother used to tell us stories about a time when you could actually choose who you wanted to marry. When there was true love. Mother had explained that as time had gone by less and less people had fallen in love until finally they just decided that couples would be chosen and then you wouldn't have to worry about finding that one person to spend your life with who would accept you for who you were. It all sounded so wonderful that I had half hoped I would find someone to love me like that but I wasn't a little kid anymore and that hope had all but died out. I was being realistic, no one fell in love anymore – heck, my own parents weren't even in love! It just wasn't done and mooning after a dream that would never come true wouldn't get me anywhere. I was so lost in thought that I didn't even notice that I had entered the city. I could feel dozens of eyes on me in my little black dress, the only one in black colour in the whole city. The whispers start but I ignored them, I don't really care what other people think nor did I want to start.
I had bought a few loves of bread and a couple of sweets when I finally ran into my best friend. "Max! Oh my god! I can't believe it! You're actually sixteen! Aaah! This is so exciting!I can't wait to find out who you're betrothed to! I bet he's going to be so handsome and sweet and perfect and you're going to live happily ever after and have tons of cute little babies…" Nudge trailed off dreamily, her eyes glazing over as she imagined her perfect world.
I chuckle at her enthusiasm and hook my arm with hers to tug her along. "Let's not talk about that right now ok?" I suggest, hoping she'd get the hint and drop the unwanted subject.
She pouts but doesn't press the matter, instead she goes on to talk about how boring school would be without me since she still had another two months until her birthday. Nudge was a dreamer that was for sure, she was positive that everything would work out perfectly and everyone would be happy and who was I to crush her dreams? I nod dutifully in all the right places as she gabbles on about her new necklace and the latest gossip and so on. The day passes in a flurry of gifts from friends, more shopping and relaxing on the grass beside the fountain in the centre of the city.
Nudge had all but passed out from exhaustion and had dropped onto the grass the second we reached it leaving me to sit by myself, staring down into the water of the fountain.
After fifteen minutes I get bored so I decide to go for another walk, I had ditched my heels by the fountain and didn't bother to put them back on because I didn't want anymore blisters. I tour the city, slipping in and out of alleys not really paying attention to where I was going until I hit a dead end. Sighing I turn around, ready to head back the way I came when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I instantly freeze, my eyes darting around the small alley that is almost completely dark except for light coming from the main street buzzing with people. Cautiously I take a step forward, eyes still running over every inch of the alley trying to find the danger that I know was hiding in the shadows. I catch a movement in the corner of my eyeand jump to face the man grinning at me with a small silver knife that caught the light in his hand.
" 'ello darlin'." He greets taking a step towards me, his breath wafting over my face almost making me gag. It reeked of alcohol and cigarettes.
"Get the hell away from me." I hiss venomously, glaring dangerously at him.
"Aw, an' why would I do that? Eh precious?" his laugh ricocheted off the walls seeming to be ten times louder but none of the people passing from the busy street noticed. He stepped forward again and I stepped back until my back hit the wall. I winced when the cold brick hit my back and I knew I was totally shot. I was cornered and defenceless. Shit.
He chuckles again and moves towards me until he's pressed right up against me; his breath brought tears to my eyes and made my head swim. He runs the cool blade of the knife along my cheek and down my neck and I flinch away from it. "You're a pretty little thing, aint ya?" he mused, "You'll make a nice little addition to my collection."
Now that really sets me off, my hands clench into fists at my sides and my eyes turn into slits. "I won't be belonging to any collection of yours." I growl in as deadly a voice I can muster.
To my pleasure he winced but quickly gathers himself together. "You little bitch." he lifts his hand no doubt to hit me but suddenly he gives a howl of pain and jumps back. I blink in shock when blood runs down the side of his face like someone had caught him with the edge of a knife. I could tell the cut wasn't deep, just a graze really but the man wildly spun around trying to find who'd done it. Finally when he couldn't find a cause he turned to me again, hand outstretched with the blade aimed at me. He came running at me but as my eyes widened in terror I was roughly shoved to the side making me lose balance and topple to the ground, my head catching a brick.
My vision clouded with darkness almost immediately and I only caught sight of someone running towards the main street while someone else knelt beside me before I lost consciousness.
Wow, the response to my little request was amazing! It's cool to see what different people like to read, I got tons of different ideas so thanks to everyone who reviewed and gave me ideas! I hope you like this one, I thought it sounded cool, let me know if you thought so too!
I can't take credit for this plot unfortunately, this is all thanks to Xx-ThisSucks-xX, I'm just writing it for her! If I owned the characters do you really think I would be writing on FF? Or that I'd have had Fang leave the flock? Or about three dozen other reasons why I'm currently ticked off with JP?
As usual, this is up on trial basis, I get a good response it stays up and I continue it but if not…you know the drill ;-)
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