FOUR

RILEY 

Somehow, Aunt Hailey managed to convince me to keep the child.  At 23, I have never been able to make important life decisions myself. Even after I insisted on getting rid of the baby. Aunt Hailey threatened to fire the doctor if she went ahead to help me terminate my pregnancy. I had no choice but to leave the hospital with them that day. Worst of all, I was made to go to my brother’s mansion with them. Call me an idiot, call me a fool or whatever, I won't judge I've always been foolish and cowardly. The only person who stood up for me, who argued that I must have an important reason why I wanted to get rid of my pregnancy upon getting to know about it, was my sister Leah, and my brother's wife Rosaline. However, the elders were quick to hush them saying that there had never been a history of getting an abortion in the family.

“You're a christian, Riley, do you think getting rid of a child God blessed you with is the best thing to do?” Aunt Hailey had asked.

“God knows all. I believe there is a reason he made you fall pregnant, Riley.” she had insistently told me.

All my elder brother did was punch Nathan and give me a look of disappointment. He never uttered a word to me or offered me any support.

Here I am, seated in front of a dressing mirror and wondering if I made the right decision. The elders of the family had somehow managed to make me see reasons why I shouldn't terminate my pregnancy, they managed to make me see hundreds of reasons why I shouldn't think just for myself but for the life growing inside of me and the best decision they think I could make was to settle down with Nathan. According to them, whatever transpired between us in the past has already happened and can't be changed, however, we could change the future for our child, even if we have no feelings whatsoever for each other, we can put our all into raising the life growing inside of me.

You know I must be the world's biggest fool for listening to them and letting myself get dolled up here today. The moment the elders managed to convince me, they immediately organized a small wedding. Just yesterday I learned I was pregnant for a jerk and today I'm getting married to him. What's worse is that throughout all this time of everyone trying to convince me, Nathan never said a word to me. Instead, he kept his head bowed and avoided eye contact with everyone. When the wedding date was announced, he didn't even react. 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Leah’s voice resonated right next to me, startling me. 

“Excuse us,” she waved the hair stylist off and walked over to stand in front of me. The moment the stylist shut the door, she squatted before me

“Think about yourself first, Riley. I don't even think you're still attracted to Nathan. Each time you look at him, all I see is disgust. Don't hurt yourself, Riley, please…”

“It's all for the baby,” I cut her off, taking a deep breath.

“Fuck the darned baby, Riley. Fuck it. The elders have managed to convince you into believing that that child is important. You're more important for fuck's sake. You can always get pregnant and have a baby later. With someone you love, you'll get to enjoy the entire process of it, please Riley, listen to me. I only want your happiness.”

“Leah, I don't know…”

“I'll help you take off the wedding dress, that will be a start,” she declared and rose from the ground.

“Leah!” Aunt Hailey’s angry voice sounded from the door.

“What!” Leah yelled back at her, taking a defensive stance before me and blocking me from her view.

“Take off the wedding gown, Riley,” Leah looked down at me, pleading

“Riley, dear, do not listen to her. You're doing it for your unborn child. Imagine the happiness you'll feel when you welcome it to the world. You'll make an adorable mother, Riley,” she smiled at me

“Yeah, welcome an innocent hold into a loveless marriage. Bring a child to the world to suffer!” Leah completely lost it.

“Take the darned wedding dress off,” Leah yelled at me.

I was indecisive. All my life I've never made any big decision myself and right now, it felt like the two people before me were trying to force me into going through the path each of them chose for me. It annoyed me greatly.

“I'll keep the baby,” I announced.

“Riley…” Leah called, but I cut her off.

“I'll also get married to Nathan, but it's all for the baby. I will have nothing to do with him, not now, not ever.”

“They've succeeded in emotionally blackmailing you,” Leah shook her head. Giving me one last look of pity, she walked away.

“I'm very disappointed in you. I just lost all my respect for you and your entire family,” I heard her tell Aunt Hailey.

About thirty minutes after Leah left, I was all done and ready to walk down the aisle to seal my loveless marriage. We all got into the car. Aunt Hailey had chosen to stay next to me and I knew it was all to keep me from changing my mind. Nathan was nowhere to be seen, and so were Leah and her boyfriend Ethan. I clasped my hands throughout the ride. Today will mark a turning point in my life, which might either be good or turn out to be a misery.

Getting to the church, we all got down.

“I'll go check if Nathan has arrived,” Aunt Hailey whispered and for once, she left my side. I could finally breathe.

Ten minutes later, she wasn't back yet. Twenty, thirty and almost an hour later, there was no sign of her.

“Why don't you get into the car and wait,” her husband suddenly approached me.

I only nodded and got into the car, wondering what was going on.

“Riley!” Leah’s angry voice suddenly sounded.

Looking out the car, I caught sight of her storming towards me, the entire family was behind her and seemed to be trying to calm her down.

“Get off that car, we are going home,” she announced.

“Leah!” Aunt Hailey called out.

“Don't utter my name with that disgusting mouth of yours. First, you emotionally blackmail my sister into marrying your fucked up son. Now, your darned son is missing on this fucked up wedding day. To what extent would you go to humiliate her? Don't you have a heart? Would you let someone else treat your daughter this way? Look around you, my brother isn't even here, yet you went ahead with the wedding….”

Every other thing Leah was saying failed to be grasped by my ears. All I could think of was how much of a fool I'd made myself. Nathan didn't only insult me, he humiliated me and now he didn't show up for our freaking wedding.

“I'm done!” I cried aloud, stumbling out of the car and dashing out of the church.

“Riley!” They all came running after me, but I ran as fast as I could. Getting outside the church, I didn't bother to look at the road, all I could think of was how I'd get away from the people after me who were almost catching up with me. Blinded by my tears and fury, I ran into the road.

“Riley!” I could hear my sister scream, followed by a loud bang, then everything went blank.