Chapter Four

Sorah’s POV.

-

“Gotcha”

I gasp and my body shudders from cold shivers as my back presses firmly against a hard chest, and cruel laughter rings against my ears through the thick waves of my hair. My body kicks into defense quickly, flailing my limbs to break me free from his iron grip.

“Oh, come on sweetheart, you’re breaking my heart with your petty resistance, you know”

Why does he keep hitting on me? Has he no shame he’s getting married to my younger sister in a few days? What nonsense am I even on about now? Have I forgotten the kind of rotten man he is?

“W-what do y-you w-want f-from me? Why d-do you k-keep c-coming after me?”

Oh no, my fears are spiking up again. I can feel my chest thumping loudly from the race of my heart, and my nervous energy is evoking cold sweat across my skin. He refuses to let go of me and further spikes my fear when he fastens me against his body.

“I’ve been thinking about it since last night, sweetheart. What would Stella look like when she sees us like this? Should I just call off the wedding and marry you instead, hmm?”

I squeeze my quivery eyes shut and bite down on my lower lip when he presses his face into my neck and inhales deeply against my skin. I feel replete with the most repine of disgust but there’s nothing I can do. I’m too weak to break out of this precarious situation.

“My lady!”

Is that Mei? My eyes snap open, blurry at first, and I blink many times to swipe it off while putting up struggles against Eliot’s hold on my body.

I accidentally meet his gaze and feel my heart tremble greatly from the unfamiliar dark swirls I see forming in them.

In this instance, I know the worst is about to descend on me, and before I can try any attempts of defiance and Mei can call my name again, Eliot grips my hair from behind and presses his lips against mine forcibly.

“My lady!”

I can’t feel my body, I can’t bring my limbs to move, to repel this evil man and break a run for it. He keeps aggressively pressing his lips against my tightly shut ones, his teeth grazing my soft skin insistently.

A lone tear glides down my cheek and a begin to hear Mei’s footsteps approaching with great urgency.

At least, Mei can come to my rescue and bring me away from this evil man. Yes, Mei, please hurry before he plunges in and defies my mouth.

From the corner of my left eye, I see Mei in her gait and our gazes meet. She’s instantly taken by shock and extreme fear, and her speed increases.

I should let my wreaking mind be at ease to see her...but I start to hear a crowd of footsteps coming from the other way, and dysphoria brims my being.

In that frightening moment, Eliot reclines with discontent, switching his grip around my loin to exert intentional pain into me. I curl and hiss from the pain and he takes me by surprise when he pulls me- Eh? We’re falling?

I bump my head down against his shoulder and graze a knee over the ground when we indeed fall.

This man! He did it on purpose.

“What was that noise just now? Is someone there?”

Oh no, someone else is fast approaching! We mustn’t be seen like this. Why isn’t he letting go of me?

I frown pleadingly at him only to find him sighing leisurely and sporting a relaxing smile while staring at me. If anything, he’s so delighted with this dreadful turn of events.

I keep up with my struggles and in my desperate urge to get out of his bind, I look up to see Mei. She makes a move to lend me a hand but Eliot glares her way, plucking an arm away to give her a wicked shove that has her tumbling back on the ground.

“Mei! H-how could you...” My voice is too shaky as I avert my gaze from Mei’s fallen form to see him shrugging casually to say simply, “It’s fun, isn’t it?”

“The noise came from here- My goodness! Sorah!”

This is it for me.

Upon my mother’s shrieking call, my body freezes with arrest, and staying with the guile smile on his face, I feel tears unconsciously roll down my face.

If I knew today was going to be my doom day, I would’ve stayed back in the woods when the thought briefly crossed my mind.

Still in my arresting position, a malicious tug yanks me off of him, and his arms let go of me freely then. I yelp when the pull intensifies and the force turns me around to receive a heavy slap against my face.

“You wench! It was in your mind all along, wasn’t it? To seclude my fiancé and seduce him!”

Stella flares at me viciously, pulling me roughly and raining many slaps against my face as she rants and insults me to no end.

While I keep screaming and trying to evade her solid hits, she gets angrier and increases the strength in her hands to pummel me.

“Stella! Let go of her, that’s more than enough!” I hear Yasha call out to her but Stella is a short fuse. She listens to no rational voice in her rage and won’t stop until she sees blood to sate her malicious lust.

She grips my face in her hard palms, glaring hatefully at me while I whimper and wheeze, unable to stable my unsteady gaze as I hurt severely from the pelt of her wicked attacks just now.

“You think you can dare to compete with me just because mother has favored you with her looks, huh?” Her voice is ominously low, her eyes wide, and her smile, diabolic.

I’ve known of her extraordinary aversion for me, but never have I seen it so pellucid and murderous as I’m beholding in despair.

Stella will kill me.

Living up to my fear, she suddenly relinquishes her grip on my face and reaches for my hair, and before my expanding eyes and the shock on the faces of the others, Stella brings out scissors and savagely attacks my hair.

“No! Please, stop! Stella, please!”

I fight to save my hair, but she swats my frisky attempts aside and chops off my beautiful golden locks. In plunging despair, I watch my once radiant locks flutter to a pile on the ground before me.

“This should do to teach you a lasting lesson you’ll never forget, ugly duckling” She sniggers down at me, satisfied with her assault, and she walks away to meet her disdainful fiancé.

I keep staring at my chopped hair, my chest clenching with the worst pain I’ve ever experienced and don’t notice the presence that perches before me.

“I can’t believe you’ll stoop so low and malign our name simply because you lust after the companionship of a man.” It’s mother’s turn to berate me.

“However, I won’t sit back and let this nuisance continue. I will get you arranged with a man and have you wedded in fourteen days”.

What? No...I didn’t just hear her say that.

I lift my head with dread and only meet the scorching condemnation of my mother who stamps her words like passing a verdict as she repeats sternly, “You will get married in fourteen days, Sorah.”

With wobbly shut lips and quivering teary eyes, I snatch the lower bodice of my orange lace dress and take to my heels, fleeing the scene and running to the cottage.

How can she say that so freely? Does my consent not matter at all? Is this how deeply she hates me...to not even let me say my part and just label me blatantly as the guilty one? What did I do to deserve such immense hatred from them?

“Why! Why does it have to be me...what did I ever do?!”

I pour out my turmoiling emotions as soon as I enter the cottage, crying profusely and crumbling to the floor. My body is replete with quakes as I fist my palms on the floor and hang my head between my arms.

I cry loudly, unable to stop the gushing torrent even when Mei comes to hold me and cajole me into her arms.

“My lady, please don’t feel so disheartened. I’m here with you, I’ll go anywhere with you”

I sob with clenching teeth as Mei strokes my hair in an endeavor of comfort. She keeps assuring me until I tire myself out and is led to a couch in the living room.

My eyes are so puffy, and my throat is parched. I sit where she takes me before she leaves for the kitchen.

Staring down at my aching palms...so this is it? They’re finally throwing me out at last.

I feel so empty after I’ve cried so much. My head is light and the ache in my soul is no more. Am I falling freely into an abyss? Or am I just so miserably weak to accept this unjust fate decreed upon me?

My body lulls to the side, bringing my cheek to rest against the armrest of the couch. I blink slowly, immersing myself in a soulful mood. My lids begin to gain weight as I blink them, summoning a blanket of fatigue to rest over my being.

Hoping that by the time I will wake up, the horrendous events of yesterday and today will only be a figment of my dream.

~~

All through the eventful procession of Stella’s most awaited wedding ceremony, I remain a shell of myself. Dejected to the background with the presence of a ghost.

The reception hall is bustling with loud music and merriment...but it’s not enough to jitter a cell in my body as I watch them in a daze.

I want to leave here and return to my cottage. Get beneath my heaps of blanket and sob for my soul. All this noise and laughter only mock the misery stirring within me.

I feel sick, I feel like I’m dying, but of course, no one can see it in the slouch of my shoulders, the dimness in my orbs, the line of my lips, nor the despondency of my presence in general.

Catching hazy glimpses of the man my mother has indeed found for the matchmaking, all I feel at the back of my tongue is repine.

Perhaps, I feel sorry for him too. He’ll be having the curse of the Strauneuff family passing onto him and tainting his esteemed household.

“Mei” I stress as I lean to the side and hold her hand in my weak one. “Bring me to the cottage, I don’t feel well”.

Mei wants to object, but she simmers down and gives me a nod, rearing us away from the glittering crowd and on the path to the cottage. Back to my sanctuary and the only true home I have.

I send Mei away and back to the reception hall. She argues with me that I let her stay by my side, but I feel too guilty tonight. After much persuasion, she leaves reluctantly with a promise to return after an hour. It’s enough for me to take a solemn bath and retire for the night.

Sighing, I begin to take off the peach dress Mei fitted me in as I totter to the dresser. Looking at the desolate girl in the mirror, a pang rattles my heart and tears prick my eyes. Her once glorious golden hair now hangs in shortened lengths that barely hover above my shoulders.

I clamp both palms over my mouth and turn away from the mirror in terror. I flee to the open window and gasp as rattling bouts of fright distill my being. My watery eyes elevate into the night sky and I stiffen at the sight of something disturbing perched on the old Oak tree.

It’s...returned.

The silhouette of a person that I often saw the previous week at night times like this. I’ve only ever shaken in fear and pulled my curtains while I ran into bed to hide.

I wipe the tears away from my face and fist my tremoring hands. Keeping keen eyes on the unwavering silhouette, I whip away from the window and hasten downstairs and out of the cottage through the back.

To my expectation, the silhouette is still there, as if staring down at me, and I march forward.