Unholy Matrimony

Nymera

“What do you mean I’ve been married off?” I ask frustrated that my father has announced this over dinner.

“I’ve made a deal with a Djinn. Your mother and I are in dire need for the business to pick up. The Djinn made a deal to marry you off for me in exchange for what I needed. You’ll be fine just as long as you listen. Get your stuff together.” He firmly says with no humor or emotion in his voice other then annoyance at my statement as he wipes his mouth. He looks at me with dead, cold eyes wanting to get this over with as fast as possible. My mom just looks down in her lap as she eats her food.

“Demons make deals, Djinn make wishes or half-baked dreams come true. How can you do this to me. I’m supposed to be going to college in the fall and help you in the shop.” I say raising my voice as I throw my napkin on the table, standing up as I half slam my fists against the table.

“This one is on the same side and works with demons. Don’t take that tone with me young lady. Get what’s important or you leave with nothing. End of discussion.” He says firmly to me with a glare of ice. He didn’t flinch at me like mother did. She just sat there quietly as if hoping this would end fast so she doesn’t have to deal with it.

I look at him shocked as a man thrusts an empty, beaten up bag into my hands as tears threaten and slip through my eyes. I want to hate my mother for not saying a word or stopping this from happening. She’s just as stuck as I am in this situation. She is married to him though and has no say. I can’t believe she’d allow this to happen to me, her only child. To get married off like cattle just so business could be better for them to sustain their life. As if it isn’t costing me my life, my future and being able to make my own decisions.

I want to hate her but I know I can’t. I feel sad that she is losing me just as much as I’m losing her. Father isn’t a cruel man, per say. Just a little cold and stand offish. He never got the love and support he needed growing up like most children get and now I have to pay for them to get the thriving business they want.

I walk aimlessly down the hall with the bag in hand as the unknown man guides me to my room as I think through all of this. I can’t believe I’m being forced to marry some man that I have never met. I can’t believe I’m being forced to pack up the things I want or may want to have with me. How can they expect me to do this? To be alright with any of this. I just can’t fathom what’s going on in their mind to go through with this. How could he make a deal to marry me off for something like this?

My life as I know it is over and they don’t even care. What do they know of this man that they pawned me off to? He could be abusive or someone who passes his woman off to others. Life as I know it is now over and I have no say in the matter. It’s supposed to be the 21st century and yet this happens. I shake my head as the tears stream down my face as I get roughly pushed into my room. The bag falls out of my hands as I fall to my knees.

There’s a growl behind me as the man shuts the door behind me. My possessions in here is all I have and I have to decide what is most important to bring. How on earth am I supposed to just decide what I need to bring or should bring. I have no idea where I’m going or if I’ll be able to get the rest of it later on. So how am I supposed to just decide now? I silently cry as my nose drips. My heart aches knowing this is the last time I’ll see my room and family. This is the last few memories I’ll have here and they absolutely are the worst one can imagine.

I want to hate them so badly so that it makes this easier but I can’t turn off my feelings. I love them dearly; I’ve looked up to them my whole life and yet they do this in a heartbeat. I don’t know how I can forgive them for this pain and hurtful way of getting rid of me. I’m there only child and yet they so easily can bargain away my presence for selfish reasons.

The pain across my chest is unbearable but manageable as it freezes over slightly. I close my eyes and wipe the tears away. No matter what I say will change this and I just want to scream and hit things to make it go away or to feel better. It won’t solve anything though. I hear another growl on the other side of the door as if he knows I haven’t done anything to pack. I somehow manage in my disembodied state of mind to get up and start moving around my room mechanically. Grabbing another bag I own stuffing clothes and other things at random without seeing what I’m grabbing.

My bag and the other bag I somehow managed to pack full of random things before the man opened my door and roughly grabs me by the shoulder. He also grabbed both bags as he brings me out to the front hall. My mother is still sitting at the dinning room table, head down as she nibbles at her food. My father in his black suit, as if ready for a funeral, stands by the door and just stares at me with an unearthly chilly demeanor. He looks up to the man that’s gripped my shoulder and slightly nods his head.

My father opens the door with a soft sigh. The man drags me out the door with no shoes or jacket on in this spring morning. My shoes and jacket get thrown out to me. They fall just behind me as the man just grunts and picks them up as a black limousine pulls up in front of my parent’s small country home. The man opens the door, pushes me into the car, barely missing my head off the roof as my things get shoved at me. I look past the man and my father grins almost smug at what’s happened here. The door gets slammed shut making me flinch at the sound.

The car starts to move as I mindlessly put on my shoes and jacket. I have no idea where we are going or who I’m even supposed to marry. So much for finding the right guy on my own, getting to know him before he goes on one knee to propose to me and planning the wedding together. I have no idea what his name is, what he looks like or what kind of hell I’m going to be going through. I’m screwed and have no one to walk me down the aisle like I had planned when I was ready to get married.

Nothing will be as I wanted and sadly never will be with the damn deal they made. Whatever the deal really is, is on them now and I get shipped off to who knows where to who knows what. I wasn’t even able to get much to eat before the news broke of what was happening. I of course started to argue and fight about it with them. Or I should say I got upset and it hit a brick wall as my needs and concerns don’t get addressed. I get told and my feelings get pushed aside like always and I just get told what’s happening instead of the let’s talk about this together approach.

My stomach growls. I wish I had something to eat. It might take my mind off this horrible situation or the time being even if my aching body won’t forget what’s happening. The windows are tinted so I can’t even look out at what’s happening on the way to where ever we are going. But I’m guessing sadly that that was done by design. I am all alone in this world and no one to talk to now. No friends I can call to talk about what’s happened now.

The pain in my stomach grows more as the time passes. I don’t have my watch on and don’t know where my phone got put so I have no idea what time it is. How long has it been since I got forced into this car and dark hole that is now life? Several times the car had come to a stop or slowed but never once has it come to a place long enough to know that I’m staying there. I lay my head on the seat beside me as one bag falls to the floor as the other is beneath my head.

Tears flow down my cheeks again. I feel like we’ve been going in circles. Though I can’t tell if that’s the car or my own head swirling around in the daze I’ve stumbled into. More stops happened along the way and at one point one of the people upfront put a bag of food on the seat beside me. I want to eat but I don’t know if I can trust whatever it is they got me. It could be poisoned or dosed with something for me to forget what’s happened or to become more agreeable to what’s about to happen.

How else could this day get worse I wonder?