Til Death... [Chan]

2

I woke up the next day to my mother hovering over my bed. It was clear that she wanted to give me no way to escape or abandon the event by her egotistical smile. I was a mouse and she'd trapped me in her maze.

"Good morning, Ophelia," she sneered. She already had on a dress and heels, though neither were spectacular enough to have even what she was wearing to the ceremony.

"Dressing for comfort?" I eyed her. I knew she hated being criticized about her choice of clothing. She would spend hours meticulously purchasing accessories and heels and dresses that had the exact same shade of chartreuse or navy or whatever color she wanted just so she'd always look perfect. She always looked professional and classy. It was the one attribute I'd admired about her, but now, even that trait was on the table for ridicule.

"Up," she demanded, ignoring my feeble attempt to get a ride out of her.

I mumbled and pulled the comforter over my head. Couldn't I have just 5 minutes to myself this morning? 5 minutes to be a full person before I was reminded of this arrangement of made to begging bodily preparations for it.

"Now, Ophelia," her stern voice rang through the air, and the comforter was simultaneously ripped away.

I groaned but threw my legs over the mattress and let my bare feet hit the cold, unwelcoming floor. "Happy?" I spat.

"Not even close." She snapped her fingers and a myriad of people flooded the room. Some I recognized as our day-to-day housekeepers. They began stripping my sheets from the bed. Others began to come in like a parade dawning gifts and items to be worn.

My dress was in a clear garment bag, and I turned away from it. I didn't want to be reminded of its looming presence.

"She will need to be bathed," my mother called to a group of people.

"I can shower myself, thanks," I argued and rushed to the bathroom where I locked the door behind me before anyone else could join. I breathed a sigh of relief. Peace at last.

Or so I'd thought.

I heard the horrible sound of metal on metal and the doorknob twisted allowing my mother, along with her key to the entire house, to enter as she pleased.

"Ophelia, they are here to prepare you for your husband. You do not know what that entails, so you will let them do what they need to."

My face flushed. Had she really just said that?

prepare me for my husband

I wanted to throw up.

"You are still a virgin, right? They were very clear they'd accept no whore for their son."

My cheeks turned a bright red as I nodded. In my frustration about having to be married to a stranger, I'd forgotten that sex would be part of my duties, too.

People stepped forward to undress me and others began running the bath. So many people were seeing me naked, and I should've felt uncomfortable, but I couldn't find it in me to focus on anything other than sex. Would he expect that from me tonight? So soon after meeting?

"Tonight, you will do what is expected of you as a wife," my mother began the dreaded talk. I tried to drown her out, tried to focus on the person lathering my legs in soap, but I couldn't. "Once the vows are said, you two will consummate the marriage. As a woman, your job is to validate his masculinity. You will not complain or hide or cry, Ophelia. Do you understand me? You will praise him. You will accept his advances and his seed."

I gulped anxiously.

accept his seed

I wasn't ready to be a wife let alone a mother.