Chapter 03

Chapter three 

Maeve

Realization did not dawn on me at what my father had said, till my mother repeated it.

"You want Maeve to replace Hazel? How do we pull that off?" My mother asked, not worried about the suggestion itself, but about how we would be able to pull it off with out getting caught.

I watched the both of them as they discussed amongst themselves like I was not even there with an incredulous look on my face. 

"Stop!" I shouted at them for the first time ever, interrupting their conversation. The looks on their faces showed that they were shocked by my outburst.

"What do you mean I'll take Hazel's place? I can't do that. You were going to force Hazel, but now she's gone and now you want to force me?" I scoffed in disbelief. "I'm sorry but I'm not going to do that."

"You think you have a choice in this? You are a slave in this house, and you will do as we say." My mother sneered at me. "You either do as we say, or we will make your life so much of a living hell that you'd rather die than be alive." 

I stood there, watching my mother shocked by what I had just heard. I couldn't believe that my mother had just threatened me to my face. 

"Now, Hazel's dress is in the closet, get it and put it on now, we'll be waiting out here for you." I looked at the closet, still not moving from my position. "Didn't you hear what I just said? Get moving now!!" She screamed and I pushed my feet to move forward.

"Get on in!" My father shouted. 

As if in a hypnotic state, I walked to the closet, pulled out the dress and went into the bathroom. I hung the dress on the rack in the bathroom and stared it. The dress was white and beautiful and looked more expensive than everything I owned. Different thoughts ran through my mind.

Should I run away?

Should I ruin the dress?

Should I kill myself?

"Hurry up in there!!" My mom shouted from the room.

I quickly removed my dress and put the white dress. After zipping it up, I walk back and look at myself in the mirror. The dress fit me perfectly, I had never seen a more beautiful dress. I took a deep breath and walked out of the bathroom.

Please Moon goddess, let this forced wedding not turn out badly for me.

"She looks exactly like Hazel." My mom said as I stepped out of the bathroom. 

"Now, all you have to do is act like you're Hazel. If anyone calls the name, you answer it, okay?" My mom said gently as she stood in front of me. 

"What if someone asks about Maeve? What do we say happened to her?" My dad asked.

"Well, we can tell them that Maeve ran away with some guy she fell in love with." My mother said dismissively.

I stared at her and thought of how quickly she could dispense of me because of Hazel. My heart hurt thinking about how my own family would choose to do that without even caring about how I felt. 

"Mom, I don't want to do this." I said, the tears in my eyes threatening to roll down. 

"What do you mean you don't?" She grabbed me by my arm. "Is it because I've been too gentle on you? You have no choice in this, so pull yourself together and when the makeup artist comes in, you better not act like anything is wrong." She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Do I make myself clear?!" She shouted but I didn't reply. "Do I make myself clear?!!" Her grip on my arm got tighter.

"Yes! Yes!" I cried, the tears finally leaving my eyes.

She let go of me and walked out the door with her husband following behind her. The door slammed shut and I was left alone in the room. I fell to the floor as the tears began to fall from my eyes. I cried so hard that I could feel my whole face turn red. 

There was a knock on the door, so I quickly stood up and cleaned my face. I straightened out my dress and opened the door. There were two girls standing there.

"Hey Hazel, were here to do your hair and makeup." The girl at the front smiled and I gestured for her as I smiled back weakly.

"Okay, so we have to hurry up so that you're not late, okay?" I nodded as I sat in front of the dresser.

They began on my hair and face. I was absent minded through out the whole ordeal. I just let them do what they wanted and didn't even join in on their conversation. 

When they were finally done, they made me look in the mirror. I looked beautiful. I had never looked more beautiful in my entire life, but there was no way I could be happy about it at that moment, because it was not a happy moment for me.

I got up from the dresser chair and sat on the bed, staring blankly. When they saw how I was acting, they became confused and left to go inform my mom that either were done. 

After a few minutes, my mom stepped into the room with a few of Hazel's friends. They were all happy and smiling, gushing about how beautiful I looked. I smiled tightly as I looked at my mother who watched me with stern eyes. 

I was taken down to the garden that had already been fully decorated. It looked really beautiful. All the people were already seated and my father was waiting for me in front of the carpet to walk me down the isle, while my mother went back to her seat.

I put my head down, my heart beating like it was about to jump out of my chest. As we walked down, people were taking pictures and smiling, but I felt the exact opposite of what they were feeling. We finally got to the front and my father gavey hand to the man and then I looked up at him. I really and would never have expected who I saw.

It was the handsome guy who had almost run me over the week before.