“And if I don’t want to marry? What then, Father?”
“Eli is a good man, willing to overlook your lapse in judgment. You should think yourself lucky, and you’ll do as you’re told.”
“Eli?” I call, anger lacing my voice. “Eli? Are you going to say anything?”
He turns to me, an emptiness in his eyes. “You were always supposed to be my wife, Mona. You’ll see.”
“No, I won’t.” I cry, looking to the water. Could I survive it if I threw myself over?
“Don’t even think about it,” my father scolds, once again covering my mouth. I try to fight it, but it’s too strong. The toxins fill my lungs and steal the light from my eyes.
I wake in my room, my head feeling like my skull cracked open and all the insides tipped out. My vision doubles, blurring everything in sight. I notice the matchbox still on my bed and shove it in my pocket. Checking my neck, I sigh in relief. Clara’s necklace is still there.
I stand, gathering my equilibrium.
I try the door, but it’s locked.
“Mother?” I try calling, but empty silence stretches out before me.
I check the window. Nails still penetrate the wood, sealing it shut.
“Father?” I cry.
Will Colt just accept I left and not even look for me?
I look around for something I can use to break the glass. Pulling a drawer free from the dresser, I throw it at the pane of glass, the bounce nearly hitting me in the face. Crap. I try again, angling the corner and giving it more strength. The drawer breaks through, the glass falling like sharp confetti.
Wasting no time, I climb through. A sting pierces my thigh as glass cuts my skin.
I make it ten feet before Eli crashes into me, knocking me to the ground and the air from my lungs.
“I can’t let you leave again.”
I rub at my chest, trying to gain control of my breathing. “Eli, I can’t marry you.”
“I know. Your father knows. He’s preparing a cleansing.”
“What?”
“Do you even care what the consequences of your actions are?”
“I deserve to have free will. God created us to have free will.”
“You have responsibilities here. Your mother is imprisoned because of your selfishness. You’re just like Clara.”
“Life shouldn’t be lived half full, Eli.”
He reaches forward, grabbing the chain from my neck and snapping it. Gasping, I reach for it, but miss his hand.
“I thought giving you this would sate this need for closure.”
“What?”
“She was so full of darkness, Mona, so unruly, and she would have come back for you.”
“Eli? No…”
“Now I see she already tainted you too much for me to salvage.”
He reaches into his jacket. The blade glistens under the moonlight. “No,” I choke out.
No way. Please, no.
A burst of energy powers my legs, and I take off running. I hit the tree line and disappear under its canopy. Branches whip at my face, twigs breaking beneath my feet, giving away my direction. I pump my arms, my brain raging with this new information, trying to think of a safe place I can hide. I change direction, moving away from the places we would frequent together. The forest becomes dense, darker. I push on.
Shadows in the moonlight chase me. Everything could be him. I’m running out of time. I notice a formation of rocks I’ve never seen before and head toward them. There’s an opening big enough for a person to fit through. Slipping inside, I trip over a branch, hitting the muddy floor. It’s so dark. The space is tight, maybe eight feet long by four feet wide. Dense twigs cut into me, breaking my skin. I dig into my pocket, bring out the matches, and attempt to light one. My hands tremble, prompting several attempts before one sparks. I lower it to my leg to see a thick white branch stuck into my shin, blood blooming around it. What the hell? Wait, that’s not a branch… The breath in my lungs flees in a horrifying scream as I drop the match, lighting the bones beneath me.
Vomit races up my throat, spilling free like acid, burning a path over my tongue. Moving back through the sliver of space away from the ghastly sight before me, my foot snags on a tree branch, sending me falling. I hear his approach, his voice calling out to me. If he finds me, sees what I’ve found, I’ll be buried here too, left to rot.
I get to my feet. My own breathing roars in my ears. I take off when I hear twigs breaking behind me, a flight of birds soaring into the night sky.
“Mona, you can’t outrun your fate,” he roars.
I push through the thicket of brush and tip out onto the sand on the other side of the island, rolling down the incline. Pain fires all over my body, sand stinging open wounds. I get to my feet and begin walking, pressure on my cut leg too much to bear.