1 Locked Up

“Shut up! Or else you will remain locked in there until you learn to listen to instructions!” Vincent said. However his voice was not the same anymore, he sounded scary.  “I'm sorry, Father, please don't leave me here!” Emmy begged her father to listen to her. “I am sorry…” she muttered in despair as she sat on the floor. It was cold and she could get a cold but that was the least of her worries at that time. “Get back on the mat. Or do you want to get sick and give us more problems than you already have!?!” He yelled at her and the words gave Emmy some energy to move. Emmy dragged herself to the warmer corner of the room and hid her face from him. She was dying of pain but was still holding on to the little hope she still had left; a miracle that would rescue her. Deep inside, she felt that there was nothing that would tear her down, or so she had always hoped but these new and worse things all directed at her were leaving her without any options and she was weary. For a moment, she felt withdrawn and didn't want to live longer. She didn’t see any reason to. Vincent was still yelling at Emmy while standing at the door but Emmy had already resigned to fate. “Maybe I deserve this!” Emmy thought to herself amid tears. She thought about her life and all the things she had gone through and could not understand why her father hated her that much. Vincent continued to speak, this time changing his tone. At first, it felt like he was being nicer but not until he started being sarcastic again! “You know what, Emmy? Your mother and I are helping you to get a chance to live a good life. Look at you, who would want to be associated with you if not that boy?” Vincent said and the harsh words cut through Emmy’s heart like a double-edged sword. Nothing could justify the utterances since every person she had met before spoke highly of her beauty and only her family felt otherwise. Emmy hated her life even more… “You probably have a point, father. Who would want to be with me anyway, but I don’t love him, please hear me out. Why can’t you let me make my decisions? This is my life we are talking about.” Emmy begged him but then her father had made up his mind. There was no turning back. “Exactly, it’s your life and that is where I come in! That boy is the best you can ever get. You two have been great friends. You can easily switch from friends to lovers! Unless you want to keep embarrassing me like you have always done!” He said and Emmy didn’t have the energy to fight back. “I didn’t choose to be different. I didn’t choose to be like this, Father, I didn’t….” she cried but her father locked the door and walked away while still uttering hurtful words. “What does that have to do with anything? I am giving you the best match. You are going to make me proud this time round even if it’s the last thing I do!” The words faded as he walked away to join his wife, Jenny, who had been waiting for him to return so they could continue with their conversation that had been interrupted by Emmy’s eavesdropping. When Jenny saw Vincent, she pulled a chair for him and started asking how Emmy was handling the situation. Jenny felt that it would be very easy for all of them if she cooperated and stopped all the drama. “…and why was she listening to our conversation anyway?” Jenny asked. “Don’t worry; she is going to remain in there until we officially hand her over to Jamie’s family. As I told you, we are going to use her to get the life we have always wished for. This time, we are unstoppable!” Vincent assured his wife. Back in the room, the security guards had been asked to watch Emmy because her father thought she would escape now that she knew what was in store for her. But escaping had not even crossed Emmy’s mind. All she was thinking about were the hurtful words she had heard her father say. They kept lingering in her mind and she screamed her pain out.   “We have nothing to lose, she is good for nothing! She is good for nothing! She is good for no-th-in-g” Her father’s voice filled with rage was all she could hear. The words kept echoing in her head…until she finally fell asleep in pain, only to be woken up by one of the guards. “Here is your food!” the guard said as he placed the plate at the door and then closed it again. “I don’t need food! Please kill me already. I am tired.” She said and then dozed off again in pain. The guard could not leave her just yet. He stood outside waiting to hear her move but it didn’t happen. After a few minutes, he slowly opened the door and checked on her. The food was still at the same spot he had placed it. “You need to eat, Emmy. If you don't eat you will die. You don't want that, do you?” He said softly and upon realizing Emmy was already sleeping, he left the room hoping she would wake up and eat at some point. It was all he could do. Days moved fast and before Emmy knew it, there was a party being held at her house but as usual she wasn't supposed to be seen near such events as she was the family's shame and so she remained locked as the music filled the air. “Open up!!” someone spoke in a low tone and then there was a knock on the door. Before she could even walk to it and open it, she remembered she couldn't open it from inside. It was set in a way that only someone from outside would open it. The door opened slowly and carefully and then someone whispered to her… “Get out; you need to go right now. You need to save yourself from this misery! I am giving you a chance to be free like you deserve!” And there the door was wide open for her to run away. At first, she thought it was a trap but again, it was a familiar voice. It was Jamie! Jamie had been her friend ever since they were kids. They had grown to be best friends as they had so much in common. They spent time alone but for different reasons. While Emmy's disability was the main reason for her suffering, Jamie also had health problems which also made him not appear in public just as Emmy, and together they made a friendship bond that would not be broken. It was the same bond that made Emmy's parents conclude that they could easily become a couple and even get married. “I hope you understand. It's not that I hate you. I just don't see me and you as a couple but as friends,” she explained but Jamie already understood. “I know that but right now, you need to go. No one can see you. They are all hooked to the dance and the party is lit. That means you can easily maneuver through the crowd and no one will even notice you!” He said. “Okay, let me grab a sweater,” she said as she picked something from the bed. “Please hurry! We don’t have all day!” Jamie repeated while looking in all directions just to be sure there was no one looking or noticing anything. Moments later, they walked hurriedly and true to Jamie's words, no one noticed. When they got to the main entrance, he let her go and wished her well. It was time for Emmy to face the world alone and in the dark but either way, she was glad she had left the house that had become more like a prison for her. The escape plan was going well until she spotted someone ahead of her. It was a man holding a torch directing it to her. The light went straight to her eyes and she lost her courage. She tried to run away but she could not even feel her legs.  The man continued to stare at her scared self until he suddenly fell on the ground and judging by the thud he made, and the roar that filled the space, this was no human! He was a shifter, either a werewolf or a vampire as he sent chills over Emmy’s spine and she lost herself for a moment. “How could anyone be this wild?” she wondered. She had not seen anything like that in her life and had only heard people talk about shifting. The strength and the ability to do extraordinary things made her stare at the man lying on the ground as if trying to study him. “This is what I would be experiencing; extraordinary powers, and by doing so, I would get the respect I deserve from people but now I am just an ordinary girl.” She was heartbroken and wished she had the ability. “Even an alien would have been better than being a useless werewolf!” she was angry. It was getting late and she had to continue with her journey.