“You don’t have a father! You don’t have a father! No one will ever love you! They all leave you!”
The chants got louder and louder, beating against her ear drums.
Her mother had said she was complete even with the absence of her father. She had all the love she’d ever need from her, and someday her Prince Charming would sweep her off her feet and shower her with the love the way she deserved.
However, at that moment, her chest felt hollow. Something was missing. She wished what the children were chanting wasn’t true. She wished she had a father to show up and shut them up. They would take to the dance floor, and he would hold her by the hand and twirl her and lift her to his chest and sway with her. He would then tell her that she was his little princess and that he loved her very much and would never ever leave her again. How she wished that were true.
Suddenly the setting changed. Rory found herself standing at the end of a very long aisle in her wedding gown. James and the priest stood at the other end. Just then, she felt her hand being hooked in the crook of an arm. She looked up to see a faceless man. The wedding march began. She tore her eyes away from him to focus on her fiancé, smiling at her encouragingly.
A smile graced her lips, but inside she felt queasy. Something wasn’t right. Still, she was willing to ignore it, to press forward and marry the man of her dreams. The faceless man took a step forward, indicating that they should start moving. She looked out at the faces of their witnesses on either side of the aisle. Some faces, namely her family and friends, smiled and cheered while the others stared at her, their stares completely unfiltered and filled with disdain. She turned her attention back to the altar.
As she moved forward, the feeling in her chest became more pronounced. Her feet also started to feel heavy, and the dress felt too tight. Any minute now, she would faint. Beads of sweat appeared at her temple. Soon she realized that she had been walking for some time but couldn’t reach the altar. She wanted to call out to James for him to meet her halfway but decided against it.
When she finally started to make progress, James’ smiling face began to blur. She looked up at the faceless man in concern, but he didn’t turn to look at her, only tugged her forward. Rory turned back to the altar, full-out sweating. James’ face had disappeared completely. Her lips parted in horror as his body disappeared as well, to be replaced by his mother, a triumphant smirk on her lips.
Rory tugged at her arm, wanting to release herself from the faceless man, but his hold only tightened as he dragged her toward her mother-in-law.
“Did you honestly think that I would stand by and allow this farce of a wedding to take place?” Lenora sneered down at her when the man deposited her at the bottom step of the raised platform.
Rory was dumbstruck. She felt just as helpless as she’d felt back in elementary school. Her ears rang, her heart fought to leave her chest, and she was sweating bullets. She fought the urge to raise her hand and stick her thumb in her mouth.
“After all that I have invested in my son for you to come and ruin that…” the woman shook her head horrifically. She turned back to Rory, the smirk returning to her lips.
“Lenora, you can’t do this. James lo—”
“He doesn’t love you!” the woman shouted, her eyes firing up like angry coals.
“You bewitched my son, but now he’s coming to his senses. He sees that you have nothing to offer him.” The woman released a sinister laugh. “Can you imagine? Him with a mere kindergarten teacher, the heir of the Davis fortune. Ludicrous.”
Rory felt tears prick the corners of her eyes as she turned and frantically searched through the faces in the pew, trying to find James. Instead, accusatory eyes stared back at her as the people became a collective body of accusers.
“Lenora…please. Where is James? I need to talk to him,” Rory pleaded, the tears breaking free. Black tears ran down her cheeks.
“Where is James? Where is James?” the woman asked mockingly, a salacious grin on her lips.
“James isn’t here. He was never going to be at the altar waiting for you.”
“Why are you doing this?” cried gutturally.
Lenora fixed Rory with a sinister stare. “I thought it was obvious that I made myself clear,” Lenora replied calmly. “You do not belong in our world. You are not good enough for James—”
“I am good enough. I am special,” Rory cried.
“Who told you that? Your mother?” Lenora scoffed. She fixed Rory with a serious glare. “You. Are. Not. Special. You’re…ordinary. James deserves extraordinary.”
The woman folded her arms over her chest and looked at Rory with what she could only term as sympathy. “That’s the same reason why your father didn’t want you. You’re just…ordinary.”
Rory staggered. The woman’s words delivered a heavy blow to her chest.
“Think about it…he had a whole other family. Children that he actually wanted, while your mother had to work hard just to make ends meet. Not once did he think about you, wonder how you were living, if you were alive or dead.”
“Stop talking,” Rory managed to get through her blocked airway. She put her hands over her ears, trying to get away from the words Lenora spoke— from the truth.
“Your father didn’t love you, and neither does James.”
“Shut up! Shut up!” Rory screamed, her black, runny tears splashing onto her wedding dress, leaving a trail of damage to the delicate fabric where it landed.
“James loves me. I know he does,” she reasoned, not sure if she was trying to convince Lenora or herself.
