“Marry for love, my dear. Just like your father and I did. That is the only thing I wish from you” echo your words through my head whenever I yell out in the dark 'Why did you leave me? Why did you have to go?'. They were followed by all the things you said, every moment we shared that I could remember. I needed you, when he gave me away to the prince. I recall his face, my fiancé. A boy I'd never felt disgusted by, but to marry him, when I didn't even know who I, or he would be in the future, twelve years from then? What if I couldn't love him, I wondered. I can't deny you your wish.

Yet it doesn't matter, as I watch the flower in front of me wither away before my eyes. I feel the connections being severed all at once. I'm left empty, alone. Fear strikes me as, I can see him yell, the man you love. His words can't reach my ears, not with me being broken like this. Like he made me. 'Why did you leave me?' Was I not good enough, not pretty enough, not strong enough? Is he right? Maybe. Perhaps I deserve not to see the outside for months. Surely it was justified that I woke up to beatings and blood. 'Why did you have to go?' He never hit you or looked at you this way. He loved you, like I did too. But he would never feel anything for me, not even hate. You didn't have to go, but I do now. I'm bruised, cut, broken.

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Still, I run. Should I have done so sooner? Could I have done so sooner?

Probably not.

But now I could. Too much rage blinded him, their fear was too strong. So no one stopped me, while they still had the chance. I must thank you for this gift, father. You ensured you will never find me. I hope to never see you again.

~ Theirastra