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CHAPTER 17 : Silent Betrayal

In the quiet, streets of their village, the whispers of impending tragedy danced like shadows in the fading light. Sanny, the silent observer of her own life, watched as her world unraveled.

Her father, a man of quiet strength and fierce devotion, had always been the pillar of their small family. Yet, his affections seemed to gravitate toward Alice, her elder sister, like a moth drawn to a flame. Alice, at nineteen, possessed a beauty that seemed to cast a spell over all who beheld her, while Sanny, at sixteen, faded into the background like a forgotten melody.

But in the quiet depths of her soul, Sanny harbored a love for her father that transcended words. It was a love born not of grand gestures or whispered promises, but of silent moments shared in the stillness of their home. Her heart, though unable to speak, beat with a rhythm that echoed the depths of her devotion.

As Sanny's silent world unfolded. A decree from the court, borne of desperation in the face of famine, cast a dark shadow over their once peaceful existence. "All girls who reach the age of eighteen must be sacrificed," the decree proclaimed, its words a death sentence for those who dared to defy it.

As the decree from the court cast its dark shadow over their village, Sanny's father found himself ensnared in a web of duty and love, torn between the daughter he cherished and the law that demanded her sacrifice. His heart, heavy with the weight of an impossible choice, trembled beneath the burden of his anguish.

In the solitude of their home, as the embers of the hearth flickered in the gathering gloom, Sanny's father grappled with his conscience, the echoes of his daughters' laughter haunting the recesses of his mind. He knew not the path he should tread, caught between the love for his favored daughter and his role.

And so, with trembling hands and a heart heavy with sorrow, he made a decision that would carve a chasm in the fabric of their family. It was a decision born not of malice, but of desperation – a desperate attempt to preserve the fragile threads of his happiness in a world teetering on the brink of despair.

On that fateful day, as the sun dipped low on the horizon, Sanny's father took her by the hand, his eyes filled with a sorrow too deep for words. It was a walk unlike any other, a journey that would lead them both to the precipice of despair.

Sanny skipped along beside him, her heart filled with joy at the prospect of spending time with her beloved father. But as they reached the banks of the river, her joy turned to confusion, then to horror, as she beheld the look in her father's eyes.

"Why?" she cried out, her voice a silent plea as her father's hands closed around her throat, pushing her beneath the icy waters. She struggled and fought against the suffocating embrace of the river, her silent screams echoing in the darkness.

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But even as the darkness closed in around her, a spark of defiance ignited within her soul. With one final surge of strength, she broke free from her father's grasp, gasping for air as she clawed her way to the surface.

As she lay on the riverbank, her body racked with coughs and sobs, Sanny's heart shattered into a million pieces. Betrayed by the one she loved most in the world, she struggled to make sense of the pain that engulfed her.

Bck to their modest home, the atmosphere was heavy with unspoken anguish. Sanny's absence cast a pall over the room, her grandmother's frantic search a desperate attempt to reclaim the light that had been stolen from their lives.

"Where is she? Where has my dear Sanny gone?" the old woman's voice quavered, her hands trembling as she clutched the edges of her worn shawl.

Her father, his expression drawn and haunted, could barely meet her gaze. "I... I don't know, mother," he stammered, his voice strained with guilt. "I've searched everywhere. She's nowhere to be found."

But even as he spoke the words, a shadow passed over his face, a flicker of remorse that betrayed the weight of his hidden truth. And as the silence stretched between them, a heavy tension hung in the air, suffocating in its intensity.

Her father's eyes filled with tears . "I'm sorry, Mother," he whispered, his voice barely audible above the din of her cries. "I'm so sorry i had no choice one of them has to die we can switch their identities i'm sure Sanny would forgive me if she knew the truth she loves her sister the most she wouldn't want her to die she's my daughter too but i can't sacrifice Alice i'm sorry."

Then, with a suddenness that seemed to startle even herself, Sanny's grandmother collapsed into a chair, her frail form shaking with sobs. "No... no, it can't be," she screamed, her words choked with grief. "My dear Sanny... what have you done?"

But his words offered little solace to the old woman, whose heart had been shattered into a million pieces by the revelation of her son's betrayal. "How could you?" she cried, her voice rising to a wail. "How could you do such a thing to your own daughter?"

And as the weight of his guilt bore down upon him like a leaden cloak, her father could offer no words of comfort.

Gasping for air, Sanny managed to escape the river, her body wracked with shivers from the icy waters that had threatened to claim her. As she lay there, the cold seeping into her bones, her mind whirled with a tempest of emotions.

"What did I do wrong?" she thought, her silent cries echoing in the chambers of her mind. "i tried to be the perfect daughter .My whole life was nothing but smiling to everyone and pleasing everyone . "

But even as the questions tormented her, Sanny's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden, searing pain in her chest. Blood pooled in her mouth, staining her lips crimson.

"It's not the river or the freeze that takes my life," she realized, a sense of calm settling over her despite the chaos raging within. "It's the betrayal... the betrayal of the one person I trusted above all others my father ."

With a trembling hand, Sanny wiped the blood from her lips, her fingers stained with the evidence of her shattered trust. And yet, amidst the pain and confusion, a small, fragile smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

"I forgive you, Father," she whispered, her voice lost to the wind that whispered through the trees. "But why?"

As the echoes of her silent question faded into the ether, Sanny closed her eyes, allowing the darkness to envelop her like a comforting embrace; as she breath her last breath.

And so, as Sanny emerged from the depths of her trial, a whirlwind of emotions gripped her soul. Anger, betrayal, grief – emotions she had never known before – threatened to consume her from within. She needed to remind herself it was a trial wake up it's over but she couldn't shake off the feeling of betrayal.