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It was a night as beautiful as its occasion, with moonlight spilling onto the tarred streets and stars twinkling like diamonds in the sky.
I remember standing in front of hundreds, my dress an eerie white with a translucent veil covering my face. The dress was the product of weeks of sewing, beading, and threading, all done by my mother. After all, which parent wouldn't want their daughter to have the best possible dress on their wedding day?
We were both dressed to play our respective parts. Me, in my heavily beaded dress, and you in your fine black tuxedo, black as ash.
The night before the fated day, I recall staring up at the starry sky, hoping and wishing that a star would flash by, just as they always did in the fairytales I used to read. Alas, it was not meant to be for I remained there throughout the night, disappointed as the glittering diamonds remained stationary.
It was so difficult to look you in the eye as our vows were recited. I searched for the hesitation I suspected I would find before you uttered the fateful two words, but there were none. However, I never allowed hope to inflate, knowing that my dreams would be dashed before they could fully leave the ground.
Oh, how my tears threatened to pour out as your lips brushed mine in the most chaste of kisses. It was so cruel the way you lifted me up, just to tear me down so violently with your patronizing words. As though I wasn't worth your time.
Even the most severe of beatings never stung so badly as when the crowd dispersed, you brushed me away, as though I was a mere fly in your path. Of course, I couldn't say anything. I couldn't utter a word. Then again, I hadn't been able to for a very long time.
I lived the life of a mine without the humour. I was expected to have the most personality, the most charm, the most beauty, as a compensation for my handicap. But of course, all of that had to go to my youngest sister.
It killed me inside to hate her, but I did. I detested her for her cold heart and the easy way others fell for her deceitful tales. And as my newly wed husband pulled her in for a passionate kiss, much unlike the ones he had bestowed upon me, I despised her even more.
But what could I do, when I would never be heard as long as my tongue remained in a jar at the bottom of the ocean...
