Sacrifice of Heart

Caroline's eyes were filled with tears, as she was talking to her father. She couldn't believe a man that raised her and siblings with love could make such a deal. She is trying all her best to let her father see that his decision is unfair on her. “You just want to sacrifice me off for the family, that is exactly what you are doing right now dad. You didn't even seek my opinion before you made the deal, you just agreed with such a man like that.” Caroline said with overwhelming emotions. She has been a good child to the family and receives a lot of praise for her behavior as a good role model for her siblings. She cares so much for the family and her siblings can't resist being around her. Always take them first as their mother is sick and as she is the eldest of them. They look up to her for their domestic help and she always fulfills this duty either convenient for her or not. “Say something to justify this unfair act to me. Now I have to wear the garment of shame among my friends.” She sobs, they will be saying “ See her, she just married the man as old as her father.” Mr. Clement is in deep thoughts all the time his daughter has been ranting. He doesn't know how else to defend himself again to her. Making a deal to marry her off is not his intention but this is the only person offering to help them out of their financial situation. He has been a loving and caring father to his family, but his wife's sickness has been draining money from his business which is about to fold up. Investors have been threatening to sue him if he fails to pay them. All these circumstances gave him no other options than to make a deal with the devil. “I have tried my best to explain why I am doing this, do you prefer seeing me rotting in the prison and no one to take care of the family?” Mr. Clement said in an angry voice. With a shock on Caroline's face, she was surprised her father became angry all of a sudden. She looked at his furious face and she asked herself “Am I not the one to be angry, you are giving me out to be leaving with a stranger without my concept and here you are still angry for hurting me” she said in a trembling voice. “What else do you have me to do? Since you have been an unreasonable child, I have talked to you calmly and yet you don't seem to understand. I am not totally happy with it but I have no choice because I want to be a free man and take care of this family” Mr. Clement explained. Caroline goes straight to her father and holds his legs with her face on his laps. She cried bitterly more than before and started begging her father “please, don't do this to me. Try to reach out to other people for help. Don't let me live a life I don't choose please.” “Child I have been patient enough with you, stop this rubbish and set yourself up for reality. You are getting married by the end of the week and that is final” Mr. Robert yelled. Caroline looked at her father with a disgusted look, she wiped her eyes with her palm. When she heard those words from him, she already knew her tears won't change anything. Begging him to keep trying won't stop the decision he already made. She stood up, bent to dust her knees and walked out from her father's sight without a word. She went straight to her room, locked the door and started crying. She had never imagined a day like this would come between her and her father. She had never seen him this angry at her, the only close moment her father was this angry was when she was hitted by a car. That day, she went on an errand and wanted to cross on a one way road, where no car is expected to come from the left side. This reckless driver just showed up and hit her. She was rushed to the hospital and had started gaining consciousness before her father came. When he saw the driver, he almost skinned him alive. Caroline was shocked to his father's reaction, and that was when she realized how much he cares for his family. But seeing him angry at her for his wrongful decision makes her start doubting his love for her. “Who knows if he was doing all that to keep me alive and sell me off like this” she sobs. She has locked herself in for hours and missed her breakfast and lunch meal. Everyone in the family started worrying for her and kept knocking at her door but she refused to respond to them. “I am not part of you anymore, why do they want to talk to me” she thought to herself. She started making the moves to walk around her room, glazed on every deco, her wall gallery, the memories each brought to her and she was smiling as tears ran on her cheeks.“I will soon leave all these behind by the end of the week”. She smiled as she thought to herself. With a more concerned look on her face, she stood In Front of her mirror in her bathroom. “Will I just give up like that without fighting?” She started looking for how she could escape from this nightmare. At least if they didn't see her, his father will be forced to cut off the deal and let her live as a free woman. She looked through the bathroom window, “this will be too small to pass through for me.” She taught and made her way back to her room, she started removing the Louvre blades but she had gone halfway before she realized the burglary proof won't allow her easy passage. “s**t” she felt disappointed. She sat on her bed, this time she cried her eyes out and looked like she had run out of tears. She didn't care that she had been on an empty stomach since morning and kept ignoring every knock on her door. She kept thinking on how to escape and looked up to the ceiling. “I can remove one of this suspended ceiling and crawl till I reach outside” she smiled because this is feasible for her to achieve. She pulled her reading table to the center of the room, put the chair on it and climbed up. She needed extra height for her hand to reach the ceiling. She walked around the room to find something before she thought of raising the chair height with her books. She grabbed some books, put them under the chair legs to increase the height. She seems a bit happy because this looks like her breakthrough. As she was about to climb the chair, she thought of her loving mother. How would she leave without saying anything to her, she stopped and took one of her jotters to write on. “Mama, I know you may be disappointed with my actions but I am not sorry for choosing freedom. I have watched you and father live happily and I want to replicate this too one day. I don't see myself having such a great bonding with my family with the life father chose for me. It's at this moment I realized he has been keeping me all this while to sell me out like a slave. I will not allow that to happen, I am leaving. If this hurts you, I am sorry and I will contact you as soon as I have the chance. I wish you a quick recovery and I love you mother” she wrote. She tore the sheet out and left it on her bed. Made her way to the roof and started creeping on the roof woodwork to make her way to the exit part of the building.