Hollow Vows

The Storm

The weather seemed to darken as the ride progresssed. It felt as though wed been travelling for weeks in silence with nothing but my thoughts. Each mile carried me farther from all that I had ever known, and with each turn of the carriage, I felt the slow and merciless pull of fate dragging me towards my marriage. The carriage crumbled over the uneven road, its wooden frame creaking like what i imagen the old ship i used to watch outside my chambers would sound like braving a storm like the one we ventured into .

My father opposite me kept his hooded gaze lingered not upon the dreary countryside but upon me. He hummed a low and pensive tune.

Beyond the rain-streaked window, the world blurred into endless, rolling fields, their emerald beauty dulled beneath the weeping sky. I wondered what Milford Haven would be like. I had never before set foot in Wales. Would it be as verdant, as familiar, as the land I left behind? Would the waves crash against the shore with the same unrelenting fury as they did at home or would they give me comfort in my solitude.

I exhaled slowly, my breath misting against the glass. My hands, encased in their delicate lace gloves, twisted together in my lap. The fabric, so fine and expensive, felt suffocating upon my skin, its embroidery tight and constraining around my pampered fingers. How foolishly delicate I had been made to be, dressed and adorned like an ornament for everyone's admiration. Then, without warning, the sky roared. A jagged streak of silver tore through the restlesss cloud. It was an ear-splitting c***k of thunder , shaking the air around us. The horses shrieked in terror, rearing violently, and the carriage lurched with a sickening jolt. My body pitched forward, a cry catching in my throat, only to be swallowed by the cacophony of the storm. The force sent me tumbling, but before I could strike the unyielding wood, my fathers strong arms caught me. His grip was firm and steady. My heart pounded, hammering against my ribs like a caged bird desperate for release. I grasped onto my father and seeking the safety and confort his love provided me even while a terrible sense of foreboding slithered through me. My breath came shallow and uneven, and in that moment, as the storm raged outside and the carriage swayed upon its wheels like a vessel upon a violent sea.

The horses barreled forward. In their terror they thundered down the rain slicked road. The violent lurch sent me and my father hurtling backward, our bodies slamming against the wooden walls of the carriage with a bone rattling force. My breath was stolen from my lungs as the wheels jolted over uneven ground, the carriage rocking and swaying with each panicked stride. Out of control, the speed only increased, and we were helpless ,forced forward by the relentless, frenzied beasts that had long lost any command but their own fear.

Then the road was no longer beneath us.

A sickening lurch sent my stomach spiraling into my throat as the horses, blinded by their panic, plunged over the edge of a treacherous ravine. Time slowed. A moment of weightlessness. Even in that moment i felt my fathers hug comfort me and i buried my head into his chest as we fell into a breathless and soundless void . The carriage tipped, twisted midair, and then fell-fell like a stone cast into oblivion. Wind screamed past my ears, and then came the splintering impact. A deafening c***k. Wood shattered, bodies thrown, a blur of chaos and water and pain. A violent, consuming cold wrapped itself around me like death’s embrace as the river swallowed me whole. My limbs flailed, desperate for purchase, but the current was merciless, dragging me downward, deeper, twisting me in its clutches. My dress, heavy with water, coiled around my legs, imprisoning me as surely as the expectations I had spent my life bound by. My lungs burned, screaming for air, but there was none,only the dark, the depths, the silence.

I looked around in the dark waters, trying to find my father until my heartbeat slowed. My vision blurred, darkness curling at its edges, creeping inward. Somewhere above, the storm raged on. My body grew still, the last of my breath escaping in a silver stream, rising toward the unreachable surfacet.

Then, there was nothing.

I suddenly gasp, my lungs convulsing as air forces its way inside me.

I am no longer in the carriage, no longer beneath the crushing weight of water. The silence of the river is gone, replaced by the distant murmur of an expectant crowd.

I am at my wedding.