SHATTERED PROMISES
479 Words
Episode 2
Nora didn’t remember how she made it home that night.
The glitter of the engagement hall was gone, replaced by the suffocating silence of her bedroom. Her gown lay discarded on the floor, its shimmering fabric mocking her with memories of a future that no longer belonged to her.
She sat on the edge of her bed, clutching the necklace her mother had given her earlier that day. “You’ll need to look perfect beside Frank,” her mother had said. But even that, she realized bitterly, had been a lie.
Every promise, every word of encouragement, every lesson drilled into her since childhood. It had all been for nothing.
The tears she thought had run dry came rushing back, burning her cheeks as she whispered into the emptiness:
“Why me? Why did they choose her over me?”
The creak of her door broke her thoughts. She looked up sharply.
It wasn’t her parents; it was Frank.
He stood in the doorway, tall and composed, his expression unreadable. His presence made her heart ache, and yet fury bubbled beneath her skin.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded, forcing her voice not to break.
Frank’s gaze lingered on her for a long moment before he stepped inside. “I came to see if you were all right.”
“All right?” A bitter laugh escaped her lips. “Do I look all right to you, Frank? You stood there. You let her take everything that was mine.”
His jaw tightened. “It wasn’t my choice.”
Her breath caught. “What do you mean?”
Frank’s eyes darkened, and for the first time, she thought she saw something like guilt flicker across his face. But just as quickly, his expression hardened again.
“Forget it,” he said quietly. “What’s done is done.”
Nora’s heart twisted. “So that’s it? You’ll marry Roxeth and pretend I never existed?”
His silence was answer enough.
Nora rose to her feet, every muscle trembling. For a moment, she almost begged him to fight for her, to admit he wanted her and not her sister. But the words caught in her throat.
If even Frank,her supposed future,wouldn’t fight for her, then she had to fight for herself.
“Leave,” she whispered, her voice shaking. “You’ve made your choice. Now live with it.”
Frank’s eyes lingered on her, heavy with something she couldn’t read, before he finally turned and walked out, closing the door softly behind him.
The moment he was gone, Nora collapsed back onto her bed. Pain consumed her, but beneath it burned a fragile ember of defiance.
They thought she was weak.
They thought she would crumble.
But Nora swore to herself, as she stared at the necklace clenched in her fist, that she would rise again.
- Writer
