On The Border - Marry Him or Die

13

Jenny’s POV

I was laying on my bed, watching a Turkish series I saw on Netflix on my phone when we were locked for three days before my father died. And I became addicted to it. They had different kinds of drama than the Americans. And their language really sounded so appealing, I even picked up a few words. What really lured me into Turkish series was the depth of love they showed in their emotions. Not just between a man and a woman, but between family too. They had very strong attachments and loyalty to each other. Something I would never know as I was only loyal to my mother, out of the whole family.

I was hooked into one of the episodes, when a knock on our front door caused me to panic all of a sudden, I don’t know why, but a guest this late at night cannot come bearing good news.

I paused the episode and walked towards my room door.

“Call Jennifer into the living room, I want to speak with her” I heard my uncle’s strict voice as he walked inside the house.

My heart began to pound loudly in my chest when he asked to speak with me.

Did he find out that I lied about witnessing the man who killed my father?

I heard my mom’s footsteps getting closer to my room, so I opened the door wider and stepped out.

Before she could tell me anything, I stalked past her and went to the living room.

I had a bad feeling about this late night visit, a very f*****g bad feeling.

I went inside without bothering to greet him and sat on the couch on his left hand side.

My mom followed me inside and sat next to me.

It took him a while to speak, which only added to my already building anxiety.

While he struggled with whatever he wanted to say to me, I gave him a once over.

He hasn’t really changed that much over the years. He was in his early fifties, with black grayish short hair and the same empty hollow green eyes. He looked like another version of my father and I could not stand to look at him directly for more than two minutes before my stomach twists in knots.

I cannot wait to get rid of them all.

He was younger than my father by a few years, but he always looked like the older brother to me. Perhaps it was because of the thick wooden cane he has been using for the past five years to help him with walking. The walking cane goes back to when he got shot in one of his legs during a smuggling raid on town. Ever since then, he was unable to walk properly and needed the assistance of a cane.

My train of thoughts gets interrupted as he begins speaking to me in a harsh stern voice. It wasn’t something I wasn’t used to, as he and his brother never change their tones with anyone, it’s their default settings.

“Alex Snow just called me on the phone and asked for a peace offering with the Walkers”

“Okay?” I said hesitantly.

Why is he coming to tell me this when he never bothered to look at me my entire life?

“He knows that I don’t have full control over the clan and he refuses to shake hands peacefully without insurance that no Walker can ever harm a Snow again”

“What kind of insurance?“ I asked tightly, vaguely aware of where this conversation was headed but refusing to fully register it, not until he says it.

“You marry him tomorrow morning in the town church, become his legal wife, and move in to his family house to live with him. That way, no Walker will dare to make a move on them because then you will be the one to suffer the consequences. No one will step out of line again Jennifer, the clan had so much respect and loyalty for your father they would never endanger your life on purpose, that is the only way to regain the peace in this town”

I am panting breathlessly at that moment, unable to believe what my ears just heard.

Who the hell came up with that twisted, wretched idea? My mom speaks my thoughts out loud.

“Did Alex Snow ask for Jennifer specifically or any Walker? And doesn’t he have a fiancée already?”

“I don’t have a clue about his fiancée, but he asked for her by name. He won’t take someone else, it has to be her or they kill every last one of us. They already injured more than half of our men, there is no other way”

I look at him sharply as the ice settling in the pit of my stomach gets replaced by an exploding boiling volcano.

I stand up and almost shout at him as I lose control over my mouth and speak my true thoughts directly “You can all go rot in hell for all I care. I’m not your f*****g scapegoat that you can sell to the highest bidder. I’m not a f*****g smuggled product that you can bargain with! What made you think I’ll agree to this twisted joke?!”

He stands up too, his face red, his nostrils flaring, and his terrifying eyes shining in utter rage. If I wasn’t already out of control, I’d probably do the wise thing and back away from him right about now, but I was completely lost in my own turmoil of emotions.

“You will agree to this because I told him you would. You have no other choice. I’m responsible for you and your mother now and I will do whatever I see is right. You have no f*****g say in this. You’re getting married tomorrow and I suggest you don’t argue with me any further because you will not like the extreme length I will go to, to make this happen”

I take a step closer to him and speak in a deadly low voice “Over my dead body… uncle”

As soon as I said the last word, the palm of his hand landed on the side of my cheek in a very loud slap, causing me to gasp unexpectedly.

I heard my mom gasp as well behind me in horror.

He doesn’t give me anytime to register the pain as he takes a handful of my hair and drags me in the direction of my room.

I try to fight him off and push him away, but he just yanks me harder, almost pulling half my hair out of my scalp. I could hear my mom screaming at him to let me go.

He throws me inside my room and double locks the door from the inside, with my mom banging loudly and crying outside it. I land on the floor painfully, on my side.

He turns to me with his eyes shining in anger. He looked like a replica of my father at that moment. It was hard to distinguish between them as he looked down at me with the same disgusting green eyes.

“You will marry Alex Snow tomorrow” he said in a low cold voice.

I scream at him in rage “OVER MY DEAD BODY”

He starts hitting me mercilessly with his heavy wooden walking cane. His hits land very hard on my whole body, everywhere he could reach.

He wasn’t holding back at all, even as I kept screaming out in agony.

I tried to cover myself with anything, I even tried to hide under the bed, but he wouldn’t let me move much as his hits kept inflicting an unbearable amount of pain on my entire body, trapping me in place.

After what felt like forever, he finally stopped. He was breathing very hard, and I was laying helpless on the floor weeping and crying as every part in me was aching immensely.

I was vaguely aware of my mom crying helplessly outside and begging my uncle to stop as she continued to bang on the door.

He was even more of a monster than my father ever was.

No wonder his wife died at a very young age. He probably beat her to death and covered it up with something else. It wouldn’t really surprise me at that point.

He said between ragged breaths “You will marry.. Alex Snow.. tomorrow”

Despite the tremendous amount of pain I was feeling, and the certainty that he will keep hitting me until I give in or die at his hands, I found myself whispering in agony without lifting my head to even look at him “Over my dead body”

I waited for the sharp hit of his cane to start landing on my body again but it never came.

Instead, a rather more stinging hit landed on my back, and caused me to yelp.

He switched his cane for his belt, as he started whipping my back relentlessly.

When I couldn’t take the pain on my back anymore, I tried to get up and shove past him, but before I took two steps away from him, he yanked my hair back and threw me against the furthest corner of my room and continued to whip me on my arms and thighs.

I was shaking uncontrollably at that point from the viciousness of his torture, my screams coming out raspy and hoarse.

He didn’t stop until he made sure that he marked every inch of me with his belt.

He waited until he could catch his breaths before he spoke again while I just huddled in my place in the corner, unable to move or do anything else but whimper and shake violently.

“You will marry Alex Snow tomorrow or so help me god, I will kill you right here!” he shouted at me while I instinctively coward more into the corner.

If my body could control my mouth right now, it would agree to do anything at this point as it could no longer withstand another torture session or agree to let itself die at his hands.

But I would rather die, than agree to get myself into a marriage with that man. A marriage that will probably, no not probably, absolutely be a copy-paste version of my mom’s life with my father, if not worse.

I was this f*****g close to my freedom, this f*****g close!

I knew happiness was too good to be true for me, I f*****g sensed it.

Why? Why is it so far fetched to get just a tiny glimpse of happiness after all that suffering?

“I would rather die” I simply said in a defeated low voice as I looked up at him with the last ounce of defiance I could muster up within me.

He looks at me with a deathly glare, as I wait for him to finish me off and continue his ruthless torture.

He then turns around, unlocks the door, pushes past my hysterical mom, and disappears out of my room without saying anything.

My mom rushes inside and takes me in a fierce hug as she starts sobbing rabidly.

I stay frozen in my place, waiting for what my uncle still has in store for me, because he cannot simply give up like that, I knew him too well.

I don’t have to wait for very long, as he rushes back into my room, holding a very sharp thin knife in his hand that he must have just grabbed from our kitchen.

He yanks me right from within my mom’s arms, lays me on the floor, and straddles over me, pressing the end of the knife on the right side of my collarbone; just a few inches below my throat.

I was wearing a V-neck long sleeved white shirt, that made the skin of my upper chest quite accessible to him.

My mom screams in horror but doesn’t attempt to push him off me for fear of getting me stabbed with the knife.

“Let her go Jack!“ she screams in desperation.

“You either agree to marry him or I will slit your throat right in front of your mother Jennifer” he bellows on top of me, a huge vein bulging on the side of his face from his untamed rage over my continued stubbornness and defiance.

I look at him without flinching and repeat my earlier statement while gritting my teeth “I would rather die”

He doesn’t miss a beat as he makes a diagonal, deep, five inch cut on the side of my collarbone as I scream in heart wrenching anguish, my mom screaming along with me.

“You will mar…” he starts to scream and I cut him off as I scream back “I would rather die!“

“Jennifer, please!” my mom begs hysterically.

He looks at her suddenly, then pushes himself of me, grabs my mom’s neck and points the knife right at her throat.

Panic rolls off me in waves as I get up to a kneeling position quickly.

He looks at me wildly and threatens “Last chance Jennifer. Think about it real good before you open your mouth to defy me again. I will not hold back anymore. Accept the marriage or I will slit her throat right in front of you”

My mom looks at me with quivering lips, silently begging me with tears streaming down her face.

I stare at him, my eyes spewing venom and loath as I say defeatedly “I will marry him”

He lets her go with a slight push and points the knife in my direction as he hisses at me harshly “We will be in that church at nine in the morning. I will stay here until then so don’t get any smart ideas to run away”

Then he points it at my mom as he directs his dark gaze on her “Pack up all her belongings so I can take them when we leave in the morning. After a month, you too will get married to me, Sandra. I can’t have you living in this house all alone without a man to look out after you”

He doesn’t wait for her to respond as he slides past us and gets out of my room without a second glance.

That… will be absolutely over my dead body, I vowed solemnly to myself.

She will be long gone to Canada before the end of this week.

We can’t both lose our shot at happiness, I won’t let it go this far.