When I awoke again at noon I heard the sound of plates downstairs. The spot next to me on my bed that Athena had been filling was empty now. I gulped before getting up to throw on a red dress. I put some light charcoal around my brown eyes, and collected my blonde hair on one side of my head and began to fishtail braid. I stared at myself in the mirror for a couple moments, and whispered to myself sarcastically, “This shall be fun Gwendolyn.” My small stature was nowhere near ideal. I was skinny but so tiny, unlike my sister, Athena. She was like a princess, perfect in almost every way. Not only was her personality flawless, her tall and skinny shape, along with the crystal blue eyes that she inherited from our mother made her the most gorgeous girl I have ever seen. Her brown hair always laid perfectly without her having to try and I knew when we went into town for something, all of the male attention was placed firmly on her.
Except for one man. He lives not too far from me in the woods, close enough for us to meet without father or my seemingly perfect sister knowing. Lucian is the only bit of spontaneity that my simple life contains. He’s five years older than I, yet we understand each other perfect. I can tell him anything about myself and he doesn’t shun me for it. I can trust him, and I love him. When he proposed to me a week ago I didn’t think about it for a second. Together, as soon as we tell my dad, we’ll start a family and continue living the same way that our families have. It’s clear that my father wishes for me and Athena to marry who he deems fit, but he’s so picky. If I leave it up to him, I fear I’d never be married. So when the time is right I’ll tell him about my engagement to Luke. He’ll have to understand or lose me along with Athena.
Until then, I’ll wear the ring whenever I am not at the dinner table with the family. When I walked down the stairs to the dining hall I saw Athena, looking fierce as ever. Her hair was in a messier version of the braid I was wearing, the charcoal around her eyes was thick and she had bright red powder above her charcoal eyeliner.
At lunch we all sat awkwardly around a dark wood table and sipped at our glasses of wine without a single word. That is, until Athena spilled a bit of her wine on her dress. Suddenly everyone was in motion. The room got loud and we all laughed at smiled with each other. “I’m going to miss this so much!” Athena shouted into the mess of noises clearly without thinking. After it flew out of her mouth she closed it and pursed her lips hoping no one heard.
Father dabbed at his lips gently. “You lucky girls won’t have to miss it! We still have a couple more years of this before you’re married off.” He sighed thinking of giving his daughters away. I glanced over at Athena and saw her inhale a sharp breath.
With one gust of air she proclaimed, “Dad I’m going away.” He put down his spoon full of potatoes that he had at his mouth. A scowl ran across his face. “Soon,” She added.
“Absolutely not.” The silence in the room felt like it was slowly suffocating me. I knew they were going to start fighting. “Why would you even consider such a silly thing? You have everything you need here. Your family, a house, food, clothes, why would you even think about leaving?”
He kept talking and the more he did the more Athena shrunk down in her chair. It wasn’t long before tears were dripping down her face. “Father, please stop,” I finally found myself pleading. He looked up from the table that he’d be looking at the whole time and met my eyes before turning to face my sister.
He sighed, and with a tone that told you the topic was not up for discussion he demanded that the conversation come to an end. “Excuse me, I have other things to tend to,” he said gruffly as he dismissed himself from the table and left the room.
Athena looked numb and broken. “He didn’t even listen to what I had to say.” The tears were falling down her porcelain face when she looked up towards me. She swiped the sleeve of her dress across her face and stood. “I’m sorry for ruining your lunch,” she whispered hoarsely. I tried to speak and even opened my mouth but not before she turned to make her way down the hall with her shoulders slouched over in defeat. Our father had utterly humiliated her in a matter of minutes.

I stayed at the table for somewhere around an hour before heading back to my room to spend the rest of the night in solitude. The rest of the night proceeded as it usually does. Father came to my room at nine to say good night and I could hear him stop down the hall at Athena’s room to do the same. In a couple hours she would slip away. The feeling in my stomach made me worry, I didn’t want her to leave. What if she never comes back? The thought ran through my head over and over. I laid awake in bed until sleep won it’s fight with me and my eyes finally closed.

The next morning the sun was shining and everything looked so joyful outside. I smiled as I got out of bed and walked to my sisters room with my sleeping gown on to wake her. When I pushed the door open my smile vanished. She was gone.