Bound

I want to throw myself at Grandmother’s tiny feet and beg for mercy but I can’t. My mother and her friends restrain me.

“Be brave.” My mother’s eyes are flinty. I mustn’t disgrace her.

As Grandmother tightens my bandages, I feel a bone snap. I smother a shriek. Behind closed eyelids, I see pinwheels in shades of agonized red.

I know when this is over, I’ll never walk freely again. I’ll be in constant pain.

But I’ll be desirable.

“Continue.” I say the word through clenched teeth.

Grandmother gives me an approving nod.

“You’ll do, girl.”

I know she’s right. I’ll survive this. Others in my family have, and gone on to make brilliant marriages.

I hear my bones crunch, like the wing of a sparrow in the beak of an owl, but I am motionless. Through mists of burgundy, I imagine my bridegroom’s face.

It radiates love.