Days had passed since the man was seen outside the window and tomorrow was the selection. I quickly laid out my outfit for tomorrow. I was so excited and scared at the same time. My song might make some people a little angry but who cares? I have been practicing it forever.
This day was full of very sad goodbyes for me at least. My mom Linzy she broke down in tears. It was so sad. Then I went to the people I had been avoiding all day. My brothers. I was tackled at the door and squashed in a hug.
"Malean. I am going to miss you so much." Mic was smiling while saying this.
"If you don't get a good one and he doesn't treat you right let us know," John added.
"Don't listen to them. You're going to be fine," Jakub reminded me.
I started to cry. They let me go.
"Oh my gosh, she is crying? What do we do?" Mic was so frantic and confused about how to handle this I started laughing uncontrollably.
"I am fine. I am just going to miss you more than you know."
"Whoever you get, just remember to give them a chance and be less like us when you go on your first date. You might scare him away." Everyone laughed at John for saying that.
How could I give anyone a chance when all it came down to in the end was if they thought I was pretty enough or not. " When I leave, look on my bed. There will be something there that you must have." I spoke softly so only my brothers could hear and then I left.
I ran to my room and sat down on my floor. I just needed to breathe. Then something caught my eye. Under my carpeted floor, there was a silver ring poking out. I thought it was pretty and was going to wear it tomorrow, but when I picked it up I pulled the floor up with it. I jumped back with surprise and the floor fell back with a ploop. Why had I never noticed it before? Who would make a trap door in my room? What was down there?
I cautiously pulled the floor up by the ring again. It was dark down there and looked like it was a straight drop to who knows how far down. I grabbed a reading light from my nightstand and sat on the ledge my legs dangling down then I put my arms on either side of the edge of the gap and lower myself chest deep then I am hanging by my fingertips and my feet still aren't touching the ground. I could probably pull myself up but I push my back against one wall and my legs bent with my feet on the other and shimmied down.
When I reached the bottom it was covered with nails and tacks sticking out of the floor. My arms were shaking with exhaustion as I stepped one foot down carefully as to not step on a sharp, rusty nail. When I was certain that I wouldn't fall on my face I set my other foot down too. I looked around and almost screamed when I saw skeletons that had belonged to men piled in a corner. It was a gruesome sight. There were shackles there as well but they were not being used at the moment. I saw another small door in the floor just barely noticeable and I really didn't want to open it because what if it was filled with skeletons as well.
Slowly I tip-toed to the hatch and opened it. I gasped at the sight before me. This is a Clamis. I had only read about them in some books. A Clamis is a place where women got together illegally, held meetings, and stored information in books that had been burned years ago. I walked over to the shelves and shelves of books. History books. Women's history mainly.
A History of the Wife by Marilyn Yalom
Women Artists: An Illustrated History by Nancy G. Heller
Women in the Middle Ages: The Lives of Real Women in a Vibrant Age of Transition by Frances & Joseph Gies
Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science – and the World by Rachel Swaby
YOU ARE READING
Die Trying
幻想From the time you are born to the time you die if you are a girl, you are owned by your father. Only you can't call him that you must call him Master, Sir, or what I call my father, Mr. Caeph. Once you are five, you must learn how to clean, cook, a...
