Page 1 of Princess's Revenge
CHAPTER 1
“You look absolutely stunning Jessi!” The tiny brunette in the refurbished prom dress is my bridesmaid, Sarah. A friend from high school—my only friend, really.
Maybe I look stunning, but I don’t feel it. A veil from a thrift store does not a bride make.
“Can you cheer up for God’s sake? It’s your wedding day!”
“Well, I’m glad at least one of us is happy.”
“You’re being insufferable, Jessi, really! Smile!” The way Sarah’s beaming at me, you’d think it washerwedding day.
I wish I could be as excited assheclearly was, but everything feels wrong.
Jack Smith might be a good provider, we’ve got a decent apartment, he’s got aso-soentry-level bookkeeping job, but at twenty-one years old, this isnothow I had pictured my life.
Maybe everyone feels like this? Like there’s supposed to be more? Maybe it takes eighty-years of living, till life beats you down enough and you realize you were always just a grain of sand on an infinite stretch of beach…you mean nothing.
Knock, knock, knock.
“Could you get that, Sarah?”
“That’s what I’m here for!” She flashes me another 500-volt smile.
Right now, I feel like I wouldn’t even be getting married at all if it wasn’t for Sarah. She’s the one who thinks it’s important to have security in life. Of course, her version of security is a husband.
I guess poor folks like me and her raised in a state facility don’t have the luxury of marrying for love.
Wemarry so we can keep a roof over our heads and make sure dinner is on the table for a man who drinks and beats you from time to time only to apologize and confess his undying love minutes later.
That’s—security.
I’m sitting in a tiny room, in a tiny church, inside my tiny life, staring at the tiny mirror of a vanity, looking for any reason not to do this, when Sarah hands me a manila envelope with a confused look on her face.
“This came for you. The guy said you have to open it right now. Weird huh?”
“Weird indeed,” I tear open the package. “They’re supposed to put money in the birdcage out front.”
“What is it?” Sarah’s excitement quickly evaporates when she sees what I’m holding.
My own heart falls into the pit of my stomach. I flip through the pictures, each one revealing an act more lewd than the last.
New York is expensive. Our apartment is the shittiest one-bedroom in the dirtiest building that Bedford Park has to offer. I thought we were lucky to have it at our age. Jack often stays in the city during the week—He says it’s to save money on the commute. He bunks with a friend.
Turns out that ‘friend’ is a blonde with daddy issues—judging from the way she seems to be enjoying the spanking she’s getting.
There are about twenty pictures in all, some are of him balls-deep in her from behind, some of her choking on his cock like she does it for a living.
I wryly appreciate that the pictures are impressive. The zoom lens, the shutter-speed, the composition…they leave nothing to the imagination. It makes me want to take up photography—maybe I will.
Sarah carefully puts her hand on my shoulder. “Someone is trying to sabotage you and Jack. It doesn’t matter, Jessi! He still loves you. A woman can’t be alone in this world.”
I say nothing, she goes on, “You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?”
Hearing her delusion makes me smile.Fuck Jack Smith.
I stand and rip off the veil. “I was alone all my life. You’re the only person I had. We’re worth more than this, Sarah. Promise me you won’t do this to yourself. Don’t end uphere.”
“Jessi, no!”