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I Played the Witch Until They Gave Her My Wedding
Novelix
Completed
Every day since the fire left my sister's mind stuck at seven, I've been the family villain. She's the Princess. I'm the Wicked Stepmother,ankle weights, witch nose, the whole thing. Then my fiancé promised to save me. Instead he gave her my dress, my diamond ring, and my wedding. I woke up in the hospital and nobody even noticed. So I took a five-year contract overseas and blocked every last one of them. Two years later, they're broke, desperate, and ripping each other apart. Turns out I was the only thing holding that family together.
Chapters (3)
第1章
Nine years ago our house burned down. My little sister Lily got out alive. Her mind didn't. She's been seven ever since.
The doctors told my parents to go along with it. Let her live in her own world. Fine. So that's what we did. Every day.
Mom got to be the Fairy Godmother. Ryan got to be the Prince.
Me? I got the Wicked Stepmother. Thirty pounds of ankle weights. A rubber witch nose. A black costume full of holes.
I was the bad guy in my own house. Every day of my life.
Then I met Ethan.
He saw the bruises on my ankles and his hands shook. He unbuckled the weights himself. He said he'd never let anyone hurt me again.
And I believed him. Stupid me.
The first time I brought him home, Lily grabbed his arm and wouldn't let go. She wanted him to be her prince.
"Ethan's my prince now!" she screamed. "Ethan's gonna marry me!"
I squeezed his arm. "Just play along. Please."
He sighed. Picked up the toy sword. Played it with her.
Once. Twice. A hundred times.
The night of the rehearsal, Lily threw herself on my gown and sobbed. She wanted to be the princess.
Dad shoved a rubber witch nose into my hand. "You've been the witch for years. One more night won't kill you."
Mom held the ankle weights out to me. "Be honest with yourself. You want Lily breaking down in front of two hundred people tomorrow?"
Ryan pulled Lily close and stared me down. "One princess in this house. That's it. Suck it up."
I looked at Ethan. My last hope.
He dropped the witch costume over my shoulders. Like it was nothing.
"Amber, come on. Don't make Lily cry."
I looked into his eyes. The same eyes that had been so gentle the night he took the weights off my ankles.
Something inside me went cold.
I walked over to Lily. Pulled the diamond ring off my finger.
"A princess needs a real diamond, right?"
"Here. You want this one too?"
Dad's face went stiff. "What the hell are you doing?"
Mom sighed. "She's grown and she still acts worse than Lily."
Ethan stroked Lily's hair. "Lily, sweetie. Can I have the ring back?"
Lily shook her head hard.
Ethan smiled. That patient, loving smile. Then he picked up one of the plastic rings from the pretend games and slid it onto my finger.
"Amber, just wear this one for now."
"It's one ceremony. You'll always be my bride."
Then the wedding planner walked in with the menu.
Every dish on it was Lily's pick. Plain, boring, nothing I liked.
I stared at the list. "This is my wedding."
Ryan didn't even blink. "Lily gets anxious around food she doesn't know. Stop making everything about you."
Mom grabbed my wrist. "Be reasonable. Don't make a scene."
The planner looked at me, then at Lily, then back at me. "So… whose turn is it to walk down the aisle?"
Lily looked up at Ethan with those big hopeful eyes.
He dropped my hand. Just like that.
"Amber, be a good sport. She just wants to see what it feels like."
So I sat in the audience. Holding that ugly witch costume in my lap.
And I watched my sister walk down the aisle. In the gown I spent six months designing. Holding the white peony bouquet I picked out myself. Hanging on my fiancé's arm like she belonged there.
Mom filmed it all, crying. Posted it straight to Instagram. "My baby girl is all grown up."
Dad took Lily's hand and put it in Ethan's. "She's yours now. Take care of her."
When it was over, Lily threw her arms around Ethan and kissed his cheek.
Everyone froze. The staff looked at me.
Ethan didn't pull away. He just pinched her nose and laughed. "Come on, Lily. That part's not in the rehearsal. Amber's gonna get mad."
Every eye in the room turned to me.
I smiled.
"Don't worry about me. Hope you two are happy. Turns out Ethan likes them a little slow. Not my problem."
Lily burst into tears.
Dad stepped in front of her, shaking with rage. "How dare you talk about your sister like that!"
Mom rubbed Lily's back. Shushing her. Cooing at her.
Then Lily grabbed the bouquet and threw it at my face. The stems cracked against my temple. Everything went red.
Lily buried her head in Ethan's chest, sobbing. "You can't marry anybody else. Only me."
Everyone rushed to comfort her.
Ethan took one step toward me. Just one. Lily grabbed his jacket.
And the man who swore he'd never let anybody hurt me again stopped where he stood.
He looked down at Lily. His voice went soft.
"Hey. It's okay. I'm right here."
That was the night something in me finally died.
第2章
I tried to get up and walk out. Ryan grabbed my wrist and hauled me onto the stage.
"Apologize to Lily."
Dad got to his feet. "No apology, and we're not coming to that wedding."
Mom nodded. Ryan smirked. "Imagine their faces when the bride's whole family is a no-show. Go ahead. Try us."
I was the one bleeding. And they were holding my own wedding hostage.
They knew Ethan and I had been together seven years. They knew how badly I wanted that day.
I used to text them all the time. Little stuff. My day. The wedding plans.
Every time, one of them would type a single period. That's it. Just a dot.
For years I told myself it was nothing. Some people just text like that.
It wasn't nothing. They just didn't care.
So I didn't even get a say in the food at my own wedding. Because none of it was mine. Not the wedding. Not me.
I had nothing left in me to fight with. I looked at Lily. "I'm sorry."
Blood dripped from my forehead onto the floor.
Mom didn't even look at me. "Lily didn't hear that."
Ethan let out a breath. "Amber, you shouldn't have said it. Just apologize. Stop making it a thing."
So I said it again. And again.
A hundred times. My throat was raw and tasted like pennies. Only then did Lily smile.
She grabbed a cup of yogurt off the tray and dumped it right over my head. "Eat, Amber!"
It ran down my neck, cold and sticky.
Mom wiped my forehead and sighed. "You're both my daughters. I'm just trying to be fair."
My chest locked up. I couldn't pull in a breath. I was down on one knee.
Ryan didn't even look up from his phone. "Lily's still crying. Should she say it again?"
He nudged me with his shoe. "Get up. You're not fooling anybody."
Then the room went black.
I woke up to a hospital ceiling.
Ethan was in the chair beside me. "Amber. Hey. You okay?"
Then, quieter: "Lily was crying so hard. Everyone just… forgot about your yogurt allergy."
Nobody forgot. Nobody believed me. They all thought I was throwing a tantrum.
One of the caterers screamed it. "Her throat. Something's wrong with her throat."
That's when Ethan saw my lips turning blue.
Ryan walked in holding a bag of fruit. He set it on the table. "You should've told somebody about that allergy."
I had. A hundred times.
My parents dumped me on Nana when I was little. Lily got sick first, so I got shipped off. Nana raised me until I was seven.
Any time my parents came around and started favoring Lily in front of her, Nana chased them out of the house with a broom. Every time.
Then Nana died. She held my hand that last night. "Nobody's gonna protect you now, sweetheart. So be good. Just be good."
So I was good. Fifteen years of good. Best-behaved kid on the block.
And not one person in that house ever listened to me.
I looked at Ethan.
"Ethan. The wedding is off."
He blinked. "You're mad at me? I've been handling your sister this whole time. For you."
Ryan frowned. "You're calling off the wedding over this? Who's that supposed to scare?"
Ethan wiped my cheek with his thumb. His voice went soft.
"You're exhausted. That's all this is."
"After the wedding, I'll take you somewhere. Just us. No Lily. Yeah?"
I glanced at his phone on the blanket. A flight search was open on the screen. He'd really been looking.
Something in my chest let go. I opened my mouth to answer.
Then his phone rang. Lily. Doing that little cry of hers.
"Ethan? Where are you?"
I always figured Ethan just had a cold face. Like he couldn't help it.
But everything softened. His voice turned to honey.
"Hey, Lily. I'm coming. I'll be right there."
He looked at me. Like nothing happened.
"I gotta run. You rest."
"They pushed the wedding back two weeks. You're in no shape to be there anyway."
Ryan nodded. "Yeah. Lily can walk your part. Just rest."
Something bitter climbed up my throat.
I picked up my phone and called my old boss.
"You said you needed someone in London. I'll take it."
If my family only had one part for me, I was done reading their lines.
Time to write my own.
第3章
I spent two weeks in that hospital. Every day I watched my wedding turn into someone else's.
The elegant venue I picked got swapped for Lily's princess pink fantasy. Balloons everywhere. Glitter everywhere.
Mom and Dad all dressed up, beaming while Lily tried on my veil for them.
Ryan posted ten videos a day. "My baby sis in her wedding dress. I'm not crying, you're crying."
People from school started texting me. "Hey Amber, is your sister getting married too? What's going on?"
I didn't answer any of them. I got in a cab and went home.
Ethan was in the kitchen making Lily a smoothie. The second he saw me, he stepped out and pulled the door shut behind him.
"Why are you here?"
"I need some of my things."
He relaxed. Lowered his voice. "Lily's still upset with you. Just stay at the hospital a few more days. I'm covering everything."
I didn't answer. I went to my room, packed a bag, grabbed my passport and my documents.
Then I reached into the back of my closet for the velvet box.
Empty.
My ears started ringing.
That locket was the only thing Nana ever left me. Sterling silver. Her photo inside.
I walked out to the living room. There it was. Around Lily's neck.
Dad didn't look up. "She found it a few days ago. Said it was pretty. Don't start."
Ryan grinned and ruffled Lily's hair. "Looks so pretty on you. Who's my favorite girl?"
Lily held it up, showing it off.
I walked over to her. My voice came out raw. "Give it back."
Lily screamed and buried herself in Mom's arms. "No! Mean Amber! No!"
She grabbed whatever she could reach off the table and threw it at me. A remote. A book. A glass.
Dad shoved me back. "It's a necklace! What is wrong with you?"
I couldn't feel any of it hitting me. All I felt was something ripping apart inside my chest.
"That's the only thing I have left of Nana. It's mine."
He paused. Then his jaw tightened. "Your grandmother is dead. You wanna destroy this family over a dead woman?"
"And she was Lily's grandmother too. You need to know your place."
I didn't listen. I reached for the chain around Lily's neck.
She screamed and jerked away. Fell hard. Her knee hit the floor and started bleeding.
The locket flew off and hit the tile.
The chain snapped. The glass over Nana's photo cracked right down the middle.
I dropped to my knees trying to pick up the pieces. My fingers came away red.
Then Ryan grabbed my collar and yanked me up.
The slap was so hard the whole room went quiet.
He grabbed my shirt. "Have you lost your mind?"
He kicked the broken pieces toward me and shoved me down onto them. "Get on your knees. Maybe this'll teach you."
Glass bit into my skin.
Ethan looked at me. Something flickered across his face. He shifted his weight.
Then Lily let out a whimper.
He looked away. Walked over to her. Put a jacket around her shoulders.