1 Locked in

"Father please don't do this",Amber pleaded from the end of the dark room she was shoved into. Her father stood at the door, blocking the entrance with his body. The moment she made a mad dash towards the door, he stepped back and slammed it shut in her face. The turn of a lock told her she had been locked in.

Again.

"Why are you doing this?",she asked as tears welled up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry my darling",her father's deep voice sounded from the other side. "You might think me cruel, but I am only protecting you"

"Protecting me from what?",Amber cried out, clearly frustrated with everything. She already lost count of how many times her father locked her in this same room, with the same excuse of protecting her.

Protecting her from what?

"You will understand someday",her father replied. In his voice, she could hear the sadness and she knew her father didn't really enjoy locking her in. If only he would just tell her why he was so overprotective of her.

"Father please",she tried one last time. "Tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday. I'm not a child anymore. It's time you start letting me out, please"

There was silence from the other side. Amber crossed her fingers and waited, hoping her father would relent and let her out.

She hoped too soon.

"Clarissa will bring you dinner",was all he said before walking away. His footsteps echoed in the long hallway until she could hear it no more.

Feeling suddenly exhausted, she slid down the door and tucked her legs beneath her. More tears threatened to spill down her eyes but she wiped them stubbornly. She wouldn't cry. She wasn't the young naive teenager she was back then, who would break down at the slightest problem.

But why her? Why did her father choose to treat her this way? She had grown familiar with this room she was locked in, more familiar than she was with her own room.

It was even beginning to be a habit. Whenever her father had some prominent visitors, he would lock her up in the room. And when she asked why, his response was always the same.

'I'm trying to protect you darling'

At a time it became suspicious. Did her father do business with dangerous people? Was that why he always wanted her locked in? She couldn't even remember the last time she saw the sunlight. All her life were spent inside her father's huge mansion.

This wasn't the life she wanted. Maybe if her mother had been alive, things wouldn't have gone this way. But her mother died a few minutes after she was born. The only person who trained her was her father and their maid, Clarissa. Maybe that was why he was so overprotective of her.

Still, it didn't make sense to her.

The lock of the door turned and Clarissa entered the room, holding a large tray filled with her roasted chicken and baked potatoes. The aroma of the food made Amber's mouth water and she rushed up and collected the tray from Clarissa.

"Locked in again?",Clarissa asked rhetorically. She lowered herself beside Amber and drew her knees up to her chest.

Amber sighed dejectedly. She only had Clarissa to talk to, and the middle aged woman understood her plight.

"I still don't understand why he locks me in whenever he has visitors",she muttered. One hand stretched out and tore out a piece of chicken. She chewed slowly, lost in her own thoughts. Then she realized that Clarissa had suddenly gone quiet.

"Clarissa?",she called tentatively. "What's wrong? Why do you look that way?

It was Clarissa's turn to sigh. She really didn't want to do what she was about to do, but she had no choice.

"I overheard your father and his guests",she began.

Amber's appetite disappeared instantly. She sat up straighter and stared into Clarissa's eyes.

"Tell me, what did you hear? Why do you look so downcast?",she asked worriedly. A part of her knew it wouldn't be something good but she needed to hear it.

Clarissa gulped before she continued. "Your father is going to marry you off to young master Birmingham"

Amber felt her jaw drop. No way! She was to be married off to the richest bachelor in Rockville city?

"What?",she whispered.

"I heard your father",Clarissa continued. "He has a lot of unsettled debts. And in return for master Birmingham's help, you will be married off to him"

Amber's head was spinning crazily. When did things go wrong? Her father was heavily in debts? How didn't she know about it? And why was she being used to settle the debts? Wait... was this the reason why her father locked up all her life? So he would marry her off to some wealthy stranger?

"Was he here tonight?",she asked quietly. "The man I'm to be married to"

"He was",Clarissa said. "The marriage contract had been signed"

Amber shut her eyes, resisting the urge to scream in anger. An arranged marriage without her consent? Why would her father treat her this way? Was he tired of her already?

"How does he look?",she whispered. She had never seen Draco Birmingham but his name was currently on everyone's lips.

"He's the most handsome young man you'll ever meet",Clarissa said with a smile.

This didn't cheer Amber up. She didn't want to be some trophy wife. She wanted to marry for love, not for money.

Clarissa saw the pained expression on her face and tried to pacify her.

"I didn't want to tell you",she said softly. "But I just thought you should know before it actually happens. I'm sure your father waited until you were eighteen before he made this decision"

"He doesn't want me anymore",Amber whispered.

"Nonsense",Clarissa brushed her comment aside. "He loves you so much Amber. And he cares about you. Men don't just know how to show their feelings. And he thinks marrying you off to a wealthy man is the right thing"

Amber leaned back on the wall. It was all over for her. She would never get the chance to live out her life like other teenage girls. She was caged forever, first in her father's house, then her husband's home.

Could life get any crueler?

"Don't think too much about it Amber",Clarissa consoled her one last time. "Just see it as your father doing the best for you"

A long time after Clarissa left, Amber remained where she sat unmoving. Her dinner remained untouched beside her. The news Clarissa just told her weakened her totally and she finally gave up on life. Since her life was already lined up for her, she might as well go with the flow.

Too bad she wouldn't have any fun on her last birthday in her father's home.

As the thought crossed Amber's mind, an idea lit up in her head. She sat up further with a frown, staring at the room she was locked in. Moving slowly, she got up from the floor and walked towards the door.

Then a smile lit up her face.

"Don't worry father",she mumbled to herself. "I will be the dutiful daughter and marry whom you have chosen. But tomorrow, I will not spend my last birthday locked up in this room"

There was pure determination in her eyes when she said those words.