Sunrise at Midnight

May sighed in sorrow as she looked out the window. The memories of the day her life fell apart came to mind. The day she lost everything.

Her freedom, her name, her honor. Even her family.

The day that her father's friend had forced himself on her. That was the day that her life took a turn for the worst.

Her father had sent her to Joseph's house to deliver a message to him on his behalf.

She didn't want to go. The truth was that she never liked Joseph. He had an aura around him that never appealed to her.

She however had respect for him as an adult and for that reason, she ignored all his advances towards her.

And that had been her first mistake. He never gave up. He continued to trouble her every day.

But she was always clever enough to get out of each situation he ever put her in.

That day though, luck hadn't been on her side. He had managed to rob her of her virginity . She had screamed and begged him to stop, but he had heard none of it.

When she went back home her clothes were all torn and her body covered in bruises. She had in all honesty explained to her parents what had happened expecting sympathy and comfort from them but they offered her none of the above.

What was she supposed to do. She knew and her mother herself had taught her that when a child gets hurt, she goes back to her parents to cry on their shoulders.

And even she had done the same, she had gone back to her parents, both her heart and soul broken.

But they never did that. They betrayed her. The little pieces of her broken heart she had been hanging onto they crushed even further. They did the one thing she would never have imagined they would do, even in their wildest dreams.

They arranged her marriage to Joseph, that too as soon as possible. 'They had to save their family's reputation ' they said.

Their betrayal did her more damage than Joseph did and she tried to reason with them. To get to change their minds to no avail.

In the end, she was Joseph's wife. And what hurt her the most was that every morning she would wake up to the face of the person who destroyed her future and act like his wife.

Her days were filled with agony and her nights as empty as ever. Joseph would beat May on every little occasion. If the food was late she got a beating and when she made it early it was still the same.

He rarely ever gave her food and treated her like a slave. She was always confined in her room. She couldn't talk or do anything for that matter without his permission.

She even tried to run away on many occasions without any success.

The only thing she was grateful for was the fact that he hadn't tried anything sexual with her.

She beat her up nearly everyday but he never laid his hands on her in a sexual manner.

May rubbed her stomach subconsciously tears running down her eyes. She was now almost one month pregnant and her belly hadn't shown yet. That was an advantage to her because she didn't want Joseph to find out.

She knew all too well that he would insist on the termination of the pregnancy and because of that, she hid it from him.

She wanted to escape before the pregnancy showed, to save her baby. And this was the perfect opportunity.

Joseph was out and as usual she was locked in her room. She had however found a way to unlock the window.

She tied up her clothes long enough to get her down safely. She slowly climbed down the window and ran towards the forest.

But someone saw her and she begun running for her life. She sped up when she realized that it was one of Joseph's. guards.

She had to get away at any cost. For her safety and that of her unborn baby. She let out a painful cry when she felt some pain on her leg.

She looked down and saw a glass sticking on to her leg. She pulled it out forcefully and continued her escape. She was in pain but she knew that if she failed to get away then her husband would torture her even more.

Or worse, kill her.

She pushed her body forward until she reached the highway, by then, she was sure that she had left some good distance between them.

She let out a sigh of relief when she saw a car approaching her. She waved her arms around desperately to get the driver's attention.

Just as the car was about to reach her, she fell unconscious. She saw a man ran from the car to where she was before she blacked out.

May woke up in an unfamiliar room. The bed she laid on was huge and the sheets were beautiful. The walls were painted blue matching the silk sheets under her.

When she realized that she was in someone's room, she panicked. She quickly attempted to get up and leave. Forgetting that she had injured her foot, she applied too much pressure on it and she cried out in pain, falling on the floor.

She clutched her now bleeding foot as she continued to cry in pain. She lightly rubbed over it only then realizing that it had been bandaged.

She heard footsteps coming into the room and moved back. She wasn't sure whether it was Joseph who had found her or someone else.

She let out a gasp when a man barged into the room.

"Please don't hurt me. " she pleaded, tears falling from her eyes.

"I won't hurt you. I promise okay. Just stay calm " he took a step closer to her and in return she moved back until her back hit the bed.

"I won't hurt you. There's no need to be afraid. What's your name? " he asked kneeling in front of her.

"M-May" she stammered.