This Has To Stop

In a large sitting room, three people stood with a grim expressions on their faces. They seem to be arguing about something as a middle-aged man was fuming with rage while his wife held him, whispering into his ears to calm him down. The man slightly pushed her away from him as he stared coldly at the young lady in front of him.

"Madeline, this has to happen. You have to understand that we can't do anything right now. You just have to make this little sacrifice for our family," The man's deep voice reverberated in the sitting room as he tried to calm himself.

"Look, dad, I can't do this, I really can't. This sacrifice is too huge. Call me wicked or selfish but this might cost me my whole life. All my life, I've been doing the things I don't want to all in the name of saving you guys, but this time, I just can't," Madeline, replied.

"So you want our family to crumble? If you don't do this, our family, our businesses, our position, our title, everything will crumble and our reputation would be tarnished," the man yelled.

"No, I'm not saying that. Isn't Anny supposed to be doing this? Then why me?" She asked.

"Anny can't do it. She threatened to kill herself and she also ran away from home and we couldn't find her."

"I don't believe Anny is nowhere to be found. Why don't you ask her where she has taken her daughter to?" Madeline spat, pointing at the woman beside her father.

"D...don't drag me into this. I don't know why it's hard for you to think about your family. It's just getting married, no one is asking you to kill someone," the woman said.

"It's just getting married, but you hid your daughter," Madeline argued as her chest rose and fell as she tried to control her anger. That brat, Anny. Just when it was time for her to help the family for once in her entire life, she ran away. Her father's company was crumbling. It has been going up and down for years before it finally went so down that the rival company threatened to take it. They wrote a letter to her dad that to leave his company and help it grow, he would have to trade his eldest daughter.

Anny was the eldest. She was older than her by just two months and was to get married the next two days but that girl threatened to kill herself and ran away from home so she won't get married to the ruthless son of the Johan family and so she left the burden to her. Now, her dad was persuading her to take her sister's place and get married to the son of the Johan family whom no one would want their daughter to get married to. How much Madeline hates Anny for this.

No, she wasn't going to agree to her father's request. Not in this life and not in the next to come. She wasn't always going to sacrifice for her family and her stepsister. It has to stop. Anny would be the one to get married to that man and not her. After all, they didn't ask for the youngest, they asked for the oldest. She wasn't going to continue taking her Anny's place forever. She used to take her place and help her write exams. She used to take her place and help her lie on her bed so no one would know she went out, but not anymore. She wasn't going to help her sister get married too. And it's not only about taking her sister's place, she just doesn't want to get married to the man in question.

"Don't you dare speak to her that way, Madeline Crayon? She's my wife," her father roared, calling her by her full name.

"Honey calm down. Your blood pressure would shoot up if you don't. Hmm," the woman said walking to him and patting his back in an attempt to calm him down and Maddie only scoffed at her.

"Madeline, just do as your father ask you to. Can't you see his condition? Don't get him more stressed out."

"I might do that if I was supposed to get married in the first place, but I can't and I won't take Anny's place. Not again, this has to stop," Madeline raised her voice.

"What has to stop?" Mr. Crayon asked.

"Me always taking Anny's place."

"You two are sisters and it's only right you help each other and take places for each other."

"And when has she ever taken my place? She has never taken my place or helped me with anything," Madeline said.

"I don't care what you say. You have to take Anny's place and get married to the son of the Johan family in two days. Get it?" Mr. Crayon asked.

"I'm also going to kill myself. I'm going to slit my wrist in a way that I won't survive. Just you watch."

"I'm not going to let you do that. You are going to do as I ask, Madeline."

"Right! So you're going to make me take her place again. You're going to trade me for your benefits," Madeline said with little droplets of tears falling from her eyes.

"I don't care. That's your problem."

"Just like you didn't care when you killed mum," Madeline yelled loudly, and everywhere grew silent for a minute and only heavy breath could be heard.

"Yes, do you want to deny it? Do you? I saw it that day. I saw how you murdered my mum in cold blood."

She had seen him that day. This evil man killed her poor mother. He murdered her. She knew it all. She knew everything that happened. Her mother had found out about him having a daughter outside of marriage and when she confronted him, they got into a heated argument and he pushed her down the stairs. She watched her mother's body fall down the stairs through the little hole in her room's door. A five year old her, saw everything.

"Aggie, Wolf," Mr. Crayon called and two able-bodied men showed up. "Lock this girl in her room, make sure she doesn't escape, remove every sharp object, and take her phone," he ordered.

"Dad you can't do this," Madeline said as the men started dragging her to the stairs.

"Dad, dad, dadddd," she called but it all fell on deaf ears.