The next morning, I awake to the City alarm. No swimming. Not today. No rule-breaking for the wife of Adam. Mother picks out a long white dress for me to wear. She says new brides must wear white. It symbolises purity and innocence. She envelops me in a hug, once again, but this time her tears are of anguish. She gathers round Abram, Kane, and Lael, bidding them to say their goodbyes. She blubbers through her final words, and excuses herself to her room. Abram is too young to understand the situation. He squirms as I hold him tight, the moment I let go he scurries away.  I throw my arms around Lael and Kane together. I can see tears in Lael’s eyes, but she won’t let them fall. Father beckons from the doorway. I reluctantly stand up and wipe away the tears beginning to fall.  As we exit, I run my hand over the old wooden door I know so well. This is it. I turn my gaze straight ahead, and Father leads me away.
We have to walk a long ways through the fields to get to the train station. I trip over my dress’ train, stumbling through the tall grass. Finally, we reach the station. It appears from the outside like a small shed. Nothing is inside but a large hatch in the floor. Pulling it open, Father herds me down. We descend what seems like an endless staircase. Just when it seems like we’ve made it to the center of the earth, I see lights. We enter a cavernous room, filled with people, all crowded around a sleek silver train. Father makes the necessary arrangements, and I’m pushed inside it. Off we go, pressed up against strangers, rattling and jolting. After an hour that seems like a minute, we’re out of the train, up another endless staircase, leaving the station, and into the sunlight.
Suddenly, I’m in the sea again, breaching the surface, convulsing, gulping in the fresh air. That’s what it feels like. I take in my surroundings, breathing it all in. The inner city is built in a circle. On the outer edge, rows upon rows of small houses stand. Little square houses, all metal, not a single window. All in perfect uniform, no aberrants. Further in, the buildings become taller, stretching skywards. Citizens bustle in and out, going about their lives. The cobbled streets are pristine, but I can’t see any cleaning crew. In the center of it all is a vast mansion. Smooth iron walls ending in sharp edges contrast with the stone columns holding up numerous balconies. Emanating regality, it almost looks proud, like it knows the City revolves around it. But, that’s just the way it was built. I’m awestruck by how different it all is to my pastoral little countryside.
We move closer in. As we approach the skyscrapers, I begin to feel like a leaf in the wind. Pushed and blown about, floating with the pull of the crowd. A few times, I get lost. Crying out for Father, I struggle against the trampling throng. At long last, we stop outside the mansion gates. I turn to him excitedly.
“Is this it? Is this where Adam lives?” I ask.
“Yes, with Eli. This is where you’ll live,” I can see that same look of pride that he wore yesterday.
I smile widely, but I can feel anxiety bubbling up inside me. Before I can push the gates open, the grand front door opens, and men in suits stream out. One of them takes my arm and leads me towards the mansion. I turn around to see if Father is behind me, but he’s gone.
“Where’s my father? Where’s he gone? What have you done with him?” I ask frantically. I don’t know if I can do this alone.
The man holding my arm guides me back towards the door. “I’m afraid he can’t be with you anymore,” he says. “Your parents can no longer be allowed to influence you.”
I am led into a large room, like a foyer. The walls are draped in lavish tapestries, cherry oak paneling peeking out in between the woven pictures. My shoes sink into posh carpeting. Golden chandeliers hang from the ceiling. Three large ovular mirrors stand straight and tall, like everyone else here.  I feel naked in my simple dress, compared to the the extravagance of this place.
Only two men are left in the room with me. The one who grabbed my arm addresses me, breaking my awestruck wonder.
“Please wait here, Ma’am,” he says. “We won’t be long.”
He and the other one exit, leaving me alone in this immense place. Is this really where I’ll live? I’ll be like a princess. Watching over the City with her prince. My heart begins to flutter. My stomach turns over and over. I can hear footsteps. This is it. I see them coming. There he is. Tall, so much taller than me. His face is square and sharp, two bright emerald eyes stare vividly. His hair is chestnut, slicked back smoothly, all the better to accentuate his jawline. He stands before me, flanked by the men like guards. He takes my hand, and brushes a kiss across it lightly.
“What’s your name?” He asks. His voice is velvety, like a cat’s purr.
I try to answer him, but only a squeak comes out. I clear my throat, wincing at the echoing sound.
“Lilith.”
“Adam. Welcome to your new home,” he says. “My father sends his condolences that he can’t be here to greet you.”
“That-that’s alright,” I stutter.
The men present to me a pen, almost ceremoniously.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” I ask.
From his coat pocket, Adam pulls a stark white piece of paper, covered in fine print. “This is the marriage contract. I’ve already signed it, but you still need to.”
Without hesitation, I sign my most elaborate signature steadily, not bothering to read the small words.
“We should get you settled in,” from around the door comes a young woman, not much older than me. “This is Leah. She’ll get you used to the way things run around here.”
With that, Adam leaves me with the woman.
“That’s it?” I call after him, but he’s gone.
“Come on, I’ll get you a change of clothes, and show you where you’ll work.” Leah says.
“Work? But, I thought I was the helpmate.”
“Yes. You help with the chores.” She beckons for me to follow her, and together we descend a spiral staircase. We step out into some sort of workroom. Kitchen equipment sits in one corner, washing things in another. Sewing supplies are strewn about carelessly. Leah opens a door into a closet, and pulls out a plain beige dress, even simpler than what I’m already wearing.
“Please, change into this,” she waits expectantly.
Nervously, I look for a private corner. My eyes are met with no such thing.
“We’re all so pleased you’re here. You and Adam are going to have so many wonderful children,” she says as I pull the dress over my head.
“Oh, I don’t know about that. One or two, maybe.”
She looks at me like I’ve said something crazy. “But, it’s your duty. If not to Adam, then to the City. You have to produce heirs to carry on the lineage.”
I am silent after this. The rest of the day travels on at a snail’s pace. It’s cold in the workroom, but I am not provided with any means of warmth. I cook, wash, sew, and clean, for hours and hours. The only human contact I have all day is Leah. I ask repeatedly to see Adam, but I always get the same answer.
“You will. Later. He’s busy now, and your place is here.”
Time ticks on, but I loose track. There are no windows down here to see the sun set. With every sock darned, soup stirred, floor scrubbed, my hope and excitement turns to dread.

I open my eyes as the sunlight streams in through  the window above my head. But, the workroom doesn’t have windows. I look around. I’m in an unfamiliar bedroom. The bed I’m lying in is grand, just like everything else in this place. Stretching, I lift my hands up, and they brush against something soft. Velvet. Posh red curtains, to be specific. The walls are hung with painting, carefully crafted masterpieces. A golden chandelier, like the one in the foyer, dangles from the ceiling. An armchair, with elaborately clawed feet sits in the corner. Over it is draped the same dress I was wearing last night. Or is it? I wince, a sharp pain grinding itself into my head. I can’t remember. Throwing off the blankets, I find myself indect. I pull on the dress laid out for me, and open the door. Leah stands right outside.
“Sleep well?” she asks. I’m startled to see her waiting. I jump back in surprise.
“I, uh, I can’t remember, actually.”
“Well, at any rate, Adam was pleased to have you share his room.”
I begin to process what she said, but she cuts me off with a sharp yank on my shoulder. She grabs my sleeve and leads me down into the workroom. The day continues on much the same as what I can remember yesterday. I slave away, never seeing hide nor hair of my supposed helpmate. I wake up in his room a few times a week, only the days I can’t remember. I’m worked like a dog, more so than even Leah. Sometimes, I determine to speak to Adam about the way I’m being forced to exhaust myself again and again. But then, I can’t remember. It seems after these times that a few hours have passed, but I’m back in the workroom where time doesn’t exist.
The days drag on, and I can remember less and less. The staff looks at me strangely sometimes. The guards in suits and Leah. As if they’re scared of me. Like I’ve done something terrible and shameful. I don’t know if I have. I think often of my family. Why can’t I have the happiness that Mother has? Or, maybe her life was once like mine. Maybe she grew accustomed to it. Became happy. Maybe that will happen to me if I stay. If I stay.
The thought jolts through me like lightning. I remember the whispered scandals of girls deserting their masters. Never heard from again. Off into the great Otherlands. They are the villains of bedtime stories. Naughty children are warned of a possible future like theirs. But now, I don’t condemn them. I can understand it now. There are two paths you someone like us can take. Go insane, or run away. I make up my mind to talk to Adam. Surely, he doesn’t know what goes on. What happens to me, his wife. Surely, he wouldn’t condone it if he knew.
I’m scrubbing away at the foyer floor. My hands are damp and raw, aching and bruised. I plunge the dirty rag into the water bucket, wring it out, again and again. The routine is drumming in my head. It’s like a song stuck in my head, driving me mad. I see a flash of brown hair, and Leah emerges from around the corner. It’s at this moment when I snap. Hatred surges up in me, creeping into my bones, leaking into my blood. These people are my slave drivers. But, I don’t act right away.
“Hello, Leah!” I say cheerfully. “I think I’m just about done here.”
“Oh, good,” she says. “Right then, I think you have some darning to do.”
“Of course, of course. Come down to the workroom with me,” I say. “I get so terribly lonely sometimes.”
She looks at me strangely, but agrees. Together, we make our way down the stairs, into my perpetual prison. Father would disapprove of this, I know. He would tell me to do as I’m told, that my place is underneath my husband. I push those thoughts deep to the back of my head. I’m on my own, now. I begin my plan, dreamt up in the hours of back-breaking boredom. I pull a basket of freshly washed clothes from beside the the charcoal brazier.
“Leah, do you think you could help me put these away?” I ask. She nods, and opens the closet door, beginning to make space for the garments. This is it. I should be scared right now. I’m a child, what am I doing here, how did I come to this. I should feel guilt. But all I feel is anger. I rush towards her and slam my side forcibly into her back. She falls forward, crumpling into the closet. She shouts, and tries to get up, but I slam the door, and snap the deadbolt closed.
“Let me out!” she screams, over and over. I smile.
“Shout all you like,” I whisper through the crack between the door and the frame. “No one will hear you down here. It’s just you and I.”
“What are you doing, Lilith. Just let me out,” She pleads.
“Not until you tell me what I can’t remember.”
“I-I don’t know. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, but I think you do,” I say as I press myself against the door, feeling the vibrations as she bangs against it. “I’m worked into the ground, every day. I’m never allowed to see Adam, but I wake up in his room nearly every morning. I’m only fifteen, but I seem to have the mind of an old woman. I can’t remember anything, anymore. You act fearful around me, all of you, even the guards act strangely. Tell me, or I’ll leave you in here. Do you think anyone will even notice you’re gone. You’ll starve, dehydrate. Tell me. What is going on around here?” I snarl the words, trying to put as much conviction behind them as possible, glad she can’t see me shake. Apparently, I’m convincing to sniveling, whimpering Leah.
“All right, all right. You’ll just forget, anyway,” she says. “You have a habit of, shall we say, rebelling. Of course, that’s not allowed here. Every time you show some sort of insurgent behavior, it’s taken care of.”
I’m stunned. “Taken care of, you mean, my memory? But how?”
She laughs, chilling me to the bone. “There are things at work greater than us, Lilith. Now, let me out.”
I unlock the door, and Leah dashes up the stairs, leaving me aghast. I slide down the door. I sit on the floor, head in hands. What am I supposed to do? I can’t go back to my home. The law doesn’t allow it. Father would probably send me back here. My mother might beg to have her baby, her firstborn back, but the rules are my father’s master. For the first time since I said goodbye to my family, I cry. I sob long and hard, but no one will ever hear me.
My last hope is Adam. If I can find him and talk to him, I might escape this nightmare. I resolve to inform him at once. However, the problem remains. He’s always elsewhere. It’s time for part two of my plan.

I’m a bundle of nerves tonight. I inch around the mansion, avoiding the guards and Leah. I refuse the water she offers me, not trusting any food or drink not prepared by myself. Every noise makes me jump, but for good reason. At any moment, someone could be sneaking up behind me to knock me unconscious, now that I know about this twisted system. I wonder how many times before I’ve learned about it. How many shocking reveals happened.
Eventually, the sun sets, and Leah retires to bed. That’s one less thing I have to worry about. As soon as she I’m left alone, I hurry quietly up the stairs, though at this time I’m supposed to stay in the workroom. I take position underneath the lectus. I squeeze my body in, hugging my arms around myself, trying to look smaller. The room is in shadow now, all the candles on the sparkling chandeliers blown out. It seems like hours pass. I try counting the seconds to the beat of my heart, but I loose track. I lie there for so long I feel like I’ve become a part of the decor.
All at once, I hear a noise. A creak of the floor panels, ever so slight. I shift slightly, and peer out from under my hiding place. I see a woman standing by the foyer entrance. She’s cloaked in robes of midnight blue, her long brown hair flowing out from underneath them. She’s looking right at me. Her face is gaunt, her cheekbones protruding. I can almost feel her vibrant blue eyes piercing me. I tense up, not daring to move a muscle, willing my heartbeat to slow. It doesn’t obey me, and I can feel in beating out of my chest, I’m sure she can hear it, even so far away. My blood rushes in my ears. All is silent. A loud sound makes me jump, so startling I bang my head on the wooden underside of the lectus. The grandiose front doors open, and in comes a person I’ve only seen once, to my knowledge, that is.
Adam strolls in regally, bordered, as the first time I met him, by his guards in suits. I look back to the foyer entrance, but the woman is gone. Adam dismisses his guards, and begins to ascend up the grand staircase. As his back is turned, I slip out from underneath the lectus.
“Adam!” I hiss.
He looks up in surprise. “Lilith? But, you’re supposed to be- I mean, what are you doing awake?”
“I don’t have much time. I need to talk to you.”
Uncertainly, he seats himself on the lectus I’ve just escaped from, and motions for me to explain myself.
“When I came here, I thought everything would be different. I thought I would be your...princess,” the word sounds ridiculous to me now. “I toil away every day under the command of Leah. I’m only allowed out of the workroom to clean the mansion. But that’s not the worst of it. They’re taking my memories! Everytime I question their corruption, it’s removed from my mind. Please, help me. You know now, so please don’t let this continue,” tears are leaking from my eyes at this point. “I’m only a child. I’m scared.”
“You don’t think I know all of this? You don’t think I’m fully aware how my house is run? You belong where I have put you. You’re inferior to me, Lilith.”
I’m confounded. Stupefied. I feel like I’ve taken a punch the stomach. How could he let this happen? How could he say I’m his inferior?
“But-but,” I stutter. “I’m your helpmate. Your match. Your bride. We’re equals. I’m not your slave, and you have no right to take anything from me, let alone tamper with my mind!”
Adam laughs. “No right? Oh Lilith, you signed yourself away to me the day we met. Your body, mind, and soul belongs to me,” He sighs, as if this discussion is trivial, insignificant. Like it’s one he’s had before. “Morgan! Your assistance is required.” He calls this into the air, as if expecting someone to materialize before his eyes. Nothing happens. No one comes to his aid. He shouts for her, loudly this time. Still nothing. Yet, I stand paralyzed in fear.
Suddenly, something comes over me. It’s as if an invisible force is pushing me up out of my horror and dismay. Pushing me forward. Sighing again, Adam reaches for me, but I spring out of his way. I throw the front doors open, and fly out. I run faster than I’ve ever run before, even at home when I would sprint the the forest. I can hear Adam shouting for his guards, but it sounds garbled, like I’m underwater. His guards are fast too. One of the catches up to me, but in a surge of strength, I knee him violently in the crotch, and stomp down on his knees with my foot. He falls to the ground.
Willing my feet across the ground, I trod on.  A vacant, unsettling feeling hangs in my stomach. I whip my coal black braid to the back of my head, brushing the wisps of hair away from my forehead. I draw a grim smile to my face, as wayward strangers pass, a sick sensation rising from my gut to my throat. My bare soles sting wickedly as they slap against the rough cobbles.  Drawing in sharp breaths, I persevere, the vague fear of an indeterminate terror driving me forward. The tears I can’t cry burn me like acid, scalding my empty heart and dry lungs. Only fifteen, but at this moment, I feel as old as the world.
I keep running for what must be an hour and a half. I’ve long since reached the countryside. I find my adrenaline slowing, and I crash to a halt in a bed of sweet meadow flowers. I must have fallen asleep, because I soon see the sun above me, and feel the dew on the ground. I have no desire to stay here. Not here, in the middle of nowhere, lying in a field. I hoist myself to my feet and walk on. Surely, there must be guards out looking for me.  I pause for a moment to examine them. I brush off gravel and dirt, revealing thin slices and lacerations.
The countryside is full of rolling hills and fields, such a pleasant contrast to the harsh inner city. I think as I trek, of my mother, my father, my brothers and sister. How long has it been since I’ve seen them? Weeks? Months? Maybe longer. What they’ll think when they discover I’ve broken the precious laws. If they ever do learn of my revolt. Maybe it will be concealed behind paperwork and routine. Maybe all the City will know. The countryside seems to go on forever. I’m still wearing the same beige dress that was given to me when I arrived at the mansion. It’s grimy and stained now, torn in several places. Snagged on twigs, eaten away by dirt and water when I slept on the moist ground.
I come across a grove of apple trees. My limbs are sore, my joints ache, I’m yearning to rest. I drag myself over to the first tree, and climb it’s strong branches. I lean back against the trunk, my legs resting on a bough, savoring the chance to relax. I’m closing my eyes when I see something in the distance. Something by the water. It looks like a spattering of little cottages. I pull myself up the branches, higher and higher, seeking a better view.
Ten cottages sit on the shore, forming a semicircle. A thought claws it’s way to the front my mind. I can’t just go on like this forever, traveling away from everything I know. What if I reach the Otherlands? I need a place of sanctuary. Someplace that will shelter me. But what if they turn me in? Simple, I just won’t tell them who I am, and surely the news of Adam’s runaway bride hasn’t reached all the way out here yet. I swing down from the tree, landing with a thump on the earth below. My energy is renewed by excitement. I sprint down the down the rocky mountain towards the village, my heart filling with hope. Is this dangerous and stupid? Probably, yes.
The village isn’t as close as it seemed high up in the tree. I begin at a run, but I soon tire. I trip my way down the steep mountain, my feet catching on protruding roots and rocks. At one point, I take a tumble resulting in my face flat against the ground. I’ve always surprised myself in how remarkably clumsy I am. I pick myself back up, and begin brushing the dirt off my dress. I quickly realize there’s no reason trying to salvage something so beyond repair, and I let it be. Asides from how completely exhausted I am, I’m also starving, and dying of thirst. When I stand up, my head begins to go fuzzy. I can feel my grip on consciousness slipping. I fall like a ton of bricks. As I hit the ground again, everything goes black.