Nowhere To Turn

She fingered the white lace on her gown absent-mindedly. She vaguely heard impatient, over-excited voices calling her to the bridal canopy. Her mind carried her years away, to a time that had changed her life so drastically, so unexpectedly. She thought of the Golden Girl that she had once been; the golden life that she had once led. She reflected on the innocent joys of her youth and that sudden, frightening way in which her world was shattered. She recalled with mixed feelings the day it had all changed permanently, taking a horrible turn for the worse. She bent her head, dissolved in her thoughts, entranced in the past. And she remembered...