“You should do the same, and you know that, don’t you?” Anabella said, with a soft tone.
Selena sighed and covered her face with her hands, her elbows on the small table, at her best friend’s house. “I’m not sure I’m ready for that,” she confessed, in a low tone.
“What the hell are you waiting for? In a couple of months, you won’t be able to choose, and you know that. You’ll end up with whoever chooses you, and that would be terrible,” her friend pointed out.
But what she didn’t know was that she couldn’t choose now, either.
After the war ended, living on planet Earth had become a punishment. There was barely fresh water, food was scarce, as well as medicines and people were barely able to survive. Those with money enough to pay for it had abandoned the planet to go live in some luxurious colonies on other planets, but Selena and Anabella’s families hadn't been lucky enough to afford that.
A couple of years ago, a new opportunity to escape showed up when a Mail Order Bride agency opened up in Buenos Aires. They had heard about them before, of course, but they had never considered the idea, at least, not until now, when things had become so bad, they were checking any and all opportunities to escape what was now a living hell.
But you had to pay a fee to register as one of the brides. Even the lowest price was considerably high, and it didn’t allow a bride to make their own choice from a list of men looking to get married. You had to accept whatever the agency sent your way, and, unfortunately, that fee was the only one Selena was able to afford.
She wanted to wait a little longer, to see if she could find some more money, but she also knew it was only wishful thinking. Things were getting worse by the hour, and in a few weeks, she wouldn’t even be able to pay lowest of the agency’s fees.
Anabella’s situation was a bit different. Though her family hadn't been able to pay their way off the planet, they had a lot more resources than Selena’s. They had been able to pay the highest fee for all their daughters, allowing them to make their own choice of husband. Anabella was the last one to find a husband. They would all leave once Anabella found a suitable husband, invited by her older sister’s husband to join them.
“I know that, but you know my parents will be all alone if I leave,” she remembered her friend, mentioning one of the reasons she didn’t feel ready to leave.
“You’ll be able to help them once you’re out of here,” her friend assured her.
“You don’t know that for sure. Some men don’t want their in-laws living with them,” she replied, rubbing her forehead.
“Either way, staying here won’t help them. And you know that. You’re their only hope of ever leaving this place.”
“You’re right, I know that,” she let out a deep sigh and looked at her wristwatch. It was almost five o’clock in the afternoon, and she would have to hurry if she wanted to take some fresh bread back home. The lines at the bakery’s door would soon be too long. “I’ll think about it tonight and discuss it with my parents,” she promised, as she got up. “When are you meeting your fiancé?”
Anabella let out a deep sigh. “He refuses to come all the way here, so I’ll meet him when I get there,” she confessed, her tone reflecting some displeasure.
“You’ll be married to the guy by then,” Selena pointed out, a bit shocked.
“I know, but I’m sure it will be fine. He’s a humanoid from Carpethera, very attractive and apparently, quite wealthy,” she replied.
Selena hugged her friend. “I truly wish you the best, you know that, don’t you?”
“Yes, of course, I know, but I’ll miss you like hell. You must promise whenever you’re out of here, you’ll send me a message with your coordinates.”
“Yes, I will. I’ll miss you too, more than I can possibly express in words.”
They hugged once more, this time tighter before Selena finally left.
She waited for over an hour in line to buy some bread, and while she was waiting she couldn’t stop thinking about her friend’s words.
She knew Anabella was right. She needed to pay the agency’s fee as soon as possible. Her small wage from working at the hospital as a nurse was barely enough to cover her family’s expenses.
Prices rose on a daily basis, but her wages didn’t increase with them. Her parents were too old to find jobs. Although they did their best, growing all the vegetables they could in their house’s small yard, the soil wasn’t fertile enough for a good crop.
She would have to leave and pray for the best. There was no other alternative.
She managed to buy two baguettes and with them secured under her arm, she hurried home. The streets at night had become a dangerous place to walk, and she had enough problems as it was.
Her father was in the front yard waiting for her, clearly concerned. She usually made it home earlier, but with all forms of communication inoperative, she didn’t have a way to warn them.
“I’m sorry, papá, Anabella came looking for me at work. She wanted to talk to me,” she explained as she kissed her father’s cheek and entered the house.
“It’s alright, sweetheart, I was just a bit worried, that’s all.” Her father followed her inside. “I guess she wanted to let you know she’s getting married,” he said, with a deep sigh.
She turned to look at him. “Yes, she did. How did you know?”
“Her mother, came by to visit mamá and to say goodbye. They’re leaving the same day as Anabella,” he explained.
Selena sighed and entered the house. Her mother was in the living room, knitting but it was obvious her attention wasn’t on her work.
“Hi, mamá, how was your day?” she asked, with a gentle tone, as she kissed the older woman’s cheek.
Her mother looked at her and let a lone tear roll down her cheek. “There’s no other way, is there? You’ll have to do the same if you want a better life,” she mumbled, cradling her daughter’s face.
Selena didn’t need to ask her mother what she was talking about, she knew. She kneeled in front of her and tilted her head back to look at her. “I’m afraid there isn’t. Things aren’t getting any better here, and I don’t think they will, at least, not for a long time,” she admitted.
Her mother nodded through a half-choked sob, doing a poor job at hiding her tears. She understood the situation, but it didn’t make it any easier for her.
“The good thing is, if I’m chosen, our family gets a dowry. This money will allow you two to survive while I convince my new husband to get you out of here,” she explained, with a fake broad smile.
Her father patted his wife’s shoulder. “We’ll be fine, just make sure to choose a good husband, someone able to support you and be there for you, no matter what,” her father advised her.
She nodded, as she got up. “I’ll go to the government’s office and post my request tomorrow. With luck, we’ll have a quick answer, and before we know, we’ll be out of here.”
Dinner time that night was more somber than usual. Their minds swirled around the fact they wouldn’t be together for much longer, and Selena knew that would be hard for her parents, much more than it would be for her.
When they were done, she helped her mother clear the kitchen and went up to her room. She needed some time alone to settle into the fact she would be accepting a total stranger as her husband, something she never thought would happen to her.
Of course, she had thought about marriage, but she had always thought she would find the right guy, fall in love, marry him and build a family. Marrying a total stranger was as far from that dream as it could be. She didn’t fool herself into thinking she might fall in love with her ordered husband. Fairy tales with happy ever endings were just that: tales.
Anxiously she paced her room, again and again, wishing she could go for a walk to clear her head, but that would be suicidal.
Instead, she pulled her long dark chocolate hair into a ponytail, changed into some comfortable clothes and started moving through her favorite yoga exercises, desperately needing to relax her body and mind.
While she stretched her body into position she kept thinking about what she was being forced to do: marrying a stranger, an alien at that, just to get a ticket off her home planet.
Selena prayed to all the gods she knew, she would be matched with someone she wouldn’t find too repulsive. She knew she had few chances of him being attractive, but she just begged he wouldn’t be more disgusting than she could accept. Once the marriage papers were signed, the only way of getting out of it was by mutual agreement or refunding the groom for all the expenses he had paid, plus paying a high penalty fee for breaking the contract.
She was in no position to do that.
The following morning, she went to work with a pounding headache. She hadn't been able to sleep at all during the night, just thinking at the impending visit to the agency’s office. She would go there during her lunch break and hope she would be able to sign her petition that same day. She feared she would give up on the idea if she gave it too much thought.
“Hey, Selena, where are you going?” Mariana, one of her coworkers, yelled at her as she was leaving the hospital at noon.
“I have some errands to run. Why do you ask?”
The blonde girl ran her fingers through her hair, tucking back non-existent loose locks, in her perfectly combed hair. She was clearly nervous. “I was wondering if you could accompany me for a few minutes,” she mumbled.
“What’s going on?” Selena asked, with a slight frown.
“I finally managed to gather enough money to pay the Mail Order Bride agency, and I was wondering if you could go with me,” she explained, wriggling her hands. She was looking as if she was heading to a party. She had even changed from her green uniform into a lovely summer dress.
Selena let out a nervous laugh. “I’m heading there too,” she confessed, taking her friend’s arm and walking out of the hospital, practically dragging the other woman along with her.
“You’re doing it too?” she asked, surprised. “Of course, you are. Things don’t seem to get any better, my parents keep begging me to get out while I can. I’m not sure this is what I want, but they are right, you know? Things are getting worse every day,” the girl chattered all the way to the agency’s office, a couple of blocks away from the hospital, without giving Selena a chance to answer any of her comments.
When they finally got there, they found a small line of girls waiting to do exactly the same thing. Fortunately, the procedure seemed to be quick enough, and a few minutes later, Selena was sitting in front of the male clerk in charge of it.
“So, Srta. Martinez, what fee will you be paying?” the man asked in a cold tone, while he scanned her identity card.
She cleared her throat, trying to ease the knot in it. “The lowest one, please,” she asked.
That seemed to call his attention, and he looked at her for the first time. “The lowest one? Are you sure about this?” the man asked, with a slight frown as he looked at her with interest.
She knew what he was looking at. She wasn’t exactly the most beautiful woman on Earth, but she was pretty. Before the war, she had dated a few men, so she knew her curvy body and the petite figure was attractive, especially if you added to that her amazing emerald green eyes.
“Yes, sir, I am. I can’t afford anything more,” she confirmed.
“Are you aware you won’t be able to choose or even see the man you’ll be marrying before you get to his home planet?” the man insisted.
“Yes, I am.”
The man stared at her for a few more minutes before he nodded and charged the correspondent fee. “With your looks, I’m sure the agency won’t have any trouble matching you.”
“Thank you, señor.”
He proceeded to update all her information and even taking her picture so that he could put it up on her profile. Now she understood why Mariana had changed. She had prepared herself for the photo. She looked down at her worn uniform and checked her braid, letting out a sigh.
Well, there wasn’t much she could do about it now, she thought, shrugging. Whoever chose her, wouldn’t be looking for a beauty queen, that was for sure.
“We’ll let you know when you’ve been selected,” he assured her when he was finished.
She nodded as she got up, leaving the small cubicle the man called an office. She knew her data was being sent to the central agency in the capital and that she would have an answer as soon as possible. She guessed she should feel excited about the possibility of abandoning the destroyed planet, but all she could think of was she would be marrying a total stranger.