Her Perfect Life; My Perfect Lie

Merle Ken's head throbbed as she woke up, and she blinked at the sunlight piercing the room from the window. She must have drunk too much last night. Sitting upright on the bed and her sight clearing gradually, she realized she was in a hotel room.

The room was suffocatingly small, the walls closing in on her like a cage. The silence in the room was heavy, and only the sound of the air conditioner could be heard. The bedspread smelled of cleaning chemicals, which made her feel uncomfortable. "What the hell am I doing in a hotel room?" She tapped around the bed, looking for her phone.

"There you are," She muttered, checking her phone to see what time it was. "Oh my God!" She suddenly jerked up from the bed when she remembered it was her wedding and she was already late.

"Fuck! How could I have woken up so late on my wedding day? And why the hell am I here in the first place? Brian would be f*cking angry at me by now. He must have been in the church waiting for his bride." Merle paced the room, trying to recollect the event that had brought her into the hotel room.

"Oh, now I remember. Where the hell is Marly? I have to get back home right now, get dressed and rush to the church. Oh, Merle, what have you done to yourself?" She muttered, picking up her phone and the scarf she had come with. She reached out to the door and tried opening it, but the door was locked from the outside. She searched the room, maybe the key was lying somewhere, but she found nothing.

Merle's face went pale, her hands trembling, sweat forming on her brows and tears already welling up in her eyes. "Is this some kind of joke? If it is, then who has the godamn right to joke with her special day? Did someone lock me up at my wedding?" Merle muttered, trembling and pacing the room.

"Merle, calm down," she composed herself, trying to figure out why and how she ended up here. Then she remembered that Marly, her identical twin, had come back the previous day.

Merle and Marly lost their parents ten years ago in an air crash while coming back from abroad. Shortly after their burial, Marly stole everything they left for her and her twin sister and left the country. Merle tried all means to get through to her twin, but all was to no avail. And then she concluded her twin had made away with their inheritance.

Marly suddenly surfaced a day before Merle's wedding, pleading for her forgiveness. Merle, in her kind heart, forgives her twin and welcomes her back. Marly suggested they both go somewhere to celebrate Merle's last night as a spinster and also to catch up on time.

In a lounge, not too far from Merle's house, the twin sisters sat at the bar, enjoying themselves. Marly insisted that Merle drink, but she refused, telling her she didn't want to get drunk on her because her big day was the next day. She requested a cup of non-alcoholic wine, which she was sipping all through her conversation with her twin.

Realisation dawned on Merle when she recalled her twin topping up her drink and handing it to her, making sure she drank it. She recalled Marly's insistence that they go out alone, claiming she needed some alone time with her twin. Merle had wanted Valerie, her maid of honour, to follow them, but her twin suggested against it.

Marly suggested that they pay for a room in the hotel afterwards, claiming she just wanted to rest a bit, as she had a long, stressful journey and she just wanted to rest a bit.

Immediately they got to the hotel room, Marly suggested a drinking game they used to do when they were young. Whoever finishes her drink first will get a certain amount. And she placed a high price, which Merle joked about, saying it could be a welcome gift from her twin. Without doubting her twin, Merle gulped her drink and immediately felt dizzy. She remembered seeing her twin's wicked smirk as she was about to give in to sleep.

"Oh my God! I was drugged. Could Marly do such to me?" She questioned, refusing to believe Marly had a hand in her ordeal. "What would she gain if I don't get married today? She doesn't even know Brian. They've not met yet, so what could be her motive? No, she can't. It has to be someone else, and I need to get out of this room. I need to find out who is behind this." She concluded, moving towards the door.

"Hello! Anyone there? I've been locked in. Can anyone hear me? I need to get out of this room, please!" She kept screaming, but was greeted by silence each time she did.

She reached out for her phone and tried dialling Marly's contact, but the call was not connecting. "Where the hell is Marly? Why is she not here with me? I hope she's fine too?"

Merle tried Brian's contact and got the same response. Then she noticed her SIM cards were removed, and she was just left with an empty phone.

Hitting her back on the wall tiredly, she slid down, sitting on the floor, her tears now flowing as the realization sank that someone was intentionally preventing her from getting married.

How would Brian react to her absence? Who is behind all these? What has she done to deserve these treatments? All these questions and more kept flowing into Merle's mind, yet there was nothing she could do to help herself but sit there and wait for her captor's arrival. At least then she can get some clarification.

Something suddenly struck Merle's mind to search for any sharp object that could help in opening the door, and then she stood up hurriedly, searching through the room for anything that could help. Her eyes drifted to the bed while scanning the whole room, and she saw Marly's hair clip.

She rushed to the door, trying to see if luck would be on her side, and then a pamphlet slid into the room from under the door. Her wedding pamphlet, but something on the pamphlet caught her attention and she picked it up.