Teal’s evening begins with the pres­sure of prepar­ing din­ner; she reluc­tant­ly makes a chick­en stew request­ed by her father and broth­ers, despite her exhaus­tion from chores and a recent plumb­ing dis­as­ter. Teal reflects on her harsh real­i­ty since her moth­er died a week before her eigh­teenth birth­day. Her mother’s part­ing words about send­ing her blood to the Mar­riage Tem­ple linger in her mind. This promise led her to secret­ly sub­mit her blood for an arranged mar­riage, a step she took to escape her oppres­sive home life.

Teal’s broth­ers, com­fort­ing their need for con­trol, have enforced a life of servi­tude upon her—one marked by iso­la­tion and phys­i­cal dom­i­na­tion. After her moth­er’s death, she was left man­ag­ing the house­hold alone, becom­ing the replace­ment for her mother’s care. Her attempts to run away were thwart­ed by her father and broth­ers, rein­forc­ing her sense of entrap­ment with­in a bru­tal fam­i­ly dynam­ic that thrives on fear and vio­lence.

As she pre­pares the meal, anx­i­ety grips her; she wor­ries she has­n’t met her fam­i­ly’s high expec­ta­tions. When they arrive home ear­li­er than usu­al, ten­sion fills the air. Teal attempts to appease them with her cook­ing, but her father is already sus­pi­cious. The mood dark­ens sig­nif­i­cant­ly when he presents a let­ter from the Mar­riage Temple—indicative of the future that Teal hoped for but her fam­i­ly fierce­ly oppos­es. In an explo­sive con­fronta­tion, her father phys­i­cal­ly assaults her, enraged by her secret actions.

Teal endures the attack from her father and broth­ers, feel­ing pow­er­less yet odd­ly lib­er­at­ed by the prospect of mar­riage to some­one who could poten­tial­ly be far bet­ter than the famil­ial “mon­sters” she has known. After iso­lat­ing her­self in her room, she reads the let­ter over and over, envi­sion­ing escape and the chance for a dif­fer­ent life. In the shad­ow of her trou­bled past, Teal clings to the hope of find­ing free­dom and the pos­si­bil­i­ty of being cher­ished in her new future.