Selected

A Chapter by

“Rory Hayes,” a rough voice ordered from behind a large, metal sliding door. The door quickly glided open to reveal a spacious room. All four walls were replaced with mirrors. I suspected they were one way mirrors, see in but can’t see out. This thought immediately made me feel was if I were some kind of specimen under a microscope about to be examined. This was probably the exact same way the scientists behind the mirror barrier felt about me, just a mere object to be tested. In the centre of the room stood a petite girl, with clear skin and light brown hair. She stood awkwardly, and completely still, as if awaiting permission to breath. “You may leave Miss Cawood, please report to your mentor for further testing,” the same jagged voice blared from all four speakers in every corner.

I didn’t shift an inch from the entrance, suddenly nervous from all the tension in the room. Megan Cawood walked stiffly towards me. As she passed, she whispered a rapid “Good luck,” into my ear, and continued down the long hallway.

I clenched my fists into tight balls at my side, took a deep breath, and a step forward. My rigid reflection in the mirror across the room reminded me that this probably wasn’t the way to act if I wanted to be chosen. I loosened my hands, and strolled casually to the centre of the room, with a phony smile plastid onto my face.

“Please Ms Hayes; present your monologue.” I paused for a second, waiting for my cue to start. The monologue I was assigned was about when Elise Everly’s character found out her boyfriend had cheated on her. ‘Oh the drama,’ I said sarcastically to myself. I hated that this could be my only shot to get out of this place, my chance to be somewhat normal. I wanted to get out of here, I wanted to be free, but I didn’t want my ticket to be freedom to be replacing Elise Everly.

We all had to be in the auditorium in an hour. They had already decided who was going to be the replacement, the one who would take Elise Everly’s place as Teen pop sensation. She had died only a week and a half ago. The public was beginning to suspect that she wasn’t really on vacation, they weren’t used to not having her filling their television screens 24/7.

All the girls were anxious, stalking back and forth in our large dorm, waiting for a voice to come over the loudspeakers. I knew what they were all thinking, ‘Could I really handle becoming Elise Everly?’, ‘Could this be my shot to finally get out of here’, ‘Could I keep my true identity a secret’. Not that those questions weren’t flowing somewhere through my mind, but the thought that was particularly hard to ignore, was the fear of loneliness. Sure, right now I was surrounded by my family, my true family, but how could I possibly be away from them? Forever separated. I would never be allowed to talk about this place, the organization, all of it left behind, traded in for a more fabulous lifestyle. It would be a life of secrets, a life of lies.

Ten years ago, Dr Neil Weston had started an organization controlled by the government. Dr Weston had claimed he had a plan, a plan that could potentially help the government with control. The government was always hungry for more power, so how could they resist. For nine years, Dr Weston worked on his machine that could alter your appearance. While he constructed his invention, four other girls like me and five other boys were being trained, educated in every area, from extreme martial arts, to the Swahili language. We were being trained to be able to do everything, be everything or rather anyone.

When Dr Weston had finally made things clear with us about why we were all here, and learning all these things, which wasn’t until all of us had turned 13. I had pictured I would replace someone like the president, someone important, someone who could make a difference. Not some ditzy TV star who’s only purpose was to distract the public from rebelling. The government figured if they were able to divert the public’s attention away from themselves, they would see nothing wrong with what they were doing, nothing off about their leading styles. That’s when [insert name of TV soap opera here] began. When Elise Everly, star of [insert name of TV soap opera here], died a week and a half ago, the government freaked. What were they to do without their number one distraction? The fans, AKA everyone in the country thanks to a special hypnotizing message, hidden within the words of the cast in every episode, were going to be completely and totally devastated. To avoid such an uproar, it was finally time for one of us ten to shine, it was exactly what we’re here for, to replace.

“Would Hallee Carter, Megan Cawood, Rory Hayes, Leah Penner, Kayla Haley, Clark Summers, Emerson Weston, Nathan [last name], Spencer [last name]and Kian Marks please report to the auditorium immediately. I repeat, would all our future replacements please report to the auditorium immediately.” The shrill voice erupting from the speakers snapped me out of my thoughts. It was time for the selection.

I took a seat in between Clark and Hallee, the two people I would consider my best friends. We didn’t talk though, too nervous to keep up a conversation without our terrified thoughts interrupting us mid sentence. I was stuck in between two things I wanted all too much, freedom and my family. I guess this assembly would determine which I would get.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Emerson Weston, staring at me with his concentrated eyes. Did he know something I didn’t? Emerson was Dr Neil Weston’s son, the main reason none of us ever gave him a chance. We all blamed him equally for what his father had done. The nine of us were a tight family, but Emerson was never part of that bond. Most of us didn’t like him, period. I was one of ones who couldn’t stand him. There was just so much about him I couldn’t handle, like the fact that he actually has a relationship with his real family. The rest of us were taken from our rightful homes at the age of six and brought here to train.

I jerked my head to the side and glared at him intensely. We look ed deep into each other’s eyes and continued to stare. Wow his eyes are beautiful, such a deep, sparkling green. As soon as the thought came barging into my mind, I yanked my head away so swiftly, a sharp pain pulsed in my neck. My hand flew directly to my neck. I put some pressure on it. Ow, what a jerk! Great, that’s exactly what I need, an ache in my neck, like I’m not stressed out enough. What is he doing staring at me like that anyways? Jeez that guy irritates me.

“Attention please, attention please,” Dr Weston shouted in an unnecessarily piercing voice. He sounded like a teacher trying to calm a mob of furious, screeching children. We were already quiet and seated, his effort was wasted. It was the time of decision, not my decision, though I wish I had a say in it considering it would determine what path my life would take, the path of loneliness, or the path of restriction. Clearly a lose – lose situation. Though if I flipped it around, I could look at it a whole different way. The path of loneliness, or rather, the path of freedom. The path of restriction or rather, the path with my friends, my family. I decided it was better to look at everything in a positive light. Keep my mind optimistic.

“Would Hallee Carter, Megan Cawood, Rory Hayes, Leah Penner and Kayla Haley please join me on the stage,” he bellowed out. I stiffened, completely petrified. I slowly rose from my seat, and realized I was the only one of the girls who had. All eyes of the audience were on me. I stared bleakly at Hallee, motioning with my eyes for her to get up as well. She gradually stood up from her seat. I flashed her a quick smile of encouragement, took her hand and escorted her to the stage. By that time, we were the last ones to arrive. The three other girls were spread out significantly along the small stage, eyes looking directly ahead. Hallee and I marched in to stand beside Leah. I still had Hallee’s hand in mine, I didn’t dare let go. She squeezed my hand tightly and I comfortingly held hers. As much as it looked like she was the one who really required the support, I needed the comforting feeling of my best friend beside me just as much as she did.

“Here they are everyone, our girls.” As soon as he said that, one big spot light shone on us. The boys cheered and whistled at us in encouragement. Weston shot them all a quick glare and it silenced them at once. I peered into the light and it blinded me slightly. I blinked furiously, wishing away the white spots that clouded my vision. When they disappeared, I looked down and searched the audience for the warm brown eyes of Clark. When my eyes met his, he beamed a tender smile. It sent a message of faith all through me.

“Now, which, which one of these lovely young ladies will be our very first replacement?,” his cool voice echoed throughout the entire auditorium. He began to circle us, his wide eyes searching; they landed on my hand, curled around Halle’s. As he crept closer to us, my heart pounded forcefully in my chest, his deafening footsteps rung in my ears. When he reached us, at the end of the short line of girls, he turned his back to the audience and smirked at Halle and I. His big hand came rapidly from behind his hunched back and slammed against our twinned fingers, separating us. I gust of air and a pained cry escaped both our lips. He then kicked Halle’s right leg, making her jump back away from me. Maybe I shouldn’t feel so jealous of Emerson, I mean, I’d rather have no father, than a father like this. Halle glanced up at him, hurt in her eyes, he lifted his hand and his finger curled in. She took a limped step towards the large man, keeping the distance between us. I shot him a glare and ground my teeth together. He smiled a crooked smile. He continued to circle us and I continued to press my teeth together. When he was directly behind me, I could feel his hot breath against my neck. I clenched my fists into hard balls in response, making the pain in my hand started to throb; I ignored the ache and tightened my hands. I felt his warm, damp fingers brush the hair away from my right ear and I flinched away from the vulgar feeling. I stood stiffly. He leaned in and whispered “Cool it, Kitty,” into my ear. Kitty was the name he had given me from day one. He said it had something to do with my attitude. I rolled my eyes.

When he finished his small loop, he ended up back at his podium. He spoke certainly into the microphone, “My assistances and I have racked up a score for all of you girls. Your score reflects two things, your monologue and your overall score in your drama unit. The highest score goes out to Rory Hayes. Her score was exceedingly close to perfect. That means that I would like to congratulate Rory, for being our very first replacement. His large mouth curled up into a smile, he set his eyes on me, like a proud father beaming at his daughter, the physical pain he had caused me just moments ago, seemed to be all but forgotten in his eyes. I looked up at him incredulously. There is no flippin’ way I had the best score. There has to be some kind of mistake here, I mean, Kayla always out shone me during our little drama presentations.

My optimism began to plummet. Comprehension came over my face. After this week, I was never going to see Hallee and Clark ever again. No more Kayla and Nat, Megan and Leah, Spence and Kian. It will be solitude from here on end. My thoughts were disrupted by the booming applause and encouraging cheers coming from the boys and even some of the girls. “Silence!” the jagged voice of Dr Weston blared. This time, it didn’t completely quiet the room; there were a few who kept clapping. After a few seconds, the noise stopped and everyone waited for him to continue. “Miss Hayes, would you please step forward?” I took a weary pace towards the audience. “Now this transformation, is so huge, Miss Hayes may have trouble adjusting. And to help support this alteration, someone will be accompanying her, becoming her right hand man. And this man is...” A flicker of hope filled through me, maybe Clark would be the one, and maybe I didn’t have to lose my whole family. My glimmer of faith was flattened when Weston finished his sentence, “My son, Emerson Weston.”