The Colors of Truth

Chapter 1

I place my knuckles on my temples as the little girl wales through the stall door,

"Serenity!" she screeches as she pounds her small fists against the wood. Her calls turn into drawn-out whines, I try to ignore her as I pull up my pants and flush the toilet. The door slowly reveals her face, puffy and red as she pouts her lip out, suddenly she wraps herself around my legs and is freed from her sadness. I trudge over to the sink with her still attached to my legs, my reflection in the mirror is unrecognizable due to the warped and tinted glass.

"What are we having for lunch today?" She chirps tilting her head and blinking up at me, her hands entangled in her thin, brown hair. I take a deep breath as I turn the faucet off,

"We'll just have to see. What does it smell like?" I exaggerate my expression as I lean down to her height. I turn the door handle leading to the brightly painted children's area, she starts to sniff, and gasp.

"Steak! Steak! It's steak day!" She throws her hands up in the air and hurries over to another group of girls. They watch in awe as a thick spoonful of brown goo is put on old wooden trays. I make my way across the room to the other side as a tray awaits me. The smell of the so-called special steak does not excite me the same way as when I was six years old. It starts to get old after a couple of years. My mind drifts elsewhere as I force the goo into my mouth, all I can seem to think about is how the next couple of days will go down. Not really something to look forward to, the last spoonful of the processed protein slips down my throat and I wash it down with the water. I can see through the small window that the sun has already fallen. The full moon peaks through the clouds and fog making the stars light up.

I quickly walk back over to the long table with children aligned on both sides, I start to pick up the trays and respond to the children as they finish the last bits of their meals. Before I can gather them up, I'm greeted by the headmaster, Scarlett,

"Hi Serenity," She says bowing her head down. Pulling me aside from the table, she leads me across the building, into a small office I've only been in once before.

"I wanted to give you this," she pulls out a light blue silky piece of clothing from her desk,

"It used to be mine, and I think that you should really wear it tomorrow, you're the best teacher and counselor we've had in this sector in years, you deserve it." The dress is long and has a thick braided piece of twine at the waist running through silk loopholes, the dress is gorgeous, it's like the ones you see in magazines.

"Oh wow..." I ogle as I run my fingers over the fabric,

"Where is this from?" I furrow my eyebrows together; the dress is spotless and not a single wrinkle tarnishes it.

"Are you sure about this?" I observe Scarlett's face as she looks at the dress too,

"Well, it definitely doesn't fit me." Her voice trails off as she smiles at me,

"And it'd just look lovely against that olive skin of yours," her voice is raspy from age and yelling constantly, she strokes my cheek as she suddenly goes silent. I say goodbye to the children quickly before exiting the building. Only then did I realize she never answered my questions.

"NOOOOO! SERENITY!" her high-pitched screams fill the air as I make my way through the bramble, I hear Scarlett struggle to hold the little girl back.

I walk back through the mud being extra careful with the dress in my hands. I had never held something so valuable before, other than another human being.

 When I finally reached my cabin, I was careful to set it down on the tiny, chipped wooden chair. I wipe the layer of sweat off my forehead, and my eyes stay trained on it as other girls start to file in, they also start to chatter and buzz as they show off what they will be wearing for tomorrow. I'm secretly happy that I'll be wearing something so beautiful and different from the old, tattered dress in the back of the shared closet. I quickly snatch the old dress from the hanger and crumple it up, it is already falling apart as it lands in the trashcan.

"Serenity, your dress is so beautiful..." Lydia sighs as she rests her head on my shoulder to ogle with me.

"I know... it remi

I watch from my top bunk as the rest of the girls start a 'fashion show', one of the only times they ever get along is the night before the assessment. However even then, sometimes in the previous years, they have fought over boys and which one would pick them. I crossed my fingers hoping this subject wouldn't come up.

"So, let's make bets on who's going to pick who!" Alanis is the one to break the undying tension, they suddenly all break out into gossip and plans, and finally one of them takes a double take at me.

"Serenity, what do you think?" they all go silent and turn their attention to me, I rise from my bed surprised, I open my mouth to speak, but am quickly interrupted, Alanis gasps,

"Have you not had your period yet?" she whisper-shouts, and her jaw drops open. I almost consider lying for a second but then I realize it would be no use since they would see me be sorted tomorrow anyway.

"Oh, no I've had my period, I just haven't put much thought into the boys yet, I haven't even seen them that much..." It wasn't a lie, the girls would always gather around windows when the boys would start training or jogging but I never came at the right times and gave up after a couple of attempts. The most I've seen of the opposite gender was only when they came to deliver something which was usually an adult anyway.

"Well, I'm sure someone will want you..." She pouts her lip and looks at me sympathetically. They break out in giggles before relighting the conversation.

"I hear the one with the tattoo is named Orson..." They fall back into a heated conversation. Although I have never seen or interacted with a male my age, I do have a good idea of who Orson is from my sisters. He must be popular in the looks department by some means, I've heard about him from multiple different sectors and groups of females, and I was curious to see what he looked like now. Late in the night, I would hear hushed conversations coming from Scarlett's office; "Orson will bring pride to our sector", I heard. That was the first time I had heard his name. 

My sisters quickly returned to their bunks when they noticed the time, they turned off the light seconds before the door was opened and a flashlight shone on our faces, our ward made a gruff sound and shut the door. I drift off to the sound of breathing from my sisters.

I wake up to Alanis running back and forth to beds waking up her closest friends,

"EEEEEEK! Guys get up! It's time!" her scream pierces my ears, and it definitely wakes me up. She practically sings as she skips out of the room again coming back in with the old brush. I slide down the ladder after the rest of the girls into the bathroom. The same warped and tinted mirror sits in front of the sink. I dunk my head under the faucet and try to get my hair as wet as possible before I brush it, unfortunately, I was cursed with curly hair, it will only dry right when I comb it wet. Someone sets the brush on the counter and I put my hand over it right before anyone else. I vigorously brush out the knots as one of the girls whines behind me for it.

"Wait, whose dress is this?" Alanis stops as she lays her eyes on my dress that is still sitting on the old rocking chair, she slightly touches the fabric. I quickly set the brush down and snatch the dress from beneath her.

"That is my dress," I say and smile at her cockily.

"What happened to your other dress?" she crosses her arms defensively,

"I threw it away," I say furrowing my eyes together,

"What else would I do?" I turn my head the other way before I can listen to her response.

***

To anyone reading this, thank you so much!